Five-a-side: What's hot around the league

MLS Five-a-side:The skinny on five things that matter this week in Major League Soccer:

1. Last one out of Dallas, turn out the lights: OK, it's not that bad. In fact, it could come to pass that no one leaves Pizza Hut Park at all during the current transfer window. Or, the face of the team changes significantly. It really could go either way.

Team officials insist that the Juan Toja's sell to Steaua Bucharest is not final. FCD management say Toja is excited about the chance to play in Europe, especially at a place where a fellow Colombian already resides. But they say Toja also understands the circumstances, and knows the club can't just give him away. So, they continue to negotiate with Steaua.

Kenny Cooper's situation is trickier. Norwegian standard bearer Rosenborg is not only maintaining interest, but has upped its transfer offer (with a higher value based on incentives), according to sources familiar with negotiations.

But Cardiff City of the English Championship has now entered the picture, and aggressively so. They are offering something similar in the way of a transfer fee and want the young MLS All-Star in their camp ASAP, which is adding pressure to the whole thing.

Major League Soccer has offered Cooper a new deal. But will it be enough? Commissioner Don Garber spoke with Cooper and members of his family while in Toronto, hoping to discern for himself exactly what Cooper wants to do.

In addition, it looks increasingly likely that former Ajax man Victor Sikora, 30, will soon be joining FC Dallas following a two-week trial at Pizza Hut Park.

2. McBride in a Fire jersey? Not just yet: Garber indicated Thursday from Toronto that a deal that would finally plant Brian McBride in Toyota Park is all wrapped up.

But is it?

Chicago Fire team spokesman Gregg Elkin said Friday that it's still premature to say "case closed," and that no announcement is imminent. Elkin did say that the basic elements of the trade with Toronto are in place, but that McBride has yet to sign with Major League Soccer, which owns all player contracts.

"There are still little details that need to be worked out, and until then, he can't sign with the league," Elkin said.

He indicated that basic terms for the league contract are not an issue. Rather, he characterized the unfinished business as minor, but essential.

Adding yet another complicating factor is that McBride leaves Friday for China with the rest of the U.S. Olympic team. If things can be sorted out, Elkin said an official announcement would not necessarily wait until his return. Rather, they would simply link up McBride over the phone for the announcement.

3. Draft picks and their worth: Interesting thing about the draft choices involved in recent swap talks, like the exchange that could help McBride land in Chicago and the San Jose-Houston dealings: the trades included choices in upcoming drafts.

Now, that's pretty standard stuff in terms of pretty much all domestic professional sports. But here's where it will get increasingly tricky in the MLS world: at some point, these draft picks could become far less valuable to the process of talent acquisition. Why? Because MLS is changing the country's development model with the youth initiative.

Currently, a reasonable percentage of the top U.S. talent still resides in the college game. How much is hard to say. What is clear is that the percentage of top talent now choosing the traditional college route is shrinking -- and possibly quite fast. And the MLS youth academies -- where the intent is to guide young players through the individual clubs' youth ranks and onto the first teams -- promise to skew that ratio even further.

All that means that a tipping point will likely be reached soon, when draft picks will be worth far, far less than they are today because the traditional draft system will shrink in relevance. Teams could be left holding draft picks that simply aren't worth as much as before. It's like holding onto a bunch of dollars, then discovering that rampant inflation has significantly decreased those dollars' buying power.

The clubs that accurately forecast that tipping point will be ahead of the game.

4. "De Ro" back at home -- in more ways than one: If Dwayne De Rosario seemed to have a little something extra at Thursday's All-Star contest, perhaps it was because "De Ro" was back at home, so to speak.

Most people know, of course, that De Rosario is a native of Toronto. But less obvious, perhaps, is how much De Rosario enjoys that central midfield role that he played after entering the match for Christian Gomez.

De Rosario was once a forward in MLS. He moved into that playmaking spot back in 2006 for Dominic Kinnear. But lately down in Houston, owing to Stuart Holden's emergence in Houston's midfield and the Dynamo's lack of striking firepower behind Brian Ching, De Rosario has once again been moved into a forward role in Houston's 4-4-2.

So, back in the old, familiar playmaker's spot, De Rosario giddily buzzed around midfield Thursday, making things happen in the 3-2 win against West Ham.

Kinnear will have more choices going forward, as Houston now has recently re-acquired Nate Jaqua and newly acquired Kei Kamara from which to choose in a suddenly improved the rotation of strikers.

5. Officially speaking: Instead of gathering at the All-Star happenings in Toronto, MLS referees are meeting this weekend in Dallas.

They are gathering along with supervisor of officials Joe Machnik and refereeing supervisors from the U.S. and Canadian federations to review the first half of the MLS season and see where improvements might be made.

Longtime MLS referee Brian Hall is among the voices who will be heard during the weekend's events. Hall, a four-time MLS referee of the year who also presided over matches at the 2002 World Cup, has stepped away from calling MLS matches.

Hall, 47, returned from major knee surgery to man the middle for 15 matches last year. MLS has no age limit for referees -- that would be illegal under U.S. law. They are permitted to officiate as long as they can pass the fitness exams.