Photo: Paul Rudderow
Philadelphia Union
The Union were fortunate to get out of Toronto with a draw on Saturday. John Hackworth said, “We didn’t play very well today. It might have been one of our poorest first-half performances this year.” Yep.
Sheanon Williams scored the tieing goal in the 85th minute after a series of plays from the three second half substitutions, Roger Torres, Chandler Hoffman, and Antoine Hoppenot. Williams said, “In the second half I thought there was a huge change, I think that we had a little more of the ball and we did a little bit more of what we wanted to do. We weren’t happy that it took us 45 minutes to get to that point but I thought the guys did a good job of battling hard and to come away with a result. Even at the end we thought that we could steal the game so I think we have to be happy about the second half performance and that the turnaround was a lot better than the first half.”
Match reports and recaps from PSP, MLSsoccer.com, the Union website, Philly Soccer News, The Brotherly Game, the Toronto FC website, The Toronto Star, The Toronto Sun, The Globe and Mail, Sportsnet.ca, Waking the Red, SBI, Goal.com, SB Nation, The AP, and The Sports Network.
Look for PSP’s analysis and player ratings later this morning.
Note that Michael Farfan will miss Thursday’s game against DC for yellow card accumulation.
Perhaps mindful of the sea of empty seats in Toronto, Union season ticket holders received an email from Hackworth on Monday morning that can be briefly summarized as please keep coming to games this season and renew for next season. Hackworth writes, “This club isn’t going to dance around the results or give you any fluff. This year has not gone the way we planned it and it needs to be better…I really like the group of guys in our locker room and we have a great core of young players that will be the foundation of this team for years to come…We’re only a couple of pieces away from having a team that can play an attractive, attacking style of Union soccer and compete in the MLS Cup playoffs. We will get there and we want you to be there with us.” Don’t worry about me, John, I haven’t missed a game yet, don’t plan on missing any anytime soon, and have already renewed.
Local
Matt Driver, who has a long list of noteworthy accomplishments including the founding of the WPSL Elite Leagues Philadelphia Fever and is the owner of Atlantic Soccer Factory, was recently named United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) Coach of the Year for Region 1. He re-launched the Philadelphia Fury brand this year and the team won US Club Soccer’s National Adult League (NAL) Men’s Open Premier Division.
MLS
In Eastern Conference play, a late equalizer from CJ Sapong in Friday’s 1–1 draw with fourth place Houston (46 points) provided the single point that keeps Kansas City (51 points) in first place. Second place Chicago (50 points) topped seventh place Montreal (39 points) 3–1. Thierry Henry’s brace included an olimpico in second half stoppage time as third place New York (49 points) brushed aside sixth place Columbus (42 points) 3–1. DC (44 points) moved back into the fifth place and a playoff spot with a 2–1 win over eighth place New England (28 points). Last place Toronto (22 points) and ninth place Philadelphia (27 points) wasted your time with a 1–1 draw.
The Guardian has five things learned from the weekend’s action.
US Soccer Players looks at how MLS has aided player development for much of CONCACAF.
Marcus Hahnemann has been signed by Seattle.
The sports agency Real Time International is suing LA Galaxy, alleging the team used information it provided to sign Robbie Keane.
More on the proposed stadium deal in Queens. More here, too.
US
The USWNT came from behind to defeat a very young Australia 2–1 in a friendly on Sunday. As these reports from the AP and Reuters make clear, Alex Morgan saved the day.
After the game, departing coach Pia Sundhage “grabbed a guitar and serenaded the Home Depot Center crowd in Carson with a bluesy stanza of Elvis Presley’s ‘Jailhouse Rock.'”
At Soccer 365, Tim Grainey reviews Hope Solo’s recent autobiography. The subjects that he feels Solo missed the opportunity to discuss are interesting, as is his look at how she describes controversies during the 2007 Olympics.
Jozy Altidore netted his first professional hat trick in AZ Alkmaar’s 4–0 win over Roda JC. He assisted on the other goal.
Elsewhere
The mascot of the 2014 World Cup is an as yet unnamed armadillo. Brazilians have three choices for the armadillo’s name to choose from: Amijubi, Fuleco and Zuzeco.
With Marfan out, I guess we won’t be seeing him and Perry Kitchen get into a fight.
The way Hackworth approached that game on Saturday I do not have any faith in him. I need to see actual changes and not an email before I will renew!
Thursday should be put up or shut up time with Adu in the number 10 spot. I’ll give him a fair shake, but if he tries to make the game about him and keeps losing the ball, I won’t be happy.
I appreciate the e-mail from Hackworth, but it’s hard for me to believe that the organization won’t “dance around the results” or give us any “fluff,” considering that all it really did for the first half of the season. Well, that and sell most of the talent on the team.
… you’re talking about the Peter Nowak era, right? Maybe it’s just me, but I treat the Nowak-Union and the Hackworth-Union as two separate entities.
I hear you and certainly understand the distinction you are making. You are correct that there is a night-and-day difference between Nowak and Hackworth.
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Here is my concern. I’ve been a STH from the start. Last year, we were promised that the firesale would improve the team. What we got were two forwards who couldn’t score and a CB that can’t crack the starting lineup. It wasn’t just Nowak that made these promises, and it wasn’t just Nowak that allowed that the personel moves to happen. Yes, getting rid of him was a big step in the right direction, but it doesn’t just absolve the rest of the organization from their complicity.
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I trusted them and got burned. Now they want me to pay them more money and trust them again. Why should I? Shouldn’t they have to earn it back?
They talk about building a so-called core of young players to build around for years to come. Sounds not very different from Nowak. But then they bring in veterans who push the young core to the back. Ah well. In the end, it’s about results. They talk all they want, write all they want, it’s the results that matter.
Entering a new school, Milam, for sixth grade in September 1946, Presley was regarded as a loner. The following year, he began bringing his guitar in on a daily basis. He played and sang during lunchtime, and was often teased as a “trashy” kid who played hillbilly music. The family was by then living in a largely African-American neighborhood.’*
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