Peter Nowak was the last coach to lead the United States U-23 National Team to qualify for the Olympics. Rob Vartughian helped train his stable of goalkeepers (including Chris Seitz, who went to Beijing but never left the bench).

Freddy Adu was the top scorer on Nowak's team during that qualifying tournament, notching the game winning and 2008 Olympic Games-clinching brace in the semifinals. Who threw an elbow to draw a 3rd minute red card, sealing the U.S. team's fate in the final Olympic Group Stage match? Michael Orozco Fiscal.

Faryd Mondragon allowed 4 goals in the lone game he played for Colombia in Barcelona '92. Danny Califf and Chris Albright each scored for Team USA at the 2000 Sydney Games.

Not to bring up old wounds, but Brian Carroll's defensive midfield play and Union Youth Technical Director Alecko Eskandarian's 4 goals were not enough to advance beyond the 2004 CONCACAF tournament. Shavar Thomas and Jamaica crashed out of 2004 qualifying as well while David Myrie's older brother Roy helped lead Costa Rica to the knockout rounds in Athens.

Unfortunately for Myrie's Ticos, their Olympic Quarterfinal opponent Argentina was led by Carlos Tevez.

No matter how distant the connection, current and former members of the Philadelphia Union have had a taste of the Olympic tradition and there is reason to believe the young squad will further entwine themselves with the Summer Games in London 2012.

How will this experience affect the start of the Major League Soccer season? Hit the jump for a look at how the U-23 and Union schedules match up...

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Set to begin another salary cap-governed year in Major League Soccer, one would expect a bit of turnover for every team. After only two full seasons of existence, 54 players have graced the Philadelphia Union roster (55 if you include Danny Cepero's one-game emergency goalkeeping bench stint), and only 5 remain of the original cast. Though the majority of players on the opening day 2010 roster were selected in the 2009 Expansion Draft, few made it beyond the inaugural season and none are with the squad today.

Are the Philadelphia Union unique or is this part of a larger trend? Hit the jump for a look at league-wide Expansion Draft pick retention...

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NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) has found Arlo White's broadcast partner in Kyle Martino, according to a tweet by Grant Wahl.

The Sports Illustrated columnist reports that he is "hearing Kyle Martino to sign with @NBCSN as analyst for MLS/US broadcasts."

Wahl went on to say that it "sounds like FOX doesn't want to let Martino out of contract as Sounders did with Arlo White."

Martino was the Philadelphia Union's color commentator, alongside current FOX Soccer Channel (FSC) and Philadelphia play-by-play announcer JP Dellacamera, during the 2010 MLS season. His time with the Union was criticized for lack of commitment and mispronunciations of player names.

NBC signed a three year contract, starting in 2014, last August with MLS, moving 45 of the league's games per year to the national broadcast channel and NBCSN (former Versus). The deal also includes four broadcasts of US Men's National Team (USMNT) games as well.

The breakdown of the deal has 38 league games on Versus, plus three playoff games and two national team games. NBC's main channel will play host to broadcasts of two regular season MLS games, two playoff games and the other two national team games.

Sebastien Le Toux could be announced as a Vancouver Whitecaps player as soon as tomorrow, with no player going sent to the Philadelphia Union in return, according to Irfaan Gaffar.

The soccer reporter announced over Twitter that the deal to bring Le Toux back to the Pacific Northwest, known affectionately as Cascadia to North American soccer fans, would happen this week. Gaffar went on to state that the Union would not be receiving a player in the trade from the Whitecaps.

In return the Union would expect to obtain a package of sizable monetary value, as Philadelphia was asking Bolton Wanderers for a "fee upwards of $1 million," according to Kerith Gabriel, of the Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com.

The 28-year-old has been fighting to stay in Philadelphia, a source told the Brotherly Game, but the front office appears to have had the final say in the situation, despite Le Toux's best efforts.

The Sebastien Le Toux transfer saga has taken another turn, as the striker is apparently once again available to Bolton Wanderers if a bid is tabled.

The Bolton News is reporting that the Philadelphia Union are open to selling Le Toux to the Wanderers, but only "for a fair price." Bolton has been rumored to be waiting for other transfers to finalize before moving onto a transfer for Le Toux.

Speculation has previously placed his fee at close to that of Tim Ream's transfer to Bolton, but there has yet to be any numerical value actually attached.

Le Toux's departure appears to have been covered on the Union's roster by the soon-to-be signed Lionard Pajoy, a 30-year-old journeyman striker from Colombia, and 2012 MLS SuperDraft first rounder Chandler Hoffman.

The 28-year-old scored 25 goals and 20 assists from 2010-11 with the Union and is the last remaining member of Philadelphia's 2010 Expansion Draft selections.

If Colombian media is to be believed, Faryd Mondragon is set to made a dramatic return to the country to end his career.

Golcarcol is reporting that Deportivo Cali has begun discussions to bring Mondragon back to the team. Deportivo is the team with which Mondragon began his career, which now spans over two decades, during the 1990-91 season.

The Colombian news outlet has a confirmation from Cali's president, Oscar Astudillo, that the team is pondering a transfer of some sort for Mondragon.

"[We're] not thinking of hiring a player in that position," Astudillo said, "but we will study this possibility with the coaching staff and if this is approved we will try to have the player."

The former Colombian national team goalkeeper has also apparently stated openness to returning to Cali. Mondragon was quoted on a radio show as stating that he would be open to moving to Cali if asked.

"I have a great relationship with the board," Mondragon told La Banda Deportivo.

However, Mondragon stated repeatedly that it was up to the Cali front office to determine whether or not it wanted to make the move happen. The 40-year-old said that it would require Cali to bring him back to Colombia prior to their season, not during the season.

"The economic issue is not going to be a problem," Mondragon said. "[It would] be nice to retire from the club of which I am supporter."

He also stated that he doesn't want to play with the feelings of the supporters from Cali, nor those from Philadelphia.

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Sebastien Le Toux's return to Philadelphia truly does appear to be simply a chance to pack his belongings, as the striker's transfer to Bolton Wanderers is set to be completed in the next few days.

MLSsoccer.com's Joe Prince-Wright told TalkSport UK, in an interview, that the Frenchman was "gonna finalize his contract tomorrow with Bolton."

Le Toux has been rumored as an option for the struggling English side since heading on trial with Bolton last week. Now, according to Prince-Wright, rumors of a "substantial transfer" could be completed with plenty of time before the end of the January international transfer window.

Mirror Football's Alan Nixon had put the odds of Le Toux joining Bolton at 6.5 out of 10, when asked by a Philadelphia Union fan. Nixon has maintained that Bolton's move for Le Toux or any other player would be dependent on the status of Giovanni dos Santos' transfer out of Tottenham.

Earlier today, French site Football.fr stated, on its MLS dedicated site, that "Le Toux should also soon join the Wanderers for a similar amount," to Tim Ream, who was sold to Bolton for a reported 2.5 million pounds.

(H/T to Philly Soccer Page for spotting this first.)

It's been less than 24 hours, but Sebastien Le Toux shouldn't get comfortable after returning to Philadelphia, according to an English soccer reporter.

Alan Nixon, a Mirror Football writer, has tweeted multiple times today concerning Le Toux's possible transfer to Bolton Wanderers of the English Premier League. The 28-year-old striker was on trial for about a week with Bolton before announcing over Twitter that he had flown back to Philadelphia today.

A transfer of Le Toux from the Philadelphia Union to Bolton is "imminent," Nixon told an inquiring Wanderers fan. Nixon later followed up with another tweet, revealing that the two sides only had to "[do] the math" on a permanent transfer.

Le Toux has come up as a player that could potentially be one of four or five transfers during the remainder of the January international transfer window. Nixon has linked Le Toux to a series of moves by Bolton that would preferably revolve around the purchase of Mexican international winger Giovanni dos Santos from Tottenham Hotspur.

Though it appears that Le Toux is Bolton's top option in their attempt to fix a woeful strike force, including the out-of-form Kevin Davies, the Wanderers have also been connected to Ismaël Bangoura, a Guinean international striker. It's an "either or" situation between Le Toux and Bangoura, Nixon commented over Twitter, but Le Toux has the lead.

At today's All-Star Game announcement, in Philadelphia's City Hall, the Union's leadership would not comment directly on Le Toux or a transfer, but instead talked about how the team would go about handling such a sale.

"If we can give a player an opportunity like this and capitalize from it and reinvest that money into the team to get better, we'll do that," Union Managing Partner, CEO and President Nick Sakiewicz said to Dave Zeitlin of MLSsoccer.com.

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