Union
Individual and group tickets for the March 26 home opener against Vancouver are on sale now.
John Hackworth on what the Union are thinking ahead of Thursday’s SuperDraft: “We have specific targets based on our needs…If there is a player that we feel is so good at a position (we don’t value as highly), we’ll have to make some tough decisions on that, but we have specific needs in this draft and that is how we are approaching it at this point.”
The Union website has a piece evaluating its 2010 SuperDraft picks.
If history is any indication in terms of how expansion teams fare in their second year, the Union will have a much better year in 2011.
Chris Seitz says he looks at 2010 as a “learning experience” but argues the poor results were not his fault alone. “I think if you look at it, we never really had a standard back four…We never had a consistent starting 11. Defensively, as a whole, we struggled. Individually, I got highlighted for that.”
Local
Shawnee High Sghool senior Shannon Dennehey has been named an all-American by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
MLS
Sunday was an off day at the MLS Players Combine but the USMNT U-20 squad had a intrasquad scrimmage. Joe Gyau, who plays for Hoffenheim’s U-23 team, apparently stole the show.
Soccer America looks at Western Conference team’s targets ahead of Thursday’s SuperDraft.
MLS Talk looks at ten SuperDraft players who will make an immediate impact in the league.
Echoing the sentiments voiced by Chris Seitz, Troy Perkins says he was he scapegoat for DC United’s woes in 2010. Now with Portland, Perkins says, “I want to show people, all the doubters, all the people (in D.C.) that were happy to see me go, or that thought I was a one-hit thing, that’s not the case. I have a huge chip on my shoulder and I’ll prove them all wrong.”
This ESPN blogger argues that the drain of young American talent to destinations abroad needs to be plugged.
Dan Garber to MLS fans in South Florida: No MLS team in Miami any time soon.
Kenny Cooper is coming back to MLS to join Portland Timbers.
Thierry Henry is training with Arsenal to get fit for MLS.
With the loan to Tottenham apparently an “ongoing” negotiation, this piece argues it’s time for MLS to show Beckham the door.
Former Nigeria and Kansas City Wizards star Uche Okaf took his own life on Thursday.
College
Akron’s Darlington Nagbe won 2010 Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Trophy as the top player in NCAA Division I men’s soccer. With Teal Bunbury winning the award last year, this is the first time since 1985-1986 that a different player from the same school has won the award. Stanford forward Christen Press was named the to[ player in NCAA Division I women’s soccer.
US
With Freddy Adu getting a “lukewarm response” from Ingolstadt Benno Mohlmann, the club apparently is targeting Edson Buddle.
Ukrainian-American striker Eugene Starikov has joined the USMNT training camp ahead of the January 22 friendly against Chile.
Elsewhere
Soccer America looks at that the penalty that led to the goal that gave Manchester United the win over Liverpool and argues that Rule 12 needs to be rewritten.
Club officials at Stevenage vow to find the person who punched defender Scott Laird during the pitch invasion following the club’s upset victory over Newcastle in the FA Cup.
A leading German lawyer has resigned in protest from FIFA’s ethics committee, saying “The events of the past few weeks have raised and strengthened the impression that responsible persons in FIFA have no real interest in playing an active role in resolving, punishing and avoiding violations against ethic regulations of FIFA.”
Here’s a roundup of Asian Cup results, including Qatar’s 2–0 loss to Uzbekistan.
It’s no coincidence that when the back line really started to fire on all cylinders that the Union tallied its first shutout of the season … and with BK18 in net. Of course Seitz was getting “highlighted” for that, since he’s the last line of defense and people can specifically point to his flubs and gaffs. But he did let in some really soft goals (DeRo’s goal at TFC, Arnaud’s goal at home, etc) that you can’t directly blame on the any of the defenders.