Daily news roundups

Readying for Portugal and more USA news, Orlando about to sign Kaka, more

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

US

Look for our preview of Sunday’s game against Portugal later today.

Will Cristiano Ronaldo play against the US on Sunday? Speculation continues but the US team is obviously preparing for Sunday’s game against Portugal as if Ronaldo will be playing.

ASN on why the US should want him to play.

US Soccer, Reuters, and Brotherly Game look back to when the US defeated Portugal in the 2002 World Cup in a shocking 3-2 upset.

Soccer America on Portugal and its long history of World Cup messes.

Who should start for the injured Jozy Altidore? Eddie Johnson believes it should be Chris Wondolowski. More on the US options from ESPN.

ASN has an interesting review of how John Brooks and the US team’s win over Ghana are being reported in Germany.

The Washington Post on the rise of John Brooks from obscurity to World Cup hero.

More on the team’s German-Americans from SI.

CBS New York has a list of the 15 biggest wins in US Soccer history.

At Dirty Tackle, Jeff Eisenberg has a good read on the origin of the “I Believe” chant, which was created by Naval Academy Prep School student Jay Rodriguez in 1998, who brought the chant with him when he attended the Naval Academy.

Fox News Latino reports on the travel woes of US fans trying to get out of Natal after Monday’s win over Ghana.

Bloomberg reports, “More U.S. soccer apparel sold on Fanatics.com in the first five days of the 2014 World Cup than during the entire 2010 event, according to the world’s largest online retailer of officially licensed sports merchandise.” Sales of Clint Dempsey shirts are second only to those of Neymar.

Landon Donovan on Dancing With the Stars? Why not?

The New Yorker on how to enjoy soccer. Just in case you didn’t know.

Philadelphia Union

Conor Casey said, “We’ve done a lot of talking this year in this locker room. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter what we say. We just have to come back and let it show on the field. There’s that common thread of everyone really pulling and believing. As long as that belief is there, you’ve got a chance. We know we can do it.”

More on that federal racketeering lawsuit filed by a Main Line-based parking lot operator against the city of Chester and Keystone Sports & Entertainment, owners of the Union and PPL Park, from Delco Times and Philadelphia Magazine.

Here’s an interview with Union communications manager Chris Glidden.

Local

Harrisburg City Islanders are on the road to face Montreal Impact Reserves today at 4 pm (NSCAA TV, YouTube).

Reading United and Ocean City Nor’easters both have two games this weekend, including a derby match between the two local rivals tonight at 7 pm in Reading. Ocean City has a preview, look for our preview of Reading’s weekend later today.

At the Philadelphia Inquirer, more on the strong performance at the World Cup by referee Mark Geiger, a resident of Beachwood, NJ. More from The 700 Level.

You will recall the news we linked to on June 5 that Upper Moreland Soccer Club has partnered with Scottish giants Celtic for a soccer camp in August. More on the news now on the Celtic website. As part of the partnership, the first between Celtic and a Philadelphia area club, coaches from Celtic Soccer Academy will run a week-long camp on Aug. 4-8 for young players aged 8-14. Click here for more information.

MLS

Taylor Twellman tweeted on Thursday that Orlando City has signed Kaka to a designated player contract. The Orlando Sentinel reports that, according to ‘a source with direct knowledge of the agreement,” an “agreement is in place, however Kaká has not yet put pen to paper.” The Orlando Sentinel report says the deal “is expected to be completed in the near future.” According to Twellman, Kaka will go on loan to Sao Paulo until 2015.

On Friday morning, Orlando City released a statement that said, “Orlando City Soccer Club is in advanced discussions with Kaka. Pending completion of the potential player agreement, Kaka would join Orlando City SC in January 2015 prior to the Club’s first season in Major League Soccer.”

NWSL

Seattle defeated Boston 2-0 on the road on Thursday and are now undefeated in 12 games.

While the NWSL game was going on in Boston, in East Hartford, Conn, Alex Morgan scored two goals as the US came from behind twice to tie France 2-2 in a friendly. Morgan entered the game in the second half, scoring her first goal of the night eleven minutes later. The goals are Morgan’s her first since returning returning from an seven month layoff after an ankle injury. More from Soccerly, SBI, and USA Today.

Elsewhere

Look for our wrap of yesterday’s World Cup games later.

MediaPost on how viewership of World Cup ads on YouTube have so far outpaced viewership of Super Bowl by four times.

15 Comments

  1. Union Fans says:

    It may be time to rename the Geiger Counter. Yes, he used to be horrendous. But when he has the best performance at a World Cup, it’s time for a name change to honor Ricardo Salazar.

  2. DarthLos117 says:

    Nothing wrong with keeping Geiger Counter.
    .
    Low reading-poor performance, high reading-excellent performance.
    .
    Just like before.

  3. Holy Toledo rating?

  4. OneManWolfpack says:

    Good get for Orlando in Kaka. I know the owner had said it was happening, but for a while there the talk was that he wasn’t coming. He’ll turn 33 in April. That’s not bad.

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