Daily news roundups / Featured

Garfan ankle, Cruz good, Adu & Johnson, more news

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

Philadelphia Union

Houston Dynamo have announced that Saturday’s game against the Union (7:30pm, NBCSN) has sold out.

Kerith Gabriel reports that Gabriel Farfan was wearing “a walking boot” on his left foot, which head trainer Paul Rushing described as “a precautionary measure.”

John Hackworth elaborated at Wednesday’s weekly press conference, “His ankle is not doing as well as we thought. So we rested him today and we’ll try to evaluate and see if he can be ready for Saturday.”

At CSN, Ryan Bright checks in with Danny Cruz, who says, “I feel good…my body feels good and I’m ready for the weekend. I feel back to normal, which is good.”

Hackworth said of Cruz, “Danny has been a great acquisition for us…We know Danny really well, we know what he’s capable of. He’s a proven player in this league and he continues to do so with us. It’s been a seamless transition for him into our locker room and we think that bodes well for us going into 2013.”

a PSP rave on Tuesday and the guest on the KYW Philly Soccer SHow podcast that will be posted later this morning, describes how tough it was at the start of the season when Peter Nowak wasn’t giving him playing time and how the confidence Hackworth has shown in him since he took over has helped his own confidence grow. Hackworth says of McInerney, “In the games he’s played this year, he’s been really important on both sides of the ball. To put it in context, he is a guy who is our first line of defense, he sets our pressure and he understands that role. He’s put himself in a great position going forward in the future with this club.”

Freddy Adu tells Dave Zeitlin that Eddie Johnson is an example of how you can never write a player off. In the piece, Adu recounts how he invited Johnson to train with him last November at Brandenton when Johnson was without a team. Johnson ended up staying at Brandenton, where he eventually met up with Seattle Sounders and soon enough was signed by them.

Adu also says he wants to play for the Union next year.

“Of course I want to be here next year. I love my teammates. I love my coaching staff. And I love the organization here. They’ve been great to me in bringing me here and with everything they’ve given me.

“Obviously you never know what’s going to happen. Some things might come along the way. But, as far as I’m concerned, I want to be here and I want to be a part of this team next year.”

The Brotherly Game’s Scott Kessler looks into whatever happened to Birnis Adames, the Dominican-born resident of Camden who won the 2011 Sueño MLS competition. Kessler suggests Adames, who is reportedly now training in Spain, fell through the cracks of the pay-to-play academy system in the US.

Local

Reading United’s Jose Gomez has been named TopDrawerSoccer.com Player of the Week. Gomez scored a goal and four assists for Creighton in wins over Princeton and Central Arkansas. His Reading United teammates, Chris Harmon, of Old Dominion, and Steven Neumann, of Georgetown, were named to TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week.

MLS

Seattle Sounders and Real Salt Lake played to a scoreless draw on Wednesday night. Seattle played with ten men for 60 minutes after defender Zach Scott was shown his second yellow card.

Is 39-year-old Turkish goalkeeper Rustu Recber headed to LA Galaxy?

The New Yorker lamely weighs in on the fan vote in Seattle on who should be general manager of the Sounders.

The New York Red Bulls will honor the memory of Michael Jones before their match against Kansas City on Saturday. Jones, a Red Bulls youth coach, was murdered in Manhattan on Oct. 7.

US

At Sporting News, Brian Straus examines a number of considerations facing Jurgen Klinsmann ahead of the hexagonal round of World Cup qualification, including the need to build chemistry, improve the central defense, improve performance on the road, and determine what Landon Donovan’s future on the team is.

MLSsoccer.com has their own pre-hexagonal to do list for Jurgen Klinsmann.

SBI has player ratings from Tuesday’s win over Guatemala.

ESPN looks at the USMNT’s split personality of being strong at home and fragile on the road.

Jason Davis considers the gamesmanship involved in home field advantage in CONCACAF and concludes, “CONCACAF qualifying would be boring without the vagaries of home field advantage. For all the frustrations they cause, the cynical manipulation of conditions by the home sides shakes up a region that is otherwise extremely top heavy and lacking depth of quality. As long as teams operating within the guidelines handed down, it’s all fair. Some might prefer perfect settings all across the region, but really, what fun is that?”

Elsewhere

UEFA has charged both Serbia and England with improper conduct following a U-21 match on Tuesday that was marred by racial abuse of England players and a scuffle between players and staff of both teams after the final whistle. Serbia’s prime minister has ordered an investigation.

Jonathan Wilson writes at the Guardian that while the Serbian FA must act if allegations of racism are proven, banning the country from international competition risks pushing Serbian football “further into fuck-you isolationism.”

Former Canada and New York Cosmos defender Bob Iarusci says in a New York Times article on Canada’s humiliating 8–1 loss to Honduras in Tuesday’s qualifiers, “I really didn’t expect Canada would win but I really didn’t expect that. It just shows you what kind of individuals these guys are, no sacrifice, no character, it’s embarrassing. You know how the Cubans defected [before playing Canada in Friday’s qualifier in Toronto]? We should have reverse defection, we shouldn’t let our players back in the country, they don’t deserve to be Canadian.” Ouch.

One Comment

  1. James "4-3-3" Forever says:

    Anyone else excited for next year? With the Jan camp + the Gold Cup, we should be seeing a lot of movement with the NT. And I hope we see a few Unions faces in that as well.

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