Daily news roundups

Union bits, Trusty, training compensation update, more

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Philadelphia Union

The Union fall to last place in the power rankings at SI after Sunday’s loss to NYRB, “a game which they looked like they didn’t really want to play.” At ESPN, the Union remain at No. 18, as they do on the full league table: “The Union’s difficult season got an extra dose of ignominy on Saturday when they allowed the fastest goal in MLS history to Mike Grella of the Red Bulls. What’s worse is that it was the Union kicking off, not New York.” At Soccer America, the Union remain at No. 17: “…a very insipid display. Philly can’t finish last in the Eastern Conference but it lost a lot of the fans’ backing this season; still, they will want something from the final at home against Orlando City.”

In the latest Inside Doop, Dave Zeitlin underscores something many Union fans have concluded: The performances of Fernando Aristeguieta and, more particularly, Steven Vitoria in Sunday’s loss will not have helped their chances of remaining with the team for next season. Zeitlin writes, “Vitoria and Aristeguieta both seemed like good pickups last year but dealt with too many injuries and, frankly, just aren’t good enough for the money they’d command for permanent deals. Make sure you say goodbye to them next Sunday at PPL.”

More analysis of Sunday’s loss from Barry Evans at Brotherly Game.

No Lamborghini for Mo.

Union Academy

At Delco Times, Matthew De George has a profile piece on the Union Academy’s Auston Trusty, who started for the US U-17s in their Group stage opening loss to Nigeria at the U-17 World Cup in Chile on Saturday before receiving a questionable red card in the 87th minute. Union Academy U-16 head coach Jeff Cook says of the 6ft 3in defender, “I’ve never gotten the sense that whether he starts or doesn’t, or whether he makes it into camps or not, it never slows his belief that he can progress…It’s really exciting to work with players like that, that have that belief in themselves that they’re going to improve…Whenever he goes up to a new level, he adjusts quickly.”

The US will look to rebound from Saturday’s 2-0 loss when they face Croatia today (4 pm; FS2, Fox Sports Go, Fox Soccer 2Go, NBC Universo).

Local

Harrisburg City Islanders defender Ken Tribbett is one of three finalists for the USL Rookie of the Year. The winner will be announced on Oct. 29.

You will recall that Tribbett, an alum of Drexel and Ocean City Nor’easters, has been training with the Union. Jim Curtin recently said, “Ken had a very good year at Harrisburg, one of the top defenders in USL Pro, so we’ve had him in now for the past couple of weeks. He’s done really well. He’s a guy that we’re high on. He has some size and presence, can play outside back and also center back. Good, young defender.”

MLS

click here to download the document, which was part of the 1997 ruling on the Fraser vs. MLS antitrust case). Bird reports “the USSF said it would not stand in the way of youth clubs receiving those payments for players moving abroad.” However, “Major League Soccer has never paid training fees or solidarity, either for American players or those signing from clubs abroad. The league would not budge on the matter during Friday’s meeting, either.”

Nevertheless, Bird says youth club representatives left Friday’s meeting “feeling optimistic about their ability to procure at least some fees for their efforts in player development.” He explains,

U.S. Soccer is set to respond within a month on the possible enactment of a unique U.S.-based system that would compensate youth clubs for their player development efforts. Youth club representatives have said they would be happy to follow different guidelines than those in FIFA’s regulations, as long as their clubs can be rewarded. Details of that potential system are still being ironed out.

Stay tuned.

Tonight in CONCACAF Champions League play, Salt Lake hosts Guatemala’s Municipal (10 pm, FS2). A win or a draw guarantees advancement to February’s quarterfinals.

Vancouver Sun has a glimpse into the roster challenges faced by an injury decimated team like the Whitecaps in CONCACAF Champions League play with an important end of the season game in MLS play this weekend, even though the team is already out of the running for advancement to the quarterfinals.

Defender Bobby Boswell has agreed to a contract extension with DC United.

Orlando goalkeeper Tally Hall is out for the rest of the season with a torn meniscus in his right knee.

Orlando has scheduled a special announcement for today at noon. Will it be the launch of a NWSL team?

More than 26,000 season ticket deposits have been put down for Atlanta United’s opening season in 2017. The seating at the stadium that is now being constructed to be shared by Atlanta United and the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons will be configured for a capacity of 30,000 for soccer games.

Sticking with Florida, Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado says of the proposed site for a MLS MIami stadium, “The Beckham team has already finished some of the negotiations with the private owners of the land. They have brought to the city a proposal for the land that the city owns. They will be coming to Miami in the next few days or weeks to make a formal announcement.” Regalado also said, “They had already shown us that they do have the private money to buy the stadium. A $200 million stadium that will be paid by private sectors.”

US

Colombia will host the first leg of the two-game Olympic qualification playoff series against the US U-23s in March. An announcement from US Soccer explains, “Venues will be announced at a later date, as determined by each team. FIFA has stipulated that both matches must be completed before the end of March, 2016.” Earlier reports had suggested the playoff would take place in Rio, site of next summer’s Olympic Games.

Portland Timbers head coach Caleb Porter says Jurgen Klinsmann has been in touch about Darlington Nagbe’s eligibility to be called up for the USMNT.

Theoson Jordan Siebatcheu. Noted.

This:

Elsewhere

FIFA has confirmed the extraordinary congress to elect its next president will take place on February 26. There were reports as recent as yesterday that the FIFA executive committee was considering delaying the election.

At The Guardian, Raphael Honigstein on reports the German FA created a slush fund to buy votes in support of Germany’s bid to host the 2006 World Cup.

The shortlist for the men’s Ballon d’Or has been released.

In other Cristiano Ronaldo news, it appears he will receive between $11.3 million and $22.6 million after being dropped from a cameo appearance in a Martin Scorsese film, “The Manipulator,” about Alessandro Proto, the person who is reportedly the inspiration for the main character of the book 50 Shades of Grey.

36 Comments

  1. I wonder if Arena’s “right circumstances” include both Gulati and Klinsmann having to wear dunce caps and get down on their knees to beg Bruce to return to the USMNT. It’s clear that Arena doesn’t have any respect for Gulati as a soccer person.

  2. Trusty had a brutal game against Nigeria. Phew.
    .
    US 17s need to be better today… it sure is fun watching Christian Pulisic play though… be nice to see him play in about 4 more games in Chile too.
    .
    Nothing changes for our game stateside until a local club or a DA club can receive monetary compensation for players. Yes…it is paying for young kids… it is a bit slimy and gross thinking about a child as an investment or product..but it works and it develops world class players… and we have never developed one world class field player… ever. There is a reason for that beyond even our shitty infrastructure and rudimentary coaching.
    .
    It is baffling to me that USSF hasn’t figured this out… particularly since starting a professional league — however many years ago it was this time.
    .
    It is one thing to argue about a pro/rel system pushing our MLS game to the forefront of world football it is another argument entirely to discuss compensation for player development.
    .
    Incentive Incentive Incentive. Comes in different shapes and sizes.

    • I was wondering, do the kids ever receive a portion of this compensation? Or does their payment/compensation come in the form of a contract with a club? I’m totally ignorant on this subject. When I hear about this debate, I think about college players (mostly football), whom, in my opinion should get paid. The colleges print money on the back of their hard work. Is this in any way comparable? Or is it apples and oranges?

      • el Pachyderm says:

        Apple and oranges.

      • Dammit.

      • In college the universities, are benefitting from the players playing, such as ticket sales, food revenue and merchandise. The NCAA benefits from TV networks paying to put them on tv and sponsors paying to make that happen. I disagree that college players should be paid, as many of them, especially football players, are compensated through scholarships. They should be allowed to accept gifts and whatnot, but not paid like NFL players.

        In youth soccer the academies should be compensated for developing and training those players, who then go on to make money at the professional level while the academy sees nothing. It’s more similar to an agent or manager who gets a rock band an early gig, and when the band goes on to hit it big they forget about the manager and he’s left with nothing.

      • Thanks for a better comparison. That made it easier for me to understand.

    • USSF got out of the antitrust suit (Fraser) by agreeing not to assert FIFA-based training fees or compensation – but only for “out of contract players.” MLS later beat the suit after the court found it was a single entity and couldn’t conspire with itself! But do DAs or youth clubs “contract” with their trainees? Maybe. More than 15 years later and fresh off its new TV deal and CBA, why wouldn’t MLS – with USSF – agree to throw a few bucks the way of these training grounds – with caps to prevent a ransom in exchange for the next superstar (a la the pending Rubio’s Westside case)? Myopic elevation of near-term gain over long-term return on investment – how American!

      • Yes.
        .

        The unwillingness to part with now money for more later money is staggering. It is a missed opportunity. It is shortsighted. It is a control issue. It is just one more thing holding us back… how are we supposed to hope or help or direct a kid who wants to be great when the very federation supporting him has no inclination towards greatness.
        .
        Something else too… I happened to be talking with the overseer of an entire youth academy the other week for a high up club – about a group of players who are training at a pretty high level – but not professionally through the Union – and he said to me…in essence none of these kids are the next Lionel Messi… they train and they play well but that’s it. Again… this is a summarization of the discussion.
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        It is precisely this thinking that holds us back. Talk about myopic.
        .
        Who is the next Lionel Messi? We’ll let’s see….
        .
        Lionel Messi shouldn’t be the gol.
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        But what about the next Antoine Greizmann?
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        Or how about the next Marco Reus.
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        Or any number of the 20 year old’s seeing first time with a big club growing and gaining confidence to become a an excellent player at the highest level.
        .
        My point is …. the goal of US Soccer SHOULD be developing World Class talent and not developing arguably the greatest player of all time.
        .
        IF developing world class talent was the objective of US Soccer… the infrastructure would be organized entirely different… where yes- to begin… Lower Merion Soccer Club or Rose Tree or Continental or Lehigh would get a kick back for having a 9 year old club player training with the Union which leads to a spot on the Academy 12s and then who knows where.
        .
        This is ALL about misallocation of the money.. if we solve the where and how of the money trail… the world class players will become a byproduct.

      • Pachy – Reading this made me think of you. Hard to believe that Perez can’t play a larger role in developing players in our country.

        http://www.soccerwire.com/blog-posts/u-s-u-17s-hugo-perez-the-98-99-crop-and-a-legacy-under-threat-at-the-u-17-world-cup-in-chile/

      • I’d take Hugo Perez in a heartbeat… secretly I hold out hope that HE is the USMNT-connected-candidate bandied about with regard to our beloved Union SD.
        .
        To be so lucky.
        .
        Oh and regarding that article… IMHO… the cross section of our national teams -up and down- should absolutely be strongly hispanic and latino with a margin of about 20% white anglo… if you don’t like it mommy and daddy suburbs….try harder or stop spending SO MUCH MONEY on club and training… oh wait…back to the VERY heart of the problem. Misallocation of money.
        .
        In 25 years this is going to be a brown country anyway if it isn’t already…
        .
        This coming from the whitest of white guys.

      • Agreed, I hope he is a candidate for our SD as well.

      • This is a dangerous road to go down. Equal opportunity for all, devoid of socio-economic background. The goal should be to destroy limitations, not add to them.

      • Man the mention of Rose Tree soccer brings back memories. I think I still have my trophy from the knock-out cup. Thanks for the memories el P.

      • I don’t think you could be more right el P. For as great a player as Messi is, he doesn’t have a World Cup. I’m sure that Messi is a nice source of pride for Argentina, but I’d bet the Argentinians would trade all his accolades for a WC. One world class player, does not a team make.

      • Especially when you are a US Soccer Federation that has never even produced ONE world class player.
        .
        That is all we should be concerned about. What are we doing that is causing the absence of world class talent. Over and over and over they should be asking and trying to solve that problem and the truth is I think they KNOW how to solve the problem..but are choosing not to.
        .
        To hell with the national team.
        .
        This is about the individual.
        .
        Until we stop concerning ourselves in this country with team and start focusing on the individual NOTHING changes.

      • You forgot to drop the Mic….

      • In Yedlin’s case, Tottenham paid the transfer fee to MLS (for Sounders), of course, and, according to Crossfire, USSF – and MLS – say training fees are barred following Fraser. That may be at least disputable. To complain to FIFA costs Crossfire a significant filing fee and FIFA can’t overrule a question of purely domestic law. If training fees only reward the producers of top shelf talent, could a broader-based system be implemented? In exchange the DAs & youth clubs could forgo training fees (which they aren’t getting anyway). And MLS and USSF have the certainty of a budgeted expense that they can easily afford.

  3. I’m luke warm on ‘Nando. I can see hm staying, but obviously for a lot less than he’s paid now. Vittoria can pack his bags now. He’s been a big bust.

    • Vittoria should have been escorted to the door, under guard, after the Red Bull match. The more I think about the Nando situation, the more I think he shouldn’t come back. How many “project” players will be on the Union next year? Do they really need another? And for that matter, I’d rather that “project” player had more of an upside. The Union need more “known quantities” and less “unknown quantities”.
      .
      I hope the SD that’s hired has a direct line to GOD, because he’s going to have to perform more than one miracle.

      • Can’t argue with that.
        .
        Just thinking about the fact that this team spent nearly $800,000 paying Mbolhi and Vittoria this season…. Ugh. They better get this SD position right.

      • I was excited about the off-season a week or so ago. That has turned to dread. This team is now playing roulette rather than footy.

  4. What??? No one from the Union on the Ballon d’Or list?

  5. I’ve heard the phrase “I even miss Nowak” a few times in the comments recently. So, here’s a little thought experiment. Suppose Sugarman comes out in a couple weeks and introduces our ‘new’ Technical Director, Peter Nowak. Thoughts?

  6. Word around twitter is that the two final candidates for the SD position are Earnie Stewart, former USMNT player and current Director of Football Affairs at AZ Alkmaar. The other is Fredi Bobic ,former German international player and was Director of Sport at VfB Stuttgart until he was sacked last year.

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