Daily news roundups

Kleberson unveiled, sample sizing, Delran’s Vermes in NSHOF, more

Photo: Staci Klemmer

Philadelphia Union

Kleberson was officially unveiled at na’Brasa Brazilian Steakhouse in Horsham on Wednesday evening. The Brazilian midfielder said,

I’ve always wanted to play here. The soccer is growing a lot and it’s changing a lot, and that’s what interested me the most. With my career and what I have done over the years, it is a good thing to come here. When Philadelphia first contacted me, I was very happy and I had only one thing on my mind, to come over here…I feel like I’ll be a good asset to the team and I will do very well to help this team win…Not only am I going to bring my experience, but I will bring that Brazilian football to help the Philadelphia Union. I want to be very successful with my teammates and I want to win an MLS Cup and make the Philadelphia Union into champions.

So, will Kleberson play on Saturday in Columbus? During his weekly press conference on Wednesday afternoon, John Hackworth said,

He’s still in a process of adapting to our team, to our coaching style, to the cold weather here in Philadelphia that has greeted him…He’s a guy hat we’re talking about a lot right now, but it has to be that he’s the best choice to help us be successful in Columbus…So if we feel like he’s the best choice for us, he’s available for selection on Saturday.

I guess that’s a “maybe.”

Hackworth was also asked if the first four games were enough of a sample size to give a sense of how the team will be this season. The Union coach replied,

I think it’s a pretty fair sample size, and pretty indicative of what we’re probably going to see the whole year. I still think we have a lot of work to do and there’s a lot of areas where we can improve. But as far as what we have right now, I think you’ve seen four games where you get a really good idea of that.

I’m going to put that one down as another maybe.

On the injury front, Hackworth said that Michael Farfan is questionable while Gabriel Farafan and Bakary Soumare are both available for selection.

At Beats & Rhymes FC, Christian Brookes talks to Jack McInerney about his favorite music and much, much more.

Danny Cruz keeps getting hit in the head. “Sometimes I put myself in those situations,” said Cruz. “I’m never one that’s going to back down, especially for teammates…It certainly doesn’t feel good to get elbowed in the head, and that’s three games in a row it happened. But I’ve just got to move on and try to stay healthy.”

Local

Junior Lone Star shirtNick Noble, Sainey Touray, Andrew Welker and Colin Zizzi will all be back with the Harrisburg City Islanders for 2013.

Also joining the Islanders is Matt Bahner, who comes to the team from the University of Cincinnati.

At Penn Live.com, Derek Meluzio has an overview of the City Islanders roster moves so far.

All City Islanders league games will be available live and for free via streaming video at USLLive.com.

Philadelphia’s National Premier Soccer League club Junior Lone Star FC has a cool t-shirt that will be available on their online store beginning on April 8 for the very reasonable price of only $15.

The La Salle women’s team have released their Spring schedule.

MLS

The chances that an MLS team will be playing in the CONCACAF Champions League final took a serious hit when LA Galaxy gave away a 1-0 lead at home to fall 2-1 to Monterrey. Both Monterrey goals came after the 80th minute. Seattle lost 1-0 to Santos Laguna at home on Tuesday night.

Mike Magee has been named MLSsoccer.com’s Player of the Month.

At ESPN, Jeff Carlisle has five thoughts on the league’s first five weeks of the 2013 season.

Vancouver Whitecaps are offering discounted tickets after a slight dip in attendance.

Glasgow Rangers have sacked Spanish forward Francisco Sandaza after a conversation he had with someone posing as an agent offering to help him move to MLS was broadcast.

US

Willingboro-native, and Delran High School grad, Peter Vermes has been elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame along with Joe-Max Moore. More on Vermes’ career here.

Tickets for the qualifier against Honduras at Rio Tinto Stadium in Utah on June 18 have sold out. Some 20,000 tickets were sold in less than two days. Some 27,000 tickets were sold for the June 11 qualifier against Panama at CenturyLink Field in Seattle in the first 24 hours of them being available. Capacity for that game has been capped at 42,000, although The Seattle Times reports “there have been slight hints that it could grow if interest demanded as much.”

In related ticket news, tickets for the Chelsea vs. Manchester City friendly on May 23 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis sold out in 20 minutes.

At ASN, Maura Gladys takes look at the USWNT ahead of their friendlies against Germany on Friday (12:15pm, ESPN3) and Netherlands on Tuesday (1pm, ESPN3).

The US men’s U-17 team is in Panama for the CONCACAF U-17 Championship in their quest to qualify for its 15th straight FIFA U-17 World Cup. First group game is on Sunday against Haiti (6:30pm, FSC).

Elsewhere

Opposition leaders in Trinidad & Tobago have accused the government of trying to protect former CONCACAF president and well known crook Jack Warner from an ongoing FBI probe into corruption in international football. The FBI has not responded to a request from T&T’s prime minister for information about the investigation. Warner is currently national security minister of T&T.

At least four players from Argentinian club Arsenal were detained after they allegedly assaulted Brazilian police officers following their 5-2 loss to Brazilian club Atlético Mineiro in the Copa Libertadores.

The AP reports, “A referee and his two assistants were questioned by Singapore corruption officials Wednesday over possible match-fixing ahead of an Asian Football Confederation Cup game.”

At ESPN, Richard Whitall looks at FIFA’s newly approved goal-line technology, GoalControl.

At The Guardian, Jonathan Wilson looks at how interpretations of the playmaker role is changing.

Remember that youth team from Greece that strung together 20-odd passes from the kickoff to score a goal? They’re at it again.

23 Comments

  1. Hackworth is trolling the Union fanbase. Is he seriously kidding me?! “He’s still in a process of adapting to our team, to our coaching style, to the cold weather here in Philadelphia that has greeted him…He’s a guy hat we’re talking about a lot right now, but it has to be that he’s the best choice to help us be successful in Columbus…So if we feel like he’s the best choice for us, he’s available for selection on Saturday.” This whole quote is absolute crap. Our midfield has no fluidity or organization and it cannot control a game in its current incarnation. What in God’s name do we have to lose by putting Kleberson on the field in place of Lahoud, Cruz, or Daniel? I don’t care if he starts or not, but at least put Kleberson in for 30 minutes. Don’t BS me with that “he has to be the best choice” garbage. I’m not crazy, right? Someone tell me I’m not overreacting…

    • Nope, you nailed. That’s actually an epidemic in professional sports, managers thinking they’re smarter than the fan-base and “tricking” them into believing the crap they say. Actually, it seems to be more prevalent in Philly than other places with a previous manager and a certain former head football coach.

    • Southside Johnny says:

      Give the guy a break. He’s just prepping for his next career…in politics or used car sales. I think he has promise!

    • JediLos117 says:

      Its typical manager talk.
      .
      Do you want your coach saying: “Hey Columbus, our new awesome Brazilian guy is 100% starting against you this weekend and he is completely assimilated into our squad…get ready for him.”
      .
      Or
      .
      “Maybe so, maybe not?”

      • Haha what I really want Hackworth to say is his midfield choices have been subpar…and that’s being kind

    • I’m not disagreeing with you necessarily, but if you look to how Nowak used new signings, I could understand Hackworth’s caution with plugging in Kleberson right away. Nowak had a habit of throwing new guys into the starting XI with little training with the first team, and it usually ended up pretty bad (See: Herdling, Kai).
      .
      That being said, this could be one of the worst midfield units the Union has had since it’s inception so immediately starting Kleberson could be a necessity.

  2. JediLos117 says:

    At least Hackworth aint BSing about the quality of the squad and how our season might look.

  3. It is just all so BS…no one wants to be talked at that way. We know you can’t guarantee everything but just don’t say anything if you are gonna waste my time by saying nothing in four sentences. We still have no idea…He’s adjusting to the weather…jesus christ.

  4. On a (possibly) brighter note … Soumare is available for selection? Do we know if they’ve patched things up and he’s sticking around? Or is this just a tease from Hackworth?

    • Hopefully it’s one of two things, they’ve patched things up or hack has learned from the Adu situation and wants to play him so maybe people will want him

  5. Southside Johnny says:

    So wait. These Greek kids in the video play with width, connected middies, numbers up in the attack, accurate passes on the ground…whoa, is any of that legal.???

  6. Midfield of Okugo, Marfan, and Kleberson. forwards of Casey, Mac, and Le Toux. At least try to create offense.

  7. Hackworth, the eternal U17/U20 coach. You now someone is about to start BSing when they start a sentence with “look” followed be talking point and cliches. The man is not a coach. What exactly is his strategy to win the game? LA, New York, Montreal, Columbus etc.. don’t have a problem bringing in DP’s and inserting them into the lineup. Bruce Arena and Sigi Shmid don’t have problems coming up with game plans to take advantage of their top players strengths. Don’t get me started on the fact that this past draft was a joke or that glaring weak positions were not addressed. I don’t dislike John Hackworth. I just think he is totally miscast as manager of a pro team.

  8. You are all dreaming. The only possible changes from last weeks lineup would be Keom for Lahoud or Cruz and Garfan for Gaddis or Marfan… That’s it, period.
    .
    This seems to be what Hackworth believes will work, he’s and idiot, but that’s what he thinks.
    .
    Personally I couldn’t care less if any of the midfielders were replaced, with no exceptions. None have played up to par this year, only average at best.
    .
    Does anyone else think Letoux could have a chance to be a viable option at outside Mid for us or is that just dreaming? I know I’m reaching but our midfield is so incredibly bad, and all I want is to see a team that plays decently and wins.

    • The Black Hand says:

      I don’t see much as far of lineup changes, except for Marfan. If he is unfit, I could see a midfield of: Cruz Daniel Lahoud and Carroll. I don’t think that Kleberson will get the start, but I do see him coming on for Keon. Hackworth, for better or worse…ok for worse, seems intent on having Lahoud and Cruz in the starting XI. Expect more of the same from the Union middle.
      .
      I agree.
      .
      Our midfield has been wretched. I think that we have the players to improve play but I don’t see Hack going that route. He is content on muddling the middle and hoping to get lucky.
      .
      I don’t care for LeToux, in the midfield. I think that he would get lost in the shuffle. His only value is at forward, and that seems to be waning (One attempt on goal vs NYRB. It was blocked.)

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