Photo: Earl Gardner
Philadelphia Union
Jack McInerney was named to the MLSsoccer.com Team of the Week. Conor Casey received an honorable mention.
McInerney was also voted the No. 1 performer for Week 8 in the fan vote at MLSsoccer.com.
McInerney was also named to SI’s Team of the Week.
JP Dellacamera writes of Jack McInerney, who he believes will be with the US squad in the upcoming Gold Cup, “He currently leads MLS in goals with six and in game winning goals with three. He also leads the team in shots (21) and shots on goal (11). That’s quite a revealing look. He is putting better than half of his shots on frame, and of those shots that hit the target, he converts on more than half of them.”
Dave Zeitlin looks at how the Union has found success from the long throw-ins of Sheanon “Trebuchet” Williams, which have resulted in three goals in the last four games. John Hackworth says, “It’s just a weapon that we have right now and our team is taking advantage of those opportunities. That’s something in the past we haven’t really capitalized on. But right now we are.”
So, why is the team now able to capitalize on this particular weapon? McInerney says, “Last year we were doing the throw-ins too but we didn’t have that physical presence that Conor brings. He stands out there and takes out a couple of guys or gets the flick on it. Obviously that’s creating chances for us. We’re going to use it obviously if it’s working.”
More power rankings! The Union move up four spots to No. 8 at MLSsoccer.com. At Goal.com, the Union move up three spots to No. 8. SBI moves the Union up two spots to No. 8. At SI, it’s a four spot jump to No. 7. ProSoccerTalk has the Union at No. 13.
The ranking at MLSsoccer.com reads,
Solid central defense, a no-frills central midfield and a couple of forwards who look like they were born to play together. That’s a pretty good recipe being whipped up in Philly right now. Some stuff needs to get worked out, still, but as long as Jack Mac and Conor Casey keep doing their thing, the Union will pick up points.
Who do you expect to step up when McInerney and Casey aren’t doing their thing?
Local
Cristhian Hernandez and Greg Jordan, who are on loan from the Union to Harrisburg City Islanders and who both scored in Harrisburg’s 2-1 road win over Colorado Rapids Reserves, have been named to the USL PRO Team of the Week. Morgan Langley and Nick Noble both received honorable mentions. Hernandez, who scored the first goal in the game, assisted Jordan’s gamewinner. In the season opener against Pittsburgh Riverhounds, Hernandez also assisted the gamewinner.
In local US Development Academy play on Saturday, FC Delco U-18s lost on the road 4-3 to DC United U-18s. FC Delco U-16s fell 6-3 to DC United U-16s. PA Classics U-18s defeated Match Fit Academy U-18s 2-1, while PA Classics U-15s defeated their counterparts at Match Fit Academy 3-1. Playing against Richmond Kickers on Sunday, Players Development Academy U-18s won 3-0, while the U-16s won 5-1.
Four local players have been called up by the U-15 US BNT to play in the Tournament Delle Nazioni in Grandisca, Italy. Goalkeeper Kevin Silva (PDA; Bethlehem, Pa.), defender Daniel Barbir (PDA; Macungie, Pa.), and midfielders Christian Pulisic (PA Classics; Hershey, Pa.) and Matthew Olosunde (New York Red Bulls; Trenton, N.J.) will be with the team in Italy from April 26-May 6.
MLS
LAG Confidential review the Q&A session Don Garber had with the public on Tuesday, which included an interesting exchange between the league commissioner and Herculez Gomez. More on the Q&A from MLSsoccer.com, which includes a dizzying peek at Garber’s rather comfortable looking office.
Soccer America’s look at the TV ratings numbers shows that Premier League games greatly outpace MLS games on ESPN but that MLS games are more watched than Liga MX games. In case you’re wondering, an average of 170,000 watched the ESPN2’s Sunday broadcast of the Union’s game in DC.
At Goal.com, Kyle McCarthy suggests caution when considering recent reports that CONMEBOL is interested in MLS involvement in the Copa Libertadores. “MLS executives and investor/operators must address and rectify genuine competitive, financial and structural concerns before they can seriously weigh making this particular leap.”
DC United say they are willing to cover the costs of building a new stadium, they just need the city to give them the ten city blocks the stadium would sit on for free and pay for the transportation infrastructure. Trouble is, the city doesn’t control the land.
In expansion news, at a forum on Monday, the nine mayoral candidates in New York City were asked to raise their hands if they “solidly supported” the plan to build a new MLS stadium in Queens. None raised their raised their hand.
USA Today looks at Cuban defectors playing soccer in the US.
US
At Soccer America, Ridge Mahoney says the failure of the US MNT U-17s to advance to the U-17 World Cup is not a major blow to player development in the US.
Elsewhere
While Barcelona is left “hoping for a miracle” following their stunning 4-0 defeat in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal against Bayern Munich, the semifinal between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid kicks off today at 2:30pm on FX.
At US Soccer Players.com, J Hutcherson has an interesting article in which he describes how NBC’s coverage of Formula 1 provides an idea of how the network will cover the Premier League.
Following the news on Tuesday that CONMEBOL president Nicolas Leoz has resigned citing heath reasons, Soccer America notes, “Of soccer’s six confederations, five have had their presidents banned or quit or be reprimanded in the wake of corruption charges in the last three years.” A 2010 BBC report alleged that Leoz took bribes in the 1990s related to World Cup broadcasting rights.
On Monday, the BBC reported that Alexandra Wrage has resigned from FIFA’s Independent Governance Committee to protest the watering down of reform measures.
I hope Jack keeps it up cause seeing him in national outlets never gets old. It’s like how the Phillies and EAgles earned their way into the national spotlight even though they both suck now.
Bayern Munich are nothing to be scoffed at. As much as I hate them people are gonna have to stop acting shocked when they beat more widely recognized opponents. They are legit.
Anyone who knows something about soccer predicted that Bayern would get to the Final. Barcelona has shown creaks in too many games recently, and without Puyol and an unfit Messi were for the taking. The question is who will give an offer to their fabulous coach who won the Champions League with Madrid, and now possibly with Bayern; in both cases he was replaced the next season… He is not flashy but knows his business.
Herculez Gomez popping up on The Don’s Twitter Q&A was priceless.
Question for those in PSP Land:
Should the Union make an effort to land Herculez and at what price?
If they didn’t already have 4 good forwards, I would say yes. But they’re crowded already. I figure the Galaxy or Chivas (Chelis is his former coach) would love to have him right now, and that’s where I think he’d be most likely to go.
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That exchange was classic. How do you not like Gomez? Pretty smooth by Garber though. He handled it well.
The league is really forestalling a labor apocalypse. Now that the league is becoming financially established and expanding there will be a day of reckoning where they can’t just just arbitrarily change rules and the power will have to shift from the teams to more towards the players. Maybe not this CBA but the one after that will be brutal.
Yeah I agree. I’m not saying the reins should be taken off just yet, but it is building toward chaos.
I demand royalties for every time someone refers to Williams as “Trebuchet.”