Daily news roundups / Featured

Scouting Argentina, McLaughlin training in Germany, Drexel in NCAA tourney, USA roster, more

Photo: Barb Colligon

Philadelphia Union

It is encouraging to learn the Union have wasted no time beginning the search abroad for new players. After last week’s announcement that Ricardo Ansaldi had been hired as the new Director of International Player Development, Kerith Gabriel reports at The Daily Doop that John Hackworth is in Argentina with Ansaldi on a scouting trip, “with Hack in South America for the next five days.”

What qualities might Hackworth and Ansaldi be searching for? If Jack McInerney has anything to say about it, size and speed.

“I think it would be great if we can add a player who hold up the ball and I can run off him. We don’t have much size here on this club…When we had corner kicks, we didn’t get many goals. I think more size in front of the goal will help so much. When we get size, I think some more speed would help as well. This organization cares about winning and I’m sure they’ll do all they can to improve the club. If we can add size and speed, coupled with what we have, I think we’ll be very much improved next season.”

Yep.

On Sunday, Carlos Valdes joined Faryd Mondragon and six other players called up for Colombia’s friendly against Brazil, with the rest of the callups scheduled to arrive in Northern New Jersey on Monday afternoon. (Crappy Google translation here.)

The Union announced on Monday that Jimmy McLaughlin has left for Germany to join TSG Hoffenheim on a 10-day training stint. Zac MacMath (Everton) and Cristhian Hernandez (Real Sociedad) are also currently abroad with more overseas training announcements sure to come.

Vote Amobi Okugo for Gay4Soccer.com’s Ally of the Year!

In response to a post on Monday at Union Dues saying that a Sebastien Le Toux return to the Union would be a terrible idea, Union Dues continues the conversation with another post that says his return would not be a bad move.

Local

The Drexel men’s soccer team will be making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1972, earning the last at-large berth in Monday’s draw. The Colonial Athletic Association champions will host Brown on Thursday at 4pm at Vidas Field. Should they win, they’ll face the No. 2 seed Maryland on Nov. 18.

Lafayette, who earned a automatic bid after winning the Patriot League championship on Sunday, will host Virginia on Thursday at 1:30pm. Should they win, they’ll be on the road to face No. 13 seed New Mexico.

Notre Dame, who won the Big East championship by defeating Georgetown on Sunday at PPL Park, is the tournament’s No. 1 seed.

MLS

There has been a great deal of entertaining speculation about the possibility of Frank Lampard joining MLS (read: LA Galaxy) what with his contract being up at Chelsea. Now an official from Chinese club Guizhou Renhe says they are in talks with the midfielder.

Speaking of Chinese clubs and Chelsea players, Didier Drogba says he will not continue in China after his current contract is up in 2014. “This is not my last contract. If I’m able to achieve my objectives at the end of my contract with Shanghai Shenhua in 2014, I’d love to attempt another adventure, maybe in the United States. I had some proposals last summer but they all looked like what I had in England. I wanted to move far way to another culture. I’ll be 37 then and I think I can still play because I’m always a young man in front of the ball.”

US

Jurgen Klinsmann released his 20-player roster for Wednesday’s friendly against Russia on Monday (10am: ESPN2, ESPN3 and Univision). Look for our preview later this morning.

On the roster for the first time in 2012 is Timothy Chandler, who said, “I finally feel ready to make the commitment…I understand that a lot of people in the USA may be unsure because they think I have said [I’m committed] in the past. All I can say is that I am clear in my head about the commitment moving forward. This was about me being ready to accept the responsibility of being a part of the National Team and everything that goes with it, and now I am ready. I hope I will get chances in the future. I am in 1,000 percent.”

Also back on the roster is Jozy Altidore. Jurgen Klinsmann said, “We are happy having Jozy back in the group…He’s fighting his way through the Dutch league and doing well there, and we hope he brings the same energy into our group. We often forget that Jozy is not a 30-year-old player that you already expect to be kind of perfect and mature. He’s still going through ups and downs, which is totally normal. So when a down period comes and I leave him out of the roster, that’s not the end of the world. But it’s also a little signal to say ‘Hey Jozy, maybe there were things we didn’t like before.’ Now we can catch up and see how it goes.”

The US roster is heavy on young talent in the midfield and up top. Sporting News, SBI, ESPN and Goal.com consider the opportunities present for a glimpse at the future of the USMNT.

Voting is now underway for US Soccer’s Male, Young Male and Disabled Athlete of the Year awards.

Elsewhere

The company that is staging Wednesday night’s friendly at Met Life Stadium between Brazil and Colombia is RelEvent (get it?), is run by Charlie Stillitano, former general manager of the New York/New Jersey MetroStars and the guy behind the Champions World from 2003 and 2004 (remember Manchester United v Celtic at the Linc?). Stillitano plans to organize a summer tournament to compete with SUM, the marketing arm of MLS and US Soccer. Goal.com reports, “Stillitano wants to up the stakes and include MLS teams in the summer tournament, and by providing a cash prize incentive, Stillitano could possibly be forcing MLS to figure out a way to give its teams more financial resources. ”

Premier League TV rights are expected to top £5 billion for the first time. That’s 7,940,859,660.76 in American money. All of which means that the winner of the league championship in 2013-14 stands to be awarded something in excess of £100 million.

Debt-ridden Spanish third division club Real Oviedo, facing the need to raise $2.5 million by Nov. 17 to avoid possible bankruptcy, may be saved by thousands of fans who have purchased cut-rate shares in the club that went on offer on Nov. 3. Said one lifelong fan, “There is a lot of excitement to save the club. All of us, from the fans all the way to the town mayor, are going to do what it takes to pull through. The effort is coming from people with financial problems like so many are facing in this country. With 30, 40 euros they are doing what they can so that one day we can tell our children how we saved 86 years of history of the club of our parents and grandparents.”

One Comment

  1. Any way Union fans could buy shares of the Club which we the fans help bring to the area.

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