Latest from the PSP: We had match reports from the Everton and Real Madrid friendlies. Earl Gardner put together stunning photo essays from the Everton match, the Madrid match and a special set from the Everton U-17 game. Ed has a stat chat from the Madrid game that proves Michael Farfan is a $100 million player. We continue to spread the Independence love with player ratings from Mike Servedio that feature a low rating for Jen Buczkowski (totally undeserved, Mike!) Mr. Servedio also offers up a man on the street piece covering the Independence players’ trip to the Union v Everton match. And for no charge at all, Ed takes you through the history of friendly matches in Philadelphia in a two-part series. (part 1, part 2)

Union

The Union U-17s dropped the Seattle Sounders 1-0 in the opening match of the Generation Adidas Cup. Darius Madison had the finish for the Union.

Soccer By Ives sees Danny Mwanga making big strides this season. Totally agree, although “some pressure taken off of him to produce with Carlos Ruiz and Sebastien LeToux taking most of the shots on offense” doesn’t quite make sense.

Uwishunu has a great shot of the Linc filled with soccer fans. I’m going to start adding, “even Ryan Howard was there” to the end of every exciting story.

Christian Hernandez is Philly Soccer News’ Player of the Week. I’m also going to say he’s on Everton’s radar because PSP never gets to start any fun rumors and this one would be superduper fun.

The Brotherly Game says the Union are in a bind if they want to bring in foreign talent during the transfer window.

Sheanon Williams will be the special guest at the next Budweiser Red Card event in Eagleville, PA this Wednesday.

Ives Galarcep struggles to find a single personnel move that hasn’t worked out for the Union this season.

JP Dellacamera gives his half-season assessment of the Union and says that David Beckham is having his best year in MLS. Sure, but the real question to ask: Is it his most marketable season? Priorities, JP!

Monterrey will travel to Houston for a friendly on September 9. This will be the first MLS matchup for the Mexicans since they beat Real Salt Lake for the CONCACAF Champions League crown.

MLS

In case you missed it, Mario Balotelli thought he was offsides and passed up an easy goal in favor or a hilariously poor spin move. The look on Edin Dzeko’s face says it all.

Goal.com sees the MLS MVP race coming down to Brek Shea and Thierry Henry. If you take Brian Carroll from the moment he became the lone holding midfielder through the rest of the year, you have yourself an MVP candidate. Whether commentators recognize it is irrelevant; you can be sure the players do.

Goal also talks with Tim Howard about MLS and his post-soccer plans. If this interview was held in Philadelphia, would Howard still show up?

Carolina Railhawks coach Martin Rennie is rumored to be the favorite for the head coaching job with the Montreal Impact when they join MLS next season. Wonder if he’ll take his staring goalie with him.

Keeping up the trend of ignoring the Union’s incredible first half run, the final six players added to the All-Star team included none from Philly. Seattle’s Osvaldo Alonso got the most player votes, and the other five additions – all of whom are inactive for the All-Star showdown itself – include Dwayne de Rosario, Joel Lindpere, Eric Hassli, Juninho, and Nick Rimando. It’s so weird that the Red Bulls aren’t in first place when half their team are All-Stars.

David Beckham issues a series of non-committal quotes that USA Today takes to mean he wants to play in MLS. Listen everyone: David Beckham likes to keep you happy. It’s part of what makes him such a good marketing tool. He enjoys everything while he’s doing it and just as quickly moves on when something better comes along.

The Shin Guardian points out what is both scary and obvious: There appears to be a generation of Mexican stars that can outclass the next crop of young Americans.

And more

A look at TV ratings from the Scheidtcast shows over 21 million viewers for the Women’s World Cup final.

The Turkish first division is pushing the start of the season back a month as investigations into widespread match-fixing continue.

Sergio Batista is out as Argentina coach after his side flopped out of the Copa America.

Barcelona’s World Football Challenge roster leaves off those who played in Copa America, but includes Xavi, Andres Iniesta and overrated dive machine Sergio Busquets.

Veronica Boquette claimed WPS Player of the Week honors for Week 14. She has been very, very good since joining the Independence, and it showed as her absence hurt the team mightily last weekend.