One of the top priorities in Dallas this winter was signing some defensive help. Today the club has announced the signing of 29-year old Ghanian defender Aziz Ansah. He was most recently with Heartland FC in Nigeria. He has nine caps with the Ghana National Team and was named the Sportswriters Association of Ghana Best Footballer of 2003. Ansah will be eligible to play for FC Dallas pending receipt of his International Transfer Certificate.

“Aziz will be a good addition to the FC Dallas defense,” said Hyndman. “He has the ability to play in many different positions, having played in all four of the defensive positions as well as defensive/holding center midfield. When I saw him recently in Ghana he was playing right midfield. Aziz is very technical and has the athletic ability to match up in the MLS.”

No doubt this signing will change how Dallas will draft next week at the SuperDraft. Hyndman found him on his recent scouting trip in Ghana, a trip more clubs are starting to make now days in MLS.

I like this move on the surface for Dallas though I honestly don’t know a lot about Ansah yet. One thing does worry me about him though, he’s played for a lot of clubs (10) since 1998. Judging by his track record he won’t be in MLS in 2011, but hopefully this is a move that really works out for him.

Luis Angel Landin is one of the new faces in MLS. (Getty Images)

I guess you could really say its just been a rather slow week in terms of news. Sure rosters were finalized on Tuesday night for the rest of the year and the league announced their big break next summer but other than that it’s been rather calm in Major League Soccer this week. I do have a couple thoughts and links tonight around the game.

First up I did want to recap the notable moves that have taken place this summer in the league now that the rosters are frozen into place for the next couple months. This is also a good time to take part in the little poll to your right on this page about the best summer move in MLS. Go ahead and vote now if you haven’t already!

Anyways, let’s recap shall we? (note I did not include every move from this season, for that go to the In-Season Player Movement page)

The DP’s
Luis Angel Landin – Houston Dynamo’s first Designated Player
Julian de Guzman – Toronto FC’s first Designated Player

The Allocated
Heath Pearce (D – FC Dallas) U.S. national team player
Danny Szetela (M – D.C. United) Former U.S. Under-20 returned from Italy

The Traded
Colorado and FC Dallas — Drew Moor to Colorado for Ugo Ihemelu for a 2nd draft pick and allocation
Houston Dynamo and Kansas City Wizards — Kei Kamara to KC for Abe Thompson and allocation money
Chivas USA and FC Dallas — Marcelo Saragosa to Chivas USA for Atiba Harris.
Chivas USA and LA Galaxy — Alecko Eskandarian to LA for conditional pick in draft
Real Salt Lake and San Jose Earthquakes — Pablo Campos to RSL for 2nd pick in draft

Notable Signings and Loans
Ali Gerba (F – Toronto FC) Canadian national team player
Jesus Padilla (F – Chivas USA) on loan from CD Guadalajara.
Maicon Santos (F – Chivas USA) Has played professionally in Brazil and other places
Chris Birchall (M – Los Angeles Galaxy) Trinidad national team player
Leonardo Gonzalez (D – Seattle Sounders FC) previously played in Costa Rica
Ramon Sanchez (M – San Jose Earthquakes) El Salvadorian national team player
Walter Garcia (D – New York Red Bulls) Argentine defender
Julien Baudet (D – Colorado Rapids) Frenchman captained Crewe Alexandra in England
Marvin Chavez (M – FC Dallas) Honduran national team player
Daniel Hernandez (D – FC Dallas) MLS veteran returns after second stint in Mexico’s top division
David Myrie (D – Chicago Fire) Costa Rican defender

New Kids on the Block (Academy Players Signed)
Giorgi Chirgadze (NY)
Bill Hamid (D.C. United)
Bryan Leyva (FC Dallas)

Notable Departures:

Kenny Cooper leaves FC Dallas for 1890 Munich in Germany
Bakery Soumare leaves Chicago Fire for Boulogne in France

Now on to some linkage:

MLS Schedule Break’s Negatives

Link

A good counter point by Kartik over at the Kartik Report about some of the drawbacks of the league taking a two-week break during next year’s World Cup. Some points make total sense and show that the league really never needed to break during the World Cup in the past since it saw some slight attendance bumps during each World Cup.

I do disagree a little on the point about the balanced schedule. Sure we want those regional rivalries to be as good and as intense as possible but we don’t want to water them down into nothing I think too. I thought the LA-Chivas rivalry was stupid at first when they played each other four or five times in a season. Now that it is down to two games I see some real intense matches between those two from here on out. I’m sure as the league expands we’ll get slightly back to rivals playing one another more than twice in a season though.

U-20 Squad Could Be Better

Link

Sounds like this time around for the U-20 World Cup the US had a tough time picking players since there weren’t many available playing in Europe. No Jozy Altidore this time, or Freddy Adu. In a way it sounds like US manager Thomas Rongen is just bitching a little about the lack of players making it in Europe right now with this squad. With more college players in this year’s squad I would imagine that if the US does as well as they did in Canada back in 2007 that we will see plenty of these guys abroad for years to come.

Character of Clubs in MLS

Link

Last link of the night is a good one folks. Jason Davis over at Match Fit USA has an interesting look at the character of clubs in MLS right now. He brings up a great point that the league is still rather young as we all know and it just takes time to build up a club’s character in it’s city with the local fans. Head over there and check out the article because it is worth a read.

Moreira most recently played for Jaguares de Chiapas FC in the Mexican First Division. He registered four goals in his 51 appearances for Jaguares since signing there in 2007.

The 34-year-old central midfielder has played for Paris St. Germaine (France), Olympique de Marseille (France), S.L. Benfica (Portugal), C.D. Tenerife (Spain), Sao Paulo (Brazil) and Corinthians (Brazil).

While I’m not all for a mid-30s midfielder signing, I do see this move along with the signing of Ramon Sanchez as two moves that will help stablize their midfield a good bit. At the very least they should be able to control possession a bit more with Moreria and Sanchez than compaired to their current midfield lineup. Also, they should be able to get better wing play out of Darren Huckerby with the better possesional play in the middle.

What do you make of this move for San Jose?

New FCD Defender Jair Benitez. (Photo via FCDallas.com)

On the same day that FC Dallas released a defender, they add one. FCD has singed Colombian left back Jair Benitez.� He has been working with the first team in training since he arrived on Monday. To make room for Benitez on the 24-man roster, FCD waived Michael Dello-Russo.

According to his player card (aka his wiki page), he has plenty of experience and covers a position that Dallas definitely needed to address this summer. The 30-year old most recently played for Independiente Medellin (on loan for 2009-2010 season from Deportivo Cali), where he has appeared in 17 regular season and Copa Libertadores games this year.

From what a couple people have told me he is the type of back that loves to come forward and has decent speed.

Dallas still has other areas to address in my mind but the fact that the club is taking the summer transfer window serious is a good sign moving forward. I think it is safe to say that we are no longer seeing the pathetic attempts at getting a big name signing like with what we saw under current GM Michael Hitchcock.

“Chris is a player that I’ve tracked for a number of years,” Galaxy General Manager and Coach Bruce Arena said. “He is an experienced midfielder with good qualities on both sides of the ball who I feel he will be able to contribute immediately as we push for a playoff position.”

No word yet on who will be cut from the roster to make room for Birchall.

I said back in May that I liked this move for LA and today I still do. Birchall should fit right in with the style of MLS and with how the Galaxy play. He very well could be the difference for this club in terms of reaching the playoffs this season or not.

More from the Galaxy press release can be read here.

A move that I absolutely will pay off for Sigi Schmid has just become official from what I am hearing out west. Seattle Sounders FC have signed Costa Rican defender Leonardo Gonzalez. Gonzalez�s signing will be finalized upon receipt of his P-1 work permit and International Clearance.

Why do I like this move for Schmid and the Sounders? First of all the club does need defensive help if they even want to think about a deep playoff run. Schmid knows that and his move brings in a veteran defender with plenty of experience. He’s been capped by the national side 59 times (including three at the 2006 World Cup) and is at the prime age of 28-years old.

It may take a couple weeks before he gets use to playing in MLS but I really have a good feeling for the Sounders if he pays off like I think he will.

Do you like this deal for Seattle?

The 28-year-old Riberio spent a week with the Quakes back in May, which was enough time for manager Frank Yallop to want to sign him. With one open roster spot after the trade of Nick Garcia this week, the Quakes are looking to make a move fast here.

Whether or not this move will work for the Quakes will remain to be seen. The club has a lot of work to do here this summer and adding a part to the midfield is a good start. If Ribeiro can come in and help stabalize Yallop’s midfield it could go a long way this season.

What do you think? Is Ribeiro a good start to fixing this club’s issues or will he be just another waste of a signing by Yallop and GM John Doyle?

The outside midfielder becomes the third product of the Red-and-White’s youth system to earn a professional contract, along with fellow Los Angeles area natives Gerson May�n and 2007 Sue�o MLS winner Jorge Flores.

Zamora has been working with the first team since the beginning of the season and had appeared in early preseason scrimmages against UCLA and the PDL Ventura County Fusion.

“He shows great potential and is very good with the ball,” said Chivas USA assistant coach Carlos Llamosa. “He fits in well with the type of soccer we like to play.”

“It’s good for the coaches to have options in the youth system,” said Llamosa. “It gives us a great chance to look at potential players for the future. We’ve been inviting a couple of the youth guys to first team practice and if they show they can be on this team, we might sign them. It’s a good program for us.”

“He needs to realize that he’s a pro now,” said Llamosa. “When he steps on the field, he can’t be afraid of anyone. He needs to move the ball quickly, be aggressive, and give everything he has.”

Its good to see more clubs signing young players from their youth systems. Chivas has already seen decent products like Mayen and Flores. Hopefully more clubs will be able to do the same here.

With his first signing for the expansion side, Nowak may sign former Colorado Rapids keeper Bouna Coundoul.

Nowak is expected to have control of player personnel decisions in Philadelphia and his first signing could be a goalkeeper, Bouna Coundoul, a native of Senegal who played his high school ball in New York. Coundoul played last season for Colorado in M.L.S. and has also played for his national team. He is currently a free agent who has been training with clubs in Finland.

While I was never the biggest fan of Coundoul, maybe Nowak could get a little more out of him than Fernando Clavjio ever did.

�LA Galaxy are a big club and it�s a privilege for me to get a chance to be part of their set up. There are some players who have done well in the League. Stern has been a hit there and then Cornell and Avery are there too. I�ll be playing with and against players of a good caliber. It�s going to be different to playing in England but it�s something I�m definitely looking forward to.�

I do like the idea of this move if it does go through for the Galaxy. I’ve always thought Birchall would be the type of player that would fit right at home in MLS. No doubt the Galaxy could use his services in the midfield and he could be just the type of player to help get this club into the win column more instead of the draw column.

What do you all make of this possible signing for LA?