Today’s Major League Soccer amateur draft begins today at 2 p.m. at the Philadelphia Convention Center., where the National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention began Wednesday. You can follow the draft live on ESPN2 and online at ESPN360.com, and the Philly Soccer Page will post the Union’s draft picks here as they happen.

The Union will have two first round picks, thanks to a trade last night with D.C. United.    Philadelphia get the 7th pick in the draft and Brazilian midfielder Fred, while D.C. United gets the Union’s spot in the MLS allocation order, which gave them the opportunity to acquire U.S. international goalkeeper Troy Perkins. (More on this in an upcoming post.)

The Delaware County Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News look ahead to today’s draft. The Union are expected to take Oregon State forward Danny Mwanga with the first pick.

U.S. international captain Carlos Bocanegra found the pitch again Wednesday, playing all 120 minutes for Rennes after being benched for several games.   Fellow American Eddie Johnson debuted for Aris Thessalonika. (More European soccer news after the jump.)

Liverpool was knocked out of the FA Cup yesterday by (drumroll please) Reading. Watch out for crazy celebrations from the Philly Soccer Page’s resident Reading fans. As if things weren’t bad enough at Anfield, Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard and Yossi Benayoun will each miss significant time due to injuries.

Togo international and Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor had one of the victims of the assault on his national team die in his arms, according to the London Guardian.