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Adu on PK, power rankings, USA v North Korea, more

Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Philadelphia Union

Freddy Adu said of his penalty kick goal on Sunday, “Gavi [Gómez] wanted to take it but I talked to him. I told him I wanted to take it. I’m confident. I had taken the ones before when he wasn’t around because he was injured. I felt good, so I stepped up and took it.”

John Hackworth said, “Freddy said, ‘I wanted it,’ and [Gabriel] Gómez looked over at me because he’s really good at those, too, and I said, ‘Let Freddy take it.’ When a player’s feeling it like that, you don’t want to mess with that. It was great for him to put that in the back of the net.”

At the Inside Doop, Dave Zeitlin wonders if Bakary Soumare will make his Union debut on the road this weekend against Montreal and names Carlos Valdes his Player of the Week. Look for PSP’s Player of the Week later this morning.

Saer Sane’s goal against the Union on Sunday night is up for Goal of the Week.

Power rankings are in from Soccer America, which has the Union move up one spot to No. 13. At SI, the Union move up one spot to No. 12. At ESPN, they stay at No. 12.

The legacy of the All-Star Game includes a new playground in Chester, a new Fun Center for children undergoing treatment at the Crozer-Chester Medical Center, and Union fan Andrew Pollickton winning the league’s Community MVP contest, which means $10,000 for the charity Animal Rescue.

Olympics

USA

The USWNT takes on North Korea today in their final group stage match at 12:15pm (NBCSN, Live Extra). Here’s today’s complete Olympic soccer schedule:

9:30am – Canada vs Sweden – MSNBC, Live Extra
9:30am – Japan vs South Africa – Live Extra
12:15pm – USA vs North Korea – NBCSN, Live Extra
12:15pm – France vs Colombia – MSNBC, Live Extra
2:45pm – Great Britain vs Brazil – Live Extra
2:45pm – New Zealand vs Cameroon – Live Extra

Apparently, the US and North Korean teams, who had been staying at the same hotel in Glasgow, have been bonding over some pool and table tennis.

Colombia’s Lady Andrade was given a two-match ban for punching Abby Wambach during Saturday’s group stage match. Andrade had earlier said officials should investigate the USWNT “because they’re the United States,” adding, “The whistle always goes in their favor. They were hitting us and hitting us, but there was never a whistle.”

Sporting News says the women’s soccer tournament is all about Hope Solo, “just as Hope Solo wanted.” Soccer America and Goal.com add their two cents.

For her part, Solo has refused to apologize for her “controversial” tweets that were critical of NBC color analyst Brandi Chastain, saying she was simply expressing her opinion.

Local lass Carli Lloyd is keeping an Olympic journal for the Inquirer. Understandably, she is stoked about playing today at Old Trafford. The USA v North Korea match will be only the second women’s match ever at Old Trafford.

Men’s tournament

Switzerland’s Michel Morganella has been expelled from the tournament after he posted threatening and racist remarks about South Koreans following his team’s 2-1 loss to South Korea on Sunday.

Both Spain and Honduras face disciplinary action following Sunday’s game which saw seven Spanish players and six Honduran players receive yellow cards.

Local

A number of players with local connections have been named to the PDL All-Eastern Conference Team. From Ocean City Nor’easters is goalkeeper John McCarthy. Reading United is represented by defender Greg Cochrane, midfielder Stephen Okai, and forward Deshorn Brown. University of Pennsylvania standout and New York Red Bulls draft pick Christian Barreiro was also selected.

Drexel’s women’s team will begin preseason training this weekend.

MLS

Tim Cahill said of joining New York Red Bulls, “I think with opportunities in football, you can’t stutter. It’s such a big club, the New York Red Bulls, and to play with Thierry Henry and a big squad, I made my decision pretty quick. I made sure it happened and gave my commitment to give everything. There were two years left on my contract [with Everton], so part of me was mixed emotions. But I’m happy now and can’t wait to get started.”

San Jose have acquired Mehdi Ballouchy from New York.

Danny Califf was named to the Team of the Week at ProSoccerTalk and SI.

With Joe Cannon suspended, former Union goalkeeper Brad Knighton looks to make his first start of the season on August 11 against Real Salt Lake.

CONCACAF Champions League play returns this evening with Real Salt Lake traveling to Costa Rica to play CS Herediano.

Deadspin called 11-year-old Harper Gruzins’ rendition of the National Anthem before last weekend’s Dallas v LA game—which happened to be the best attended game in FC Dallas history—the worst version ever. Gruzin blamed the vuvzelas, saying, “It wasn’t my best performance because I couldn’t hear myself and the blowhorns got me off key. But God allowed this to happen, so I know it’s what he wants. So I wouldn’t change it. Next time I hope there’s no blowhorns.” I just glad that first, vuvzelas are not allowed at PPL Park and, second, we sing the national anthem.

Elsewhere

Manchester United have launched their New York Stock Exchange listing with shares starting at between $16 and $20. Contrary to initial information, half of the money raised from the stock offering will go directly into the pockets of the Glazers. Some United supporters are understandably not pleased.

Chevrolet will be the new shirt sponsor of Manchester United beginning in the 2014-15 season. The news comes after the announcement that the automobile maker would be the official automotive partner of United, which was itself followed by a similar deal with Liverpool.

8 Comments

  1. Chevy and Man U? That just seems wrong. I don’t even like Man U, but Chevy is a weird sponsor for them.

    • They are trying to up their visibility as a global brand. Kind of like Bimbo sponsoring a soccer team in the MLS.

      • Yeah, the car market in China is booming right now. Buick is huge there and is seen as a status symbol. With Man U increasingly looking to the Far East for miscellaneous revenue, Chevy actually makes sense as a sponsor. But I’ll admit, it seems weird at first.

  2. WilkersonMcLaser says:

    Not to be political, it would almost be appropriate for ManU to emblazen “American Taxpayers” on their shirts instead of the Chevy sigil. That would be a hoot. How’s that for public diplomacy?

  3. WilkersonMcLaser says:

    By the way, Avi Creditor’s ESPN piece says that moving Okugo to CB was Nowak’s decision. Is that true? My memory is telling me otherwise, with Sheanon paired with Valdes at CB and Gaddis out right. Hack returned us to defensive cohesion by restoring the Sheanomenon to RB and putting Okugo alongside Carlos. Am I wrong?

    • Yes, Nowak played Okugo there first. Okugo first played CB for the Union in the US Open Cup game at DCU because Sheanon Williams was hurt and Carlos Valdes was the only center back on the roster. Okugo had played CB with the youth internationals, so Nowak made the logical move. His only other alternative was Gabriel Gomez, who, if I recall correctly, was hurt at the time, so he didn’t have many options.

  4. “It’s such a big club, the New York Red Bulls”…erm…I mean, sure the man wants to say the right things and all, but how on earth did he say that with a straight face?

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