Featured image: Ed Farnsworth

PSP wishes all of you a happy and safe Fourth of July!

Philadelphia Union

John Hackworth said of tonight’s game against LA Galaxy (10:30pm; CSN, MLS Direct Kick, MLS Live), “If we correct some things we did on Saturday night, we’ll get a good result against LA…Anytime you have to deal with Donovan and Keane at the same time, you will have your hands full.”

In case you missed it, here’s PSP’s match preview.

More previews of tonight’s game from CSN Philly, JP Dellacamera, Philly.com, Goal.com, the AP, Americas Bookie, and the Brotherly Game.

Omar Gonzalez, the defender who has been out since January recovering from a knee injury, will be available for the Galaxy tonight.

Chris Vito writes at Union Tally of the recent dismissal of Diego Gutierrez and Alecko Eskadarian, given that the team is in the midst of the summer transfer window, “So maybe the dismissal of Gutierrez wasn’t the most timely, but – after listening to Hackworth – you get the sense that it was a personnel move within the technical staff that had to be made.”

Kerith Gabriel has an entertaining and informative profile on Zach Pfeffer, “a high school student with an incredibly unusual after-school gig: He’s a full-blown professional athlete.”

More power rankings? At MLSsoccer.com and ProSoccerTalk, the Union continue the wider trend of moving up one spot to No. 16 despite losing over the weekend. Says MLSsoccer.com, “The losses keep piling up, but right now they’re the losses of a young team that’s making young mistakes, not a confused team making confused mistakes. There’s a ‘RSL in 2007’ air about this group, but they’ll need to take a few more lumps along the way.” At SBI, ESPN, and SB Nation, the Union remain at No. 17.

Local

Andrew Marshall and Jason Pelletier of the Harrisburg City Islanders have been named to USL PRO’s Team of the Week. Local lad Corey Hertzog, on loan from New York Red Bulls to Wilmington Hammerhead, was named Player of the Week.

Lehigh Valley United’s U-16 boys team won the US Youth Soccer Region 1 title on Tuesday with two goals from Colby Thomas.

Chris Gomez (PDA; Jamison, Pa.) and Sean Wilson (PDA; Bethlehem, Pa.) were part of the US U-15 team that participated at the Copa Mexico de Naciones. Here’s an overview of the team’s recent travels.

MLS

There are a whole slew of games tonight. If the Union lose to LA and Toronto wins in Dallas, the Union will drop to last place.

Houston and Chicago battled to a scoreless draw on Tuesday night.

Danny Mwanga scored his first goal for Portland in his first home start as his new team defeated San Jose 2-1 on Tuesday night.

Said Mwanga of the goal, his first of the season, “It’s one of the best feelings ever, seeing all the fans jumping up and down and chanting. It just feels great. Just being able to do it in front of the fans, you really feel a part of something. Seeing how the people support you it really gives you motivation to keep working harder and harder to make those people proud.”

Shea Salinas started a game for San Jose in the loss for the first time since Rafa Marquez broke his collarbone on April 14.

Soccer America wonders if Sunday’s game between San Jose and LA was the best MLS game ever.

ProSoccerTalk says, while most applauded the rule changes implemented this year governing where the MLS cup will be played, “What if the final lands at one of the less-desirable venues?”

The New York Times reports on the difficulties Montreal Impact is having garnering consistent fan support.

Don Garber will be speaking at the 5th annual Leaders in Football conference, which is being hosted by Chelsea FC, in October.

In lower league news, here’s more on FC New York’s failed attempt to wear jersey’s featuring Mitt Romney’s name and campaign slogan. If I know it’s against FIFA rules to wear jerseys with political or religious messages on them, you’d think someone at the club would have also known before they announced they would be wearing the jerseys. How long it will be before someone complains about this being a case of American freedoms being curtailed by a foreign power, particularly given today’s date, is anyone’s guess, though I would imagine whoever would do so probably thinks soccer is un-American anyway.

Eric Wynalda’s appointment as head coach of the Atlanta Silverbacks is receiving wide coverage, including this from ESPN, ESPN LA, Independent Weekly and Union Dues.

Women’s Soccer

The Philadelphia Fever are on the Road Thursday to play FC Indiana. Here’s a match preview and an interview with FC Indiana’s coach, Shek Borkowski.

Kara Hinkelmon, a recent graduate of Cabrini College, recently made her first first team appearance with the Philadelphia Fever. Her alma mater has a profile.

US

Bleacher Report and Philly Union Talk celebrate the Fourth of July with top ten lists of the greatest USMNT victories.

Elsewhere

For the first time since they were instituted in 1992, Brazil has dropped out of the top ten in the FIFA rankings. The US dropped eight spots to No. 36.

Now that the final numbers are in, ESPN reports that the Euro 2012 final set a new record for a European Championship final in the US with an average audience of 4.068 million. ESPN Deportes recorded its highest numbers ever for the final. Overall, average viewership throughout the tournament was up 51 percent compared to 2008.

Dead Spin reports that UEFA was playing fast and loose with the “live” feed of Euro 2012 games, inserting pre-recorded shots of fans at key moments in the games.

Here’s a new way to analyze and visualize match statistics using network theory.

The AP reports that Manchester United has filed with the Security and Exchange Commission “to hold an initial public offering of stock and become a listed company on the New York Stock Exchange.” The move includes the Glazers relocating the registration of the company that owns the club to the tax haven that is the Cayman Islands. One writer for the Guardian says the club’s supporters should not panic. You can read the SEC application here.