Photo: Paul Rudderow
Philadelphia Union
It’s official: the Union were robbed.
In his weekly video roundup of controversial referee decisions (fast forward to 3:30 in the video for the segment on the disallowed goal), Simon Borg talks to the Professional Referee Organization, the governing body of MLS referees, about the Keon Daniel goal that was disallowed when the referee, after consulting with a linesman, judged Amobi Okugo to have been offside and/or interfere with Houston goalkeeper Tally Hall.
Borg reports, “PRO confirmed their view that Okugo was not offside on the play and the Philadelphia Union goal should have stood.”
Borg continues, “First, does the player in an offside position — in this case Okugo — touch, play, or make a challenge for the ball? The answer’s no. And second, did the player in an offside position ‘interfere with an opponent by clearly obstructing his line of vision?’ PRO says that while ‘Okugo was close to Hall he did not interfere.'”
In the latest Inside Doop, Dave Zeitlin writes, “It’s officially panic time for the Philadelphia Union.”
At the Guardian, Richard Farley says of the Union and Saturday’s result, “Philadelphia had somewhat inexplicably maintained a place in the East’s top five despite the wilting of Jack McInerney, now occupying a substitute’s role. The 21-year-old came on for a 29-minute stretch that included another all-too-common easy miss. On a 12-match scoreless run, it’s unclear he deserves time ahead of Antoine Hoppenot.”
Power rankings? If we must. Saying, “John Hackworth’s side is trending toward mediocrity at the worst possible time and fell out of playoff positioning after being within a result of first place just weeks ago,” SI drops the Union one place to No. 10. At Soccer America, the Union drop two spots to No. 12. At ESPN, it’s a one spot drop to No. 13.
At Penn Live, Derek Meluzio has the info Yann Ekra, signed last week from the Harrisburg City Islanders. “Though not the biggest guy on the field he is very strong and hard to knock off the ball. His abilities are not limited to just goal scoring. He dishes the ball off to other players well and has excellent vision. His fitness is top notch also.” Ekra scored 10 goals and had 4 assists in 45 league appearances with Harrisburg.
Top Drawer Soccer has a very good read on the new YSC Academy. I’m embarrassed to say it, but if I had a dollar for the number of times I have typed “YSA” rather than “YSC” when writing about the new school I’d probably have enough money to buy a case of really good beer.
Local
Penn sophomore Sam Engs and freshman Travis Pillon have played together previously for the San Jose Earthquakes academy team and trained together with the Tottenham Hotspur U18/Reserves.
If you’re out in West Philly today, the Drexel men’s team is hosting La Salle at Vidas Field at 7 pm.
Several area players are at the US U-14 girls national team training camp now taking place in Carson, Calif. They are defender Sydney Zandi (Penn Fusion; West Chester, Pa.) and midfielders Kailee Coonan (Penn Fusion; West Chester, Pa.) and Alexa Ferreira (PDA; Warren, N.J.).
MLS
CONCACAF Champions League play returns tonight with Kansas City hosting Real Esteli (8 pm, Fox Soccer Plus) and San Jose hosting Montreal (10 pm, Fox Sports 2).
Seattle’s Obafemi Martins was voted Player of the Week.
The Orlando city council will vote today on a resolution granting the city the power of eminent domain to acquire two parcels of land required for the proposed new soccer stadium should ongoing negotiations with the owners fail.
Soccer America calls Atlanta’s push for an expansion team “basically a slam dunk.”
Soccer fans in Louisville, Ky. want an MLS team in their city.
At Goal.com, Ives Galarcep says it’s “full speed ahead” for expansion in the southeast.
US
In a Q&A at US Soccer.com, Jurgen Klinsmann said of his plans for the final two qualifiers,
“Definitely for our last two qualifiers against Jamaica and Panama, our approach is six points. We want to win these two games badly, and we are going to bring in the best players. We are going to bring in everyone that is available and finish this qualifying campaign on the highest note possible. It’s been a tremendous year so far in 2013, so we want to finish it off in the right away. Also, we owe that to the fans. Kansas City is sold out. Our fans are coming from so many different places in the United States – in Columbus, fans came from 48 states – so we owe them a real good game. Therefore, everybody that is fit and healthy and belongs in that group will be there.”
Klinsmann also said competition for spots on the US World Cup roster “will go on until May 2014.”
At ASN, John Godfrey argues that Klinsmann should call up prospects for the remaining qualifiers. At Goal.com, Avi Creditor says Klinsmann has “the freedom to explore.”
The 100th edition of the US Open Cup final is two weeks away. On Oct. 1, Real Salt Lake will host DC United (9 pm, GolTV).
The USWNT will host Australia in a friendly in San Antonio on Oct. 20 (1:30 pm, NBC). That’s head coach Tom Sermanni’s former team.
Elsewhere
Australia has asked FIFA for $43 million in compensation for their failed bid to host the 2022 World Cup if the tournament is moved to winter on account of the extreme heat in Qatar. Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy said, “Australia, like the other bidding nations, was required by FIFA’s own rules to pitch for a World Cup in the June and July window. Changing the dates is tantamount to changing the rules after the contest is over. If that happens, compensation should be paid to those nations that invested many millions, and national prestige, in bidding for a summer event.”
FIFA’s medical committee chairman Michel D’Hooghe says the 2022 World Cup should be moved to winter not out of concern for the players but for the fans. “The World Cup is about more than games and players. I am sure the Qataris have the technical skill to organize a tournament where teams could play and train in a stable, acceptable temperature, but it’s about the fans. They will need to travel from venue to venue and I think it’s not a good idea for them to do that in temperatures of 47C or more.” 47C is 116.6 Fahrenheit degrees.
Champions League play returns to day at 2:35 pm with Manchester United vs Bayer Leverkusen on Fox Sports 1 and Galatasaray vs Real Madrid on Fox Sports 2. For complete listings and viewing options for today’s games, check out this week’s installment of Footy on the Telly.
PRO admin is just as bad as the on-field officials. First of all Amobi is CLEARLY offside – that is not up for debate. Second of all he definitely does interfere with the play. Amobi’s movement has to be accounted for by the goalie therefore he is interfering with the goalkeeper’s decision and is thus affecting the play. You could even make a case for Amobi having obstructed the keeper which would clearly be interfering. Yes, Hall misjudged his jump however Okugu running in to the six most definitely changed the way Hall jumped. If Okugu made the same run five yards to the side of Hall then fine – instead he made a direct run towards the flight of the ball, therefore he is interfering with the play.
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Get over it and accept the truth, for it will set you free.
Well, while I don’t actually know the substance of PRO’s ruling, there is a difference between being in an offsides position and getting flagged correctly for offsides. Okugo didn’t play the ball, so stopping play because he is in an offsides position is not correct, at least that’s what I assume the argument is. It’s easy to argue, though, that Hall assumed Okugo _would_ play the ball, and thus was active in the play, and should be flagged for offsides. Not that any of this matters one whit, all things considered.
In the end, I guess that’s basically what you were arguing.
I agree Okugo was offsides initially, but I disagree he interfered with the opponent. Just making a run should not alter the goalie’s movement. A lot of goalie interference calls happen because the keeper goes after the ball regardless of who is around him and players bump into the keeper. Tally Hall mistimed his jump but there’s no way to prove that Okugo had anything to do with that, and he didn’t bump or touch Tally Hall. The ONLY call that can be made is offsides, and again I agree he was.
I hate the whole passive offside debate because they made a cut and dried rule ambiguous.
That said, Okugo did not affect Hall’s ability to see or catch the ball. The fact that Hall misjudged the flight of the ball fed into the interpretation that he was impeded or interfered with. If he had correctly judged the flight of the ball, he catches it easily. I think that the lack of protest by Hall and most of the Dynamo team confirmed this.
Last point, it didn’t make the Union lose this match. By scoring the first goal, the Union’s chances would have improved dramatically for getting all three points, but there are a ton of unknowns so who really cares?
And before you get all technical – Amobi was “interfering with an opponent” not specifically “interfering with play”.
I really hope the team is not still dwelling on this and thinking its the reason they lost. Could it be said they were screwed with the goal? Sure. But grow up about it.
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Also, it was a miracle, mistake, lucky goal. In no way was he shooting on net. Realistically it was a bad cross out directly at the goalie… The goalie just made a horrible misjudgment.
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If this is what we are counting on, and to draw games at home, down the stretch then no one better make plans for the playoffs.
Hacktic Fundamental 1: Blame the officials
On a 12-match scoreless run, it’s unclear he deserves time ahead of Antoine Hoppenot.”
Hahahahahahahaha.
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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
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Oh man what a riot.
The goal.com article link is broken 😉
It’s all Hackworth and the tactical plan. I re-watched Saturday night’s game, gluton for punishment I know, and it’s obvious that this teams gameplan is a flank attack from the wingbacks. That’s it. Keon never takes players on, Caroll moves only east/west and south. To defend this team is a cake walk. Drop your CM, allow them the flanks, and be strong in the air. Letoux is not a midfielder for the love of god. We needed 3 points at home and started 5 defenders. AT HOME! How this website has not published an article calling for the job of this coach makes me question the team and the media. I’ve heard the Union can banish media members from access for any poor coverage, but that must be exposed. If this team backs into the playoffs for any reason, it’s still been an unacceptable season from the FO to the Coach. No exceptions. They extend Torres last year, he makes one appearance this season. They send Adu away for Kleberson, a player who once played for Man U, I don’t care if it was 50 years ago, he’s better than Danny Cruz. This club is too young to settle for being the Stoke City of America. Grow some balls and start the campaign. #WeDeserveBetter
Kleberson played in the semifinals of the World Cup in 2010 and he can’t break into the starting XI in 2013 in Philadelphia. It’s a shame.
You misspelled sham
Brazil didn’t even make the semis of the 2010 World Cup, they were knocked out in the quarters by Holland.
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Kleberson only played 9 min in that World Cup when he came on in the 81st minute vs. Chile in the Round of 16. He didn’t make the ’06 team and the only reason that he was able to get back into the squad in 2009 was because Anderson got hurt.
Right, quarters. Nine min. So he is utter shit. I am so wrong.
Didn’t disagree with your implied point about Kleberson, but it’s really a more effective argument if you have your facts straight. That’s all, but in hindsight, I should have added that to my original post.
I am just being grumpy. Sorry.
No worries.
The Union were within a result of first place just a few weeks ago. That’s why no one at PSP has written a post calling for Hackworth’s firing. I said early this season that Hackworth deserves the full season, and that hasn’t changed. It has nothing to do with fear of losing media credentials. These kinds of conspiracy theories are silly.
Just a quick warning to those STHs like me who are doing the counter intuitive thing and renewing. If you, like me have taken advantage of the Loyalty Points seat upgrade in the past, be aware they have snuck in new price level. Namely the Sideline seats on the West side are now more expensive than the Sideline seats on the East (Bridge) side. So if you previously upgraded from Sideline East to Midfield, this year Sideline West falls next in line and would be your upgrade, not Midfield. I told them if they did that to me I wouldn’t renew and they promised I can keep my Midfield seats. But they would only promise for this season. We’ll see what happens next year but I thought that was pretty underhanded and sneaky.