Daily news roundups / Featured

Carroll, McInerney & Okugo on SA & SBI best lists, SoB’s a Philly Mag best, more

Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Philadelphia Union

Jack McInerney and Amobi Okugo have been named to SBI’s Most Improved Best XI.

Brian Carroll comes in at No. 9 in Soccer America’s list of the top holding midfielders in MLS. “Carroll has slipped a bit from his days in D.C. and Columbus yet still brings spirit and experience to a Union team in transition.”

The Sons of Ben are No. 14 on Philadelphia Magazine’s list of the Top 75 Things About Philly.

Michael Lahoud begins his “Getting to Know” video series with a look at Chris Konopka.

The Brotherly Game checks in with English defender Joe Tait, who was on the Union roster for a few months in 2011 but saw no minutes in league play.

MLS

Is it good for the league that two wild card teams are in the championship final? The Star Ledger considers.

Could the drama surrounding the futures of David Beckham and Landon Donovan derail the Galaxy’s championship campaign? Sporting News explores.

Could all of the hoopla surrounding Beckham and Donovan be a blessing for Houston? SI ponders.

At Goal.com, Keith Hickey says Bruce Arena and Dominic Kinnear are the two best coaches in MLS.

More end of the season awards from the league: Frank Yallop wins Coach of the Year and Eddie Johnson wins Comeback Player of the Year.

Johnson’s Comeback Player of the Year win has resulted in some debate about what exactly constitutes a comeback.

Unsurprisingly, Seattle announced on Tuesday that they are exercising their 2013 option on Johnson’s contract.

Don Garber said in Monday’s State of the League teleconference that he expected Toronto would be making some bold moves. After Tuesday’s announcement that Kevin Payne would be stepping down as president of DC United, the word is that Payne will be joining the troubled Canadian club. Looking like an announcement at 1:30pm, actually.

The league is assisting the Hunt family in the search for local investors to take over Columbus Crew, although Don Garber says there is no timetable for the search. While the Columbus Dispatch reports that the search “for more local investors has been largely fruitless,” Garber says there are no plans to explore relocation options. “That’s not something we’re even contemplating at this point.”

Bill Peterson has been named the new commissioner of the NASL. Peterson formerly worked with Don Garber at NFL Europe and was an executive at AEG.

Women’s Soccer

Former Philadelphia Independence midfielder Joanna Lohman has a very thought provoking article at Soccer Wire about how the new women’s league should best promote itself in order to be successful. It a must read.

At Soccer365, Tim Grainey analyzes what is known about the new professional league.

US

The USWNT’s seemingly endless “Fan Tribute Tour” continues tonight against No. 34 ranked European mediocrity Ireland—18 European teams rank above them and they dropped two spots in the latest rankings—in Portland (10pm, FSC). The US will play one more game against Ireland on Saturday in Arizona before finishing the year with three games against China.

ProSoccerTalk has some suggestions about what to watch for in the final games of the tour, which will mark the transition to Tom Sermanni taking over the head coaching job in January.

After a training session on Tuesday, Hope Solo addressed the recent arrest of her then fiance Jerramy Stevens on domestic assault charges a few weeks ago. “It’s unfortunate what the media can do to judge before the facts are out there. It’s hard to see, but it’s a hard truth, and it’s part of life. I’m happy. I’m happily married. I would never stand for domestic violence. I’ve never been hit in my life.” A judge found there was insufficient evidence to hold Stevens and the couple were married the following day.

Elsewhere

The Guardian reports, “Michel Platini has said that expanding the Champions League to 64 teams and scrapping the Europa League is an option amid a wide-ranging debate over the future of its club competitions.”

Shakhtar Donetsk forward Luiz Adriano has been suspended for one game and ordered to perform a day of community service by UEFA’s disciplinary committee for violation of the principles of conduct for scoring the unsporting goal against FC Nordsjælland in last week’s Champions League game.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*