Just like that the first stage of the inaugural MLS Re-Entry draft was over. If you blink you missed it. We all knew going into the first stage of this new post season draft would be quick seeing how clubs had to practically match or exceed the player’s previous contract. With the majority of the players in the re-entry pool being high priced guys the clubs did little to work with in the first round.

In the end there were only two selections today. D.C. United used their first pick like they said they would to snag striker Joseph Ngwenya from the Houston Dynamo while the Columbus Crew took defender Aaron Hohlbein from Sporting Kansas City.

Yes, that was all folks. The other 16 clubs passed on their picks.

Most clubs tweeted after they passed on their picks that next week’s second round would be more lively. You have to imagine we’ll see more than two picks if not seeing all 18 clubs partake in the draft. With clubs being able to get some of these players in the re-entry pool at a cheaper rate the amount of picks will certainly go up and cause some big changes in the league.

So what can we quickly say about the two picks that were made today?

First of all for D.C. United snagging a cheaper striker has depth reason written all over it. They got Ngwenya for his speed, not his touch that is for sure. Ngwenya always poses problems for defenses with that speed and if they can find the right mix to go with him they can see some success out of him. I do wonder why they would pick a guy like Ngwenya though when his former club, which was a team that needed forwards dumped him. His price was right though (about $72k in 2010) so that has to be part of it.

For the Crew, they’ve lost a lot of depth in the back this winter and getting a poor-man’s Eric Brunner (who got snagged away by Portland) is a small step in the right direction for them. Hohlbien may not be a sexy name to some but he should provide some solid support for the Crew. Plus he’s cheap, real cheap ($40k in 2010).

Something that too far too long finally came to an end yesterday. The Houston Dynamo were finally able to re-sign striker Joseph Ngwenya after FIFA issued a new international transfer certificate.

The five-week ordeal happened because Ngwenya’s last club, Turkish side Antalyaspor, denied Houston’s request for the ITC. FIFA ruled in the Dynamo’s favor and now the club has a little more depth up top today. The club and Ngwenya already agreed on a deal after a week-long trial but due to the ITC hold-up they weren’t able to do anything it until now.

Ngwenya will be available to the club this weekend against D.C. United. More than likely he’ll make his 2010 debut in that game as the club won’t have to wait to get him back into game shape since he has been training with the club for over a month.

Its good to hear that FIFA ruled in favor of the Dynamo’s appeal here. Ngwenya will definitely be a boost to an offense that has been a bit inconsistent this season. With the loss of Geoff Cameron and the ongoing injuries this year its no secret that the Dynamo needed some help up top. Ngwenya has been that guy for them in the past so there should be little doubt that he can do it again this season.

Dynamo fans are you happy to finally hear that Ngwenya can play?

Week four in Major League Soccer got off to a slight bang last night. Philadelphia and Toronto clashed up on the new grass at BMO Field. Dwayne De Rosario nailed two goals for the Reds in the 2-1 win. Take away the red card to Danny Califf and really Philadelphia should have at least gotten a point out of last night’s game. But they didn’t and its time to move on.

The win was definitely bigger for Toronto, even if it wasn’t pretty. Fans held up banners that said YOU MUST WIN last night. They may have won but they are far from being a team that is on the up and coming here. Preki knows lots still need to change, don’t be at all shocked if they continue to re-work this roster.

One thing we did learn from Philadelphia last night is that Roger Torres and Cristian Arrieta are solid players. Torres’ pass to Jordan Harvey on the lone Union goal was a thing of beauty. I know I’ve raved over New York’s Joel Lindpere as one of the best newcomers this year but keep watching Torres, he’s young and loaded with talent.

Now for the weekend, we have seven games with six coming up tomorrow. Some how Columbus managed to be left off the weekend slate. Can anyone figure out why a club that will have such a heavy schedule late in the year has two weekends off within the first month of the year? Shouldn’t the league have loaded their schedule up a little more early on? I don’t know, just a weird thing to see.

Feel free as always to leave you score predictions and thoughts on this weekend’s games below in the comments section.

Saturday

Kansas City Wizards – at – Seattle Sounders FC

One of the better games this weekend, the Wizards travel to Seattle to face the Sounders. Qwest Field is a place the Wizards managed to grab a win at last year so don’t be shocked if they find a way to do the same this year. With Ryan Smith charging down the sideline it could happen. This will be a great test for the Wizards though, most of us really wonder exactly how good this team really is here this season. We’ve only seen them at home and on a smaller field.

Seattle will need to use their speed and skill on the wings to spread the Wizards out. I’d expect another solid game out of Steve Zakuani in this one as I love him going against either Roger Espinoza or Michael Harrington. I think his speed may be too much to handle for either one. Also can KC handle Fredy Montero up top? They did well to shut down Omar Cummings and Conor Casey a week ago but Montero can be an entirely different kind of handfull to deal with. I like the Sounders at home but in a close one.

Player to watch out for: Jimmy Nielsen – I’m not usually one to point out a keeper in this area but so far he’s kept a clean sheet this season. I’m mainly curious to see how he handles the turf at Qwest, sometimes its a tricky monster to deal with.

WVH Prediction: Seattle 2, Kansas City 1

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Chivas USA – at – Houston Dynamo

This one could be interesting, on one hand you have a club that never does well at Robertson Stadium and on the other hand you have a club that has nearly nothing to place on the field at striker. As we all know Brian Ching is out with an injury, so is Cam Weaver and Luis Angel Landin will sit with a red card suspension. So who will the Orange turn to? Dominic Oduro and newly signed Joeseph Ngwenya.

The thing is Houston finds ways to get points, and wins at home. I expect that to happen this weekend even with all the injury issues that the Dynamo have right now. Chivas hasn’t been tested on the road yet this season, unless you count the SuperClasico game against LA, which I don’t count as a road test. Brad Davis and Geoff Cameron will be too much for Chivas to deal with.

Player to watch out for: Jesus Padilla – If Chivas is going to win they will need this guy to find ways to score again this week. His goals last week against New York weren’t pretty but were enough for three points.

WVH Prediction: Houston 2, Chivas 0

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Chicago Fire – at – D.C. United

Its hard to really think that between these two clubs they combine for only one point on the season so far. And it’s not like that draw for the Fire was pretty either. Both have plenty of issues that is obvious. D.C. however may have a few more issues in the injury department than the Fire do at this point, especially defensively. Its hard to take a club serious that has that many issues in the back like D.C. does right now.

For whatever reason the Fire are a better road team still than they are at home. I think this will be one of those cases where they play the spoiler on the road and grab three points. Even with the issues I just like the Fire’s attack and midfield a little more than United’s right now.

Player to watch out for: Marco Pappa – He has to be the guy that keeps the Fire going in this one. He can be a bit too hot and cold at times but when he’s hot he’s extremely tough to stop.

WVH Prediction: Chicago 2, D.C. 1

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FC Dallas – at – New York Red Bulls

Dallas goes on the road for the first time and it won’t be easy as they get their first try at Red Bull Arena. The Red Bulls will have to do a better job possessing the ball if they want to pick up three points. Dallas has improved a lot in that department this year but only have two points to show for it.

I think the trip back across the country (again) will be rougher on the Red Bulls than some will think. Remember they went from Seattle to LA to NY all within three weeks. That’s a lot of traveling, long traveling to be exact. Dallas will have to find a way to cut down Joel Lindpere’s touches on the ball and spread the field with their wing play. I think we’ll figure out how good exactly this New York side is after this game, but I just small another draw for Dallas though. New York’s offense hasn’t come alive yet this season and believe it or not but Dallas is doing better in the back.

Player to watch out for: Juan Pablo Angel – He’s gotta get going for New York if they want to win this one. He has the technical skill to beat Dallas.

WVH Prediction: New York 1, FC Dallas 1

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New England Revolution –  at – San Jose Earthquakes

The Revs momentum may be slowed down a bit with the loss of Shalrie Joseph this weekend. He’s out again with an injured hip. Still going for a third straight win will be big for Steve Nicol’s side. Frank Yallop’s side got three points of their own a week ago in Chicago thanks to a Ike Opara goal. So the confidence is there for both sides.

The matter comes down to the midfield and even without Joseph I still like how the Revs are playing through the midfield these days. Pat Phelan will likely slide back into the starting role this week. The wing play of Sainey Nyassi will be key for the Revs attack, his pace should be too much for the Quakes to figure out. One also has to wonder what the hat trick for rookie Zach Schilawski, can he keep it up? I think so.

Player to watch out for: Ramiro Corrales – He has to be the one for the Quakes to shutdown Nyassi, if he does that it may give the homeside some points.

WVH Prediction: New England 1, San Jose 0

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Real Salt Lake – at – LA Galaxy

The Big one for sure this weekend, a MLS Cup rematch out in LA. Its easy to say right now that LA is the best club in the league, both standings-wise and play-wise. RSL will have to find ways to get their attack going and pressure a defense that hasn’t given up a thing thus far this season. The big story will be if Javier Morales will be 100% or not, he picked up an adductor strain last week against Seattle. Without him at full strength others like Kyle Beckerman, Will Johnson and Fabian Espindola will have to pick up the slack.

Defensively RSL will have to figure out a way to slow down the hot feet of Edson Buddle. He currently leads the league in goals with five so far this season. Let’s not forget that RSL isn’t the best road team in the league either over the last couple of years. Just too many issues to overcome I think for Jason Kreis’ bunch.

Player to watch out for: Sean Franklin – He’s quietly putting together a very nice season so far for the Galaxy. He’ll have to find a way to slow down Espindola or Robbie Findley in this one.

WVH Prediction: LA 2, RSL 0

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Sunday

Toronto FC – at – Colorado Rapids

No time to rest for the Reds, they immediately go on the road after their first win of the year on Thursday night to face the Rapids on Sunday in Colorado. Not the easiest of road trips for a Thursday-Sunday swing. I’ll make this one short because let’s be honest after last night we know that Toronto lacks the depth and talent to go on Thursday-Sunday swing here. Colorado will be hungry for another win and to get their defense more in check. This should be a good game for them to do just that.

Player to watch out for: Claudio Lopez – He’s new to the Rapids but if he sees playing time he’ll be too much for Toronto to handle.

WVH Prediction: Colorado 3, Toronto 1

A few items to follow on this Wednesday morning.

Houston Looking At Ngwenya (Again)

Its been a couple years since Joseph Ngwenya was in a Dynamo jersey but the club has been trying to get him back ever since he left for Europe. Now with Brian Ching’s injury the club has Ngwenya back on trial. Don’t be shocked if this deal gets done sooner rather than later. Ngwenya has been playing with clubs in Austria and Turkey these last couple years. A move towards him may be their only option for now.

Chivas Adds Costa Rican Defender

Darlo Delgado has joined the Red-and-White on loan from Puntarena. He’s had five caps with the Costa Rican national side and at only 24-years old he may be the young blood in the back that Martin Vasquez’s club needs.

The club made this move after acquiring the right to sign Delgado in a trade with Real Salt Lake for a conditional pick in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft. Gotta love the weird discovery rules in MLS.

Jim Brennan Hanging It Up

Toronto FC has called a press conference for Wednesday when Jim Brennan is expected to announce his retirement to take a position as TFC’s assistant general manager.

Rough winter in Toronto with so many main guys either taking off or getting cut by new manager Preki. At least Brennan is going on his own terms here. He’s a very popular figure with the club but it will be interesting to see how the club handles another set back in their defense.

One look at the Reds’ roster and it just looks small. No doubt they’ll need all the help they can get because right now it looks like they are waiting things out to sign some players this summer. I just got a feeling that may be too little too late for Preki’s side. I trust in how Preki can manage a team of nothing to win but with the lack of depth this may even be too tall of a task early on for Preki to do. We’ll see though.

Luciano Emilio Back In MLS

I’ve heard these rumors for a couple weeks but lately another club has gone into the mix along side the Philadelphia Union for Emilio’s services. Yesterday a little light was shed on it with FC Dallas apparently being that other club. I haven’t been able to get word out of the club yet on whether or not they are indeed interested in him but I do know they’ve been looking for another striker for weeks now according to manager Schellas Hyndman.

Two things need to happen though to get Emilio. First you have to acquire his rights from D.C. United (yes they oddly enough still own it) and then reach a salary with Emilio. The second may be tougher since Emilio left D.C. for Brazil when the club offered a lower salary. My bet it won’t take too much more than what D.C. offered to get him to sign though. He loved his time in the States and its fairly obvious he wants to be back here (he does have a green card after all).

What would Emilio mean to either Dallas or Philadelphia? For Philly it would mean getting some offensive flare that they lack right now and some extra veteran leadership up top. Dallas on the other hand just needs another quality striker to go with Jeff Cunningham. In a way I like the move for Dallas but two older strikers up top for them doesn’t sound too great after a while. I’d rather see Dallas concentrate on getting a younger striker to compliment Cunningham for the time being.

I wanted to start off in the land of college soccer. First and foremost I am a big college soccer guy, not as big obviously when I was actually in college a couple years ago but I do still try to follow it as much as possible to keep me up on future MLSers that are out there across the land.

I bring up the college side of things because my alma mater’s sports media site posted an interesting thought about the growth of the college game. The article is worth a read for those who aren’t familiar with WVU or even Big East soccer for that matter. Both men’s and women’s soccer in the Big East is good, though not nearly as impressive as some we see in the ACC with the likes of Duke, Maryland and Wake Forest each year.

I know a lot of folks are getting tired of the SuperDraft in Major League Soccer but it won’t be going any time soon. The depth of the college game has taken a dip in recent years but I still know there are plenty of good players out there that are just prepping their game for better days in MLS or even in Europe.

But with that sad we will see a decline in the draft down the road as more academy players pop up in the league. I give it a few years at minimum before the draft goes from four rounds to two. It was a sign the draft was starting to get smaller when the league did away with the Supplemental Draft this year.

CCL Action Returns Tonight

MLS sides return in action tonight in the CONCACAF Champions League along with games tomorrow and Thursday. The forth round of the group stage is a big one for MLS clubs.

Houston is hosting group leaders Arabe Unido in a big time clash at Robertson Stadium. According to the Houston Chronicle, The Houston Dynamo is charging $5 for end-line seats for tonight’s game. Not bad if you ask me, though if you are reading this now and you live in the Houston area it may be too late for you to get out to the game to support the Dynamo.

Columbus will go tomorrow night as they host their group leader Cruz Azul in a big Group B showdown at Crew Stadium. The Crew sit just a point behind their Mexican counterparts.

Thursday night DC will hope to build on their first CCL win in round three as they host Marathon. DC needs another win in hopes to even have a shot at moving on in the competition.

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Ngwenya In Red Bull Camp?

Link

Don’t go too crazy here Dynamo fans, your Orange still own the MLS rights to Joseph Ngwenya should he some how sign with the New York Red Bulls. Yes he is in camp with the Red Bulls but since the rosters were frozen on the rest of the season last week the lowly Bulls will not be able to use his services should they sign him before the end of the year.

If the two sides do agree and a deal is worked out with Houston, the first time we could see him play won’t be until next year. More than likely this is Ngwenya’s way of staying fit until he signs elsewhere.

Thing that gets me is why didn’t he sign in Houston? The two sides apparently just couldn’t come to terms and in the end that hurts the player more than the team really.

First off with the more likely of the two, Jaqua.

His agent and the league have been in some serious discussions lately about his return to the league and with the Dynamo. Jaqua, who left the Dynamo in December for a move to the Austrian Bundesliga, is weighing his options, could still see another offer or two in Europe though his feelings with MLS are described as “lukewarm”.

Houston would still have his rights if he were to resign with the league. Honestly, the guy only saw 10 matches (where he did score five goals) for SCR Altach. He could still get another contract somewhere abroad in a lower league like the Austrian Bundesliga but that isn’t always guaranteed to happen. Plus with no offers currently on the table other than Houston he may be wise to return for the remainder of the season with the Dynamo and then try his hand again at Europe in the offseason.

Its an idea, maybe not a good one but it could work in his favor.

Now as for the other possible return, the less likely of the two, Joseph Ngwenya.

He has remained in contact with the coaches and team but continues to show desire to stay in Europe. Bernando Fallas of the Houston Chronicle even labled his return chances as “slim”.

Apparently Ngwenya is out to prove something and is probably hoping his play in World Cup qualifying for Zimbabwe help get him a new contract elsewhere.

Ngwenya played very little in Austria this past season for SK Austria Kärnten. In fact I think he barely played over a half of soccer while he was with Kärnten. Yeah, that doesn’t bode well for him in hopes of getting another contract over there.

He should do the wise thing and come back to MLS for the rest of the year and try to improve his stock, similar to Jaqua. It would be a wise move on his part because he knows the playing time would actually be there if he wanted it. I just don’t see it happening though as he is too stubborn in getting his hopes up for another contract. Here’s to hoping he does get one somewhere and actually plays for them this time around.