Kyle Beckerman and RSL have a tough road ahead in 2010. (Getty Images)

We only have a few more clubs to go in our preseason look-ins. Now we’re getting in the home stretch with RSL today and hopefully closing out the rest of the week San Jose, Seattle and Toronto.

Today we take a look in to see how the defending Major League Soccer champs are doing this winter. Jason Kreis and company have started to really get into building up a core group of players to work around. That was key to their late run and success last year in the playoffs.

Now it becomes a question of do they have the depth to deal with a bigger and tougher schedule in 2010? They lost a few key players this winter like Clint Mathis to LA, Yura Movsisyan to Europe and Chris Seitz to the expansion club in Philadelphia. They did however pick a couple guys off waivers, which has been their bread and butter these last couple years along with drafting pretty well in January’s SuperDraft.

Lets see how well RSL is doing this winter and what pieces of the puzzle that they have left to build on. (Note: I’d like to thank Randy Davis from Keepin It Real for helping me out with this preview) Continue Reading…

That was fairly quick. KC Wizards president Robb Heineman just said via Twitter that a deal couldn’t get done with Luis Gil and that he will be going to KC shortly.

unable to speak with gil…doind a deal with real salt lake

part of transfer fee, 2nd, and intl slot

We knew yesterday that an international roster slot was part of the deal. From the sounds of things probably some allocation money as well to help pave the way for a couple international players that the Wizards are reportedly looking to sign here. The Wizards also want a portion of any transfer fee that Gil gets if/when he leaves MLS to go to Europe (smart move on their part).

Give some credit to KC here folks, they’re really looking to get back in the thick of things in the east here. As for as Gil to RSL goes I do like this move, Jason Kreis will be a good coach for Gil here though I was hoping to see him in Seattle with Sigi Schmid.

Once things become more official I’ll let you all know.

Update: Here’s the official release from the league.

Yes the Kansas City Wizards have won the Luis Gil lottery today. They had the third best shot of winning behind New York and San Jose but according to Steve Goff they plan on shipping the talented midfielder out to a west coast team (Gil is from LA).

So which west coast team will end up with Gil? The one who gives up the most of course. KC is interested in an international slot for starters, according to Down the Byline the Wizards are after either a midfielder or a defender (article mentions midfielder but this Tweet talks defense).

I’d imagine some allocation would be apart of the mix here if not maybe a future draft pick. Or both, someone could be desperate to get Gil here for all we know.

So what are the odds? Its a four team race as I am concerned with LA and Seattle having the bet shot at trading for Gil. Most fans want to see him go to either place as both Bruce Arena and Sigi Schmid are great with young players. But don’t sleep on Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake here either.

Once we hear who deals for Gil I’ll have an update here.

Update: Looks as though KC is hoping to hold on to him a little bit longer here. The Wizards want to see if Gil is interested in coming to KC (yeah right) before they take offers from Seattle, RSL and probably the two LA teams. Honestly it sounds like none of the clubs offered the right deal to KC for Gil here, maybe a day or two of dealing will get it sorted out.

This is a nice little gem that just came in from the MLS Insider. Major League Soccer has gotten themselves another prized youngster in US U-17 star Luis Gil.

A weighted lottery on Monday will determine where Gil ends up. I’d imagine the weight system will be based on last year’s results, along with Philly having a higher weight based on their expansion club status. Edit: According to Steve Goff, Philly will have the worst chance of landing Gil, with NY having the top chance.

That doesn’t always mean the worst club will end up with Gil. Last year when Kyle Davies was a subject of the lottery system he ended up in Real Salt Lake, who then traded him to Dallas days later. RSL was near the bottom of the table at that time but definitely not the club holding the most ping-pond balls.

We’ll have more on this on Monday.

To learn more about Luis Gil check out his profile from U.S. Soccer.

US U-20 National team coach Thomas Rongen has made his first call up for next year today as he released his 20-man roster for an upcoming camp. A few notable players on this roster include Gale Agbossoumonde, Jack McInerney and Luis Gil.

Also the roster includes midfielder Sebastian Lletget, who missed out on the U-17 World Cup in Nigeria.

The camp, which will be the first of the 2011 cycle, will be held in Chula Vista, California and will run from December 16-23.

Here is the full roster:

GOALKEEPERS: Earl Edwards (Nomads SC), Justin Luthy (Boston College), Spencer Richey (Crossfire Premier)

DEFENDERS: Gale Agbossoumonde (Miami FC), Paolo Del Piccolo (Louisville), Moises Hernandez (FC Dallas Juniors), Zachary Herold (West Pines United), Perry Kitchen (Chicago Magic), Tyler Polak (CSA Legacy), Kofi Sarkodie (Akron), Zarek Valentin (Akron), Jared Watts (North Meck SC; Statesville, N.C.), Ethan White (Maryland), Cesar Zamora (Chivas USA), Eriq Zavaleta (FC Pride)

MIDFIELDERS: Jose Altamirano (San Diego State), Christian Castaneda (Hertha Berlin), Marlon Duran (Latino Americana), Luis Gil (Pateadores), Sebastian Lletget (West Ham United), Andrew Lubahn (Wake Forest), Carlos Martinez (Wilmington Jrs.), Colin Murphy (Boston College), Amobi Okugo (UCLA), Will Packwood (Birmingham City), Nicholas Palodichuk (Washington Premier FC), Fabrice Picault (Cagliari Calcio), Dillon Powers (Notre Dame)

FORWARDS: Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), Will Bates (Virginia), Tristan Bowen (Los Angeles Galaxy), Victor Chavez (Real So Cal), Ryan Finley (Duke), Stefan Jerome (West Pines United), Jack McInerney (Cobb SC), Dominick Sarle (BW Gottschee)

Tough decisions all around Philadelphia right now for Peter Nowak and company. If the expansion draft wasn’t enough the club now has the fun of figuring out who exactly to take with their first overall pick in next month’s SuperDraft. Yesterday afternoon the college soccer season came to a close and right away a few names jumped out for who they should take.

Obviously nothing is set in stone with some of these guys and the debate can go around and around some circles but a few guys below might declare for the draft in the coming weeks as either they sign with the league as a Generation adidas player or just sign with the league like most rookies will eventually do around the draf time.

Below are a few guys I see fit as solid choices for the number one pick. Feel free to leave your thoughts below with who you think should be the top pick. Continue Reading…

Jack McInerney is a young player with a bright future.

As I mentioned a week ago I am hoping to get this into a regular thing for at least the next few weeks as we really start to gear up for the 2010 SuperDraft in just a couple (yes only a couple) months away. The response has been pretty solid so far and I’ll be honest a few of you have mentioned some players that I had not heard of yet until now. I’m glad you did because now some of them are going to be making these watch lists.

Today has a heavier focus on some guys that could be in line for a Generation adidas contract this year. I know I’ve already mentioned a couple in my last two posts (round 1 & 2) but today I have a couple more names. Since the US U-20 and U-17 World Cup runs are over now a lot of folks are saying we could see a number of players get offered GA contracts for this year’s draft. I will also start off with two from the U-20 team that were both on the watch list last year for a GA contract.

Again, some of these kids may go the MLS route and some may not. That we will have to wait and see in a few weeks as the college seasons wrap up.

And just like last week, if you know of some guys that are worthy to be looked at here please email me or send their names to me via Twitter so I can include them in the next batch. Continue Reading…