Photo: Earl Gardner
Philadelphia Union
The Union fell to D.C. United in their first preseason match of the year.
Kevin Kinkead read the full version of his never-published article about C.J. Sapong’s DUI for the latest episode of “It’s Always Soccer in Philadelphia”
Former Union, Steel, and City Islander player Ryan Richter has joined the Philadelphia Union Academy staff.
MLSsoccer.com making sure Union fans get exactly what they want- MORE talk about the new uniform.
Local
11-1. With no hat tricks. Not sure if this says good things about Bethlehem or bad things about Lone Star.
Penn FC (née Harrisburg City Islanders) narrowly beat Long Island University on Friday night.
MLS
Soccer will not be discussed by the Austin city council until at least March. #SaveTheCrew
Toronto and Colorado would like to remind everyone that there’s a reason why MLS doesn’t follow the FIFA calendar.
Big LAFC news coming soon. Probably.
San Jose wins the first Cali Classico of the year, potentially signaling LA is in for another rough season.
What happens to Sacramento if MLS doesn’t grant them a franchise?
US Soccer
Americans Abroad roundup. That’s a roundup in a roundup.
Another Premier League Club has intentions with Christian Pulisic.
World
Vitoria and Bahia of the Portuguese Primeira Liga had to abandon their match on Sunday after nine players were sent off.
Ter Stegen thinks Neymar’s departure made Barcelona a stronger team.
LinkedIn is where you go to find a job, right?
I really want to know who on the Fan Council made it be known that they really really wanted change on the uniform.
I like that they moved on from the center stripe. It had gotten old and wasn’t exactly associated with a winning tradition in the minds of the fans. Moving on from it was a good idea…the problem was that they changed to a plain navy blue high school jersey. The fan council probably just asked for a change and assumed that the FO would change to something with some visual interest. Unfortunately, it seems adidas just grabbed something out of their collection of high school jersey templates and slapped a crest and bimbo bumper sticker on it. The FO took one look at it and said, “Great! Get it done!” Perhaps next time they should have a fan design contest, and then let the fans vote on it.
Granted the Union have not had success yet, but I don’t blame the center stripe.
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If anything the center stripe gives positive identity to the team. Any casual MLS viewer knows it’s Philly when they see that uniform on tv.
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I think the new uniform would have been fine as a third kit, but how are you supposed to build tradition if you take one of the longest characteristics of the team and dump it.
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ps They are not hoops. They are front horizontal stripes.
“…one thing they kept saying to us is we want something new…”
Substitute “to get rid of the horrible Bimbo logo” for “something new” and you’re probably close to the truth.
My current theory on the fan council is they interviewed 25 fans 20 wanted a DP striker/attacking midfielder 4 wanted Letoux back and one dude was like I hate the center stripe on the Uniform… The Union were like “Well..shit. We have to give them something.”
you win. masterstroke.
Neymar is a helluva football player, but man if he doesn’t appear to be a cancer. He seems outright despised by half of his PSG teammates. 3 days off for his birthday? Don’t get it. Will be interesting to see what happens to PSG when they get bounced out of the champion’s league by a supposedly in-crisis Madrid…
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Re: Sacramento FC — What happens to teams like this when MLS is done “expanding”?
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(Wish there was something to talk about regarding the Union….)
In my opinion, Neymar was astounding in that Real game.
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His teammates are unable to raise their level to his. and of course Uni Emery funked it up too with silly substitutions and outsmarting himself.
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By all accounts, Neymar was really well liked with the relationships as displayed on media sites when at Barcelona… but now, welcome to a French home, where uppity takes on a whole new meaning.
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All that to say, I think PSG wins at home and goes through.
PSG have a great history, but currently have no culture in their club. They are a new money side and the reason that players will play there is for obscene amounts of money. And that usually promotes selfishness in the squad and bad behavior. It doesn’t help that they have hired managers that aren’t high profile or alpha dogs.
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Man City used to suffer from the same thing until Pep and Begiristain arrived to give the project credibility. Now, they are a juggernaut.
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Neymar didn’t act up at Barcelona because they won things before he got there and had some of the best players in the world at their positions. He had to fit in.
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Not sure what will happen in next leg, but agree that Neymar’s teammates let him down. Between Kroos and Isco, they completed 42 of 45 passes in the final third…that’s incredible
Have to admit I didn’t watch much of that match (was too busy with Liverpool’s smashing of Porto). So my view is a bit too colored by the pretty rough appraisals Neymar and Co. received from the Guardian’s Football weekly/extra crew. But yeah, I also have to admit, I never heard a sour word about the guy while he was with Barca.
Hey, I’ve got really good tickets to the TFC – Colorado game Tues. You can have them for $1 each…free??? Anyone? Anyone? I’ll even throw in some hand warmers. Go FIFA calendar. Funny how most of the people advocating for switching schedules live in the south. Or have never tried to slide tackle on frozen turf(I’ve still got the scars on my thighs). Or never taken a frozen ball in the face. Makes for great soccer. Even with a winter break in the schedule(see Bundesliga) you would still be dealing with weather like Denver tomorrow.
I fully expect to see an opening day snow somewhere, but 10deg weather is no joke for a soccer game. That is not going to be a fun match to watch.
Most people advocating for it admit there’s going to have to be a long winter break and some scheduling flexibility with warm weather locations hosting games in early Dec and late Feb.
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The only people I’ve seen that state that suggest a switch of the calendar would entail playing in Jan and early Feb are those that are against switching. It’s become a total strawman.
#EthanHodbyforUnion10
Anybody know what happened to the latest ‘Footy on the Telly’?
Thanks Joel, it’s back up
Yay! Thanks!
Correction: “Vitoria and Bahia of the *Brazilian Serie A* had to …”
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So much for the “Classico da Paz” (peace derby), the minute of silence before kickoff, etc.