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Local Players United In Portland

Thanksgiving Eve is a quiet day for most of the country. Most businesses close early. Most people take a vacation day.

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Not in Major League Soccer.

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Thanksgiving Eve is one of the busiest days of the year for MLS. Its when the league holds its annual expansion draft, and this year, it also happened to be the day that just about every team wanted to complete a trade.

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And so it was on Thanksgiving Eve that two former Maryland Terrapins who won an NCAA Championship together in 2008 were united on the roster of the expansion Portland Timbers. Rodney Wallace was acquired today via trade with D.C. United and Jeremy Hall was sent to Portland by the New York Red Bulls earlier in the week.

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Hall won't be the only familiar face for Wallace in Portland though. Wallace will also be joined by his United teammate Jordan Graye, who was selected by the Timbers in the expansion draft today.

Graye backed up Wallace in D.C. this year after Wallace went down with an injury early in the season. Now it looks like Graye will get the chance to back up Wallace again, only this time he'll be doing it 2,800 miles west. I guess that's something to be thankful for.