Photo: Nicolae Stoian

Union

In case you missed it, on Sunday we posted an extensive round up of match reports from the Philadelphia Union’s 1–1 draw with Toronto FC and reaction to the clinching of a playoff berth. We also posted Eli Pearlman-Storch’s match report and Nicolae Stoian’s photo essay of the game.

More match reports from SBI, Philly Soccer News, Toronto Star.

The Union has a photo collection from Saturday up on Facebook.

Faryd Mondragon said after the game, “Playoffs are coming, so the idea was to get a couple of games before the playoffs start. Unfortunately, we did not win today to give our fans a last (home) game victory, but the most important thing is our target is accomplished and we are in the playoffs.“

At the Daily News, Kerith Gabriel shares two great quotes, one reacting to making the playoffs and the other looking at the New York game on Thursday:

In reaction to making the playoffs, Justin Mapp said, “To be in the top three and to be clinching a spot in only our second year after a great first year, it means a lot to this club, players, coaches and management. The coaching staff put a lot into this and the fans have been behind us all year, so it’s big, but why stop here? I think we have the talent to make a run at this thing.”

About facing New York on Thursday, Sheanon Williams said, “They’re not in [the playoffs] yet. They are going to fight and give it everything they got. But we want to be [Eastern Conference champions] so we plan to give it everything we got, too. We already have a rivalry [with New York] and we don’t like each other very much, so we’ll definitely be going hard after each other.”

At the Inquirer, Marc Narducci makes plain the implications of Thursday’s game at New York: “If the Union win Thursday’s 8 p.m. game in Harrison, NJ, against the New York Red Bulls, they would earn a first-round bye…As it is, the Union could win the division—or finish in fourth place. That is how close things are. Teams receive three points for a win and one for a tie.”

The Bleacher Report “analyzes” why the Union are in the playoffs, if “analyzes” is defined as a photo slideshow with some obvious and shallow observations.

MLS

The New York Times looks at the playoff situation from a Energy Drinks point of view. In all, four teams—Chicago, DC, New York and Portland—are fighting for the final spot.

Sunday night’s “SuperClasico” between Chivas USA and the Galaxy ended with a 1–0 win for Beckham and crew.

The  64,140 on hand to watch the Sounders final home game of the regular season brought their average attendance for the season up to a very impressive 38,498. With the win over San Jose, Seattle apparently won something called the Heritage Cup.

US

Yanks Abroad cautions about the USMNT that it is not time to panic. Yet.

Guatemala advanced into the CONCACAF World Cup qualification semifinal group that includes the US and Jamaica when Grenada drew 1–1 tie with St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Saturday.

Elsewhere

A total of four Caribbean Football Union officials have been suspended for their part in the Mohamed Bin Hammam bribery investigation with three reprimanded and five more warned.

League Managers’ Association chief executive Richard Bevan has warned that some foreign owners want the system of relegation/promotion abolished from the Premiership.

An unidentified Premiership club is reported to have used DNA tests to determine if its players carry genes that make them more susceptible to certain injuries.

Good ol’ ‘Arry Redknapp, just being a lad, describing his ignorance of this crazy world we live in. “I didn’t see the twit, the tweet, because I can’t work a tweeter. I don’t know what it is. I haven’t got a clue what a tweet is. It’s beyond me all this tweeting and Facebooking. I don’t understand it as I live in another world to that so I don’t know if he’s tweeted or not. In fact I couldn’t care if he did or he didn’t really. We used to talk to each other at one time and now we talk on computers and all that. I don’t know what the world’s coming to really.”