Daily news roundups

Reaction from Saturday’s Union win, latest salary numbers, HCI’s Mkosana scores 3, more

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Philadelphia Union

Conor Casey said of Saturday’s game against DC United, “It was a must-win.”

Sebastien Le Toux said, “Tonight wasn’t an easy win.”

In the end, coming off of a disappointing loss to Chicago, the Union got the job done and now sit third in the Eastern Conference, one point behind second place New York and two points behind first place Kansas City.

John Hackworth said, “I think, and I have said this all along, that we have a group of players who believe in each other, they trust each other. I think the character you see out of our team every time we have a negative result, to come back and have a positive one. We have done it all year long and I think our resolve that way is excellent.”

Casey said of his two-goal night, “The service has been pretty good all year and we’ve had a lot of good flank play from whoever has played out there…today was no different. For a guy like myself, that’s what I live off of, so it’s been awesome.”

Casey has scored seven goals since Jack McInerney’s goal drought began seven games ago. Casey said, “Sometimes you go through stretches where you’re doing a lot of things right but it won’t go in. But, you know, one goal changes everything and they usually come in bunches. I’m sure he’s hungry to score and it will happen soon.”

Sheanon Williams said of his big goal-line save in the 58th minute, “I happened to be in the right spot at the right time. I know Zac had the near post covered and I had the back post covered and happened to make a good save.”

Amobi Okugo said of the win, “It’s big. It feels like this season is going our way. We have to take advantage of the chances we’re getting.”

Match reports and recaps from PSP, Philadelphia Union, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Delco Times, CSN Philly, Cherry Hill Courier-Post, Philly Soccer News, Union Dues, Zolo Times, Brotherly Game, DC United, Black and Red United, MLSsoccer.com, SBI, Goal.com, The Sports Network, and The AP.

Vote Conor Casey and Sebastien Le Toux for MLSsoccer.com’s Top 3 Performer of the Week.

ProSoccerTalk says Casey deserves some kind of Comeback of the Year award.

Fabinho said, “I’m just happy to produce like that for this team. I think I can continue to get better in the attack and contribute more and more.”

Matthew De George says McInerney needs to shoot more. “When you consider the midfield options around him…there’s not much reason to lay the ball off. Good scorers shoot their ways out of slumps; that’s what McInerney must do.”

Zolo Times says of Saturday’s win, “It was one of those performances, by not only Casey, but the whole team that fills you with that feeling that things are heading in the right direction for this group.”

The latest salary information has been released by the Players Union. Here’s what the newest members of the Union are making, with base salary listed before guaranteed compensation:

  • Gilberto: $60,000.00 / $80,000.00
  • Fabinho: $78,000.00 / $82,500.00
  • Oka Nikolov: $46,500.00 / $46,500.00

Jonathan Tannenwald notes that, taking into account the subtraction of Bakary Soumare’s wages from the Union payroll with the addition of the salaries of the summer signings, the Union payroll has decreased $176,320 / $188,932.50.

Matthew De George says of the Union’s salary concerns, “Within their current constraints, the Union appear to be in OK shape. If Valdes doesn’t come back, if Kleberson’s loan deal terminates early next season, if Roger Torres’ tenure continues hurtling toward its increasingly unavoidable conclusion, the Union have some serious financial flexibility to secure the assets they’ve grown and strategically add on.”

With the new numbers, the Union drop from the 10th largest MLS salary to the 13th.

New York’s Tim Cahill is aiming to return from injury in time for Saturday’s match against the Union.

Local

A Lucky Mkosana hat trick powered Harrisburg to a 3-1 win over VSI Tampa Bay on Saturday in the team’s final home game of the regular season. It was his second since he recorded three against Dayton Dutch Lions on July 24 and he fourth in the history of  the City Islanders. Union loanee Don Anding assisted Mkosana’s first goal and Greg Jordan returned from knee injury for his first appearance since June 8, going the full 90.

More on the game from USL PRO and Penn Live.

Third place Harrisburg’s final game of the regular season sees them on the road to Dayton this Saturday. A win will guarantee their place in the standings and home field advantage in the quarterfinals.

Reading, Pa.’s Corey Hertzog, who just went on loan to NASL side FC Edmonton from Vancouver Whitecaps, scored 16 minutes in to his debut.

The La Salle University Athletics site checks in with John Farrell, who captained Lehigh Valley United to the U-19 national championship title.

MLS

In Eastern Conference action, Kansas City (39 points) is back in first place after defeating seventh place New England (30 points), 3-0. New York (38 points) drops to second place after a 2-0 road loss to eighth place Columbus (26 points). The Union move to third place (37 points) with the 2-0 win over last place DC (13 points). In fourth place is Montreal (35 points), who fell 2-1 to sixth place Chicago (31 points). Fifth place Houston (33 points) lost 1-0 to Real Salt Lake. Ninth place Toronto (20 points) lost 2-1 at home to Seattle.

Clint Dempsey made his debut for Seattle on Saturday.

Landon Donovan scored a hat trick in the Galaxy’s 3-3 road draw with Dallas.

Orlando’s Tourist Development Council has backed the $94.5 million package to build a new downtown soccer stadium.

NWSL

Kansas City (38 points) remains in first place despite losing 1-0 to fifth place Boston (30  points). Western New York (35 points) moves into second place with a 0-0 draw against now third place Portland (35 points). Fourth place Sky Blue (35 points) drew 3-3 with sixth place Chicago (27 points). Last place Washington (13 points) picked up a 1-0 win over seventh place Seattle (18 points).

US

Grantland remembers the hilariously ridiculous photo essay that appeared in the New York Times Magazine back in 2002.

Jonathan Tannenwald talks to Kyle Martino about the state of soccer in the US.

Elsewhere

More on the ongoing criticism from the Premier League on the efforts to move the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to the winter months. The FA says FIFA should move either the timing or place of the tournament while Qatar says it makes no difference to them if the World Cup is held in the summer or winter.

At Goal.com, Tom Marshall on Mexico’s decline since winning the Olympic tournament last year.

5 Comments

  1. Those salaries actually are much better for the Uniln than I had thought, particularly for the new coach, I mean goalie. That being said, in MLS terms, $80k is a lot for someone they openly said we may not see play for a long time.

  2. Surprising to read in the Tannenwald article that MLS TV ratings have dropped this year and that NBC may not renew… Think part of the problem is that it is not well publicized when they show games; FSC used to do a better job.

  3. The Union salaries are very informative, and I cannot help but think that it is shortsighted to pay that much money to Kleberson and let him watch the games that he could be watching from my living room for free. OR, better yet, let him buy a ticket and watch from the stands at PPL. I understand that he is being viewed as the better option than having Freddy Adu around, but it makes no sense to simply equate him with Freddy. He has significant skills and experience; don’t hold him out of the lineup just to spite a now gone coach. Play him and let’s see whether he cannot break into this lineup.

    • The Chopper says:

      The Kleberson situation is interesting. I certainly think this years team has use for him on the pitch.

      I can only guess that Hackworth has decided that Kleberson will not be back and he would rather give minutes to players he plans on moving forward with.

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