The Daily Dirt, February 7: Nearly complete

With the signing of Carlos Carmona now official, Atlanta United’s major acquisitions ahead of the 2017 should be complete. We’ll have a look coming soon at the United roster in comparison to every other expansion team in MLS history, stay tuned for that later this week.

After an injury forced him out of the lineup for an extended period of time, Carmona was unable to regain consistent playing time at Atalanta in Serie A. Prior to that, the 29-year-old played in over 200 professional games in Italy. It was a bit of a surprise that Atalanta let him go by terminating his contract, but he was not a factor in their squad this year with only two appearances early in the season. It actually speaks to their respect for him that they let him leave easily, rather than try to collect a transfer free on him.

His addition to Atlanta’s roster brings another player with extensive national team experience into the fold. He added two caps to his total of 50 last month in the China Cup. Once Brad Guzan arrives, United could field six current national team players in their starting lineup. Combined with the young talent on display, this is a potent team on paper that Darren Eales and his staff have put together.

Carmona was with the team yesterday in their first training session at the new facility in Marietta and could be in the mix to play on Saturday in Chattanooga.

Domestic

Chicago Fire’s Matt Polster injured in the preseason, will miss Opening Day (official)

A review of the Portland Timbers’ preseason so far (Stumptown Footy)

Two of Minnesota United’s former NASL are cut, two continue on trial with the club (Star Tribune)

Vancouver Whitecaps introduce their new jersey (Province)

Don Garber talks about the league’s growth on a visit to Vancouver (Sun)

The path for Indy Eleven to earn one of the MLS expansion slots (Bloody Shambles)

2017 is a big year for the NWSL (FourFourTwo)

Early prediction of the USMNT roster for World Cup qualifiers in March (MLS)

International

Former Seattle Sounders forward Nelson Valdez scores in his debut with Cerro Porteño in Paraguay:

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