Daily news roundups

Adjusting, Jack Mac ranked 20th in Top 100 US players list, Reading draw, more

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Philadelphia Union

The Union leave later today for the start of what is their toughest road trip of the year, first facing first place in the Western Conference Real Salt Lake on Wednesday (10 pm, TCN) before traveling to face the Dynamo in Houston on Saturday (8 pm, TCN).

As Dave Zeitlin notes in the latest Daily Doop, the big question will be who replaces Jack McInerney, now away with the USMNT to prepare for the Gold Cup. Zeitlin writes,

The easiest solution would probably be to simply swap in Antoine Hoppenot for McInerney and let Aaron Wheeler assume Hoppenot’s role as the team’s super sub. But because Hoppenot has so much value coming off the bench, Union manager John Hackworth may also opt to move Sebastien Le Toux from right midfield to striker, a position he’s quite familiar with. The problem there is that leaves the Union thin at midfield.

What are your thoughts?

Speaking of RSL, they apparently changed up their formation on Saturday when they played in Toronto.

Union Dues previews Wednesday’s game.

Is McInerney worried about his scoring drought in the run up to the Gold Cup? “Going into camp, it’s not really anything I’ve thought about,” he said. “Obviously I would have liked to score. But the team got two wins and a draw, so it’s what’s best for the team.”

At Bleacher Report, Joe Tansey outlines his view of why McInerney, with a strong performance at the Gold Cup, is poised to climb the forward depth chart to become a permanent fixture on the USMNT.

ASN mentioned the other day that they have a bit of a crush on the Union. The love comes through in their latest rankings of the top 100 US players with McInerney ranked No. 20, Amobi Okugo No. 58, and Sheanon Williams No. 87. In a separate post, Michael Farfan comes in at No. 102, Conor Casey at 107, and Danny Cruz at 110.

ProSoccerTalk says the Blas Perez no goal that was cleared by Sheanon Williams on Saturday is another example of why goal line technology should be implemented. Fair enough, but why not also institute instant replay so that it can also be determined if the stoppage time goal that was allowed resulted from interference (among other things)?

More on Saturday’s no calls.

Here’s The Guardian’s take on Saturday’s game.

Sheanon Williams has been named to SI’s Team of the Week.

Power rankings! The Union remain at No. 6 at Soccer America and Goal.com. At SI, the Union drop one spot to No. 6. At ESPN, the Union fall three spots to No. 9.

As of yesterday, Jack McInereny was the only Union player in contention to be voted into this year’s All-Star team with the fifth highest number of votes for forwards. You have until 3 pm today to place your vote online or by texting his or any other Union player’s last name to 22442.

You will recall the guest column we recently ran about the Tickets for Troops event at PPL on July 20. More details are available here.

Local

First place in the Mid Atlantic Division Reading United have now faced second place Jersey Express twice in 48 hours. On Sunday, the two teams played to a 2-2 draw in Reading. In the return bout on Monday, the final result was a 1-1 draw. Reading are next in action on Sunday, July 7 when they host Baltimore Bohemians, in fourth place in the Mid Atlantic Division and only three points back.

With 11 games to go in the USL PRO season, Harrisburg City Islanders are in a good position to qualify for the playoffs, but the standings are tight. Head coach Bill Becher said,

We’ve talked before that we’ve put ourselves in a good position, now how do we finish it? We have 11 games left. As long as we take care of our business, it really doesn’t matter what anybody else does. We’re in that position. Our first goal is to get a home playoff game. If we can secure that, then it’s to finish in the top two. If we can secure that, then it’s to be No. 1. But right now, we’re focusing on getting a home playoff game [by] finishing in the top four. We’re in good position [to make that happen], but a couple bad results, a couple good results by somebody else and that’s all in jeopardy.

Harrisburg are on the road this weekend to face Wilmington Hammerheads on Saturday (7:30pm, USL Live) before hosting LA Blues four days later.

Junior Lone Star U-19s are champions of the USL Super-20 League’s Mid-Atlantic Conference with a 5-0-2 record. They now will participate in the 2013 USL Super-20 Leagues National Championships at the Brandenton Academy in Florida, July 18-21. Travel and accommodation for 26 players and four coaches isn’t cheap and the team, which has no sponsors, is looking for donors to help with expenses. To donate, contact the club president and executive director Paul Konneh at 610-809-5985 or email pkonneh@juniorlonestarfc.com.

Philly Soccer News reports, “Seven teams from Eastern Pennsylvania, the most from any state, have advanced to the finals of the US Youth Soccer Region I Championships.”

MLS

Carlos Bocanegra has signed with Chivas USA. He could make his first appearance for his new team when they visit PPL Park on July 12.

Bocanegra says he signed with Chivas USA because he wants to help turn things around there, not because the club is an hour away from his home.

Darlington Nagbe, Kalif Alhassan, Diego Chara, and Donovan Ricketts have all signed new contracts with Portland.

The 2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League schedule has been released. SBI takes a look at the tough road ahead for MLS teams.

MLS Breakaway returns to NBCSN on Aug. 3. The Union host Chicago that day at 8pm.

Looks like Oklahoma City will be the next NASL team, joining the league in 2015. The team’s ownership group beat out Oklahoma City’s USL PRO team to lease Taft Stadium.

NWSL

New England Soccer Journal profiles former Philadelphia Independence players, and PSP faves, Joanna Lohman and Lianne Sanderson.

US

An injury update from the USMNT as the team prepares for the Gold Cup: Cory Ashe has reported to camp with a thigh contusion he picked up over the weekend in the Houston’s loss to New York and is being considered day-to-day. Josh Gatt is awaiting the results of an MRI of the knee injury he picked up over the weekend playing for Molde FK in Norway. More on the injuries from ProSoccerTalk and Goal.com.

Interest in Jozy Altidore continues to heat up. While Sunderland has long been in the mix, it seems a second as yet unnamed Premier League club is now in the picture.

US  goalkeeper coach Chris Woods has followed David Moyes to Manchester United. Woods will still continue to coach at the USMNT.

USWNT coach Tom Sermanni talks about the course of his coaching career.

Here’s some info on the US deaf women’s national team, who are looking for their third straight gold medal at the 2013 Deaflympics July 26-Aug. 4 in Bulgaria

Elsewhere

FIFA has postponed the announcement of outlining the cost of tickets to the 2014 World Cup. The announcement was supposed to take place on Monday but, in view of continuing protests in Brazil following the conclusion of the Confederations Cup, the announcement will now take place later in July. Maybe they learned something from last week’s announcement of the official champagne of the World Cup?

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke claims the postponement is due to logistical reasons.

FIFA president Sepp “Let’s all have a pity party for me” Blatter said, “Thanks to all those who have helped to make this competition such a success, despite the unrest and protests. I am happy to come to the conclusion now, with the sporting results and also—with at least the impression that—the social unrest is now resting. I don’t know how long but it is now resting. I am sure that we will have a wonderful World Cup next year. When you have the World Cup and the Olympic Games you can never make everybody happy. We tried to make everyone happy.” Yes, he really said, “the social unrest is now resting.”

 

5 Comments

  1. Oh god… The Union the Fucking Union.

    Love that article about the stoppage time goals on the web site.

    “The first was a goal line clearance from Sheanon Williams. Dallas striker Blas Perez had bulled his way into the box, finding space in the box to hit a low drive past Zac MacMath.

    “It was kind of a weird, broken play, but that’s what they’re good at,” Williams explained. “They don’t give up on plays like that and they have some big bodies that flick balls on. We knew that going in, so I just didn’t up on the play. I was there at the right time.”

    Replays showed the call could have gone either way.”

    No it didn’t replays showed the ball was clearly over the line.

    Then the rest of the article goees on about the completely non existant foul on MacMath.

    Ahhhh Philadelphia Union where Philly tough means it is never your fault and complain til you are blue in the face.

    • Most places are calling it a foul. Doesn’t change anything, but the accepted discourse is that it was a foul but MacMath should still obviously have had it.

      • It wasn’t, it was discussed in the ratings thread. It just wasn’t or at least one that should never be called.

  2. The U. have a bunch of talented and capable forwards, and a struggling midfield even further lacking in depth with injuries to Kleberson and Lahoud and Daniel’s absence for international duty. Given that, and given Le Toux’s sometimes excellent play on the wings, the sensible thing would be to put Hoppenot up top.

    Otherwise, if Kleberson is still hurt, we have to start both Cruz and Farfan, and we still have a spot for another attacking midfielder. One would think that we could maybe see Roger Torres or Leo Fernandes, but maybe there is some reason those two haven’t really played this year, in which case we are better off leaving Le Toux and Cruz out wide and Farfan in the middle. Yes, this has been a problematic crew, but we’re talking about sustaining what performance we’ve had this year in light of Jack Mac’s absence, not making improvements.

  3. OneManWolfpack says:

    This doesn’t add anything to the discussion but I hate Sepp Blatter

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