Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz
Philadelphia Union
The MLS Players Union released its latest list of player salaries on Monday. Some base/guaranteed compensation numbers of note since the last release from the Players Union in April:
- Brian Brown: $48,504/$53,004
- Rais Mbolhi: $240,000/$240,000
- Carlos Valdes: $294,999.96/$294,999.96 (His salary was listed at $295,000 in April so the latest numbers presumably do not reflect the new deal he signed with his return from loan)
- Ray Gaddis: Recently signed a new contract but that presumably kicks in in 2015 so his salary is listed as the same as in April at $52,313/$52,313
At Philly.com, Jonathan Tannenwald notes “the Union’s current payroll stands at $4,073,098.96 in base salary and $4,385,536.46 in guaranteed compensation,” which puts their salary budget at 12th in the league, down three spots from where they were in April.
As the Union continue to fight for a postseason spot, reasonable fans might question the wisdom of the Union giving Mbolhi a $240,000 contract — exactly double Zac MacMath’s guaranteed compensation of $120,000 — when it is as clear as ever that the Union need help most in the attack, a point recently made in an article at the Delco Times from Matthew De George. Going quickly over the salary numbers, Mbolhi is the sixth highest paid goalkeeper in the league:
- Troy Perkins (MON): $250,000/$271,833.33
- David Ousted (VAN): $250,000/$266,156.25
- Donovan Ricketts (POR): $260,000/260,000
- Sean Johnson (CHI): $250,000/$253,000
- Raul Fernandez (DAL): $160,000/$247,500
- Rais Mbolhi (PHI): $240,000/$240,000
- Nick Rimando (RSL): $225,000/$235,833
- Tally Hall (HOU) $200,000/$213,500
- Dan Kennedy (CHV): $211,750/$213,416.67
- Jon Busch (SJ): $173,250/$184,583.33
Some other goalkeeper salaries that popped out at me: Luis Robles at $100,000/125,000 and Bill Hamid at $100,000/114,750.
In the latest Inside Doop, Dave Zeitlin has five keys to the Union reaching the playoffs:
- Commitment to getting numbers the box
- Creativity in the midfield
- Le Toux’s health
- Mbolhi’s big-play ability
- Toughness
At the Union website, Kerith Gabriel on the good fortune in having three of the final four games of the season at PPL Park and some offensive numbers to feel encouraged by. More on the Union’s playoff hopes at the Union website and Playing for 90.
Hopeful news regarding Sebastien Le Toux. Following up on his tweet from the Union practice earlier on Monday, Kerith Gabriel writes in the latest Daily Doop, “Sebastien Le Toux in training gear and cleats as he joined his teammates for practice. Le Toux left the field at RFK Stadium in Saturday’s game against D.C. United in what early reports cited as a right ankle sprain. He later returned to the field with crutches, which appears to merely be a precaution as Le Toux was back out on the training pitch today. He will undergo an MRI and more information will be known once the results are in.”
At MLSsoccer.com, Dave Zeitlin writes that Le Toux “was able to do some light training Monday, which is a promising development considering how much pain he said he was in after the game Saturday. ”
Power rankings: At SI, the Union drop one spot to No. 10. At Soccer America, it’s the same.
Union Academy
The Union Academy U-17/18s defeated Richmond United 2-0 on Saturday with a pair of first half goals from Mohammed Conde. Goals from Anthony Fontana and Tiger Graham powered the U15/16s 2-0 win over Richmond. The U-13/14s were also victorious, defeating Richmond 5-0 with a goal from Vilbert Fortulus and a pair of braces from Tony Temple and Brenden Aaronson.
Union Academy alum and Penn State sophomore forward Conor Maloney gets a shout out from the MLS website for his two goals and one assist performance in the Nittany Lions 6-2 win over Penn last Wednesday, and for scoring the only goal in Penn State’s 1-0 win over Michigan on Sunday.
Local
In the latest Philly Soccer Six awards, La Salle’s Joe Farrell is Player of the Week, his teammate Mike Kirk is Defender of the Week, and St. Joe’s Bobby Edwards is Rookie of the Week.
Penn hosts St. Joseph’s tonight at 7 pm. According to the Daily Pennsylvanian, if Penn wins, “the Red and Blue will secure the ‘Philadelphia Soccer Six’ championship outright.”
Taylor Racioppi (PDA; Ocean Township; N.J.) has been called up for the US U-20 WNT camp at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California.
Longtime Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer Association leader and former US Adult Soccer Association president Richard Groff was inducted into the USASA Hall of Fame last week.
MLS
At ESPN, Jeff Carlisle reports that “multiple sources” say Chivas USA will go on hiatus for “for a minimum of two years until the new ownership group can plan and build a new stadium for the team.” Carlisle writes, “One source added that the league has agreed to sell the club to an undisclosed investment group for a fee in the neighborhood of $100 million, and that going on hiatus is a condition of the sale.” Cubo Torres anyone?
More on the latest player salary information from Philly.com, SI, ProSoccerTalk, Goal.com, Soccer America, and The AP. Orlando City’s Kaka tops Clint Dempsey as highest paid player at $7,167,500 in guaranteed compensation. The salary of NYCFC’s David Villa is hilariously listed at $60,000 while Frank Lampard’s isn’t listed at all.
Last week a report was released on how DC United fans will travel to the proposed new stadium in Buzzard Point.
The Guardian on hopes in Las Vegas for a MLS franchise.
Cardiff City owner and resident lunatic Vincent Tan says, “I’m looking to buy another club in Europe and then I may invest in a club in the US, the MLS.” Hey look, a squirrel.
US
At ESPN, Doug McIntyre reports “multiple sources” say “Minor league midfielder Miguel Ibarra will be included on the U.S. national team’s roster for next month’s friendlies against Ecuador and Honduras.” Ibarra plays for the NASL’s Minnesota United. If he is called up, he’ll be the first second division player called up by the national team since Clyde Simms was called up from the Richmond Kickers in 2005.
The US U-23 MNT will play the Brazil U-23s in a friendly on Oct. 13 to cap off of the team’s training camp in Brasilia, Oct. 10-12. Why is a four day training camp taking place in Brazil? Brazil is the host of the 2016 Summer Olympics and Brasilia is one of the host cities.
Elsewhere
Toronto Globe and Mail reports,
Despite the threat of a lawsuit from top players, there is no Plan B beyond playing the 2015 Women’s World Cup of soccer on artificial turf.
“Currently no,” Tatjana Haenni, FIFA’s deputy director of the competitions division and head of women’s competitions, said Tuesday in an interview from Ottawa.
“We play on artificial turf and there’s no Plan B.”
The Center for Research on Globalization on “Doing the Impossible: Holding FIFA Accountable.”
At Soccerly, Simon Evans writes that preventing the public release of the the ethics investigation into accusations of bribery in the leadup to the vote on the hosting rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups is, among other things, “is a tawdry attempt to protect Qatar.”
At the New York Times, more on FIFA’s vote to ban third-party ownership of players. The cool kids refer to it as “TPO.”
The AP reports, “Greece’s government has ordered all domestic professional sporting matches to be called off for one week after a soccer fan died as a result of stadium violence.”
That spray foam that is used to mark the spot for free kicks is a health hazard? Quartz reports,
[L]ast week, TÜV Rheinland, a German safety watchdog, announced that 915 was a health hazard. A study (German) commissioned by the German tabloid Bild found that the spray likely contained parabens, a group of chemicals that are commonly found in cosmetics and can disrupt normal hormone function, among other potential dangers (paywall). TÜV said that the spray, which has propane and butane, also needs a label indicating that it’s flammable. ‘In its present form, the product is not usable in Germany and the European Union,’ a TÜV spokesman said.”
The Quartz report ends, “For his part, Jürgen Klopp, who coaches the Bundesliga team Borussia Dortmund, said he wasn’t worried about the danger of hormonal changes in his players. ‘I think the game itself is already sexy,’ he said (German), ‘so the spray can’t make it more so.’ More on the story from ESPN.
Santa Claus has been promoted to the Finnish second division. Needless to say, such tidings brought great joy.
Check out the latest Footy on the Telly listings for today’s Champions League games.
I love Jurgen Klopp. Brilliant.
you beat me to it – that guy is the best
Zac Macmath can’t catch a break. Looks like Dan Kennedy is going to hit the market just as he is going to look for a new deal. How many teams need a keeper?
Loads of teams, if MacMath has a passport and a decent agent.
well, we know he has a passport…
The fact he is still here puts his agent in doubt.
Expansion draft.
I have said this a number of times. Loan out Blake and keep Zac as our backup. We need a good keeper for when Rais goes out on Int’l duty. If we have both Rais and Blake the team will need a third goalie just for international duty.
and MacMath would do this why? And how is Rimando only the 7th highest paid keeper!? Thats criminal.
I know some may see it as a black eye for the league, but Chivas suspending operations has the potential to be a major plus for the league. You’ll be looking at 20 teams which means you can create a schedule that doesn’t see the Union with 10 days off playing a Toronto team that played 4 days earlier. If the league puts together a schedule where everyone plays within a day or two of each other things will be fairer. That will also allow them more wiggle room in the schedule to take international days off (since it will really be a 34 game schedule and not one that needs extra space for the weekends when one team has off).
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As far as the spray goes, I think it’s primary health issue is with regards to the ref’s eyesight for the next few calls. 🙂 🙂
Reasonable fans might also think that a major striker upgrade could have cost as little as $500k more, $185k of which could have been saved by not re signing Carroll. That payroll ($4.9mm, including Carroll) would be between VAN & FCD. This should have been a breakout year. Not another breakdown.
Better yet drop Carroll and Cruz and see what you can do with that $300K
I think Cruz may have already been under contract this year but Carroll was extended in the offseason.
Actually, M’Bolhi being the sixth-highest paid goalkeeper in MLS doesn’t surprise me. If anything, I thought he’d be further up. The surprise is how far down the list Rimando is.
And how much money Ousted is stealing.