Daily news roundups

“Not good enough”: reaction to Union loss in San Jose, US looks ahead to Mexico, more news

Philadelphia Union

As Danny Cruz made clear before Sunday’s game in San Jose, the Union knew they needed points from their final West Coast trip of the season.

“We’re at the point where we need to get a win here,” said Cruz in an article on the Union website. “I don’t want us to go back to where we were at the end of last year when we were saying we had all these opportunities but we’re not scoring…This is a big game for all of us. This is a big game for our careers and a big game for this club. And the result’s a must.”

The need for points was even clearer after New England, Houston, and Chicago — the teams nipping at the Union’s heals in the playoff race — each lost their weekend contests,

After conceding a goal to San Jose courtesy of former Union winger Shea Salinas, the Union survived a poor first half of play with no further damage to the scoreline. They were given a further lifeline when Rafael Baca was sent off after a rash challenge on Conor Casey.  Yet with more than 30 minutes to climb back into the match, the Union could not finish and return to the East Coast empty handed.

John Hackworth was not pleased.

“We let an opportunity to separate ourselves in the table slip,” said the Union manager. “And we did it by having a poor performance…We didn’t have a lot of quality, in particular in the first half. That’s not a good enough performance from our team…We’ve got to hold ourselves accountable to a higher standard than we did tonight. That level of play is unacceptable for this club and this organization, all the way around.”

Hackworth added, “I thought we played better to start the second half. We settled down a little bit and started connecting a little bit. They were playing a really high line, too…You’ve got to be intelligent about the type of soccer you’re playing. We sorted things out at halftime. But we lost that game in the first half and we could never get it back.”

Match reports and recaps from PSP, PhiladelphiaUnion.com, Union Tally, Philly Soccer News, Brotherly Game, MLSsoccer.com, San Jose Mercury News, The Sports Network, Goal.comUPI, and the AP.

After calling out Hackworth on his choice of substitutions, at Union Tally, Matthew De George writes at Union Tally, “Daniel continued to be unable to come to terms with what “attacking midfielder” means…If the consequence of parity in MLS is a Keon Daniel-led midfield in the playoffs, it may be time to rethink things. His shot on goal – just his sixth of the season, by the way – came after he whiffed on an open chance. There’s a gaping hole in the middle of the pitch game after game. And it’s contagious: Conor Casey, who didn’t have a real chance at goal today, ran his legs out trying to provide midfield play. Yet there’s no place for Kleberson.”

At the Inquirer, Chris Melchiorre has an interesting article on Haddon Township’s Kyler White, the former Union academy player who chose to play for his high school team in his senior year.

US

Well, that sucked.

Riding a 12-game winning streak, the US fell 3-1 to Costa Rica on Friday night. They looked terrible, beginning with the images of Michael Bradley being helped off of the field after spraining his ankle during the pregame warmups.

Jurgen Klinsmann said of Bradley’s injury, “It maybe shocked the team a little bit, and when you get 1-0 down after a minute, it makes it even more difficult.”

Landon Donovan said, “We’ve been on a lot of ups and now we’re on a down. We”re going to see how we recover, see what we’re made of.”

Tim Howard said after the loss, “I think there are things we look at [from the Costa Rica loss] and think we can get those right and we’ll be a heck of a lot more solid. At the same time, we’ve been playing well. That happens. Sometimes, you get your butt kicked. That’s part of it. You just have to shake it off and move on. I think this group has the resilience to move on.”

Match recaps from PSP, US Soccer, CONCACAF, MLSsoccer.com, the Washington Post, ProSoccerTalk, ASN, SI, Goal.com, the Sports Network, and the AP.

Player ratings from Soccer America, MLSsoccer.com, and Goal.com.

With Michael Bradley ruled out of Tuesday’s game, and Jozy Altidore, Matt Besler and Geoff Cameron all serving a one-game suspension after picking up yellow cards in Costa Rica (Atlidore’s card was just plain stupid), Klinsmann has called up Joe Corona, Brad Davis, Clarence Goodson, and Jose Torres.

Klinsmann said of the loss of Dempsey, “It’s been a bummer.”

Klinsmann said after the emergency callups, “We’re fully loaded. “Our players are already part of that inner circle. They know exactly what we expect, how we want to play.”

Goodson said, “It was always in the back of my mind that if things went a certain way, I would be called upon.”

At ESPN, Jeff Carlisle says it is time for the much-vaunted US depth to step up.

The US will be looking for help on Tuesday from the crowd. Clint Dempsey said, “It is always important that the 12th man plays their role and makes it difficult for the opposition, make them feel nervous and not be confident on the ball. Columbus has always been good to us and hopefully it wont be any different this time around.”

After losing 2-1 to Honduras at the Azteca on Friday, Mexico fired head coach Jose Manuel “Chepo” de la Torre. More on the news from the Columbus Dispatch.

While ESPN calls Mexico “a disaster,” and SI says they are down but not out, Soccer America reminds everyone that Mexico’s struggles are nothing new.

Ian Darke said, “Mexico are now in a desperate position. They’ll either be like cornered tigers or they’re really not that good and the table isn’t lying and their confidence is shot to bits. We’ll find out what they’ve got and what character they’ve got on Tuesday night because they really are on a hole now.

At ESPN, Doug McIntyre has five things the US must do to defeat Mexico.

ProSoccerTalk on the USMNT’s past history in Columbus and their chances of securing qualification with a win.

Local

Look for our roundups of area college men’s and high school boys’ soccer later.

In local Philly Soccer Six women’s soccer, Penn defeated Saint Peter’s 4-0 on Friday before defeating Mount St. Mary’s 4-0 on Sunday.

Drexel fell 3-0 to Liberty on Friday before rebounding with a 1-0 win over Longwood on Sunday.

Temple had a tough weekend, losing 1-0 to Marshall on Friday before losing 1-0 to Rider on Sunday.

La Salle defeated American in overtime on Friday 3-2 and then came from behind to prevail over Marshall 2-1 on Sunday.

St. Joseph’s thumped Longwood 5-1 on Friday before falling 3-0 to Liberty on Sunday.

Villanova lost 3-2 on the road to James Madison on Friday before rebounding with a 3-0 win at home over Richmond on Sunday.

MLS

The standings remain unchanged after the weekend’s Eastern Conference games, although the top three teams have gained more separation from the fourth place Union and other playoff contenders. First place Montreal Impact (45 points) defeated fifth place New England (37 points) 4-2 on the road. Second place New York (45 points) defeated sixth place Houston (37  points) 4-1 on the road. Third place Kansas City (45 points) defeated eighth place Columbus (32 points) 3-0 at home. The Union remain in fourth place with 39 points after falling 1-0 on the road to San Jose. Seventh place Chicago (35 points) lost 2-1 to Seattle. Ninth place Toronto (22 points) lost 4-0 in Portland and last place DC (14 points) fell 1-0 on the road to Western Conference bottom feeder Chivas USA.

Bruce Arena, whose team was without the likes of Robbie Keane, Landon Donovan, and Omar Gonzalaez, was typically blunt about the league scheduling games during the international weekend. “It’s ridiculous we have to play these games in these windows.”

At Goal.com, Seth Vertelney looks at how the league’s TV ratings lag behind other milestones.

Bloomberg reports that former Rutgers University Athletic Director Tim Pernetti will join NYC FC as its chief business officer.

Orlando City enjoyed the services of Sporting Kansas City’s Dom Dwyer for Saturday’s USL PRO championship final against the Charlotte Eagles. It’s safe to say the record breaking crowd of 20,886 that was on hand at the Citrus Bowl also enjoyed his return, he scored the first four goals in Orlando’s 7-4 win. More the Orlando Sentinel and the Charlotte Observer.

Dwyer’s appearance was not without controversy.

The USL PRO title in hand, Orlando City now looks to gain approval of public funding for a new stadium.

Here’s a look at the plans of the owner of the NASL expansion team in Jacksonville, which is scheduled to debut in 2015.

Elsewhere

The Guardian reports, “Fifa’s new anti-discrimination task force is to urge football’s world governing body to pressure Russia and Qatar, the World Cup hosts in 2018 and 2022, to relax anti-gay legislation.”

26 Comments

  1. Does Hackworth ever consider that Cruz and Daniels just aren’t good enough? Poor Performance comes from poor lineup chooses. Did anyone hear the announcer talk about Daniels as though she couldn’t figure out what his purpose on the field was? Neither can I.

    To top it off LeToix had a really bad game from a technical standpoint. His touch was off full on several occassions

    • This isn’t the first time an announcer has criticized those two. I know Martino has been down on Daniel a couple of times and Moreno tends to have issues with Cruz.

  2. Hey Hack here is what is unacceptable… sending the same line up out every week when everyone but you can see it’s a garbage fire…

  3. Eli Pearlman-Storch says:

    This video is going around the internet (from Noah Davis and Leander Schaerlaeckens) with footage of Besler’s “foul” on Joel Campbell that will see him suspended against Mexico.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=qjDaW3VXjnw#t=339

    Pathetic.

  4. WilkersonMcLaser says:

    What a terrible weekend to be an American Union fan.
    _
    How is Hack so mystified? At the very least, and giving him an enormous benefit of the doubt, he is utterly tactically predictable. Teams have had all season to get used to what lineup he is going to trot out and just about exactly when and who will come in as subs. Ineffective midfield? I know! Let’s pull Jack Mac for Hoppenot!
    _
    If we get into the playoffs at this rate, I will be pretty surprised. If we’re honest with ourselves, this is not a team that deserves to be in the playoffs. San Jose is not a particularly great team (even at home they should be beatable) but they looked like godda*n Barca compared to us. Last night was a disgrace. Even if we were the beneficiary of a red card (which was very soft, if you ask me), we simply have no capacity to take advantage of the situation. That’s what happens when you play without a midfield.

  5. Eli, is there no mechanism in place to overturn ridiculous cards like that? Completely pathetic.

  6. For once, I’d like Hackworth to take sole responsibility for a loss, instead of saying “we need to play better”.
    .
    With the way this team has failed to take advantage of red cards, this is directly connected to poor tactics and lack of preparation. This has certainly been a trend and not some aberration.
    .
    It would also be nice for Hackworth to show some leadership and solely accept blame for a loss.

    • Because the fans were satisfied when Andy Reid used to do that? Sorry, had to go there.

      • It was different with Reid. Coaches don’t have a responsibility to please the fans with press conferences. Coaches have to make sure their players go out and fight for them every game. Reid had to get 53 guys to fight for him every week, so he stood and took the blame. Hack can blame the players all he wants, because he’s made it clear that the same guys will start week after week even if he trashes their performance in the media.

    • For once?! I can recall of at least 3 lost games for which Hack must be held accountable. Sad that it has come to this so late in the season when we could have gotten ‘away’ from NE and Houston.

      • Sure, he’s been responsible, but I don’t remember him solely taking the blame. His tactics are mind-boggling.

  7. You knew the luck was going to run out for the Union eventually. It is impressive that it had lasted this long. No true back up CB, minimal Mid Field play & a young goalie. Those issues will eventually catch up with you.

    • I’m actually quite impressed they’ve stayed in the race this long. I think it says a lot about the parity of the league, or at least the East. Zac is tied for the league lead in shutouts, and Seba is tied for the lead in assists. If we had at least 1 true midfield playmaker and a stronger CB (no offense to either Parke or Okugo, but one is a good not great CB, and the other is D-Mid) we may actually have played our way to the top. This is an average team, and with wins over Toronto and D.C. and a clutch draw with SKC at home this team will be 12-12-10, which is fair.

  8. Regardless if she was referring to SJE’s tactics or not, Foudy loves her some of Eli’s beloved 4-2-4.

  9. OneManWolfpack says:

    I’m done. Hack can not manage. He is clearly in over his head. He has no ability to adjust… No ability to try different lineups… No clue what to do. His area is clearly in developing players, not managing a team.

    Same lineup, same results. ZERO offensive midfield play. ZERO. Yet here comes Daniel… game in and game out. I have nothing more to say about Cruz that hasn’t already been said. He offers nothing but, “Hey, look at me… I can run fast… never mind I have no technical skills”.

    If you aren’t going to start Kleberson… at least try Farfan in the middle. TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT. At this rate they are going to miss the playoffs. This weekend against Houston is a must win, if there ever was one.

    I feel like I should get a free beer Saturday at PPL for staying up until 1am for that last night. Completely unacceptable. I am beyond frustrated.

    • I’m going to disagree with you on Cruz. While I would rather have somebody else starting there, he does provide more than speed. He seems to be very good at getting under the skin of opponents and drawing fouls. Since we’ve relied on set piece play so much this year, those are important. Add in the cards he draws, and that’s certainly a skill he seems to possess.
      .
      That said, I still think his best role on a good team would be as a bench guy to come on when the defense is tired and the occasional spot start.

      • Or at least start him on the left. His delivery is suspect anyway from either side of the field, so at least put Le Toux on the right where he seems to perform better.

  10. Does anyone remember what the classic definition of insanity is? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Anyone else think Hack qualifies as insane?

  11. I feel personally offended by Hackworth’s decisions. I think Jack’s slump has everything to do with his trust in the squad. Seba is not a midfielder. Carroll can only go east/west, there’s not a chance he puts pressure on a defense moving forward after he releases a ball. Keon always seemed a better option on a wing where his left foot is helpful. Cruz is a bench player at best. And that folks is your 2013 Union midfield. How Kleberson doesn’t get on the field last night is shocking. Regardless of how this season ends, Hackworth has not merited my support to lead this team. There is no growth anywhere aside from Okugo and Jack (who seems to be regressing). Should my faith be in a transfer? Perhaps it would be, if we had made more than two signings in the last window, one of which has yet to make an 18. FREE ROGER TORRES!

  12. Atomic spartan says:

    Imagine you are a good player. As a defender you play in hopes that your coach will choose midfielders who can pressure your opponents into making mistakes, or at least slowing down an attack. As an attacker you play in hopes that your coach will choose players who will occasionally get the ball to you in a promising position. Now imagine you are a good player, but you play for John Hackworth. How excited can you get, playing with the same malperforming midfield week in, week out, regardless of result? After awhile, you must find yourself thinking, “For who? For what?”

  13. Southside Johnny says:

    Well said.

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