Daily news roundups

Recaps and reaction to loss in Columbus, Ribeiro & Marquez play in HCI preseasoner, more

Philadelphia Union

A blown mark on a corner kick and a stoppage time goal.

John Hackworth said of the first goal, “lost our man, should’ve had an easy clearance on the goal too and somehow, neither one of those happened.” He said of the second, “To give up a goal in extra time in first half was really, really frustrating,” adding, “We turned the ball over in our half of the field — unnecessary turn over — and we got punished for it.”

Yep.

In Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Columbus, painfully familiar themes were the story of defeat, themes which overshadowed a second half fight back from the Union, one sparked by the insertion of Leo Fernandes’ into the game in the 55th minute. Seven minutes later, the young midfielder scored his first MLS goal, assisted by Sebastien Le Toux.

The Union recorded 19 attempts on goal, 8 in the first half and 11 in the second. Looking back, such numbers fuel the sense that the team deserved at least a point on Saturday. Looking ahead, such numbers encourage the sense that the team is heading for a goalfest. For now, though, the unfortunate reality is that only 4 shots were on target, and three of those were in the second half. Columbus managed just two shots on target from 9 attempts on goal. As Brian Carroll said, “They had two chances in the first half and both of them were goals.”

So, was Saturday a reality check? Perhaps, if by reality check we mean that, after all of the excitement of the offseason additions and positive play over the first two games, it is obvious the team has much to work on. But you knew that already.

It goes without saying that the coaching staff and players knew that too. On Saturday against a winless Montreal at PPL Park, the Union will have a chance to show that lessons have been learned.

Recaps from PSP, a postgame quote sheet. Additionally, Columbus Crew, Columbus Dispatch and Massive Report have photo galleries from the game.

At MLSsoccer.com, Dave Zeitlin notes that “persistent defensive issues” are of concern to John Hackworth, who said, “I’m really not happy we’ve given up two restart goals. And two of those restarts were just missed clearances. We have to solve that. And we’ve given up two goals in the extra time of a half – one in Portland at the end of the game and one here at the end of the first half. We have to solve that because we were actually pretty strong until then.”

At the Union website, Andy Jasner writes that the Union showed “signs of skill, tenacity” and “true grit.”

Brotherly Game on game changing moments in Saturday’s loss.

If you watched Saturday’s game via MLS Live, you were apparently treated to the sounds of some non-soccer related activity. Hubba hubba.

Philadelphia Union Academy

The Union Academy sides faced PA Classics on Saturday and it was a winning day all around. The U-13/14s crushed their PA Classic counterparts 7-0. Tony Temple had a hat trick and Juan Infante, Kalil Elmedkhar, Nykolas Sessock, and Kurtis Orrson recorded individual tallies.  The U-15/16s won 2-1 with Cameron Keys making a last minute penalty kick save (as of this writing, the official match report was not available on the US Development Academy website). The U-17/18s prevailed 4-1 with goals from Matthew Greer, who scored two, as well as Neicko Williams and Doyle Tuvesson. Next weekend the teams travel to Virginia for two days of games against Richmond Strikers and Richmond Kickers.

The latest Academy newsletter is now available. Always a good read.

Local

It’s official: Jimmy McLaughlin and Cristhian Hernandez are on loan once again to Harrisburg City Islanders. John Hackworth said in the loan announcement, “Jimmy and Cristhian are still young professionals who need to play in meaningful matches. We think that going to our USL affiliate Harrisburg City Islanders gives them an opportunity to continue their development under coach [Bill] Becher while playing in real games and helping the team this season.”

More on the loans from Penn Live.

Both players featured in Harrisburg’s 3-1 win over Penn State in a preseason scrimmage on Saturday. The Union’s Pedro Ribeiro and Richie Marquez also played, although there is no word on whether either player will join McLaughlin and Hernandez on loan with the City Islanders.

On Sunday, Harrisburg played Navy to a 1-1 draw in a game that Penn Live reports featured “trialists and some recently signed players throughout the first half and into the second.”

On Friday, Union draft pick Robbie Derschang tweeted that he had signed with the City Islanders.

The latest Reading United alumni report is now available.

The Penn men’s team will be hosting boys’ soccer clinics this summer.

MLS

Three teams remain undefeated after three weeks of play. All of them are in the Eastern Conference and each has only played two games. Jermaine Defoe tallied in third place Toronto’s 1-0 win over DC, who are in last place, winless and goalless after two games. Second place Columbus defeated fourth place Philadelphia (4 points), 2-1. First place Houston had the weekend off.

In other Eastern Conference games, fifth place Kansas City (4 points) picked up their first win of the season, a 1-0 penalty kick-victory over San Jose (1 point, eighth in the Western Conference). Sixth place Chicago (2 points) hosted seventh place New York (2 points) to a 1-1 draw. Eighth place New England (1 point) remains winless and goalless after a 0-0 draw at home against Vancouver (5 points, third in the West). Ninth place Montreal remains winless with zero points after falling 2-0 to visiting Seattle (6 points, second in the West) in Sunday’s snow delayed game.

In the Western Conference, Dallas (7 points) is in first place with a 3-1 win over sixth place Chivas USA (4 points). Fourth place Real Salt Lake (5 points) drew 1-1 with ninth place LA (1 point). Fifth place Colorado (4 points) defeated seventh place Portland (2 points), 2-0.

After Clint Dempsey’s two-game suspension for violent conduct was made official on Friday, Jurgen Klinsmann was quick to come to his defense. “It’s very disappointing to see Clint be the only person punished from this game (against TFC). There is a foul against him in the sixth minute that should have been a red card. The persistent fouling continued throughout the game, and he’s getting punished for a reaction following all those fouls. Yes he made a mistake, but if opponents don’t get penalized for consistently fouling, it only encourages them to continue that approach.” He added, “A two-game suspension for that moment seems very harsh, and it comes at a very bad time for us as it throws him out of a rhythm before the game against Mexico.”

In player transactions, Chicago have acquired 19-year-old midfielder Grant Ward on loan from Tottenham. New England picked up goalkeeper Matt Pickens, released by Colorado, via a waiver draft.

The Miami Herald has renderings of the proposed PortMiami stadium set to be officially released by David Beckham’s Miami investment group today. More from NBCMiami.

At MLSsoccer.com, Nate Sulat looks at the growing importance — and expansion — of USL PRO.

US

At The 91st Minute, Will Parchman writes about some important news that has somehow not been very much talked about, the addition of a U-21 team to the US men’s national team system.

Yanks Abroad says Julian Green must avoid “Adu-like hype.” I’m pretty sure that won’t be a problem.

Geoff Cameron scored in Stoke’s big 4-1 win over Aston Villa on Saturday, bringing his goal total in league play this season to 2, one more than what Jozy Altidore has.

Elsewhere

Noted comedian FIFA has apologized for promotional material that AFP reports depicts Brazilians “as unpunctual, impatient and even chaotic.” FIFA said in a statement, “The material was light-hearted and at no time was meant to criticize Brazil. The objective was to show the laid-back characteristics of the Brazilian people. At any rate, we have withdrawn the content from the Internet and apologize if it was interpreted as criticism of the country.”

Apparently beIN Sports have created a vuvuzela that, when blown, changes a television channel to — you guessed it — beIN Sports. One of the gimmick’s creators said, “We wanted to celebrate and empower soccer fans in the US–to give them a tool that lets them be heard over the deafening roar of football, baseball and basketball fans.”

Sky Sports reports, “Bayern Munich have been sanctioned with a partial closure of their stadium for the Champions League quarter-final against Manchester United after fans displayed a homophobic banner against Arsenal.”

6 Comments

  1. For what its worth this article mentions us in a good light:
    http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2014/03/23/three-things-playmakers-magicians-and-why-midfielders-stole-show-matchday-3-

    4. Columbus and Philadelphia are both really good. If you’re going to pick one game to re-watch this week, that’s the one (which the Crew held on to win 2-1). Pay particular attention to Wil Trapp, who reads and plays the game at an incredibly high level.

  2. “Hubba hubba.” Classic.

  3. I know its only the third game, but I’m strarting to loose it with MAC… all last year complained about not gettng quality feeds, and now he does, and he does not finish.. not even close… he should have at least two run of play goals by now.. easily..
    .
    And he is still throwing his hands up in the air when god forbid someone else takes a swack at goal.
    .
    The force is not good with this one…

  4. I feel for Hack a little here. While we give him a hard time, this loss was really on the players and not him. The shorthanded defense was pretty sound, with neither goal being a defender’s problem, and really, the gameplan was sound too.
    .
    Le Toux (who had an awful game despite the assist), tried to cheat and leave his marker to be ready for the counter, and we (again) lost focus at the very end of a half. On the offensive side, we created plenty of shots and opportunities, but if we can’t put them on target, we can’t score. For me, none of that is on Hack, so I can see why he is frustrated.
    .
    That said, Wheeler had a good game in his back up defender role and also looked dangerous in the last few minutes when Hack had him remind us that he’s actually a forward. I thought Carroll had a pretty good game and generally did his job of keeping Higuain quiet. Leo looked like a real contributor.
    .
    Ultimately, though, the offense is going to have to learn to turn chances into goals. Our back four has been strong despite all the changes, but we can’t ask them to prop up 1-0 wins all season.

  5. OneManWolfpack says:

    I’m just not as mad as some people (not necessarily on this thread) are about the team in general. Sure I’m mad they lost, but they are better than last season, they have options off the bench, and hands-down a better midfield – which was our main issue last year. It’s still early, after 3 points against a beatable Montreal team AT HOME, all will be well again.

  6. They lost because they did not score enough. They have not scored a lot in pre-season nor in the first few games. It is becoming more and more obvious that this is becoming the main problem. A GOOD coaching staff can teach attackers to score by giving them confidence and running drills to make them better in converting opportunities (of which they have plenty). Let’s see how good this coaching staff really is…

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