Daily news roundups

MLS schedule to be announced on Thursday, Union Academy call-ups for US U-20 camp, more

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Philadelphia Union

Don Garber said in his open letter to MLS fans to mark the New Year the 2016 schedule will be released on Thursday.

Darius Madison and Keegan Rosenberry will be teammates at the MLS Combine in Fort Lauderdale, Jan. 7-10. Also at the combine, you will recall, are Jamie Luchini (Lehigh; Wexford, Pa.) and Thomas Sanner (Princeton; Indianapolis, In.).

Union Academy midfielder Yosef Samuel, and forwards Abu Winter and Sebastian Elney (who is now at Maryland), have been called up for the US U-20 MNT camp in Miami.

Kansas City’s US Open Cup final win over the Union makes the Armchair Analyst’s list of 12 memorable moments from 2015. Yes, it still hurts. A Juninho pass in the Galaxy’s win over the Union in June is also on the list as the “Pass of the Year,” although the pass didn’t lead to one of the five goals the Union conceded that day.

Sons of Penn has two New Year’s resolutions for Union fans.

Philly Sports Cave reviews Eric Ayuk’s 2015 season.

The Vancouver Sun reports former Union man Steven Vitoria will be called up by the Canadian national team in 2016.

Local

Defender Sydney Zandi (Penn Fusion; West Chester, Pa.), and midfielder Alyssa Poarch (FC Delco; Middletown, Del.), have been called up for the US U-17 GNT camp taking place Jan. 3-10 in Lakewood Ranch, Fla.

Forward Taylor Racioppi (Duke; Ocean Township, N.J.) has been called up for the US U-20 WNT camp taking place in Los Angeles Jan. 3-10. Four players from Penn State, and one player from Princeton, also received call-ups.

MLS

At MLSsoccer.com, a list of key dates for 2016.

LAFC will unveil its colors and crest on Thursday.

The Telegraph says MLS is playing “hardball” with Chelsea over releasing Didier Drogba. And why wouldn’t that be the case?

TSN says the league and Chelsea are still far apart on reaching an agreement: “Chelsea is reluctant to meet the fee MLS has set to rescind Drogba’s contract.”

Could 2016 be Steven Gerrard’s last season as a player? Gerrard tells The Telegraph, “I’m not 100 per cent sure but I think it will probably be my last year as a player.”

SBI and Empire of Soccer report NYCFC’s Homegrown claim on has been rejected (and rightly so if the Union cannot claim Keegan Rosenberry).

SBI has a list of the top five MLS storylines of 2015.

US

Jill Ellis has named her 26-player roster for the USWNT camp taking place Jan. 5-21 before the team faces South Korea in a friendly at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego (2 pm PT, FS1) and the start of the Olympic qualifying tournament in Texas on Feb. 10.

The Los Angeles Times on which players will fill the Abby Wambach’s role on the USWNT.

Elsewhere

The AP reports, “The Court of Arbitration for Sport has dismissed Musa Bility’s appeal to overturn his exclusion from the FIFA presidential election.” You will recall Bility was excluded from the field of candidates after failing an integrity check.

Héctor Trujillo, former secretary general of the Guatemalan soccer federation, has pled not guilty in federal court in Brooklyn to bribery charges related to the FIFA corruption case.

Vice Sports on how those who were allegedly involved in the FIFA corruption scandal weren’t very good at being corrupt.

At SI, Grant Wahl has 12 predictions for 2016.

15 Comments

  1. Ok its the new year. You can start signing players now.

  2. The Realist Brian says:

    Harrison’s claim by NYCFC had to be a joke… It looks like we can sign none of the players from the quasi-academy affiliation program when we started. So the good news is any players through the affiliation program like us and NYCFC are screwed, but teams that are smart are swallowing good club programs like Atlanta taking over Georgia United. We should have absorbed either PDA or FC Delco at the time. I say the league should hold Atlanta to the same standards and not allow them to sign any U17 or U18 player (and they have quite of few on the USYNTs like Andrew Carleton) because they will not have met the time requirements for an established academy.
    .
    I haven’t seen much of Abu Winter written about him to see the call up on the US team. That one is a little bit of surprise. I heard that he has some blazing speed, but he was out much of last year. Looking at the call-ups, we also had Isiah Young with the Academy as well, but he left along with Chris Gomez to go back to PDA. One year in the actual Academy though qualifies for development though, right? Because another kid who left was Jack Skahan (UNC), who went back down to Florida. I wonder how those rules work with actual time spent at an academy.
    .
    Let’s make some moves already. Bring in some of the young guys on HG’s, much of the league has already signed their kids, what is taking us so long? Rumor has it Jordan Morris signed with Seattle. Where the heck is our youth development?

    • Dan C (formerly of 103) says:

      You are assuming that Delco (Contintental) or PDA wanted to be swallowed up…..

      • Good point…I think there are hard feelings the Union picks cream of the crop players … despite the benefits to the professional league and benefit to overall player development.
        .

  3. Zizouisgod says:

    Hey, once this kid’s party is finished at the Bernabeu, my man Zizou will likely be the new manager at Madrid.

    It’s very exciting because it’s Zidane getting the job, yet I have tons of apprehension because it will end badly for him (like every other Real Madrid manager). I hope that they just give him a fair shot…oh, who am I kidding…they’ll fire him after 1-2 seasons just like everyone else.

    • el Pachyderm says:

      It sadness me in all honesty that Zidane was appointed manager for all the reasons you highlight.
      .
      My hopes are he has had a word with Perez regarding some pertinent matters…. hopefully he is allowed to see his vision through but I doubt it. Los Merengues are getting what they deserve once they re appointed him.
      .
      Real Madrid is my least favorite team, the Imperial Storm Troopers, ‘move along nothing to see here’ and it pains me to root for them in order to see my futbol idol succeed… I never really cared how the Madradistas faired when he played there so long as I could enjoy his personal brilliance… now I find myself in a quandary. Big time. Matters of the heart are seldom easy affairs.
      .
      Zizous. ZZ. Zinedine Zidane. Favorite of all time.

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