Photo: Earl Gardner

Philadelphia Union

Look for PSP’s preview of Saturday’s game at PPL Park against Chicago Fire later this morning.

Goal.com predicts a Union win.

What’s up with the Union’s home record, which now stands at 1-2-2 after Wednesday’s loss to the Galaxy? John Hackworth says, “I think our mentality might be a little tougher on the road and we are trying to push things at home. You definitely tend to keep a little tighter on the road.”

Amobi Okugo says, “It is tough because we try to talk about it make it a home, in front of the Sons of Ben, a fortress,” said defender Amobi Okugo. “But so far we have only won one in five games. These games are going to come by quick. We need to start picking up wins before the end of the season ‘cause then it will be war.

The team will quickly have an opportunity to improve their record at PPL Park when they host Chicago on Saturday. At the Inquirer, Marc Narducci says a win on Saturday is of larger importance than just the record at home. “In order to be a playoff participant, a team must control matters at home and has to bounce back from inevitable difficult defeats that are bound to hit every team…This isn’t a must game, but it sure would tell a lot about the Union’s resilient nature, which is a prerequisite for a postseason run.”

Delco Times, CSN Philly, and Philly Soccer News each have articles highlighting the strong play of Kleberson in his first MLS start. Asked if he will start against Chicago, Kleberson said, “That’s up to John, he makes the decisions that are best for the team. I will follow whatever that is.”

Union Dues has some thoughts and player nicknames after Wednesday’s loss.

Michael Farfan says of the trade of his brother to Chivas USA, “I think we both understand what happens. It’s not that big of a deal. We’re both okay with it. I’m happy for him. He gets to be home close to our family. It’s an exciting time for him…These past two years have been awesome and I don’t think anything’s going to change.”

More on Garfan’s trade from Eric Avila, the Chivas USA player who grew up playing with the Farfans.

Local

Harrisburg City Islanders host first place Orlando City tonight at 7pm. If you can’t make it to the game at Skyline Sports Complex you can watch a free live stream at USL Live.

Keep an eye on Orlando’s Dom Dwyer, who has 10 goals in 8 games. The all-time team record for Orlando is 11 goals and Dwyer still has 18 games to go.

Ocean City Nor’easters are on the road for their first league game of 2013 at Central Jersey Spartans. Kickoff is at 6pm at East Brunswick High School.

On Sunday at 6pm, Reading United host New Jersey Rangers at Exeter Township High School’s Don Thomas Stadium.

Junior Lone Star’s home opener is Saturday at 5pm when they take on Jersey Eagles at Monsignor Bonner High School.

Philly Soccer News rounds up some of last weekend’s results for FC DELCO, PA Classics, and PDA.

MLS

Sporting Kansas City have traded local lad Bobby Convey to Toronto FC in exchange for a natural third round pick in next year’s MLS SuperDraft.

Toronto head coach Ryan Nielsen believes Convey will make be a great help. “We are a very young team, an extremely young team. So we need to bring in guys who have been around the league and who know how to win in the league. Bobby is a winner. That’s what he wants and what he likes to do.”

More on local opposition to the proposed MLS stadium in Queens.

CNN on what David Beckham meant to soccer in the US. SI says it made sense for him to retire, while ProSoccerTalk wonders whether Beckham or Pele made the bigger impact. The Guardian considers the possibility of Beckham becoming owner of LA Galaxy or starting a team in Miami. The Guardian says Beckham’s exit is as graceful “as one of his arching crosses.”

NWSL

Sky Blue sent 11,055 fans at JELD-WEN Field home disappointed with an 80th minute goal to defeat Portland Thorns 1-0. With the win, Sky Blue is now tied with the Thorns for first place. Washington Spirit defeated Seattle Reign 4-2 to pick up their first win of the season.

US

Jurgen Klinsmann announced his roster for the upcoming camp in Cleveland to prepare for the upcoming Centennial friendlies against Belgium and Germany and the three World Cup qualifiers in June. Look for commentary on the roster from PSP’s Jeremy Lane later this morning.

In this Q&A at US Soccer.com, Jurgen Klinsmann explains what he’s looking for,

We’ve seen a lot of players come through many different games. The players understand more how we’re working, what we’re looking for, the way we want to play and the way we want to challenge big nations eye-to-eye. Now you go into a stretch where you have two friendly games against Belgium and Germany and three big World Cup Qualifiers and you want to see a consistent picture. You want to see that they understand what is expected when they come into the Men’s National Team program, and hopefully they are more confident with executing it, with getting points in World Cup Qualifiers and improving the elements we’ve worked on over the last 20 months.

Here’s a look at Belgium and Germany’s rosters.

DaMarcus Beasley has been keeping in shape in between the end of Puebla’s season and the start of the USMNT camp by training with Fort Lauderdale Strikers. Beasley joked, “I’m getting old and I can’t take too many days off like I used to.”

At ESPN, Roger Bennett has an informative piece in which talks to Landon Donovan about a number of subjects. Speaking of the possibility that he would be left off of the US roster, Donovan said his reaction would be, “My ego would say that is crap, but the reality is you need to earn your way back in, and I have been given the benefit of the doubt many times in my career where I have played three or four very poor games in a row and still had a chance to play. It should not be that way. Conversely, if I continue to play well, I should be called in. I just want it to be fair. I just have to keep producing.”

After learning he was left off the roster, Donovan said, “I’m disappointed that I’m not (selected) but I’ll keep going and I’ll keep working hard and I hope that I get the chance. But I certainly understand it, I’ve been gone for a long time. I basically excused myself from the first three so I understand the way the world works.”

ProSoccerTalk wonders about Steve Cherundolo’s omission.

New England’s Lee Nguyen wants a shot at the national team.

Bruce Arena isn’t happy that LA Galaxy will have to travel to North Carolina for their first US Open Cup match. He complained, “Ridiculous. What more can I say? We’re the premier club in the country, and we’re being shuffled off like that again, and they’re basically saying – they’re telling us the Open Cup’s not important when they do stuff like that. It’s really ridiculous, but it’s life. What are you going to do?”

Seattle’s Sigi Schmid isn’t happy his club could potentially have to play in Tampa in between road games at LA Galaxy and Chivas USA. “The only place we could have played is Miami that’s farther. For us, it presents a unique problem. I know Bruce Arena mentioned their problem, but our problem is worse.”

MLSsoccer.com wonders if the third round draw of the US Open Cup should be organized to better promote local rivalries.

here.

Elsewhere

The FA has approved minimum five match bans for racial abuse but ant-racism activists say the penalty is too soft.

The AP reports, “The Brazilian government says some of the security robots bought to improve public safety during the 2014 World Cup will be ready for the Confederations Cup in June.