Red Bulls trade Kenny Cooper to Dallas for Allocation Money. Thoughts RBNation?

Red Bull New York is hosting its Select-a-Seat Fan Fest this Saturday, October 13th, from 2:00pm to 6:00pm at the Red Bull Arena. Attendees will enjoy premier access to 2012 Playoff seats as well as season tickets for the 2013 season. Other events will include special player appearances and performances by the Red Bull Street Team.

The Seattle Sounders-Portland Timbers Cascadia Cup game -- the latest clash in that rivalry we'll never understand -- drew a 0.4 overnight rating. The USWNT-Australia friendly drew a 0.5. The second of NBC's two MLS games will be the Red Bulls-Unioin in October.

Graham Parker, who you might remember from the Guardian's MLS coverage, now covers the league at ESPN's Grantland and, just like he does for the Guardian, does it well. Here, he examines the Professional Referee Organization -- PRO -- the guys tasked with upping the league's oft-maligned officiating.

Australia's Head Coach Holger Osiek has named his 22-man squad that will face Lebanon in a friendly and Jordan in a World Cup Qualifier in early September, and New York Red Bull Designated Player Tim Cahill has made the list. Australia is a member of the Asian Football Confederation and is in Group B for World Cup qualifying. The Socceroos play September 6th in Beirut, Lebanon, and again on the 11th in Amman, Jordan, and Tim Cahill's presence will be key for Australia after they tied their first two qualifiers against Japan and Oman, 1-1 and 0-0. The Red Bulls return to action after a two-week hiatus for the international FIFA dates on September 15th at home against the Columbus Crew. Barring injury, fans should expect to see Cahill back with the club and in the starting eleven for what may turn out to be a crucial Eastern Conference match up. Cahill may also be called up for one other Australia World Cup qualifier in 2012 against Iraq in mid-October, which is sandwiched between Red Bulls games against two other likely Eastern Conference playoff teams, the Chicago Fire and Sporting Kansas City. Also traveling for international duty during the early September MLS schedule break will be Joel Lindpere (Estonia), Bill Gaudette (Puerto Rico), and Roy Miller (Costa Rica).

Via Frank Glase over at the New Jersey Star Ledger on the New York Red Bulls' inability to control the ball beyond deep in their own territory: "'We were swarming them, and they couldn’t get it out of their half of the field,' said SKC coach Peter Vermes, a Jersey native and former MLS Defender of the Year. 'They couldn’t come up with a solution for building out. They just kept sending it to their last guy who would then whack it up the field.'" Why do I feel like I've seen this inability to counter a pressuring defense on the road before??

The Great Dane is off to lovely Lancashire, England to play for Burnley. Best of luck to him.

Robles is definitely a better goalkeeper than Jeremy Vuolo and Bill Gaudette. This move is another cog in the push for MLS Cup 2012 but I don't like this signing for Ryan Meara. Before his injury, Meara was a leading candidate for Rookie of the Year. Now he hasn't played for a month and likely won't start in front of Robles even when he's healthy. Instead of shoring up the fullback positions, the team signed a stronger goalkeeper. This could be our year..

The Soccer Observer looks at the tactics Hans Backe can deploy to beat the Dynamo Friday.

Can you believe we went six whole posts only mentioning Tim Cahill in a cursory manner? Me neither! But there comes a time when all streaks must come to an end and it comes with Cahill's first presser as a Red Bull at 1 p.m. You can watch it using the link above.