Daily news roundups

“Work in progress.” Video highlights & reaction from Orlando, more news

Philadelphia Union

PSP was fortunate to travel to Orlando last weekend to cover the preseason friendly against Orlando City and accompanying Fan Weekend events organized by the club. Check out our match report from Eli Pearlman-Storch of the game and look for his player ratings from the game. Photo essays of the game and fan events from Earl Gardner are to follow. Our thanks for the hospitality extended by the Philadelphia Union and Orlando City, to our new friends among the fans who made the trip, and to the Union players, all of whom were very gracious in spending time with the fans. A big thank you from me to Earl and Eli for all of their hard work over the weekend. It was a pleasure to watch them at work.

Video highlights of the game:

Reactions from Danny Califf, Peter Nowak and Zac MacMath:

Califf says, “It’s a work in progress.”

Nowak says, “We didn’t work particularly on the tactical part, there’s a lot of exercises in the playbook that need to be repeated. That’s what we go into the second camp [for], to establish this rhythm. There wasn’t too much fluid today, we couldn’t find the good spot, but, as I said, I don’t blame them for that because the last two weeks they put a lot of good work in.”

Match reports from the Orlando City website,the Orlando Sentinel and the Union website.

Zac MacMath gets a profile in MLSsoccer.com’s countdown to first kick.

The comedy stylings of Philly Union talk are on full display, as is some tactical analysis.

Chile v Ghana

Ilovechile.cl provides some back story on next week’s international friendly at PPL Park between Chile and Ghana. The match was to take place at MetLife Stadium but that deal fell through. The Chilean paper El Mercurio attempted to track down the game’s organizer Moses Kanduri, whose previous experience appears to be much smaller events such as “Latino Nights with Live DJ” in the Bronx. Going to the address of Ozesports, the company listed as the promoter of the game, the paper found a bar. ANFP, the governing body of Chilean soccer, released a statement saying, “Chile was invited to play against Ghana by Njoya Salim, an accredited FIFA agent and manager. As stated in the agreement, Moses Kanduri is the promoter of the match.”

It looks like Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan won’t be at PPL Park. Gyan says he has “temporarily” quit from International soccer, although the Ghanian FA is meeting with him to reconsider his decision.

MLS

The league released its roster rules for 2012 last week, confirming that Designated Players will count for $350,000 against a team’s salary cap, as well as the previously released new rules about Young DPs. The summer transfer window was also moved up to be open June 27 – July 27. Previously it had been open mid-July through mid-August.

One contributor at Seattle blog Sounder at Heart writes of the trade of Mike Fucito and local lad Lamar Nagle in order to acquire Eddie Johnson, “From an emotional standpoint, this isn’t as hard for me as losing Sebastien LeToux, but it’s still highly disappointing.”

Soccer America looks at the upside of Johnson.

The Vancouver Sun says Montreal should have gotten more for Brian Ching than a single first round draft pick in 2013.

Three weeks before the start of the season and Dwayne “Dancing Fool” De Rosario still doesn’t have a new contract with DC United.

What does the release of promising young Home grown players Matt Kassel and Sacir Hot by the Red Bulls mean? Big Apple soccer says, “They have to win MLS Cup for this season to be considered successful; They are giving up on develop American players; And it sounds like the management is desperate.”

A source tells Big Apple Soccer, “Hans [Backe] knows his players and the young guys are never given a chance at even the bench. They’re basically used as traffic cones in practice.”

Now back in England to continue his career there, former LA Galaxy Chris Birchall says, “When you have played in the MLS you get more respect from players than you do from managers. Some managers still think there’s that stigma of playing in the MLS and only certain players can play at a higher level. But when I’ve trained with Oldham and Vale some of the players said they envied me for playing in LA. From a manager’s point of view, though, they don’t see the standard as being so high.”

Isportsweb says MLS doesn’t need Linsanity. “Unlike it’s fellow American sports Major League Soccer will stick to what a league is supposed to be known for–the best players,the best teams the best competition. You can have your social media gimmicks and pun headlines and we’ll stick to the play on the field; not what’s trending on twitter or the latest skit on Saturday Night Live.”The Castrol Index will be back this season as the motor oil company renews it’s sponsorship with the league.

WPS/WPSL

Before the news that Philadelphia Fever was joining the WPSL Elite League as the eighth and final team of the new league came word that New England Mutiny was joining as the seventh team. The Mutiny are the oldest East Coast WPSL team, having joined the league in 2003. More on the Mutiny here.

The owner of Philadelphia Fever, Matt Driver, was one of the founders of the Philadelphia Independence. He says of the Fever representing Philadelphia in the Elite League, “We were going to enter the WPSL anyway.” He also says it makes no difference to the future of the Fever if the Independence and WPS return as planned in 2013. “The WPS doesn’t impact us one way or the other. Our focus is on player development.

Savewomenssoccer.org has launched to help focus energy on ensuring that top flight professional soccer returns to the US.

US

The New York Times has roster predictions for next week’s friendly between the USMNT and Italy. Once again, I somehow do not make the cut.

The Armchair Analyst says neither the USMNT, nor the US U-23 team, have the skill or experience to adopt the 4–3–3.

USWNT coach Pia Sundhage, whose contract expires in December, is focused only on winning a gold medal at the Olympics.

US Soccer has partnered with the US State Department on the “Empowering Women and Girls Through Sports Initiative” in which “former members of the U.S. Women’s and Men’s National Teams will be dispatched across the world to engage women and girls on the soccer field.”

Called up for both the Mexico and US U-20 camps, Juan Pablo Ocegueda has chosen the US.

Elsewhere

AEG has denied reports saying the company is interested in buying Tottenham.

Nearly all of Mexico’s first division clubs have joined Chivas de Guadalajara in banning the sports tabloid Record. Alejandro Gomez, the sports director of the publishing group that owns the tabloid, says, “This is dangerous. Today it was us, but tomorrow any club that is unhappy with coverage of its team can ask for the same thing and the rest will have to go along. It’s a shame because Mexican football needs to improve and polish its image instead of taking measures like this.”

Finally, there’s this:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*