February 19, 2010
TRAINING CAMPS
MLS teams range far and wide, and in Arizona

Major League Soccer teams have not yet established a time-honored tradition for preseason training like baseball, with its Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues, but it is getting closer. Nine of the league’s teams are spending all or part of their preseason in the Phoenix area, while several others are training at least part of the time in Florida.

Here’s a look at what MLS teams are doing this preseason:

Chicago Fire---The Fire are wrapping up two weeks in Arizona, where they concentrated on fitness and wrapped up with a doubleheader, defeating the Vancouver WhiteCaps and Arizona Sahuaros.They will play exhibition games in Mexico, New Orleans and Mississippi.

Chivas USA---The Goats have been in Mexico for the past week, then head to Arizona where they will play games against the Columbus Crew and Kansas City Wizards.

Columbus Crew--- The Crew wrapped up the Florida leg of their 2010 preseason last week. After three days of training in Columbus, they set off on a two-week trip to Arizona. The Crew will face Colorado, Chivas USA, the LA Galaxy and Kansas City Wizards while they are in the Grand Canyon State.

Colorado Rapids--- The Raids have been training at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, but head to the Casa Grande Performance Institute in Arizona this Sunday, February 21. The team will remain in Arizona for seven days and will play Columbus and possibly two other MLS teams in the first of two trips out of Colorado.

FC Dallas FC Dallas opened preseason training camp on, Feb. 1 at Pizza Hut Park. They will compete in the inaugural Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic Feb. 25 and 27, 2010, along with the Houston Dynamo, Toronto FC and New York Red Bulls. They also will play a game March 14 against Philadelphia Union.

DC UnitedUnited started training at RFK Stadium on February 1 and are now in Bradenton, Fla. Curt Onalfo’s side ends the exhibition season in Charleston, South Carolina, where the club will compete in the Carolina Challenge Cup. In the annual competition hosted by the Charleston Battery, D.C. is set to face MLS foes Real Salt Lake and Toronto FC, along with the tournament hosts, at Blackbaud Stadium.

Between the trips to Florida and South Carolina, United will add a third portion of the preseason at a yet to be determined location. This leg of the schedule will take place from March 4 to March 10.

Houston Dynamo The Dynamo have been training in Houston since February 1. They will participate in the inaugural Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic in Orlando, Fla., February 25-27.

Kansas City Wizards The Wizards picked a place and are sticking with it. The team arrived in Arizona February 6 and are staying through March 7. They return to KC and start training there on March 10. The Wizards already have played a game against Grand Canyon University and a pair against the San Jose Earthquakes, and will also play Chivas (Feb 24), the Galaxy (Feb 26), Columbus (March 4) and GCU again on March 7.

Los Angeles Galaxy The Galaxy kicked off training at The Home Depot Center and will travel to Tempe, Ariz., for a 10-day training camp beginning Friday, Feb. 19. The club will practice on the campus of Arizona State University and play a series of scrimmages against MLS opponents. The team will remain in Arizona until March 1, when they will return to Los Angeles for the final four weeks of the preseason.

While in Arizona, the Galaxy are scheduled to play four games, two against the Kansas City Wizards, one against the Colorado Rapids and one against the Columbus Crew. All games and training sessions will be behind closed doors.

New England Revolution The Revs began their training in Massachusetts, but head to Florida, Saturday, Feb. 20, for a six-day trip and will train at the University of Central Florida on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, bookending a match against FC Dallas at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 23 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex (Field 1). The squad will return to Boston on Thursday night, Feb. 25.

The Revs will make a second spring training trip when they travel to North Carolina March 10 for a 10-day preseason training trip during which the squad will play three matches against the Charlotte Eagles (USL-2), Carolina RailHawks (NASL) and a yet-to-be-determined opponent.

New York Red Bulls The Red Bulls spent two weeks in La Manga Spain, where they tied Russia’s CSKA Moscow, 1-1, and defeated Poland’s Lech Poznan, 1-0, and Norway’s Stromsgodset, 2-1. After training in New Jersey they travel to Florida for a pair of games at Walt Disney World.

Philadelphia Union Peter Nowak has had the expansion side sequestered in Greensboro, NC for the better part of the past two weeks. The club gets a couple of days off before heading to Guadelajara, Mexico and then to Florida where they will face FC Dallas and the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

Real Salt LakeThe MLS champs began training in Utah, but are making a trip to Francisco Grande Resort in Arizona. While there they will play the Vancouver Whitecaps (Feb 20) and Colorado Rapids (Feb 26). A second trip, to South Carolina, is planned, where RSL will face College of Charleston on March 6, then play in the 7th Annual Carolina Challenge Cup in Charleston where they face DC United (March 13), Charleston Battery (March 17) and Toronto FC (March 20).

Seattle Sounders F.C. ---The Sounders started training in the Seattle area on January 25 and were in Arizona from February 3-11 where they played an exhibition game against the Vancouver Whitecaps. From February 16 through February 26, Seattle will train and compete in La Manga, Spain. Sounders FC will face Norwegian champion Rosenborg BK in the opening Group A match at the La Manga Cup on February 18. Sounders FC will face either Denmark’s FC Norsjalland or Norway’s Stabak on February 21. The tournament concludes with crossover matches to determine final placement on February 25 and 26.

San Jose Earthquakes The Quakes opened their preseason camp on Monday, Jan. 25 at the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum. They were in Arizona from February 7-15 and now return to the Bay Area to continue the next phase of preseason training, which continues through Wednesday, March 3.

Toronto FC The Reds just closed out a spell in Bradenton and now head to Orlando where they will participate in the Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic.