Photo: Earl Gardner

Today’s SuperDraft at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Center City begins at 12:30 pm and will be simulcast on the MLS YouTube channel and on SiriusXM FC Channel 94. Barring any trades to move up in the draft to the first round, the Union have the 31st and 41st pick of the draft.

The Sons of Ben are hosting a pre-draft party at the Fieldhouse until 12 pm. There will be a post-draft gathering at Misconduct Tavern, 3 pm-6 pm.

Follow PSP on Twitter for live updates from the draft. We’ll have reports and video here on the website throughout the day.

Philadelphia Union

Jim Curtin assessed this year’s draft pool in an article from Jeff Carlisle at ESPN about the “evolving worth and value” of the Combine:

The consensus among a lot of the coaches going in was that there wasn’t a ton of high-end talent at the top of draft but it was a deep draft. I think that proved true. Talking to the other coaches, Picks 5 through 35 are a “to be determined” in terms of which kid will be a 10-year pro. It’s not a perfect science, but there are some kids there who are going to have good careers in MLS.

Carlisle notes the deepening relationship between MLS and USL PRO as a way to develop young talent. As Curtin explained,

There are kids who aren’t quite ready to make the jump to starting for an MLS team, and would do better in a USL Pro setup.

It’s a way to take a kid who has some attributes that you like — whether it’s size or a good left foot — and let him have a year or two to develop in real games, games with consequences. Then you see what blossoms from there. It’s an important stage of development, it’s important not to forget them.

Several mock drafts have the Union taking local lad Manolo Sanchez with their first pick of the draft. At Philly.com, Sanchez tells  Jonathan Tannenwald reports that he would be thrilled to be selected by his hometown club. “I love this city – I go to a couple of [Union] games every summer and I’m familiar with some of the players. It would really be a special kind of homecoming for me, it would mean a lot to me.

Observing “the true theme of the Union’s greater drafting history has by and large been futility,” Matthew De George explains at the Delco Times, “With expectations already tempered by a lack of a first-round pick, it’s likely that the drama in Thursday’s SuperDraft at the Philadelphia Convention Center will lack the Union in quite the starring role they played last year.”

At CSN Philly, Dave Zeitlin notes Curtin’s comment from Monday’s teleconference with reporters: “I’ll be blunt: There are two guys that we are debating moving up for,” Curtin said. “But if the price gets too high to move up, we won’t do it. It’s as simple as that. Whether that might be packaging a player and allocation money, whether it’s packaging the two draft picks, there are a million different variables to mention.”

At Brotherly Game, Jared Young looks at the statistics regarding draft picks still on MLS rosters and says, “It looks fair to assume the Union should get at least one roster player this season from the SuperDraft.” The analysis concludes the Union may not benefit by trading up for a targeted pick.

Paste has five things you’ll see at today’s SuperDraft: Blaring pop music (work with me here), blank stares and awkward smiles, powerful people at tiny tables, chanting fans, and faux analysis (or “fauxnalysis”).

Zach Pfeffer and representatives of the Philadelphia Union Foundation were joined by several potential draft picks at Philabundance in South Philly on Wednesday as part of an MLSWORKS project.

Sacha Kljestan has been linked to the Union. Is Seattle about to make a move to secure his services? Fans in Dallas and San Jose wonder if their clubs might land the midfielder.

The Union’s first preseason opponent, NASL expansion side Jacksonville Armada, has added three Jacksonville-area players to its roster.

Sons of Ben

The Sons of Ben announced on Wednesday the opening of the “SoB Lot” at PPL Park, a 250-spot parking area in Lot C that will be available to SoB members only. The announcement notes, “This area will enable to us to throw tailgates like we did back in the Teber Lot days.” SoB members who have already purchased parking passes for 2015 have until Jan. 23rd to exchange them for passes to the new lot.

Local

Seven Reading United alums –Fatai Alashe, Oumar Ballo, Alex Bono, Wes Charpie, Ignacio Maganto, Manolo Sanchez and Skylar Thomas — are available in today’s draft. At the Reading website, scouting reports on each of them.

SI lists Bono among its list of top picks in the draft.

Delaware Online reports on the volunteer work done by 17-year-old Diego Barajas as part of US Youth Soccer’s TOPSoccer (“The Outreach Program for Soccer”) program. Barajas will be honored at the NSCAA Convention on Friday for winning the 2014 TOPSoccer Buddy of the Year award for U.S. Youth Soccer’s Region I.

At Brotherly Game, Barry Evans on how you can help the Camden Youth Soccer Club in 2015.

MLS

The Press Association reports Jozy Altidore flew to Toronto on Wednesday night to complete the deal that will see him sign with TFC and Jermain Defoe go to Sunderland.

Jurgen Klinsmann has come out in support of the already announced move of Mix Diskerud to MLS, and the possible move by Jozy Altidore. He said of Altidore, “The biggest advice is ‘You gotta play. You can’t sit on the bench there and not be in match fitness, so find a team that gives you a chance to play…The most important thing is that he catches up with the rest of the group and plays again and scores goals on a regular basis.”

At the Guardian, Simon Evans says of Altidore,

Altidore will surely go down in Sunderland legend as one of the club’s worst ever signings. His time in the Premier League, on a reported £30,000 ($45,000) a week salary, has been so fruitless that he is likely to feature in ‘waste of money’ lists for years to come. But he could also count as one of the most badly-advised players of recent years, a victim of football’s propensity for ill-thought out deals.

Pointing to Altidores move to Villareal from New York Red Bulls in 2008, Evans notes, “This is, after all, the second time in his young career that he has been a big-money failure.”

In an article about Altidore coming to MLS, Deadspin says the league “remains a murky backwater,” adding it “exists now as soccer’s Ft. Lauderdale, an agreeable place where aging foreign stars escape once the sport has passed them by.” Also: “many fans go to MLS games for the same reason people still go to Aerosmith concerts.”

ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle tweeted on Wednesday that Toronto GM Tim Bezbatchenko confirmed that Altidore will be subject to the allocation ranking. Toronto has the 6th, 9th, and 11th picks in today’s draft. Could any of those picks be traded to teams above them in the allocation order in the effort to land Altidore? Or is it a case of the teams above them not making a move for Altidore?

The BBC reports Jermain Defoe has passed his medical at Sunderland.

Defoe told the Daily Mirror, “I felt so sharp. All that hard work has paid off. I can’t wait to start scoring goals for Sunderland. Everybody knows how much I love English football and I still feel that I have a lot to offer.”

Calling Defoe a “carpetbagger,” Sportsnet.ca says of his time in Toronto, “Really, we all should have known better. A ‘Bloody Big Deal?’ No, a bloody big mistake.”

Orlando City has traded Jairo Arrieta to DC United in return for an additional international roster spot.

New England Revolution has re-signed Teal Bunbury to a new multi-year contract.

Vancouver have acquired 24-year-old center back Diego Martín Rodriguez Telechea on a one-year loan with an option to buy from Juventud in Uruguay.

San Antonio Business Journal on how a sell-out of the upcoming USA-Mexico game on April 15 (see below) could boost that city’s chances of landing an MLS franchise.

US

The US did what they were supposed to do on Wednesday evening when they faced Aruba at the CONCACAF U-20 Championship: they defeated them, and did so with lots of goals. Romain Gall had a first half hat trick and five other players got on the score sheet as the US won, 8-0. The team next faces host country Jamaica on Jan. 18 (8 pm: FOX Sports 2 and Univision Deportes).

US Soccer has confirmed the USMNT will host Mexico in a friendly at San Antonio’s Alamodome on April 15 (8:30 pm: Fox Sports 1, UniMas and Univision Deportes Network).

Abby Wambach says players will not continue to protest the use of artificial turf at the 2015 World Cup when the tournament begins. “We are not going to get into the World Cup environment and continue to talk about it, because we’re all going to want to be winning that World Cup, and that’s just gonna be something that will take our attention away from what our real goal is at hand and it’s raising the trophy at the end of the tournament.”

ESPNW on what the dismissal of the domestic assault charges against Hope Solo means for the USWNT.

Soccer Gods considers why, after the furor that accompanied the charges against Solo in June, the dismissal of the charges has resulted in little reaction in the press. “The answer to that is probably that most people just don’t care about the story anymore.”

At Soccer America, part two of the Q&A with US Soccer Development Academy’s director of scouting, Tony Lepore.

Elsewhere

The Independent reports on proposed changes at England’s FA regarding the signing of international players.

At the Guardian, Jacob Steinberg reviews the case for FIFA adopting the use of “sin bins” — the penalty box in ice hockey terms — for “not-so-nasty fouls.”

Also at the Guardian talks to the inventors of vanishing spray.