Photo: Earl Gardner
Philadelphia Union
The third and fourth rounds of the 2015 SuperDraft will take place today beginning at 2 pm. The Union have the ninth and 29th picks of the day, 51st and 71st overall for all rounds of the draft. You can follow along with any number of outlets on Twitter and at the Draft Tracker at MLSsoccer.com.
Despite having no picks until the second round of the first draft session last week, the Union selected players with promise in Dzenan Catic and Eric Bird with the 31st and 41st picks of the day. At Union Tally, Matthew De George looks at some of the options available in areas of need, including several with local connections such as goalkeeper Andrew Wolverton, winger Manolo Sanchez, and forward Duke Lacroix. MLSsoccer.com has a look their Top 20 players available for selection. More from SBI.
Rais Mbolhi and Algeria came from behind to defeat South Africa, 3-1, in the opening of group play at the Africa Cup of Nations on Monday. At Goal.com, Mbolhi, who made “a series of brilliant saves throughout the game” (South Africa’s goal was no fault of his), was the highest rated player and the fan choice for man of the match.
More on the game from CAF, MLSsoccer.com, Goal.com, Press Association, the AP, and ProSoccerTalk. Algeria next faces Ghana on Friday, Jan. 23 (11 am, beIN Sport).
At MLSsoccer.com, Dave Zeitlin talked to Zach Pfeffer about the injury that we first reported reported several weeks ago, a minor injury but one that kept him out of the US squad at the CONCACAF U-20 Championship in Jamaica. Pfeffer says of his intentions with the Union for 2015: “I came into the preseason last year and did very well. Unfortunately, I didn’t get too many opportunities in the beginning of the year. My goal is to come into the preseason again, play very well, show the coaching staff I can help the team and basically give them a tough decision and make it almost impossible for them not to put me on the field. That’s my goal.”
From the Union, one-on-one with CJ Sapong:
Local
Allentown Morning Call talks to Ben Gucciardi, the Soccer Without Borders founder who was honored at the NSCAA Convention.
MLS
It’s official: Toronto have signed Italy international Sebastian Giovinco from Juventus. Giovinco will join the team in July.
The Toronto Sun reports, “Giovinco is expected to be the highest-paid player in the league after agreeing to a $7 million per season deal that includes marketing money over five years.” Is it safe to say Toronto now sports a central spine in Bradley ($6 million), Giovinco ($7 million), and Altidore ($6 million) that makes more in a year than the Union has spent on all of its rosters since its founding?
Colorado Rapids have acquired midfielder Sam Cronin from San Jose in exchange for allocation money.
“Multiple sources” tell the Columbus Dispatch that the Crew are about to sign Argentine defender Hernan Grana. The 29-year-old most recently played with Boca Juniors.
It looks like the only thing delaying the announcement that Scottish midfielder Shaun Maloney has signed with Chicago is whether he comes from Wigan before the start of the MLS season or after the end of the Championship season in England.
Reports suggest Belgium international center back Laurent Ciman, now with Standard Liège, is close to a three-year deal with Montreal.
Montreal have named Enzo Concina as assistant coach. Concina was an assistant coach at DC United last year and, before that, worked with Napoli and Inter Milan.
The Denver Post reports that Colorado Rapids’ Dick’s Sporting Goods Park will be the site of the 2015 MLS All-Star Game.
Quaker Oats will continue as Chicago’s shirt sponsor through 2015.
The Sun-Sentinel reports, “The mayor of Miami-Dade County remains hopeful that David Beckham will succeed in bringing a Major League Soccer team to Miami, but makes it clear it is up to the English soccer legend and his backers to find a workable stadium plan.”
US
Megan Rapinoe will miss the last week of the USWNT camp after suffering a strained ligament in her right knee. Her recovery will likely see her miss the friendlies against France (Feb. 8) and England (Feb. 13).
Elsewhere
The AP reports, “The Cyprus Referees’ Association on Monday said its members will boycott all domestic cup and league matches for one week in retaliation to a midnight bomb attack at the home of a referee’s mother.”
Ack! Video of Mbolhi removed! Can someone post the url? Would love to see it…
I can only find highlights of goals… not saves…
Mbolhi did make several good saves plus got some help from the crossbar on a PK that would have made it 2-0. I thought his best save was one that appeared to hit the bar directly, but the replay showed it was dipping underneath the bar when he got and hand on it.
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Unfortunately, there were a couple of other plays where he was a bit out of position including one where he came out and might have gotten called for a PK if the player had gone down.
Watched the match on beIn. Algeria’s back 4 was awful, especially in the first half. I can echo Andy’s comments, the save where he tipped the shot over the bar was excellent, but his challenge on the one play could have been a PK against a forward who embellished better. South Africa definitely missed some chances in the first half and paid in the second half. Broadcast focused quite a bit on Mbolhi and from that I saw that he is much more vocal with his back line than MacMath is/was.
I can’t tell you how much I look forward to these roundups. I remain hopeful that one day soon we too may be listed as a team signing new quality players. T-minus 10 days and counting until we are passed the date that Nogiuera was signed last year.
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2 players being looked at by the union. Has to be two of ST, LB and DM right? Was Sasha one of these? What happens next? Big questions for a team who’s offseason starts in a week.
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Aside from 2-3 new signings needed, I think the starters at the second could compete with almost anyone… But not over a full season. The depth is what worries me. Who plays wing after Le Toux and Wenger, Cruz? Sapong if he doesn’t start? Who plays when Maidana is tired late, or needs a game off? No one. The depth is what separates us. I will always remember that lesson from the open cup final.
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My wife saw pics on a wedding blog she loves and recognized Le Toux and was so excited about it. Congrats to him and his wife, she is a beautiful bride and I am proud and happy that he would choose this area as a place that he favors.
I got the chance to talk with Le Toux briefly at an autograph signing event after he was on Preston and Steve last year. He and his wife were married but waited until the offseason to have the actually wedding. Also they held it in Philly – showing how much he loves being here.
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Also, Danny Cruz just got engaged not too long ago – there was a “Day in the Life” thing about him on the MLS website where he was trying to figure out what to wear for the engagement photos.
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Everyone wants wins and quality on the field so much it is sometimes easy to forget that the players are all average people off it. Congrats to both LeToux and Cruz!
I could be wrong but his wife being from here might have something to do with the location of the wedding.
Ha! Danny Cruz took his engagement photos in the exact same place we did ours in November. Good taste, future Mrs. Cruz!
All good questions my friend.
ACM has no depth at all without moving someone out of position. ST, ACM, LB and DCM in that order of priority, for me. The plethora of CBs means Edu could in fact go to DCM if what 2012 would have called “the Valdes effect” still applies (mentoring a younger CB next to him successfully.)
When, OH WHEN, will I see something titled, “reports say the Union are linked to…”
At this late date, it would be nice just to be able to speculate about somebody, no matter how outlandish or unlikely. This offseason, we basically got one day to argue about the merits of Kljesten before it came out LA wanted him and we all said, “Well, so much for that…”.
Your ‘2 signings’ that Sak talked about on SuperDraft day — Casey or Carroll at less money for depth, and an out of work vet MLS GK for international windows.
Round 3 Aaron Simmons, UCLA, the UCLA men’s soccer website describes him as a CB and a DCM. Round 4 Raymond Lee, St. Louis University, their website describes him as a midfielder, nothing more specific than that. He was offensive player of the year in MO his senior year in HS, but the statistics of his senior year in college do not necessarily suggest he was an attacker.
Lee also projects as possible LB.
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Simmons is 6ft tall but only like 160lbs so might need to bulk a little to play CB in the MLS. Also saw time at DCM and a little time at RB.
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In any case it is defensive depth at multiple positions but both will likely play for Harrisburg if they make the roster at all.