Photo: Courtesy of Philadelphia Union
Philadelphia Union
It wasn’t exactly a compelling game, but a heroic three straight penalty kick saves by John McCarthy saw the Union defeat Rochester Rhinos after finishing their fourth round US Open Cup match scoreless following extra time.
It could’ve just as easily been McCarthy the goat when, after unsuccessful roamings far from goal were rescued by a goal-line clearance from Ray Gaddis in the waning moments of regulation time and the referee’s whistle in the 104th minute when a goal was called back for a shove on Gaddis. Curtin said, “I yelled at him. He came up to me (after the win) and said, ‘I made up for those mistakes.'”
McCarthy said of facing the Rhinos in penalty kicks, “I faced two of them last year – Jonny Mendoza and Tony Walls. I knew where Tony was going. I wasn’t going to change my mind. He shot there a lot in training. And then Johnny Mendoza just put it down the middle, so I can’t really complain about that.”
McCarthy added, “I was just hoping to save a couple, I mean that’s all I really could hope for. Penalty kick shootouts are kind of just 50-50, if you go the right way, hopefully you save it, and if you don’t, most likely it’s going in. I saved a couple so it was great, a great team effort.”
Curtin said in praise of Rochester, “That’s a tough team to break down, very organized. I thought they outplayed us in the second half, to be honest.”
Reports and recaps at PSP, Philadelphia Union, US Soccer, TheCup.us, MLSsoccer.com, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, Delco Times, CSN Philly, Philly Soccer News, Brotherly Game, Rochester Rhinos, USL, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, and New England Soccer Today.
The draw for the fifth round, which will be played June 30-July 1, will take place on Thursday after tonight’s conclusion of the fourth round, with the Union likely to face the winner of New York Cosmos-NYCFC. Click here for the rules of the draw, which will also provide possible quarterfinal pairings.
TheCup.us has a trivia contest that gives you a chance to win a Union-Bethlehem Steel jersey.
Zac MacMath, on loan from the Union to Colorado Rapids, made his season debut in the team’s 4-1 Open Cup win over Colorado Switchbacks.
Some clarification on the status of Wilson Palacios, the Honduran international and Premier League midfielder who has been trialing with the Union from Bolton Wanderers’ website Burnden Aces, which says he “will become a free agent when his contract at Stoke City expires in two weeks’ time.” The report notes Bolton head coach Neil Lennon has offered Palacios a chance to earn a spot on his squad by inviting him to join the team on a preseason tour of Austria.
Following a survey sent out to season ticket holders on Tuesday, Brotherly Game considers whether the Union should found their own USL team. Yes, and Rich Graham should run it.
A 2015 schedule announcement from the Georgetown men’s team says the Hoyas will play the Union on the road in an exhibition game on Aug. 18.
Philly Sports Cave has part one of a midseason review.
A report on last week’s Philadelphia premiere of The Sons of Ben: The Movie from Philly PR Girl, the firm that organized the premiere at the Trocadero.
Abington Journal on the experiences of young Nate Steenback and Madelyn Hoinowski, two Abington-area children who recently had the opportunity to train at PPL Park as part of a contest offered to PPL Electric Utilities.
US
USA 1-0 Nigeria
A 45th minute goal from Abby Wambach from a Megan Rapinoe corner kick saw the US defeat Nigeria 1-0 to finish at the top of Group D at the Women’s World Cup. The US will find out who their ROund of 16 opponent is after the conclusion of the rest of group play today.
Recaps and reports at PSP, US Soccer, FIFA, Nigeria Football Federation, MLSsoccer.com, Philly.com, Vancouver Sun, Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Guardian (recap, analysis), The Nigerian Guardian, Fox Sports, ESPN, SI, ASN, Soccer America, Goal.com (recap, report), SBI, ProSoccer Talk (recap, three things), AFP, and Reuters.
Player ratings at Soccer America.
ESPNW and SI on the impact Alex Morgan made in her first ever World Cup start. ProSoccerTalk on Wambach’s impact. SI on the importance of Julie Johnston to the US defense — which hasn’t allowed a goal in 243 minutes of play.
Nigeria head coach Edwin Okon appeared to refuse to shake Jill Ellis’ hand after the US win. Not cool, not cool at all.
Very thought provoking read at Deadspin on all the controversy surrounding Hope Solo.
US Open Cup
MLS teams were victorious in all nine of their US Open Cup matches on Tuesday, with Portland’s 3-1 controversial win over seven men, and current champion Seattle the big story, thanks to some questionable officiating (the refs got a police escort off the field), not to mention questionable behavior from the likes of Clint Dempsey, who appeared to tear up the ref’s card book. Seattle’s loss means the Union, as the phrase goes, are the only remaining reigning 2014 finalist. Results wraps at US Soccer, TheCup.us, and MLSsoccer.com.
Seven US Open Cup matches will be played tonight with all MLS sides playing on the road, including the much anticipated New York Cosmos-NYCFC game. All of the games can be seen at US Soccer/YouTube. Previews at US Soccer and MLSsoccer.com.
Local
Ocean City Nor’easters and Lehigh Valley United are both in midweek PDL play tonight. Ocean City are on the road to face Long Island Rough Riders, and LVU host Baltimore Bohemians.
Lehigh Valley Live reports on a soccer clinic for disabled children held by Lehigh Valley United on Tuesday at SteelStacks in conjunction with the viewing party for the USA-Nigeria Women’s World Cup match.
MLS
New York City FC has signed 32-year-old defender Andoni Iraola from Athletic Bilbao, where he has spent his entire career, and acquired defender Jose Angel Tasende, an 18-year-old Spanish youth international and member of Manchester City’s Elite Development Squad, on loan for the remainder of the 2015 season.
CBS Sacramento reports MLS aspirants Sacramento Republic are drawing inspiration for their planned new stadium from San Jose’s new Avaya Stadium. Because a stadium that is open on one end with no raised seating, but with a massive jumbotron, is an inspirational thing.
New video, narrated by Joe Buck, of the proposed new NFL stadium in St. Louis, which is also being touted as the possible new home for a MLS franchise, has been released.
Elsewhere
The AP reports, “Banks in Switzerland have reported 53 possible acts of money-laundering in the investigation of FIFA’s 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding contests, the country’s attorney-general said Wednesday.” The report continues,
Michael Lauber said the “suspicious bank relations” were filed to comply with Switzerland’s regulations against money laundering.
The federal prosecutor described a “huge and complex” case which targets “criminal mismanagement and money-laundering” in the bidding contests which sent the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar.
Lauber is prepared for either country to be stripped of the hosting rights if new evidence proves wrongdoing.
“I don’t mind if this has some collateral (damage) somewhere else,” he said, addressing the media for the first time since the Swiss investigation into FIFA was announced three weeks ago.
Lauber said he “does not exclude” interviewing FIFA President Sepp Blatter and secretary-general Jerome Valcke in the future, though they are not currently under suspicion.
More on the story at the Guardian.
The AP reports, “Asian Football Confederation (AFC) general secretary Alex Soosay has quit amid a probe into allegations that he ordered a cover-up during an audit of the organisation in 2012.”
Reuters reports, “A Brazilian broadcast executive accused of sending bribes to senior soccer officials has returned to Brazil, where he is preparing to fight extradition to the United States on racketeering and wire fraud charges, his lawyer said on Tuesday.” Apparently, Jose Margulies, one of three indicted individuals who was not arrested in Switzerland when the FIFA corruption scandal broke, arrived in Brazil from Germany last week. Brazilian law “forbids the extradition of naturalized citizens unless they are charged with drug trafficking or crimes prior to their naturalization.” Born in Argentina, naturalized in Brazil in 1973, and travelling on either a Brazilian, Argentine or Polish passport, Margulies is at the top of the FBI’s Most Wanted list.
A good MLS team blitzkriegs the Rhinos at home last night. For the manager to say a 3rd level team outplayed them for the 2nd half is troubling.
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I didn’t watch and do not have a frame of reference but my oh my if we were outplayed by them. Outch.
It would have been a great match…if both teams were comprised of 8 year-olds.
They were outplayed, but it wasn’t because the Rhinos were better. The Union were not good.
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On another note Andre Blake cannot possibly return soon enough. Looked alright in warm-ups, but needs to start as soon as possible.
Boy does Andre Iguodala get the last laugh. Phew.
+1, I met him once…….big dude! Nice guy too…….happy for him.
Never had a problem with Iggy myself. Quality player on a team of dreck- arguable, if he remains a 6th man solution for Warriors he could be considered one of the upper echelon 6th men ever.
I never thought I’d see the words “thought provoking” and “Deadspin” in the same sentence…
Alright maybe I’m just low on sleep this week, but I don’t understand when I see teams signing foreign players from foreign leagues all the time, but then get told about transfer windows opening.
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What makes someone susceptible to a transfer window when others can sign whenever they like?
That’s easy. Just like there’s a league rule that says the refs can’t award the Union a penalty kick, there is a rule saying the Union can only make trades during a certain time period. Neither rule applies to the rest of the league.
SBI said they will both join NYCFC after the windows open July 7 or 8. But the rule about the Union not receiving PKs does actually exist. Haha
Not only should the Union create their own USL team, but they should also create their own PDL or NPSL team. If they don’t, somebody else should. We have local college players who need somewhere to play during the summer. But there’s also a lot of college-age talent in Philadelphia, mostly immigrants, who could make a splash if given the opportunity. Just look at what the Junior Lone Stars have done in NPSL with mostly Liberian immigrants.
At the Kensington Soccer Club, we’ve come across a few players who came here as teens or young adults and were definitely good enough for DI college soccer, but came here too late and didn’t have the exposure needed. But with a PDL or NPSL team, they’d have a chance.
Agreed. Anything that raises the level of play across the culture so the outliers can then also be even better…. I am all for.
so how is Dempsey going to play ANY soccer this summer without it being a show of favoritism? that was disgraceful.
as for Union-Rhinos: i watched second half and OT simultaneously with USWNT. too many of these Open Cup matches have gone into OT and been less than enjoyable. i was extremely nervous for McCarthy but he made up for the 120+ mins of “soccer” that was played before kicks.
Well, I know nothing about what happened specifically….but have 7 players ever finished a game related to red cards? Very interesting, not saying Clint was right cause I’m sure it was a bit out of line…but I actually think it is funny…and maybe just a bit on point by him.
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Yeah Dempsey took it too far. On one level it was funny and original (I had never seen a player rip up a refs note book), but in reality it was childish and stupid. But hey… this is MLS… and he plays for one the approved teams… he has nothing to fear.
I also doubt he will play against us next week. He has to be suspended.