Daily news roundups

Frustrated: Quotes, reports reaction to Saturday’s draw, HCI season opening win, no WC for US U-17s

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Philadelphia Union

If you were frustrated by Saturday’s game, you were not alone. John Hackworth said,

That has to be one of the most frustrating games of my coaching career, for sure. A lot of reasons for that, but at the end of the day, we weren’t good enough to overcome the difficulties that Toronto presented us, and other factors in the game…This is one of those games where a draw feels like a loss.”

Between the cynical tactics of Toronto and a ref who was clearly out of his depth, it was an ugly game. Hackworth said,

It’s a tactic [by Toronto], to be very blunt about it, and it was used very effectively today. I’m not attacking that tactic—I understand it. But when you’re trying to get a game going and you’re trying to establish things, it stops and starts. It’s little things. All of a sudden you’re not playing because there’s a player down, or a ball on the field, or the referee blows his whistle and stops things. It’s very disruptive, and personally I don’t like that. I’m not a fan of it.

Jeff Parke surmised, “It was [chippy]—but there were so many little fouls and the refs didn’t let us play.”

Jack McInerney, whose stoppage time goal rescued a point for the Union, said of the goal, “Yeah, I mean, it’s a good feeling, the crowd’s going crazy, I’m sure they all loved it. But, like I said, that has to be a game that we win, and looking back on it later in the season it’s going to be disappointing. It might feel good now, but it’s going to be disappointing later.”

McInereny added, “It’s really disappointing we didn’t win. That should be a game we win every week. And if we want to make the playoffs, that’s got to happen.”

That goal that was called back? McInerney said, “I think he called obstruction on Amobi, but I saw the replay and [the goalkeeper] clearly just mistimed it and he lost the ball. I don’t know what the ref’s reasoning was.”

Amobi Okugo said of the disallowed goal,

It was a great free kick by Keon [Daniel] and I knew I wasn’t going to get there, so I just tried to disrupt the goalkeeper. I put my head and hands in the way, then dropped them right before [the ball] came to me. I guess that distracted Bendik enough to make him drop it. Jack put it away like he usually does, and I guess the ref got confused…I turned around and I fell in the goal, and the next thing I knew I saw the ball in the goal and the whistle blew. I don’t know if the foul was on me or on Jack. I tried to ask the referee but he wasn’t having any of it.

Hackworth said, “I definitely feel like we scored a goal there [that was disallowed for a foul on the goal line]. I know what I was told on the sidelines. What I saw live and what I saw on the replay were completely opposite. But you can’t do anything about that. It is what it is, and at the end of the day you’ve got to take your chances and finish them. We didn’t do a good enough job of that.”

And Toronto’s goal? Okugo said, “It’s pretty tough because it’s pretty scrappy, and then Morgan clears it and you think you have Braun offsides. Then the assistant ref stalls a little bit and Earnshaw is running on and you have to play catch up from there.”

Kleberson made his Union debut, coming into the game in the 79th minute. Kleberson said, “It’s very cool but very different. I was happy to get in and contribute in getting the tie.”

Sheanon Williams said of Kleberson’s debut, “He came on with 10 minutes to go and created two chances—the one the goalkeeper tapped on the post and the one that sent Antoine in on a breakaway. In 10 minutes you create two chances in a game that needed some creativity, I thought he did well. We’re going to see more of the same when he gets additional minutes.”

Checkout The Goalkeeper and Union Tally for more post-game quotes.

Match reports from PSP, Philadelphia Union.com, MLSsoccer.com, Philadelphia Inquirer, Delco Times, CSN Philly, PhillyBurbs.com, South Jersey Times, Philly Soccer News, Union Tally, Union Dues, Brotherly Game, Toronto FC.com, Waking the Red, Red Nation, SBI, ProSoccerTalk, Goal.com, The Canadian Press, The Sports Network, QMI Agency, UPI,  and the AP.

Danny Califf didn't play on Saturday but he spent time with fans inside and outside of PPL Park after the game.

Danny Califf didn’t play on Saturday but he spent time with fans inside and outside of PPL Park after the game. Photo: Eric Shertz

What do you know, Toronto feels hard done by the ref too.

Former Union midfielder and local lad Ryan Richter made his MLS debut, coming on for Toronto in the seventh minute. Richter said, “It’s great. Obviously I played here, but I grew up here, I went to school here too. It really is coming home. It’s not just coming back to a team that I played for before. I had a lot of people in the stands, and I was really happy to get out there on the field.”

At MLSsoccer.com, Dave Zeitlin has an excellent profile of Amobi Okugo. Okugo continues his blog series at Goal.com.

Speaking of Okugo, Jeff Bradley looks at players who have thrived after a positional switch, including one Chris Albright.

Here’s an audio interview with Raymon Gaddis.

Soccer Insider has quotes from this audio of Freddy Adu talking to the Brazilian media. He did not play in Sunday’s match, a 1-1 draw with Vitória da Conquista.

Local

Harrisburg City Islanders came from behind on the road to win 2-1 in the season opener against Pittsburgh Riverhounds on Saturday. The Union’s Cristhian Hernandez, on loan to Harrisburg, assisted Lucky Mkosana’s game-winning goal in the 90th minute. Don Anding and Greg Jordan also went the full 90 minutes and Jimmy McLaughlin came on in the 64th minute.

More on the game from USL PRO, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

At Yanks Abroad, Brian Sciaretta talks to local lad Zarek Valentin, who is currently playing in Norway.

MLS

In the Eastern Conference, Montreal remain if first place after a 1-1 draw with Columbus, who remain in fourth place. Houston moves into second place with a 2-1 win over ninth place Chicago, a win that extended their unbeaten streak at home to 35 games, a new league record. Kansas City, who had the weekend off, are in third. New York moves into fifth place with a 2-0 road win over last place DC. The Union fall to sixth place with their 1-1 draw with Toronto, who are now in seventh place. New England are in eighth place after a 0-0 draw with Seattle.

FC Dallas’ George John was hit in the head by a beer bottle thrown from the stands after he scored the late game winner against LA on Saturday.

Three penalty kicks were missed over a weekend that averaged only 1.56 goals per game. So far, the league average for goals per game stands at 2.24.

SI has some storylines from the weekend’s games.

San Jose’s Alan Gordon has apologized after being caught on camera making a homophobic slur during Sunday night’s 1-0 loss to Portland.

Here’s an update on the stadium situation in DC.

NWSL

Play in the new women’s professional league kicked off on Saturday with a 1-1 draw between Kansas City and Portland. On Sunday, Chicago and Seattle drew 1-1, Sky Blue defeated Western New York 1-0 courtesy of an own-goal, and Boston drew 1-1 with Washington.

US

The US was looking to qualify for their 16th straight U-17 World Cup when they faced Honduras on Sunday in the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF U-17 Championship but it was not to be and the team was eliminated with a 3-1 loss.

Soccer America wonders if the loss means the end of the U-17 residency program at Brandenton.

At the Inquirer, Kate Harman checks in with USWNT goalkeeper Jill Loyden, who is recovering from a broken hand she suffered at the Algarve Cup in March.

Jozy Altidore scored a hat trick on Sunday, bringing his total for the season to 28.

Elsewhere

It seems that the World Football Challenge is becoming the International Champions Cup. Eight clubs are to participate in the new summer tournament with the final to be played at Miami’s Sun Life Stadium. An official announcement is expected on Tuesday with Real Madrid, Juventus, and LA Galaxy already understood to be participating.

Fan violence marred matches in England over the weekend. On Saturday 11 Milwall supporters were arrested after fights broke out in the stands and the stadium concourse after Milwall was defeated by Wigan 2-0 in the FA Cup semifinal at Wembley. On Sunday, 29 Newcastle fans were arrested during clashes with police in the Newcastle city center following the team’s 3-0 loss to Sunderland in the Tyneside derby.

AEK Athens were chased off the pitch by their own fans after they conceded a goal in the 87th minute to Panthrakikos. The match was abandoned after a 90-minute delay.

96.

4 Comments

  1. frankswild says:

    here is a little clip of johnson reminding gordon of what he just stepped in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4WrNp-TwbE

  2. What the fuck was Richie Williams doing pulling out the best player on the U-17 team (Joel Sonora) at the end of the game? Are you kidding me. Then he doesn’t somehow put Winn and Flores into the game but he inserts that stiff of a read head Gladd into the game. Gladd went on to play one of the worst performances I have seen in our recent history with the U-17s. From what I understand, is that Gladd only recently made it into the team from the Academy system (RSL I think) and this reeks of political pushing to get those players into the team. There was no other reason to play him, when the guy he replaced was having a nice game, and the other player, Elijah Martin, played well in the first game. Real head scratchers. Hopefully Richie Williams tendered his resignation letter today and is walking home from Panama. Fuck that Ankle Biting Midget of Doom.

    The US needs to tear down the Bradenton experience and bring in Tom Byers, who is credited with helping Japan setting up their grassroots soccer skills for 4-12 years old that has paid dividends with their soccer. They have a 100 schools around Japan and they only allow foreigners to coach and show skills. He was so successful that China brought him over. The kicker- this guy is an American. What the hell is US Soccer doing by not going with someone who knows how to develop youth talent?

    • First time for ages that the US has not qualified for the U17 World Cup! Same with the U23’s… And this after the DA has been in existence for 7 years…. Maybe all kids should go back to travel soccer and playing in High School. Harkes also condemned Brandenton big time today during Counter Attack…

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