Daily news roundups

Readying for Revs, Madison, more news

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Philadelphia Union

Right then, was last week’s win in Montreal the start of something beginning or just a one off? We’ll find out on Saturday when the Union host New England Revolution at 7 pm (TCN, MLS Live, MLS Direct Kick, DirecTV). Things won’t be easy. The Revs, fifth in the East with 34 points, are undefeated in their last four matches with three wins and a draw, and are coming off a bye week.

Previews at PSP, Philadelphia Union, Metro, New England Revolution, MLSoccer.com, and The Guardian,

New England has been cautious reintroducing Jermaine Jones after his surgery for a sports hernia in June. Asked if he will play the full 90 against the Union, Jones said, “I don’t know. I have to see it, we have to see how training goes. I hope that I start and then we go from there and see how I feel.”

MLSsoccer.com on the legacy New England head coach Jay Heaps is building. Revolution general manager Mike Burns says of Heaps, now in his fourth season, “I’ve said this before with Jay, we knew the shortcomings in terms of no coaching experience. But, we also knew what we thought he was going to bring, and he’s brought all that. He’s brought the passion, the desire, the hard work and he wants to be a coach, he wants to continue to be a better coach each season and I think that’s been the case.” Does Union ownership — and the fanbase — have enough patience to give Jim Curtin get such time? These young fans probably hope so.

At the Inquirer, Marc Narducci picks up on Sebastien Le Toux’s current goal-scoring hot streak. Le Toux, noting the injury he dealt with earlier  in the season, says, “I feel good and more confident now…I now feel 100 percent and my knee feels strong…Every game is like a playoff game for us. We have a long way to go, but it’s great to be contributing to help the team win.”

At the Delco Times, Matthew De George talks to Fabinho, another Union player who has overcome inconsistent play and was dealing with an injury earlier in the season, about his turnaround. Fabinho says,

I’m happy because right now I am contributing. I have the opportunity game after game to play, and not just me — Richie, I think, or any player who plays a lot of games. But I think right now it’s better because it’s not the same me…I think a few months ago, we had a lot of injured guys. Now, we’re playing better. I’m happy right now that I can play game after game and I can help in a lot of ways…[W]hen I begin to play game after game, I think I continue (to improve) physically, mentally, everything. I think as a team, we’re much better, offensively and defensively.

Long may it last.

More on Andre Blake getting starts at CSN Philly and Philly Soccer News.

Apparently, it’s “Rivals Week” in MLS. To mark the occassion, MLSsoccer.com anonymously polled team captains around the league on who their biggest rivals are. We can probably be pretty certain this response came from Maurice Edu, “Well obviously D.C. and New York just because they’re the closest from a distance standpoint. But I think our fans really, really hate Red Bull. … I know [Thierry] Henry used to always say he hated coming here because the amount of abuse Red Bull get when they come here is unbelievable.”

The Blue and Gold Blog reviews the week’s events, Philadelphia Sports Nation looks ahead to September’s games.

Union Academy

On Thursday morning, Top Drawer Soccer’s Travis Clark tweeted that former Union Academy player and South Philly native Darius Madison was no longer on the the roster of University of Virginia’s men’s team Soon after, the Washington Post’s Steven Goff tweeted Madison was off the roster for violating team rules and would not being playing for the school this season. Goff then tweeted Madison would be joining University of Maryland, Baltimore County: “UVA released him, so eligible right away. Expected in uniform Fri.”

Interestingly, a reply to Goff’s last tweet that said Madison should go pro and sign with an MLS team was favorited by Madison himself. You will recall in a pre-SuperDraft press conference in January, Jim Curtin said,

Darius Madison, he’ll be a pro soccer player. There’s no question about that. Darius didn’t have the best year. Darius is someone that I’m close with.

He won the national title, I’m very aware of that, but you speak with Darius and he’s disappointed in his goal production. He had some injuries and he bounced back.

The discussions on Darius are ongoing. Out of respect to his coach, I have to reach out to him and speak on that before I even speak specifically on Darius’ situation. But we’ll evaluate that, see what’s best for not only the University of Virginia, what’s best for Darius, what’s best for the Philadelphia Union. We’ll come to a conclusion there.

I will say that Darius has the tools to play pro soccer. He’ll be a pro player. We’ll see how that goes in the coming weeks. So, again, those are discussions we’ll be having, he’s not a guy that we’ve forgot about or anything like that. A guy that I coached in the under-18s, I know Darius very well. I know he’s a Philly kid and he still has the qualities we like in a player.

Stay tuned.

Local

Harrisburg City Islanders host FC Montreal on Saturday (7:30 pm, YouTube) at Clipper Stadium in Lancaster, where they will also host the Union in a friendly on Monday before facing Louisville City on the road on Wednesday (7:30 pm, YouTube).

The Union has the Sons of Ben, Penn State men’s soccer has the Sons of Jeffrey. At Centre Daily Times, a look at how the Penn men’s team is looking to regain Big Ten supremacy.

The La Salle women’s soccer team drew 1-1 with Seton Hall on Thursday evening.

The Temple women’s team hosts Loyola Maryland Greyhounds today.

USWNT star Jule Johnston talks about how competitive she and her boyfriend, Philadelphia Eagles tight end Zach Ertz, are.

MLS

It’s official: Chicago Fire have transferred Shaun Maloney to Hull City.

The league’s independent review committee has denied Orlando City’s appeal of the red card defender Rafael Ramos received against Toronto.

Real Salt Lake have named technical director Craig Waibel as their new general manager and promoted Rob Zarkos, president of RSL’s Real Monarchs USL team, as the their vice president of soccer administration

From Pioneer Press in Minnesota: “Gov. Mark Dayton on Thursday called a Major League Soccer franchise and a professional stadium for the team “on track” and said he was optimistic both would come together in the Twin Cities….Dayton, who spent part of the morning with St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges, also said he supports any minor changes to state law that would help a stadium to move forward.”

US

CONCACAF announced on Thursday its ticketing plans for the USA-Mexico Confederations Cup playoff in October at the Rose Bowl. SI summarizes, “The U.S. and Mexican soccer federations will each be allocated around 30% of the 83,000 tickets available for the game. Another 30% will go into a ticket lottery much like the one used to allocate World Cup tickets. The other 10% will go to local teams and sponsors.” Any allocated tickets not sold by the federations will become available in the lottery. More at US Soccer and Fox Sports.

The Toronto Sun reports, “There’s a good chance [Michael] Bradley will be available during TFC’s trip to Seattle next weekend. Despite the U.S. national team hosting Peru in Washington D.C. on Sept. 4, Bradley is expected to skip that friendly. It’s unclear if Jozy Altidore will be available as the Yanks prepare for a Confederations Cup playoff against Mexico in October.” Ridiculous.

SI reports, “U.S. Soccer has called a meeting in Chicago on Oct. 16 in response to growing discontent among American youth clubs. SI.com has learned that several major clubs received invitations from the federation via email, memo or phone call to discuss the issue of training compensation and solidarity.”

Wall Street Journal with some Men in Blazers love.

Elsewhere

Reuters reports on recent comments by Francois Carrard, “FIFA on Thursday disowned comments made by the head of its reform committee, who had questioned why American authorities were investigating corruption in soccer, which he described as “just an ethnic sport for girls in schools” in the U.S…FIFA also said in its response that it sees the ongoing investigations by U.S. and Swiss authorities as key to its reform plans and that it was cooperating with authorities.”

Soccer America says of FIFA’s statement, “But the damage had been done. Carrard’s remarks shattered the credibility of the FIFA reform committee FIFA president Sepp Blatter appointed his Swiss colleague to head as he parroted Blatter’s counterattack.”

From Reuters: “An Argentine judge has suspended the U.S. extradition request for Hugo and Mariano Jinkis, who are wanted as part of the FIFA graft scandal that has rocked world soccer over the last three months, according to court papers seen by Reuters on Thursday…Judge Claudio Bonadio signed an order on Tuesday suspending the extradition process for 30 days while he asks U.S. prosecutors for more information about the accusations against the two Argentine suspects, who are under house arrest.”

More extradition news: “The U.S. Department of Justice has asked Switzerland to give priority to a U.S. request to extradite former FIFA official Julio Rocha in preference to a later request from his native Nicaragua, the Swiss Justice Ministry said.”

Reuters reports Jeffrey Webb, the former CONCACAF president and FIFA vice president who was indicted as part of the FIFA corruption investigation, wants to be allowed to be under house arrest in his house in suburban Atlanta rather than in New York in order to save on expenses. Here’s the thing: A $500,000 bribe Webb allegedly took to build a pool at the house is part of the indictment against him. Hilarious. Can you wear an ankle monitor in a pool?

Check out The FIFA Indictment Blog for some down to earth perspective based on court documents.

Here are the draws for the Champions League and Europa League.

Check out the latest Footy on the Telly for listings of live soccer on TV, online, and on satellite radio for the upcoming week.

24 Comments

  1. Well, at least PSP did a better job on the Madison situation than Rossi over at Brotherly…………thanks for letting the facts at least play out a little bit!

  2. Why anyone with Madison’s skills would play college soccer beyond winning a NCAA championship escapes me. Compound that if school is not your thing (as it appears may be the case).

    • Wow, that’s an ignorant comment if I’ve ever heard one. Do you know his GPA at UVA? He went to LaSalle HS and UVA…….academics aren’t his thing? Please………probably has better grades than you did.

      • I don’t think philsoc8’s comments were meant to be malicious… Hence he used the qualifier “if.” May want to re-read that last sentence for syntax and nuance

      • Jim, the whole thing was ignorant…….not just the last sentence……syntax and nuance….your cute!

      • Jim Presti says:

        And now grammar too I suppose… But in all seriousness I don’t think there was anything intentional in it.

      • I chose my words carefully – suggested that academic issues were a possibility, not a certainty. I was not trying to do anything but speculate (which does happen, occasionally, on the internet).

        If there are other reasons why he was, quoting the Post’s Goff, “booted from UVA”, what were they? Do you know?

        But my main point is, “who cares.” The kid should be playing pro soccer.

      • And he will be one day………..

      • In fairness to the point, there’s a substantial difference between a person’s ability to do something and their desire. He seems to be a bright person with his school resume. That does not necessarily translate to him wanting to be in classes and studying for exams. Also, lets remember what its like to be between 18 and 21 years old and cut the kid some slack. He’ll find his path at his own pace in his own way.

  3. “I know [Thierry] Henry used to always say he hated coming here because the amount of abuse Red Bull get when they come here is unbelievable.”

    This brightens my day.

  4. Old Soccer Coach says:

    Every player has a different mix of sources for his competitive fire. Some are known to him; others, not necessarily. Each circumstance is different from person to person, evaluation of the circumstance begins by knowing the person, and the better you do that the better the evaluation of the circumstance. Judgment from afar is fraught with risk. So, the process begins with the question,”What do we think we know, and how do we know it?”
    .

    Coaching is a multilateral collective relationship, but it is always also a series of bilateral individual relationships that exist concurrent with the collective one. Balancing the two, keeping them in harmony is always an interesting task.

  5. + 10000000 to ebradlee10

  6. “Does Union ownership — and the fanbase — have enough patience to give Jim Curtin get such time?” I know that I DO, regardless of the outcome of both the Open Cup Final and the regular season…

    • Same here, I want some continuity and he is a rookie coach. Think about how much we learned the first year at our jobs, it is same for coaches.

      I believe in Jim Curtin.

    • I’m curious: why are you so optimistic that Jim Curtin can be successful as head coach of the Union?
      .
      I don’t know whether Curtin has what it takes to be a quality MLS coach or not, but I do know that he had a very thin resume when he took over for John Hackworth in June of last year, and his record since then has been less than stellar.

      • I think Curtain has shown growth. In his substitutions, time wise and using all of them. I think he’s learning to play the press, coach speak, is taking the right tack towards finishing this year. After reading his press conference this week, I was shocked and stunned at how far he’s come. He answered every question with conviction, and enough mystery to make any coach proud. Can he be to honest? Yes. But this week he was honest while holding stuff back. He’s dangled the carrot to Blake. He was catty with who was going to start in mid. He was professional this week.
        .
        Let’s understand first and foremost his lack of experience. Are most of the things I described what you expect in a manager? Yes. But Curtain has had none. In a year + he’s made these strides. He’s dealt with a very thin roster, red cards, MIA goal keepers, incompetent owners etc. etc. His players believe in him. They like him.
        .
        I’m not saying I know how good a coach Curtain can become. I just think he’s earned some more time in the position. At least another year. Change for change sake, is never the right idea.

      • pragmatist says:

        Agreed. And there is, to put it mildly, no guarantee that our FO will find someone better.
        Give the young guy a full season without ridiculous drama and let’s see how it plays out.

    • This is all amusing to me, only in the MLS would a situation like this occur………if we had a promotion/relegation system…like the rest of the world….Jim would have lasted a month…….tops. Only in the States do you get the luxury of learning on the job…….another reason we lag behind.

  7. Training compensation and solidarity payments are the way forward for the game to grow in this country…instead of clubs showing pictures of their meaningless State Cups maybe they can shown pictures of Joe Soccer Stud signing an MLS contract and being justly rewarded for doing so….MLS and US Soccer….behind the world curve, Pirates, obstinate , wrong and eerily remindfull of E Corp.

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