Photo: Nicolae Stoian
On Sunday night, PSP broke the news that Diego Gutierrez and Alecko Eskandarian are no longer with the Union. Union Tally and The Goalkeeper soon followed our report. A teleconference is scheduled for today at 1:30pm.
Philadelphia Union
Finishing, finishing, finishing.
John Hackworth said after Saturday’s road loss in Houston, “We didn’t particularly play our best, but we came out in the second half and got an equalizer, and really should have made the game 2-1.” He added, “We had two chances that we just have to put on frame. They are sitters and they have to be finished. They are critical moments in the game and we didn’t finish either of those chances.”
All in all, Hackworth said, “We are disappointed. We thought we at least deserved to get a point out of that.”
Zac MacMath said, “It was a tough game. I thought we came out slower than we wanted to. They got a quick goal and in the second half we played the game we wanted to and got an early goal and maybe should have had two others. We were unfortunate to come out with a loss.
What about that penalty call? Hackworth said, “It was a tough call but we need to go look at the replay a couple of times to see if it was really a PK. Either way, we had two guys in the box vs. one. We have to be smarter about that and defend it better. Then I think we walk out of here with a point.”
Chris Vito says of the call, “In the most-literal sense, yes, the Union lost the match because of Ching’s penalty kick. But neither a PK, nor an errant whistle should have kept the Union from winning. They had opportunities, but failed to deliver on them.”
Apparently, Brian Ching’s flop (in case you were wondering what I think of the call) in the box earned him his first goal at Houston’s new stadium. Whoopdiditydo.
More reports and recaps from the MLSsoccer.com, Union website, AP, Sports Network, Our Sports Central, Goal.com, Dynamo Theory, SBI.
Local
Harrisburg City Islanders finished a three- game season sweep over Rochester Rhinos with a 2-1 road win on Saturday. Lucky Mkosana and Drew Yates tallied for Harrisburg for the win, the first game of a four game road series..
Reading United followed up their 4-0 win on Friday over Bermuda Hogges with another 4-0 win on Sunday, this time against Brooklyn Knights. Deshorn Brown scored a brace in both games and his University of Mobile teammate Stephen Okai had a goal an two assists in the first game, a goal and one assist in the second. Look for PSP’s match report from Sunday’s win later this morning.
Ocean City Nor’easters a 4-0 win of their own over Bermuda on Sunday night.
With the win, Ocean City remain top of the PDL’s the Mid Atlantic Division, four points above second place Reading, who are level on points with Jersey Express.
Highlights from Reading’s win on Friday:
PA Classics U-15/16 team has advanced to the US Development Academy Finals Week in Houston, July 16-23.
MLS
In the Eastern Conference, last place Toronto drew 1-1 with second place New York at home on Saturday and are now within 2 points of the ninth place Union. With their 2-1 win over the Union, fifth place Houston remain 1 point ahead of sixth place Columbus, who defeated Real Salt Lake 2-0. First place DC topped eighth place Montreal 3-0. Kansas City remains in third place after losing 1-0 to fourth place Chicago. Seventh place New England drew 2-2 with Seattle.
The game of the weekend seems to have been San Jose’s dramatic 4-3 comeback win over LA. The match was dramatic in more ways than the scoreline, with David Beckham being shown a yellow for kicking a ball at an injured San Jose player. At least he didn’t punch the San Jose mascot:
The David Beckham double standard? ProSoccerTalk explores.
Kyle McCarthy breaks down the weekend’s action.
New York Assemblyman Francisco Moya says an MLS stadium in Queens is a win-win situation.
Women’s Soccer
Just before the USWNT played China at PPL Park, US Soccer president Sunil Gulati talked to reporters about an upcoming summit to discuss developing a new women’s league to fill the void left by the demise of WPS. That summit happened last week and Jeff Kassouf reports, “Four former WPS teams and current WPSL Elite League, WPSL and potentially, some USL W-League teams would be involved in the new, more modestly budgeted league, which would launch in 2013.” Beau Dure reports that MLS was also represented at the meeting. Kassouf says the league would not have Division 1 status because that “would add extra fees and more expensive minimum standards for teams. Budgets could be in the range of $500,000 per team.” Jenna Pel recaps what is known so far.
Philadelphia Fever lost to FC Indiana on Friday, 1-0. The Fever is now 0-7-2.
US
After reading PSP’s match report on Saturday’s USWNT win over Canada, here are five questions with Abby Wambach.
Noting that in “an era when many sports struggle to maintain ratings, U.S. viewership of international soccer is increasing at a startling rate,” Ronald Blum looks at how ESPN’s coverage of the game has evolved to the point where it is the starting assumption that the US audience has “a fairly deep knowledge” about the game. The last line of the article is a gem.
Corky Blake writes at the Lehigh Valley’s Express-Times, “Soccer is quietly infiltrating the American TV market, not through the growth of the MLS but through video game addiction. Expect more and more European matches to consume American air time whether you like it or not.”
Forbes offers four ways soccer can continue to grow in the US.
The Colorodoan continues the theme of soccer’s growing popularity in an article noting that MLS is now the third highest attended pro sport in the US.
MLS Talk, Soccer America, and MLSsoccer.com note the passing of the American soccer historian David Wangerin. He will be deeply missed.
Elsewhere
Spain becomes the first team to win consecutive European championships and the first to win three major tournaments in a row, defeating Italy 4-0.
Grant Wahl writes, “Let’s call Spain what it is: The most accomplished international soccer team of all time.”
John Smallwood of the Daily News pays homage to Spain.
Andrés Iniesta was named the Player of the Tournament. Ten Spanish players are on the 23-player Team of the Tournament. In addition to winning the tournament’s Golden Boot, Fernando Torres becomes the first player to score in two European championship finals.
Twitter reports that tweets were coming at a rate of more than 15,000 per second after Spain scored its fourth goal, a new sports-related Twitter record.
We have a problem in midfield. Carrol and Gomez make each other ineffectual. We need to change that lineup up.
Honestly, at this point I believe Okugo and Gomez can both anchor the defense as well as Carrol, AND they both provide much more going forward. I think we should trade Carrol for the best non-player assets we can get.
That would allow us to play Okugo/Gomez in midfield, and both can play strong defense but also go forward. The third spot should belong to Marfan and Torres, depending on form and fitness.
And since Marfan has been out of form lately (and yes I put some of the midfield blame on him as well), I want to see Torres in there as soon as possible.
I agree. Starting Carroll and Gomez negates both players. I thought that this was, clearly, evident in the beginning of our season and one of the contributing factors to our horrid start to this year’s campaign. Not sure why Hackworth felt it would be a good move. Carroll has played some very nice defensive football for us, but there are too many CDM’s and he gives us very little offensive support. I would not object to Carroll trade, at this point. He is getting a bit long in the tooth, but would still bring in a decent return.