Photo: Nicolae Stoian

Philadelphia Union

Look for PSP’s preview of Saturday’s season finale at PPL Park against New York Red Bulls later this morning.

Goal.com predicts a Red Bulls win. Here’s their preview.

At the Inquirer, Marc Narducci looks at how a Union win would force New York, currently in fourth place, to play the fifth place team, Houston, in a single elimination match.

Thierry Henry says having to play a knockout game in the playoffs might not be such a bad thing because it would give some on the roster playing time, which just sounds stupid to me.

Red Bulls defender Wilman Conde is back with the team after missing two weeks due to personal reasons. New York manager Hans Backe says Conde will not dress for Saturday’s match due to a lack of fitness.

Antoine Hoppenot only needed some minutes on the pitch to quickly become a fan favorite, even if other teams don’t like him. Says Hoppenot, “I guess other players from other teams don’t like me that much. I come in and they’re already pretty tired and I think they don’t really want to chase me around. So the easier option is to put me on the ground.”

A post at SBI looking at MLS prospects for the USMNT defender pool says of Amobi Okugo, “Combining strength, outstanding athleticism and the feet and passing ability of a midfielder, Okugo could wind up be a revelation at centerback (assuming he stays there). Oh, and he’s still only 21.”

MLSsoccer.com has a poll following Wednesday night’s game in Kansas City that asks: CJ Sapong vs. Jack McInerney, who would you pick? As of the is writing Sapong is the clear favorite among the unknown number of people who have voted.

Voice of the Union JP Dellacamera is quoted extensively in an article at Goal.com looking at homerism in regional soccer broadcasts. Dellacamera says of the Union, “They don’t tell me how to broadcast games. They hired me for a reason; they liked my work. It’s my game to call.”

Local

With the threat of bad weather from Hurricane Sandy in the forecast, the quarterfinals of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference men’s and women’s soccer tournaments have been rescheduled with the women’s games moved up to Sunday, the men’s games moved up to Monday.

MLS

LA Galaxy defeated Isidro Metapán 3–2 to advance to the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions League. Teenage striker Jack McBean scored the first two Galaxy goals.

Sporting News looks at the leading candidates for the league’s end of the year awards. There are no Union players in the mix this time around.

Goal.com says Brazilian goal scoring machine Grafite wants to move to MLS after his contract with Al Ahli Dubai is up. Grafite was the Bundesliga Player of the Year and Golden Boot winner in 2009.

John Rooney, drafted with much fanfare by New York Red Bulls before ending up at Orlando City, is to sign with Barnsley.

Guillermo “El Pando” Ramírez, formerly LA Galaxy, has been handed a lifetime ban by FIFA for his role in a match fixing scandal in Guatemala.

MLS has partnered with Movember to raise awareness of prostate and testicular cancer.

US

Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe and Carli Lloyd are on the shortlist for the FIFA women’s Ballon d’Or. The winner will be announced on Jan. 7.

On Wednesday, CONMEBOL released details of the 2016 Copa America, to be hosted in the US. Not so fast says CONCACAF general secretary Enrique Sanz: “Even though playing the 2016 Copa America in the CONCACAF region with our teams and those from CONMEBOL would be a wonderful experience for all fans, we are still in the midst of talks and negotiations between all parties involved in this decision…This is an idea we are hoping to materialize, but we are still evaluating and discussing before it becomes official. But the intention is definitely there.”

US Soccer president Sunil Gulati said, “While the idea of a centennial tournament with some of the best teams in the hemisphere is certainly intriguing, it is not something we have agreed to host or participate in at this time. As Concacaf stated, there are still a number of discussions that need to take place with CONMEBOL. U.S. Soccer would also need to be involved in discussions about hosting the tournament. We’re looking forward to those discussions in the near future.”

On Thursday, reference to the 2016 Copa America taking place in the US had been removed from CONMEBOL’s original press release.

ESPN and SI outline some of the considerations CONCACAF and US Soccer face.

Elsewhere

Check out the latest Footy on the Telly post for the week’s upcoming live games on TV and online.