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MLS clubs set to kick off preseason this weekend

SchulerDwyer (ISIphotos.com)

By DAN KARELL

It has only been 46 days since the MLS Cup final but this weekend represents the start of preseason for a number of teams ahead of the 2014 Major League Soccer season.

Nearly every MLS team will be heading for warm-weather locations such as Tucson, Ariz., and Orlando and Bradenton, Fla., over the next few weeks. FC Dallas will be the only club going across the ocean as they start their preseason schedule with a two-week trip to Abu Dhabi.

MLS teams will converge in Tucson, Charleston, S.C., Orlando, and Portland, Ore., later this month for annual friendly tournaments before teams return to their home cities for the upcoming season.

Here’s a full look at every MLS club’s preseason schedule:

CHICAGO FIRE

Entrance physical: Saturday

First day of training: Sunday

Match schedule: Feb. 2 vs. Florida Gulf Coast Univ. in Ave Maria, Fla.; Feb. 15-March 2 at Desert Diamond Cup in Tucson, Ariz., vs. Colorado Rapids (Feb. 19), New England Revolution (Feb. 22), and FC Tucson (Feb. 26), match vs. opponent TBD (March 1).

CHIVAS USA

Entrance physical: Monday

First day of training: Monday

Match schedule: Feb. 16 vs. Colorado Rapids in Las Vegas, Nev.; Feb. 17-March 2 at Desert Diamond Cup in Tucson, Ariz. vs. FC Tucson (Feb. 19), vs. New England Revolution (Feb. 22), vs. Colorado Rapids (Feb. 26), and vs. opponent TBD (March 1).

COLORADO RAPIDS

Entrance physical: Friday

First day of training: Friday

Match schedule: Feb. 2 vs. Houston Dynamo in Houston, Texas; Feb. 14 vs. UNLV in Las Vegas, Nev.; Feb. 16 vs. Chivas USA in Las Vegas, Nev.; Feb. 17-March 1 at Diamond Desert Cup in Tucson, Ariz. vs. Chicago Fire (Feb. 19), vs. Real Salt Lake (Feb. 22), vs. Chivas USA (Feb. 26), vs. opponent TBD (March 1).

COLUMBUS CREW

Entrance physicals: Friday

First day of training: Friday

Match schedule: Jan. 26-Feb. 7 training camp in Bradenton, Fla., opponents TBD; Feb. 16-March 2 at Disney Pro Soccer Classic in Orlando, Fla. vs. Toronto FC (Feb. 19), vs. Philadelphia Union (Feb. 22), vs. Orlando City (Feb. 26), and vs. opponent TBD (March 1).

D.C. UNITED

Entrance physicals: TBA

First day of training: TBA

Match schedule: Jan. 29-Feb. 13 training camp in Bradenton, Fla.; Feb. 20-March 2 at Carolina Challenge Cup in Charleston, S.C. vs. Houston Dynamo (Feb. 22), vs. Charleston Battery (Feb. 26), vs. Seattle Sounders (March 1).

FC DALLAS

Entrance physicals: Saturday

First day of training: TBA

Match schedule: Jan. 30-Feb. 12 training camp and friendly matches vs. opponents TBD in Abu Dhabi, UAE;

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Entrance physicals: Monday

First day of training: Monday

Match schedule: Scrimmages vs. Dynamo Academy (Jan. 29) and Colorado Rapids (Feb. 2) in Houston; Scrimmages vs. Portland Timbers (Feb. 5), San Jose Earthquakes (Feb. 8), Vancouver Whitecaps (Feb. 10) in Tucson, Ariz.; Scrimmage vs. Houston Baptist University (Feb. 15) in Houston; Feb. 21-March 2 at Carolina Challenge Cup in Charleston, S.C. vs. D.C. United (Feb. 22), vs. Seattle Sounders (Feb. 26), vs. Charleston Battery (March 1).

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Entrance physicals: TBA

First day of training: TBA

Match schedule: Feb. 8 vs. FC Shirak at StubHub Center; Feb. 15 vs. San Jose Earthquakes in Central California Cup in Fresno, Calif.

MONTREAL IMPACT

Entrance physicals: Monday

First day of training: Monday

Match schedule: Feb. 14-March 2 at Disney Pro Soccer Classic in Orlando, Fla. vs. Fluminense (Feb. 19), vs. New York Red Bulls (Feb. 22), vs. Sporting Kansas City (Feb. 26), vs. opponent TBD (March 1).

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Entrance physicals: Friday

First day of training: Saturday

Match schedule: Jan 27-Feb. 7 at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. scrimmages vs. Malmö FF (Jan. 31), vs. Toronto FC (Feb. 2), vs. Chicago Fire (Feb. 6); Feb. 15-March 1 at Desert Diamond Cup in Tucson, Ariz. vs. Real Salt Lake (Feb. 19), vs. Chivas USA (Feb. 22), vs. Chicago Fire (Feb. 22), vs. opponent TBD (March 1).

NEW YORK RED BULLS

Entrance physicals: Friday

First day of training: Friday

Match schedule: Jan. 27-Feb. 7, training camp in Orlando, Fla., games TBD; Feb. 12 friendly match vs. Philadelphia Union in Jacksonville, Fla.; Feb. 17-March 2 at Disney Pro Soccer Classic in Orlando, Fla. vs. Sporting Kansas City (Feb. 19), vs. Montreal Impact (Feb. 22), vs. Fluminense (Feb. 26), vs. opponent TBD (March 1).

PHILADELPHIA UNION

Entrance physicals: Saturday

First day of training: Monday

Match schedule: Feb. 2-13 training camp in Deltona, Fla., scrimmage vs. Univ. North Florida (Feb. 8), friendly match vs. New York Red Bulls (Feb. 12) in Jacksonville, Fla.; Feb. 18-March 2 at Disney Pro Soccer Classic in Orlando, Fla. vs. Orlando City (Feb. 19), vs. Columbus Crew (Feb. 22), vs. Toronto FC (Feb. 26), vs. opponent TBD (March 1).

PORTLAND TIMBERS

Entrance physicals: TBA

First day of training: TBA

Match schedule: Jan. 30-Feb. 13 training camp at Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Ariz. with friendly matches vs. Sporting Kansas City (Feb. 1) vs. Houston Dynamo (Feb. 5), vs. Seattle Sounders (Feb. 8), vs. Indy Eleven (Feb. 12); Feb. 23-March 1 in Portland, Ore. for Rose City Invitational vs. San Jose Earthquakes (Feb. 23), Portmore United (Feb. 26), Vancouver Whitecaps (March 1).

REAL SALT LAKE

Entrance physicals: Friday

First day of training: Saturday

Match schedule: Feb. 17-March 2 at Desert Diamond Cup in Tucson, Ariz. vs. New England Revolution (Feb. 19) vs. Chicago Fire (Feb. 22), vs. FC Tucson (Feb. 26), and vs. opponent TBD (March 1).

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Entrance physicals: Saturday

First day of training: Sunday

Match schedule: Feb. 3-9 training camp at Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Ariz., Desert Diamond friendlies vs. Seattle Sounders (Feb. 5) and vs. Houston Dynamo (Feb. 8); Feb. 15 Central California Cup vs. Los Angeles Galaxy in Fresno, Calif.; Feb. 21-March 2 at Rose City Invitational in Portland, Ore., friendly matches vs. Portland Timbers (Feb. 23), vs. Vancouver Whitecaps (Feb. 26), and vs. Portmore United (March 1).

SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Entrance physicals: TBA

First day of training: Saturday

Match schedule: Jan. 29-Feb. 9 training camp at Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Ariz. Desert Diamond Friendlies vs. San Jose Earthquakes (Feb. 5) and vs. Portland Timbers (Feb. 8); Feb. 19-March 2 at Carolina Challenge Cup in Charleston, S.C. vs. Charleston Battery (Feb. 22), vs. Houston Dynamo (Feb. 26), vs. D.C. United (March 1).

SPORTING KANSAS CITY

Entrance physicals: Friday

First day of training: Friday

Match schedule: Jan. 24-Feb. 8 at Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Ariz. vs. FC Tucson (Jan. 28), vs. Portland Timbers (Feb. 1), vs. Indy Eleven (Feb. 7); Feb. 14-March 2 at Disney Pro Soccer Classic in Orlando, Fla. vs. New York Red Bulls (Feb. 19), vs. Fluminense (Feb. 22), vs. Montreal Impact (Feb. 26), vs. opponent TBD (March 1).

TORONTO FC

Entrance physicals: Saturday

First day of training: Monday

Match schedule: Jan. 27-Feb. 8 training camp at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. friendly match vs. New England Revolution (Feb. 2); Feb. 17-March 2 at Disney Pro Soccer Classic in Orlando, Fla. vs. Columbus Crew (Feb. 19), vs. Orlando City (Feb. 22), vs. Philadelphia Union (Feb. 26) vs. opponent TBD (March 1)

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS

Entrance physicals: Saturday

First day of training: Sunday

Match schedule: Feb. 10 at Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Ariz. vs. Houston Dynamo; Feb. 21-March 2 at Rose City Invitational in Portland, Ore. vs. Portmore United (Feb. 23) vs. San Jose Earthquakes (Feb. 26) vs. Portland Timbers (March 1).

Comments

  1. why don’t they try bringing back that short lived Pan pacific soccer tournament>

    with MLS/Korean/Australian/Japanese teams. That was fun. Make it 8 teams. Could be fun for a pre-season February meeting for those leagues.

    Reply
  2. so by 2020 we will have 24 teams in MLS.

    I hope they stop expansion with that and have the salary cap raised to $5million by 2020. Maybe even do away with it by 2030. Soccer is here to stay, it won’t die.

    Miami/Orlando are the next 2 followed by New York City FC so 2 more teams left to make it to 24. Will it be Atlanta/Ottawa/St. Louis/Phoenix/San Antonio? Canada needs a 4th team. You know they do but so does Atlanta. St. Louis is a center of soccer fandom. Didn’t 50,000 show up to see a friendly with Bosnia a few months ago?

    Reply
    • Could easily see MLS expand to as many as 32 teams structured as East & West Conferences. Regular Season teams would only play within their conference to limit cross contenental travel expenses (each conference gets a supporters shield), than the playoffs would be East Vs. West for the MLS Tittle (1v7, 2v6, 3v5, 4v4 home & away series).

      Reply
      • Unfortunately, you’re probably right. There is a huge movement of cities wanting top flight soccer. And it just so happens Garber and MLS love receiving those $100 million dollar franchise fees. As long as demand continues to grow, MLS will probably continue to accommodate, regardless of whatever arbitrary caps Garber has mentioned.

  3. My dream….. MLS/England championship challenge. Kinda like NCAA basketball ACC/ big ten challenge. Seems like ideal exposure for everyone.

    Reply
    • +1 iv been wishing for that idea for a long time.

      I wouldnt start out with EPL in preseason tho!

      MLS should take on other leagues that are ending their winter breaks like Sweden, Russia, Bundesliga or Latin American leagues.

      Maybe do the MLS vs LigaMX or EPL matchups in the summer. Just one matchup per team.. Non of that Superliga nonsense.

      Reply
      • agreed.

        Sweden or Norway or Russia

        or Latin American leagues

        or Australia/South Korea/ Japan

        would be great for say February. A few friendlies might help

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