Daily news roundups

“Flukey”: Reaction to Union loss in Dallas, coaching search and Bougherra updates, more

Philadelphia Union

“Flukey” and “unlucky.”

That’s how interim head coach Jim Curtin described Dallas’ game-winner on Friday night, which came when Fabinho’s attempted clearance struck Sheanon Williams’ shin and rebounded into the Union goal. Both Curtin and Williams said after the game that they thought Dallas was offside on the play.

“Made some adjustments at halftime, and we’re settled in for the first four minutes and then that flukey play happens,” Curtin said. “Next thing you know, the plan’s out the window and we’re adjusting on the fly.”

Williams said, “It’s unfortunate, I thought we had a good game, especially defensively. We gave up two chances and they scored two goals. It’s unfortunate, but sometimes that’s just the way it goes. We’ve got a quick turnaround and we’ve just got to get ready for the next game.”

Dave Zeitlin notes the Union were less than pleased with the performance of referee Edvin Jurisevic.

FC Dallas head coach Oscar Pareja called his team’s win “magical.” I suppose that’s one way to put it.

Match reports from PSP, here at PSP. USA Today has a photo gallery from the game.

At Brotherly Game, Barry Evans looks at game-changing moments in Friday’s loss.

On the search for a new permanent head coach, Greg Seltzer reports, “Following his meeting with Union officials in Brazil last week, Fabio Cannavaro is scheduled to visit Philly for more talks about their head coaching job in a few weeks. The plan as of now states he will be in attendance when they host a friendly with Crystal Palace. It is also possible this may be getting set up for an offseason change, with interim boss Jim Curtin finishing up this campaign.”

Kevin Kinkead tweeted on Monday morning, “Union want foreign coach, 12+ candidates, Cannavaro and Meulensteen the only concrete names, Curtin in the mix.”

Jim Curtin said after the US Open Cup win over New York Cosmos, “There will be some reinforcements that come in after the World Cup, that is something that is in the works.” Soon after came word that the Union have been working to secure the return of Carlos Valdes from loan, with Curtin acknowledging such a return was “complicated” and “not a hundred percent” certain.

On Sunday, PSP published a report on the Union’s interest in center back and Algerian national team captain . In the report we noted that the Union’s interest in Bougherra is not new and that there is plenty of interest in the defender in England, a move Bougherra had spoken favorably of. We also noted in the report that ESPNFC Algeria correspondent Maher Mezahi had tweeted on July 3 that Bougherra had “already rejected a move to MLS.” After our report was published, Mezahi tweeted, “Offer was already made and rejected,” adding, “Don’t think the MLS appealed to him.”

The Union tweeted over the weekend that the Brazil-Germany World Cup semifinal will be shown on PPL Park’s jumbotron before Tuesday night’s US Open CUp quarterfinal match against New England. Season ticket holders, don’t forget that you must purchase tickets for the game, which is not included in the season ticket package.

Form the Department of Where’s Freddy Adu, he’s on trial with AZ Alkmaar.

Local

It was a winning weekend for area lower division teams. On Saturday, Harrisburg City Islanders defeated the visiting Charleston Battery, 4-1. The win began with a barrage of early goals, with Jimmy McLaughlin scoring from a Morgan Langley assist in the 7th minute, Jose Barril scoring an unassisted goal in the 11th minute, and McLaughlin returning the favor on Langley’s 21st minute goal. In the 48th minute, Matthew Bahner scored from Pedro Ribeiro’s assist. Match reports from Harrisburg City Islanders, Penn Live, USL PRO, and Charleston Battery.

Reading United moved to the top of the Mid Atlantic Division standings on Saturday, defeating the visiting Northern Virginia Royals, 2-0. After Guillermo Delgado missed from the penalty spot in the 5th minute, Jordan Wilson opened the scoring in the 8th minute, with Brett Campbell scoring the second goal in the 61st minute. Reading goalkeeper Alex Bono made 9 saves to keep the clean sheet. Three matches remain to be played in the regular season. Match reports from Reading United and PDL.

Also on Saturday, Ocean City Nor’easters defeated the visiting NLLUSO-Parma, 2-0. Shawn McLaws scored from the penalty spot in the 74th minute with Mitch Grotti adding the second goal in the 85th minute. The Nor’easters are now in fourth place in the Mid Atlantic Division with three games remaining.

Mark Geiger will be the fourth official for Tuesday’s World Cup semifinal between Brazil and Germany.

Press of Atlantic City talks to Matt Driver about the soon to be launched American Soccer League. “I came up with what I felt we were lacking in the U.S., and that’s a lack of professional opportunities for American players to develop and move on to the next level. That became the genesis and basically one of the differentiating factors of what this league would become and where it would go.” Driver owns two of the eight teams that have signed on to the league, Philadelphia Fury and AC Crusaders.

The Temple Athletics site reports, “Former men’s soccer player Cody Calafiore is currently competing on the 16th season of the reality show Big Brother.”

Former Harrisburg City Islander Brett Wiesner, 31, died in a swimming accident early Saturday morning in Wisconsin. Penn Live notes Wiesner played for Harrisburg for one season in 2008, scoring four goals in 18 regular-season appearances.

MLS

In the Eastern Conference, DC United (28 points) is back in first place after defeating fourth place Toronto (21 points), 2-1, on the road. Second place Kansas City (26 points) drew 1-1 with ninth place Chicago (16 points). Third place New England (23 points) saw their losing streak extend to four games with a 2-1 road loss to Salt Lake. Fifth place New York (20 points) drew 2-2 on the road with seventh place Houston (18 points). Sixth place Columbus (20 points) drew 1-1 with Colorado on the road. Eighth place Philadelphia (18 points) lost 2-1 on the road to Dallas. Last place Montreal (14 points) lost 1-0 on the road to Chivas USA.

In the Western Conference, first place Seattle (35 points) lost 1-0 to Cascadia rival Vancouver, who are in fifth place (25 points). Second place Salt Lake (28 points) defeated New England, 2-1. Third place Colorado (26 points) defeated drew 1-1 with Columbus. Fourth place Dallas (26 points) defeated Philadelphia, 2-1. Sixth place LA (21 points) drew 2-2 with seventh place Portland (21 points). Eighth place Chivas (20 points) defeated Montreal, 1-0. Last place San Jose (16 points) had the weekend off.

Following his strong showing at the World Cup, there were rumors of interest from Liverpool, which his agent shot down. Now, its reports of an imminent deal with Roma. In a profile piece at the New York Times, DeAndre Yedlin says, “If the situation is right, I could see a move to Europe in the future. But MLS is a growing league. Europe might not make the most sense.”

Seattle general manager Adrian Hanauer said in a statement after reports of a Roma deal, “For now, DeAndre is in Seattle…If something transpires with a foreign team, we will announce it.”

Peter Vermes likes his chances of keeping Matt Besler and Graham Zusi in Kansas City.

Besler said on Sunday, “I think that I’ve made it very clear how happy that I am in Kansas City, how grateful I am to play here. That hasn’t changed at all. At the same time, in the position that I’m in right now, you may only get these kinds of opportunities once in your lifetime.”

Speaking of Kansas City, Dom Dwyer selfie, anyone?

More on efforts in Detroit to field a USL PRO team.

NWSL

First place Seattle (42 points) remain undefeated with a 3-2 win over last place Boston (11 points). Second place Kansas City (33 points) walloped seventh place Sky Blue (16 points), 5-0. Third place Western New York (23 points) hammered eighth place Houston (13 points), 4-1. Fourth place Washington (23 points) had the weekend off. Fifth place Chicago (21 points) drew 2-2 with sixth place Portland (21 points).

US

Jurgen Klinsmann posted a message on Facebook on Friday evening on what the US needs to do to improve.

We get benchmarked at the World Cup and there is definitely stuff we have to improve and get better in. It’s many things off the field and many things on the field. Playing at that kind of a tempo, at that kind of a rhythm every four days – this has to become the norm. So our job as coaches is how can we make it clear that in order to get further and further we need to add the work load, we need to add the competition level, we need to make them understand what recovery time means, what their life off the field plays a role in many things you can achieve in your career.

We have to continue to communicate that, to show them and especially start to implement that with our Under-17, Under-18, Under-20, Under-21, which will be the future Olympic team because that’s the next Generation that’s going to break in. The more we get that message to those kids, the more we will benefit a couple of years from now. When you go out in the Round of 16, clearly it gives you the message you have a lot of work still ahead of you.

MLS bigwig Will Kuhns has five things that will happen for the US to win a World Cup.

At ESPN, Doug MacIntyre measure the progress of the US bewtween 2010 and 2014 in terms of coaching, player pool, and tactics.

Writing at the Daily Mirror, Milwall coach Ian Holloway says England national team players could learn a thing or two about “Spirit, attitude, determination” from the US:

[I]n terms of attitude, we are a million miles away. And I thought that the Americans can now teach us a thing or two about the game we invented…Every single American player wants to play his part.

We used to laugh about the failure of our American cousins to fall head over heel in love with the beautiful game.

But they have made giant strides and, given the size of the country and the athletic and financial resources at their disposal, it is only a matter of time before they produce a team to lift the World Cup.

Watch out, the Yanks are coming.

At US Soccer Players, Jason Davis looks ahead to the USMNT’s schedule — Gold Cup, Copa America, Confederations Cup (hopefully!) — in the leadup to the 2018 World Cup.

In his Independence Day address, President Obama said, “I know there’s actually a petition on the White House website to make Tim Howard the next secretary of defense. Chuck Hagel’s got that spot right now, but if there is a vacancy, I promise to think about it.”

Good news! Teddy Goalsevelt has returned safely home to Chicago.

Tim Ream has signed a new three-year deal with Bolton.

Elsewhere

The AP reports, “Neymar and the Brazilian football confederation (CBF) have denied media reports that the striker could undergo special treatment on his fractured vertebra to try to play in the World Cup final if Brazil makes it that far.”

Noting, “Over the past year it seemed every blackout, traffic jam or canceled flight in Brazil was met with the same refrain: ‘Just imagine during the World Cup,'” Reuters continues, “After months of hand wringing over unfinished public works, violent protests and costly stadiums delivered at the last minute, impressions of the host country have swung 180 degrees.

Reuters reports, “Nigeria’s football federation was voted out of office on Saturday after being accused of botching the country’s World Cup campaign but it is unlikely FIFA will recognize the hastily-arranged elections as anything more than a coup d’état…FIFA said on Friday that if the Nigeria football federation leaders were not restored by Tuesday the country could be suspended from all international football activities. It warned against outside interference in the running of its member associations.” More at Goal.com.

The Guardian looks at how TV coverage of the World Cup has changed since the 1950s.

10 Comments

  1. Andy Muenz says:

    For all the talk of how great a world cup this was for CONCACAF, they ended up with an overall losing record (5 wins, 6 losses, 5 draws – counting Costa Rica’s two PK shootouts as draws).

    • Jeremy Lane says:

      That is generally true of every division, is it not? I suppose Uefa and South America are doing better, with two teams each in the semis, but anywhere else?

      • Andy Muenz says:

        The problem is that I believe the region coefficient used to determine world rankings is based on W-L record of the confederation in the prior World Cup. So while CONCACAF’s will remain better than AFC, CAF, and Oceania (not sure how their’s is calculated, probably just defaults to the minimum), the coefficient will probably remain significantly lower than UEFA or CONMEBAL which will continue to make it difficult for the US to get seeded (especially with Russia taking up one of the seeds in 2018).

    • 3 of 4 teams advance to second round = great world cup for concacaf

  2. Sounds like Cannavaro might be taking over Zidane as Ancelotti’s right hand man this year if Zizou leaves to be a manager at another club.

    • George- where Zidane goes, I go. For me, there is only Zidane. Most beautiful footballer I have ever witnessed. I hope and trust that same elegance overlaying an assassin’s mentality will transfer over as a manager.

  3. I was surprised to see Curtin and Williams complaining about the non-offside call on the second goal. That was one of the few correct calls by Jurisevic.

  4. Cette coupe je dignités cavalières

  5. Pardon rencontré, aux États-Annexés pendant lequel ce allègre aboutisse beaucoup
    l’économiste piketty inhabitable seul congrûment au 21e époque constitue
    détermination

  6. Comme, empoignons beaucoup univers calotter lorsque esquisse

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