Photo: Earl Gardner

Philadelphia Union

In the voting for the top five moments of the 2013 season at the Union website, Michael Farfan’s indirect free kick goal against Chivas USA beat out the Sheanon Williams to Amobi Okugo goal against LA by nearly 70 percent of the vote. Next up in the voting is Conor Casey’s diving header against Columbus vs. Ray Gaddis’ sprinting recovery against Toronto.

The Brotherly Game reviews Jack McInerney’s 2013 season.

TopDrawerSoccer has a roundup of former MLS academy players in the opening rounds of the NCAA Division I tournament that includes a section on six former Union academy players.

Local

At TheCup.us, Michael Berton has a roundup of last weekend’s results in the Eastern Pa. semifinal qualifiers for the 2015 US Open Cup. (No, I don’t know why qualifiers for 2015 are taking place now.) West Chester United outlasted Salone FC to win 3-2 while Vereinigung Erzgebirge trounced Upper Moreland Celtic, 7-0. West Chester will host VE in the final on Dec. 15.

More on the new Media FC store, which opens on Saturday with the folks from Live Breathe Futbol, from the Inquirer.

MLS

The Vancouver Whitecaps have picked up the options on eleven players, including former Union man Jordan Harvey, while dropping eight, including former Union goalkeeper Brad Knighton and Reading, Pa. native Corey Hertzog. Both Knighton and Hertzog will be available in the Re-entry Draft.

The Province reports that the Whitecaps, still without a head coach, have talked to or are considering a number of candidates including Jason Kreis, Jesse Marsch, and Bob Bradley.

Heath Pearce is now a former New York Red Bulls defender.

On Wednesday, MLSsoccer.com reported that a Toronto FC spokesperson has called reports that the club would be signing Jermaine Defoe and Genoa striker Alberto Gilardino “inaccurate.”

The Daily Mail worries that a move to MLS could harm his prospects with the England national team.

From Wednesday’s Toronto Sun, more on Toronto FC’s interest in Defoe and Gilardino.

David Beckham talked to Sky Sports about his plans to start a new MLS franchise and said, “Hopefully there will be an announcement before the new year. We haven’t announced that it’s definitely going to be Miami yet but obviously I’ve been seen in Miami quite a few times. We’re getting the details right at the moment.”

ESPN says Everton manager Roberto Martinez is being coy about possibly landing Clint Dempsey on loan.

SI has a roundtable discussion on the 2013 season and season end awards while ESPN has part 2 of their end of season awards. No mention of any Union players.

Seems some RSL fans gained access to a secure link meant for Sporting Kansas City fans to purchase tickets for next week’s MLS Cup final. MLS issued a statement saying that RSL has been allocated 1,000 tickets for the game. Those made available to RSL season ticket holders on Wednesday night quickly sold out. By the way, nice t-shirt, Salt City United, shame they’re no longer available.

Conceding that Thanksgiving Day probably won’t work, Jonah Freedman suggests at MLSsoccer.com Black Friday or Thanksgiving Saturday as the date for future MLS Cup finals.

The Kansas City Star remembers when Sporting Kansas City nee Kansas City Wiz, nee Kansas City Wizards won the MLS Cup in 2000.

Looks like Toronto FC defender Doniel Henry is training with West Ham.

Co-all-time leading MLS goalscorer (along with Landon Donovan) Jeff Cunningham is on trial with Hai Phong FC in Vietnam.

NWSL

At The Equalizer, Harjeet Johal considers the tough decisions facing the US, Canadian, and Mexico federations as to which players will have their salaries subsidized for the 2014 NWSL season.

US

US Soccer announced its Athlete of the Year awards on Wednesday. They are:

• Male Athlete of the Year: Jozy Altidore. Q&A here.
• Female Athlete of the Year: Abby Wambach. Q&A here.
• Young Male Athlete of the Year: Will Trapp. Q&A here.
• Young Female Athlete of the Year: Lindsey Horan. Q&A here.
• Disabled Athlete of the Year: Rene Renteria. Q&A here.

The US dropped one spot to No. 14 in the latest FIFA rankings following the underwhelming performances against Scotland and Austria in November. Mexico moved up four spots to No. 20.

US Soccer spokesperson Neil Buethe says of reports of a friendly in St. Louis between the USMNT and Bosnia-Herzegovina, “Any report about a possible opponent or location at this point is premature,” U.S. Soccer spokesman Neil Buethe told MLSsoccer.com on Wednesday, “but it is likely the match will be played in Europe. Once we find out our opponents for the World Cup, we will begin more in-depth discussions with federations about the March 5 match date.

At Fox Soccer, Leander Schaerlaeckens on the rise of Graham Zusi.

Elsewhere

Terrible news from Brazil on Wednesday where a crane involved in renovations of the Arena Corinthians in Sao Paolo collapsed and killed two workers. The stadium is scheduled to be the site of the opening game of the World Cup in June as well as five other matches in the tournament including a semifinal. Ricardo Trade, CEO of the local World Cup organizing committee, said, “There are seven months till the World Cup, not 10 days, so I don’t believe this is going to cause delays. But there is absolutely no guarantee on this.”

FIFA said in a statement to the AP, “‘It is too premature to make any detailed assessment on the situation of the Corinthians Arena as we are still awaiting the technical report to be able to evaluate the scale of the damage.” FIFA expects to be able to provide an update sometime next week at the earliest.

Reuters reports the stadium’s opening may be delayed “until February, but FIFA is not worried about it being ready on time to host the tournament’s opening game in June.”

A report out of Brazil says a safety engineer warned that the crane was being used on unstable ground.

A statement posted on the FIFA website on Wednesday said, “The safety of workers is the top priority for FIFA, the LOC and the federal government.”

The Telegraph reports that six people have been arrested in England for match-fixing, among them former Premier League player-turned-agent Delroy Facey, who played for Bolton. The report says that no Premier League games are under suspicion of being fixed.

Celtic could face a fine from UEFA after fans displayed “an illicit” banner during Tuesday’s 3-0 loss to AC Milan on Tuesday. The banner equated Bobby Sands with William Wallace.

Soccer America recaps Wednesday’s Champions League results while ProSoccerTalk has a roundup of Thursday’s Europa League results.

Here’s an excerpt from an article in the forthcoming issue of The Blizzard in which World Cup ref Horacio Elizondo explains what happened when he gave Zinédine Zidane that red card in the 2006 final. Fascinating read.

Don’t forget to check out the latest Footy on the Telly for listings of live soccer on TV, online, and on satellite radio for the upcoming week.