Mateu

Ives says sources confirm that the Fire have traded Dominic Oduro to the Columbus Crew for Dilly Duka. Not many other details or any official word from the teams or MLS yet.

No surprise in Johnson earning one of two GK spots on the US Olympic team roster. He will be competing with DC's Bill Hamid for minutes, which could perhaps have implications for future senior team minutes. In any case, it's a great opportunity for Sean and makes it all the more clear why the Fire would use an international spot on a young keeper like Tornaghi. Johnson could be away until April 2 if the Olympic squad makes it through qualifying, in which case he would miss even more time in the summer. It makes a lot of sense to have two other quality keepers on the roster if the third will be away much of the season.

Great stuff from David Boyle, featuring former Section 8 chairman Tom Dunmore.

In this interview with the Ave Herald, Klopas reports that there are 36 players in camp, but the team is expecting about 40. "We still have some signings to complete, and some players are still waiting for visas," he told the Herald. Even though the Fire's various off-season moves have generally been well-received by fans, the potential of more new faces will be welcome news to those who feel the team still lacks a few key pieces -- like a proven striker. [Editor's note]: HTIOT has received confirmation that one of the trialists down in Florida is Jon Okafor. Okafor was drafted No. 40 in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft after attending Brown University. After failing to latch on with Chivas USA, he was over in Europe trying to pick up a deal. The 6'1 product from New Jersey would likely have to be a fullback conversion experiment to have a hope of making the squad.

On a different note from the draft madness that's been occupying most MLS fans, ESPN is reporting that a US-Brazil match rumored to take place around the already-announced Brazil-Argentina exhibition is in fact happening. They will also take on Mexico, making this a huge run of matches for football in the Americas, bringing together what are arguably the two top teams from the North and South American federations. US Soccer should get some credit for scheduling top-tier friendlies for the MNT; in the last two years; we saw Brazil and the Netherlands in 2010, Spain, Argentina, Mexico, and France in 2011, with Italy and Brazil again highlighting 2012 so far. And that's not to mention good match-ups with less-decorated teams like the Czech Republic, Turkey, and Belgium. Here's hoping the MNT can start winning more of these things...

Anthony Zilis of Soccer By Ives wrote this great, in-depth piece about Nyarko's journey from Ghana to Chicago. He captures well the role Nyarko has played for the team as well as the struggles he has had.

I'm not the first to post this rumor, but ESPN seems to have accidentally provided another clue to the USMNT's plans for this FIFA fixture date. In an article on the inclusion in the Italian side of a lower-division player who reported a match-fixing attempt, Soccernet stated, "Farina likely will train with Italy ahead of a Feb. 29 exhibition game against the United States. He won't play in the match."

Soccer By Ives reports that the Fire have agreed to terms with Kellen Gulley, a Fire academy player and member of the U-17 USMNT who played very well in the build-up to the U-17 WC but was sidelined with a knee injury before the tournament. Just today Gulley scored the winner in the Fire's 2-1 win over the Galaxy at the U-17 Generation Adidas Cup.