Union

Individual and group tickets went on sale yesterday. Buy! Buy! Buy!

On Wednesday we posted an update that linked to a Twitter message from former Trinidad & Tobago goalkeeper Shaka Hilsop that said Thorne Holder had signed with the Union. Big Apple Soccer.com posted a story saying that Holder’s former college, Aldelphi University, had announced the signing with a quote from coach Carlo Acquista congratulating Holder. (The report also said Holder played the entire second half in Sunday’s win over UCF.) Later in the day, Acquista told The Brotherly Game that reports that Holder has signed with the Union are false, although the post’s headline described the reports as “premature,” (“Premature” is definitely better than “false” when it comes to knowing who the club’s third keeper will be.) Just to make things more confusing, on Thursday morning, the news roundup on the MLS site linked to the Big Apple story.

From the Union website, details have been released about the upcoming trip to Greece, February 23 through March 10. The team will train at Pancretan Stadium (see featured photo), home of Greek Superleague side Ergotelis FC who they will play on March 2. On February 28 the team will play an exhibition match against Greek Third Division (Gamma Ethniki) side Hersonissos FC. According to Wikipedia, Ergotelis is based in Heraklion, the largest city of the Greek island of Crete. Last season Ergotelis placed 11th out of the 16 teams in the league. Interestingly, while there is no Wikipedia page for “Hersonissos FC” there is one for “Olympiakos Chersonissos FC,” who are based in Chersonissos, Crete and finished 6th out of 17 teams last season in the Gamma Ethniki. Nikos Papadopoulos, president of Colonial Marble & Granite, who are sponsoring the trip, said, “We are proud to sponsor the Union’s training camp in Greece this season and hope our team brings another amazing year of soccer to fans.” I wonder if that Carlos Ruiz fellow will meet the club there? It’ll save him some airfare, anyway.

C'mon now, they don't look bad at all

WV Hooligan has an updated list of the Allocation Order list. The Union is now second.

The second part of JP Dellacamera’s season preview looks at the Western Conference.

Images of adult jerseys in the Union shop at MLS Gear.com now show the Bimbo logo. Well, at least some of them do. While there is some inconsistency in terms of the logo appearing on 2011 or 2010 version of men’s jerseys, none of the women or youth jerseys feature the logo. (By the way, the third kit design that briefly appeared several weeks ago has still not reappeared.) In the shop on the Union’s own website, the logo still does not appear on any of the jerseys and a message saying “Until further notice, all items shipped will be WITHOUT the “Bimbo” logo” appears on the main page.

The Union’s new “Doop” commercial has premiered. Why does the our glorious pitch look like asphalt?

Independence

Sinead Farrelly and Lauren Fowlkes are with the US Womens U-23 team in Spain to participate in the Four Nations tournament. New Hope’s Amber Brooks (UNC) and Montclair’s Ingrid Wells (Georgetown) are also with the team, as is Downingtown-native and WNY Flash defender Elli Reed.

MLS

Charlie Davies has signed with DC United.

Portland Timbers get Sal Zizzo from Chivas USA.

Former Columbus Crew and DC United player Danny Szetela was arrested last Friday, along with his two brothers, for a brawl outside of a bar in Boonton, NJ. Citing “off-field issues”, DC United waived Szetela in March of 2010.

US

SI profiles Clint Dempsey, who is on the brink of breaking Brian McBride’s record for the most goals scored by an American (nine) in a Premiership season.

Elsewhere

Did you know Barcelona hasn’t won an away Champions League knockout game under Pep Guardiola?

A high court ruling in London has denied former Liverpool owner Tom Hicks’ attempts to have his suit for damages heard in Texas.

The General Court of the European Union has denied attempts by UEFA and FIFA to sell exclusive European Championship and World Cup broadcasting rights to the highest bidder which means that free-to-air broadcast can remain in place.

In today’s Europa league action on GolTV, you can watch Benfica v Stuttgart live from 1pm, Sparta Prague v Liverpool live from 3pm, and a delayed broadcast of Sevilla v Porto at 5pm.