Daily news roundups

US Open Cup draw, Union bits, US to face Colombia at WWC, Dempsey, latest FIFA news

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Philadelphia Union

The draw for the fifth round of the US Open Cup will take place today at 11 am and will be streamed live at US Soccer. The Union’s opponent will be drawn from an East Region group that includes DC United, New York Cosmos, and New York Red Bulls.

More on McCarthy’s PK save heroics and Tuesday’s game at MLSsoccer.comDelco TimesThe 700 Level (which includes some nice video), Cinnaminson Patch, Philly Sports Network, and Sons of Penn. USA Today has a photo gallery from the game.

Looking ahead to Saturday’s game in LA — the team flies out today — here’s the latest injury report via the club’s Behind the Crest blog:

Fernando Aristegueita – Questionable — Left fibular contusion
Conor Casey — Questionable — Left quad strain
Michael Lahoud — Questionable — Right quad strain
Sebastien Le Toux — Questionable — Left knee MCL sprain

Coming on the heels of Tuesday nights Open Cup game, the BTC blog notes that Wednesday’s practice was a light one. Andre Blake seems to be continues to coming along well but no mention is made of Steven Vitoria.

The Daily Mail writes, “Former Stoke City midfielder Wilson Palacios is waiting on MLS side Philadelphia Union deciding whether to sign him.”

At the league website, a tally of fan voting so far for the upcoming All-Star game. No Union players are listed.

Maurice Edu spoke to Reuters about the growing intensity of rivalries among teams in the US, intense rivalry being a subject he knows very well from his time playing with Rangers in Glasgow. Edu said,

For Philadelphia the local rivals are DC United and the New York teams, the fans still get up for these and treat them as a derby.

When these teams come to Philadelphia they are made to hate it, the fans give them stick and let them know who the home team is. When Thierry Henry came to play for the Red Bulls against Philadelphia he admitted to hating it.

If any European fans came to USA and especially Philadelphia then they would be pleasantly surprised with the intensity of the atmosphere.

Speaking of rivalries, Rivalry Week is coming! and the Union are playing…Seattle and Montreal. Well done, MLS scheduling guys, the only connection that could reasonable be construed to constitute a Union rivalry with either team comes from a non-league tournament.

At the league website, a tally of fan voting so far for the upcoming All-Star game. No Union players are listed.

Union Academy

The Philadelphia Union Academy U-16 and U-18 teams are about to begin postseason play in the US Soccer Development Academy playoffs. On Wednesday, each team played a warmup game, the U-16s defeating Continental FC 4-0, with goals from Jack Skahan, Tiger Graham, an apparent olympico from Dawson McCartney, and Juan Infante. The U-18s fell 2-1 to Reading United, with Sebastian Elney opening the scoring in the fifth minute before two second half goals gave Reading the win.

The playoffs will take place June 23-26 at Grand Sports Park in Westfield, Indiana. The U-16s have been drawn in Group F along with the Everton FC Westchester (June 23 at 4:30 pm),Weston FC (June 24 at 4:30 pm), and Houston Dynamo (June 26 at 11:15 am). The U-18s are in Group E with the Montreal Impact (June 23 at 12 pm), Kendall SC (June 24 at 12 pm), LA Galaxy (June 26 at 9 am).

The semifinals and finals will held at StubHub Center in Carson, California, July 16-18.

Local

Ocean City Nor’easters were defeated 1-0 on the road by Long Island Rough Riders on Wednesday. Lehigh Valley United fell 2-0 to Baltimore Bohemians.

NJ.com talks to Eagles tightend Zach Ertz about his girlfriend, Julie Johnston, being with the US at the Women’s World Cup. Ertz, who’s in preseason training camp with the Eagles, says he’ll fly out to Edmonton for Monday’s Round of 16 game (see below).

MLS

Soccer America reports, “Sunday’s Orlando City-D.C. United game averaged 378,000 total viewers Fox Sports 1, its largest audience since it began its weekly series of Sunday MLS coverage.”

Miami New Times emphasizes that, should the Beckham group working to bring a MLS franchise to Miami be successful in securing the former Orange Bowl site near Marlins Stadium, improving the public transit infrastructure in the area is also a must.

US

USWNT

Following the conclusion of group play on Wednesday at the Women’s World Cup, the US will next face Colombia in the first knockout round on Monday, June 22 (8 pm: Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports Go, Fox Soccer 2Go, NBC Deportes En Vivo Extra). Should they win, they will face the winner of China-Cameroon in the quarterfinals and either Germany, Sweden, France, or South Korea in the semifinals.

USA Today on how the US has the most punishing travel schedule at the Women’s World Cup (just like the men did at the World Cup last year).

Soccer America reports, “For the second game in a row, Fox set a record for its most-watched soccer match as 5 million viewers watched the USA-Nigeria match from Vancouver at the Women’s World Cup, breaking the mark set last Friday for the USA-Sweden game in Edmonton (4.5 million viewers)…USA-Nigeria is the third most-watched women’s soccer match of all time, trailing only the 1999 and 2011 Women’s World Cup finals.”

Reuters on the increasing ad revenue from the Women’s World Cup. Fox is expected to make more than $30 million from ads broadcasting this tournament, compared to the $6 million ESPN made from the 2011 tournament. This compares to the $525 million in ad revenue earned from the 2014 World Cup.

here at PSP.

US Open Cup

NYCFC squandered a 2-goal lead to lose on penalty kicks to the NASL’s New York Cosmos in the conclusion of fourth round US Open Cup play on Wednesday night. Facing a 2-0 deficit, Union loanee Leo Fernandes scored for the Cosmos in the 65th minute, assisted by former Harrisburg City Islander and Union trialist Lucky Mkosana. Mkosana would then score the 90th minute equalizer to force extra time. Echoing John McCarthy’s performance for the Union on Tuesday night, Cosmos keeper Jimmy Maurer made three penalty kick saves to secure the win.

The USL’s Charlotte Independence defeated New England Revolution 1-0 in the evening’s other upset. MLS teams were victorious in the five other games, although the USL’s Charleston Battery forced Orlando to penalty kicks following a 4-4 scoreline after extra time, and the USL’s Pittsburgh Riverhounds forced DC United into extra time before losing, 3-1. Recaps at US Soccer, TheCup.us, and MLSsoccer.com, and ProSoccerTalk.

Clint Dempsey

So, how long will Clint Dempsey be suspended for tearing up the referee’s card book in Tuesday’s US Open Cup loss to Portland? Section 531-9, “Misconduct Toward Game Officials,” on pages 34-37 of US Soccer’s Policy Manual (click here to download) says a player that commits an assault on a referee’s person or property “must” be suspended for three months, but the section appears to apply to amateur competitions. Section 202(1)(H)-2 on pages 17-18, which applies to “Professional League Members,” says a player who commits assault shall be suspended for “at least six consecutive matches.” Would the suspension apply only to Open Cup competitions? Would it also apply to league play? Could Dempsey be suspended for the Gold Cup?

We shall see. Soccer America notes,

There is precedence. In 2008, Mexican star Cuauhtemoc Blanco was suspended from the Open Cup for two years or the Chicago Fire’s next six games, whichever was longer, for allegedly head-butting a D.C. United operations person as he was escorted from the field after being ejected from an Open Cup quarterfinal between the Fire and United at Maryland SoccerPlex. The ruling was issued by a five-member U.S. Soccer adjudication and discipline panel three weeks later. The sanctions did not carry over to MLS, but the league fined Blanco for $7,500 for “behavior detrimental to the public image and reputation of the League.

More at ASNESPNSBI, SI, ProSoccerTalk, and LAG Confidential,

Etc.

The Huffington Post reports, “Americans are many times more likely to suggest a child just starting his or her sports career play soccer than they are to suggest football, according to a new poll.” The poll of 1,000 Americans said 24 percent picked soccer, 4 percent picked football, and only 1 percent picked hockey.” More on the results at Vice Sports.

Elsewhere 

Reuters reports, “The chief ethics investigator of FIFA said on Wednesday he is conducting several proceedings against unnamed soccer officials based on initial findings from an investigation into the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup.”

Reuters reports, “Argentine businessmen Hugo and Mariano Jinkis, who are wanted by U.S. prosecutors in a FIFA bribery investigation, turned themselves in on Thursday to the authorities in Buenos Aires, local media broadly reported.”

In related news, Reuters reports, “The former head of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) said he got ‘absolutely nothing’ in return for his vote to award Qatar the rights to host the 2022 World Cup and described suggestions he was involved in impropriety as ‘preposterous.'”

Reuters also reports, “Belgium may seek compensation over the €4.5m (£3.2m) spent on their unsuccessful 2018 World Cup bid if FIFA’s decision to award the finals to Russia is found to be fraudulent.”

The Guardian reports that FIFA will not release the full report of Michael Garcia’s investigation into the bidding for 2018 and 2022 World Cups until after Swiss authorities complete their own investigation.

Sepp Blatter and Jerome Valcke are lawyering up.

United Passions is now officially the lowest grossing film in US box office history and its distributor has pulled it from theaters. Huzzah!

United Passions director Frederic Auburtin tells The Hollywood Reporter the film has been “a disaster, ” adding, “Now I’m seen as bad as the guy who brought AIDS to Africa or the guy who caused the financial crisis. My name is all over [this mess] and apparently I am a propaganda guy making films for corrupt people.” He also says FIFA wanted it to be called Men of Legend or The Dreammakers.

19 Comments

  1. WTF happened in Seattle? Reminds me of eastern Europe or South America. Speaking of…. How bout that Brazil/Colombia match? Bacca would kill Neymar! That is one of the best CB pairings I’ve seen in a while for Colombia….they were walls back there.

    • One of the most enjoyable futbol games I have watched in a long time. Breakneck pace.
      .
      I sometimes balk at the ‘greatness’ of Neymar, but when you see him play the free non controlled Barca style with his country mates, it is easy to admire his quality and class.
      .
      Colombia was busting him up… throwing hips his way the whole game.
      .
      .
      I found Clint Dempsey’s antics hysterical…and totally out of line obviously….. and without watching the game (save the notebook incident) I only imagine the ref must have lost his mind and totally lost the game for Dempsey to then lose his. Clint is a long time pro and usually pretty straight with his antics.

      • reading it cracked me up too…..I can just picture Dempsey losing his $hit! That was one hell of a match last night and your right, Neymar has a much different role for Brazil that makes you see things from him you don’t normally get to see with Barca. Punk move at the end though……sucker head butt? The South Americans play with an edge you don’t see in Europe, I for one….love it!

      • Clint grabs the book right out of his hand. I shit. Love it.
        .
        Without question regarding edge of SA.
        .
        Welcome to growing up, generally, poor with a necessity to be great that far exceeds anything one can find in the suburbs or happy-valley enclaves of the US.
        .
        Clint is the closest we have and he isn’t within smelling salts distance of world class.
        .
        One tends to need to manufacture that kind of drive in these parts – – big brother beating you down incessantly – – maybe a parent applying just the right pressure but even that fails in comparison.
        .
        There is a reason a large percentage of the greatest strikers in the world are South American. They are often hungry….literally.
        .
        I like Colombia’s game right now. Shook off first game lackluster-ness and could easily find themselves in finals with that kind of defensive effort especially if Falcao gets going.

      • alicat215 says:

        I really like Colombia right now too…..and Chile. The style, the brashness, the work rate, the edge,……oh, yeah a whole lot of ridiculous skillz too! You said it…..you can tell these guys have been fighting for everything since they have been born…..we don’t get those kinds of kids yet!

  2. In related news, Reuters reports, “The former head of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) said he got ‘absolutely nothing’ in return for his vote to award Qatar the rights to host the 2022 World Cup and described suggestions he was involved in impropriety as ‘preposterous.’”
    .
    Of course he didn’t get paid to cast his vote. Obvious. Instead, he got paid for the friendly between Brazil and Argentina that was held in Doha.

  3. If you click the link to the daily mail one of the headlines that pops up is “Man U interested in Brazilian Fabinho” my eyes did a double take! I imagine someone in the Union office yelling “see! We told you!”

  4. There’s that Leo Fernandes again.

    • conflicted if the draw the Cosmos?

      • Boy. Last year I sported the green, not going to lie.
        .
        Hard for me. Love our club but my loyalties with NY Cosmos run back to childhood – even after 30 years of ‘downtime’. I was happy when Philadelphia Union were announced as an MLS club but over the moon when the Cosmos came back.
        .
        Talk about capturing the imagination. Holy hell.

    • OneManWolfpack says:

      He is just on loan… now whether we call him back or not is a totally different story…

  5. Fernando Aristegueita was supposed to be our long awaited signing? I am beginning to question the rationale of this signing. He’s supposed to be so good in the air but we have yet to see it. He’s either hurt(usually)or just not available. What I have seen from him is a disturbing lack of pace. If you are slower then Maidana or aren’t dynamic enough to make plays for yourself than you will have problems in this league. Leave it to the Union to find that player. I know he isn’t the only issue lord knows, but the Union have a history of bringing in players who are supposed to make a difference and don’t. I think its because of the supporting casts and over all philosophy. When you are looking to be thrifty with your product, you don’t always have pieces you need or that match up. Typical Union. The only way successfully forward for this organization is to change the philosophy of this ownership/CEO or to change the ownership/CEO period. All smoke and mirrors and no substance!

    Sell this franchise to a competent and financially competitive ownership!

    FREE THIS FRANCHISE!!

    • I think part of the problem is……Hack brought in guys with his philosophy and they are still here. Jim has an obviously different view and still has the players with Hack’s vision, besides a few recent adds. We now have a mishmash of players from both regimes…….and both philosophies. I’m curious to see what Jim does in the off season since it will become more “his”.

    • OneManWolfpack says:

      I think Nando is young and needs to grow. He seems to have skill and the ability to score (see: first few games of the season). He needs to learn to adjust to the beating he is taking and get more fit. He is injured to often. I don’t want to give up on him yet. He is only like 22 years old.

      • alicat215 says:

        I hear ya on Nando…..I’m just a little surprised, the French first division is very athletic and physical too….maybe thats why he couldn’t buy a minute at Nantes?

  6. Andy Muenz says:

    The Union are hosting DC United in the next round of the Open Cup. The winner for that is on the road for the quarterfinals (against Red Bull – Cosmos winner). The winner from that group hosts the semi finals against the winner of KC/Dallas/Houston/Colorado.

    • OneManWolfpack says:

      Thanks for the update. I was hoping someone would post it. Should be a tough game against DC. At least its at home.

      • Andy Muenz says:

        Just got the e-mail from the team. It’s Tuesday night at 7:30, 30 minutes after the potential USWNT semifinal would start.

    • I was at the United/Riverhounds game. Riverhounds have a center back named Fajiro Okiomah (#21) that simply frustrated and shut down United’s Arrieta all night.
      .
      If Pittsburgh could have figured out how to mark on set pieces, they would have won the game.
      .
      I have to say that I’ve never sat close to a supporter’s section before. Call me naive, but I was really disappointed by the United supporters. Despite all of the children sitting nearby (the place was sold out and was clearly marketing to families), they used foul language in their chants and one female supporter, in particular, was flat out angry at everyone within the sound of her shrillness.
      .
      Sad and embarrassing.

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