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Union-Seattle previews, White to City Islanders, 2016 Copa America in US, more news

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Philadelphia Union

How do you fancy the Union’s chances of getting back on the right track when they face Seattle Sounders on Saturday (10 pm: TCN, MLS Live, MLS Direct Kick, DirecTV)?

Maurice Edu said of Seattle, “They’re in a good run of form right now. You know what to expect when you go to Seattle. For us, it’s exciting. You want to go and play against good teams. You want to go and play in front of good crowds and good atmospheres, and I think if you can’t get motivated for that game and get up for that kind of challenge then you’re in the wrong sport. I think all the guys will be eager to go out there and try to get a good performance and a good win.”

Ray Gaddis said of trying to contain Clint Dempsey, “Just keep him in front of you, contain him. He can score goals, he can play make. … If it’s not one way he’s trying to beat you, he’s beating you another way. We have to be cohesive as a team.”

Edu said more “flair” is needed if the team is to avoid being shut out for the third straight game. “I just think it’s being a little more creative in the final third. We just need to sometimes change it up. Be a little more creative. Whoever it is in the final third, take the initiative to create a shot for yourself. Change things up a little bit. Add that little flair to the game.”

Edu said for himself, “I need to try to get forward more and try to support the attack a little more and not leave that role just to Vincent [Nogueira]. Before I was playing box to box but starting a little deeper and timing my runs from there. Maybe I should start a little bit higher so that way, going forward, we might have a little more numbers in the attack. And hopefully that can lead to some more opportunities.”

Ray Gaddis said of trying to contain Clint Dempsey, “Just keep him in front of you, contain him. He can score goals, he can play make…If it’s not one way he’s trying to beat you, he’s beating you another way. We have to be cohesive as a team.”

Brad Evans is back from injury and looking to start on Saturday. Video with Evans here.

ASN’s Mike McCall says Saturday’s match is a must-see if only to watch players like Edu, Evans, and DeAndre Yedlin who are fighting for roster spots on the US World Cup team.

Previews from PSP, Daily News, CBS Philly, Delaware Online, Brotherly Game, MLSsoccer.com, ASN, Goal.com, Examiner, The Guardian, WhoScored.com,

Here’s a video preview from the the latest edition of KYW Philly Soccer Show.

Fellow SB Nation blogs Brotherly Game and Sounder at Heart ask each other three questions ahead of Saturday’s game. Stoppage Time Soccer does the same with a Union and Sounders perspective.

Sounder at Heart also has a nice graphical comparison of the Union and the Sounders.

At MLSsoccer.com, Matthew Doyle puts Maurice Edu’s chances of making the USMNT’s World Cup roster at 70 percent. Doyle believes Edu will be used to man-mark Cristiano Ronaldo when the US plays Portugal.

In the latest rankings of the top 100 US players at ASN, Maurice Edu comes in at No. 30, Amobi Okugo at No. 44, Sheanon Williams at No. 91, and Austin Berry at No. 96.

Local

Harrisburg City Islanders host Charleston Battery tonight at 7 pm (NSCAA TV, YouTube). Previews from USL PRO and Charleston Battery.

At Penn Live, Michael Bullock reports that it is likely that Union centerback Ethan White will be loaned to Harrisburg for tonight’s game, although the report says, “None of the paperwork has been finalized yet.”

With Pedro Ribeiro, who had been covering at centerback for the injured Coady Andrews, out with a hamstring injury, the City Islanders could use some defensive reinforcements. Also at Penn Live, Michael Bullock talks to Matt Bahner, the midfielder who after Ribeiro’s injury, place his place for the final 20 minutes of the win in Sacramento and has also been filling in at right back.

Bullock’s report also says that Union loanee Cristhian Hernandez is unlikely to appear in tonight’s game due to a knee injury.

MLS

At MLSsoccer.com, Mechanicsburg’s Bobby Warshaw, formerly of FC Dallas and now with Gothenburg in Sweden, has a good read on the relationship between players and the media.

Colorado Rapids have announced Ciao Telecom as the team’s first shirt sponsor.

St. Louis is getting a pro team that will play in USL PRO beginning in 2015. The name of the team will be announced at a later date. The last pro team in St. Louis, AC St. Louis, folded after one year in the new NASL. More on the news from USL PRO and Soccer Made in St. Louis.

More verbal sparring in Miami, hooray!

US

Jurgen Klinsmann will call 30 players into the pre-World Cup camp to compete for the 23 spots available on the World Cup roster. “We definitely will go with 30 players. These 30 players will all go into Stanford because of the situation. The timing is still complicated: Some come back from injuries, some we still need to see and evaluate in the camp. So we decided to take advantage of this whole 30-man roster. It makes it a little more tricky with the training sessions, but we have good quality work prepared for them.”

The call-ups will be announced no later than May 12 with players beginning to report to camp on May 14. The final roster is due on June 2.

Just a few days after receiving the Bolton Wanderers Supporters Associations Player of the Year Award, Tim Ream was named the Player of the Year by the club itself.

Goal.com looks at centerback depth in the USMNT player pool.

ASN looks at the world class skills of six USMNT players.

25,000 tickets have been sold for next Thursday’s friendly between Canada and the USWNT in Winnipeg (7:50 pm: ESPN3, ESPNW.com).

Elsewhere

It’s official! On Thursday, CONCACAF and CONMEBOL announced that the US will be the site of the 2016 Copa America, the 100th anniversary of the tournament.The announcement said,

The Centennial Cup America will be held in cities across the United States in the summer of 2016, kicking off on June 3 and culminating with the Final on Sunday, June 26.

In the 16-team field, CONMEBOL’s ten Member Associations – Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela – will be joined by six competitors from CONCACAF, including host and 2013 Gold Cup champion United States, and six-time Gold Cup champion Mexico.

It will be the largest soccer tournament hosted by the US since the 1994 World Cup.

CONCACAF president Jeffrey Webb said that the venues for the games have not yet been opened for bidding but The Miami Herald reports, “Among the stadiums being considered as hosts are Sun Life Stadium; the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.; MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.; the Citrus Bowl in Orlando; RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.; Stanford (Calif.) Stadium; and Reliant Stadium in Houston.”

At ESPN, Jeff Carlisle on how hosting the tournament benefits US Soccer and US fans alike.

At SI, Brian Straus looks at some of the obstacles in the way of making a Pan-American tournament a permanent thing.

More on the news from ESPN, SI, Fox Sports, ProSoccerTalk, Goal.com, Soccer America, MLSsoccer.com, and Reuters

Ten-men Benfica held off Juventus to draw 0-0 (agg. 2-1) and advance to the Europa League final on May 14. Valencia won 3-1 (agg. 3-3) on Thursday but Sevilla advances to the final thanks to a fourth minute stoppage time goal from Stephane Mbia.

Some 1,000 people participated in a protest in support of the Villareal supporters who threw a banana on the pitch in last weekend’s game against Barcelona. Arguing that the offender, one David Campayo, was “lynched” by the media, an unnamed family member said, “One thing is the error he has made, which he will pay for; another is the lynching, which has been disproportionate.” The Guardian has video from the protest.

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

15 Comments

  1. Eli Pearlman-Storch says:

    What do we have to do to make sure the Linc is one of the Copa America venues? Someone needs to get on this, stat.

  2. OneManWolfpack says:

    Just don’t be an A-hole and throw bananas at people and you won’t be (rightfully) lynched by the media. Seems pretty simple to me.
    .
    If there was ever a game to try and right the ship, it would be Saturday night. In contrast to that, this could also be rock bottom… so I guess we’ll see! Ha!
    .
    And what is up with the Linc not even being mentioned for the 2016 Copa?! Unacceptable. Hey Jeff (Lurie)… lotsa money staring you on the face… make it happen!

    • The defenders of the banana-thrower using the term ‘lynching’ is almost as offensive as the banana-throwing itself.

  3. RFK makes the cut, but no Linc? We’ve proven to be a good host city for international soccer and certainly are a more attractive destination that RFK or Met Life Stadium in NJ, right?

    • philsoc8 says:

      It’s amazing how Philadelphia’s failure to secure World Cup 1994 still resonates. Once you are branded a “World Cup Host”, you have to rally screw up (hello Detroit) to lose that honorific and the assumption that you should always host international soccer matches.

      Also, Philadelphia’s relative lack of large immigrant communities will hurt too.

    • RFK is an out-dated, rat-infested, converted baseball stadium with poor site lines for soccer. I understand that the organizers will want one of the host cities to be the nation’s capital, so have the games at FedEx Field, not RFK.

      Unfortunately, The Linc will probably not be chosen since Philly is a short drive/train ride to DC and NYC (which are pretty much locks to be host cities), and the organizers will want to spread the host cities around the country to make it accessible to as many people as possible.

  4. if white goes on loan to harrisburg, one of the other players have to come back, right?

    • I don’t think a swap is required. The only stipulation I can find is that “each club affiliation [loan] will be customized to meet the needs of the respective teams” and must “include AT LEAST FOUR PLAYERS on long-term loan from the MLS parent club to its USL PRO affiliate.”
      .
      My question, based on that second quote is this: What is the definition of “long-term loan”?

      • Pretty open I would imagine. If the quota of 4 players on long term loan are met the respective needs clause is fulfilled by both teams and I imagine this will be a short term loan.

      • That would make sense. I hope that’s the case.

  5. I love how a group of racists defend one of their own by using the word lynching with a straight face. The level of delusion displayed by these cretins is staggering.

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