Philadelphia Union traded general allocation money and a player to be named later to Colorado Rapids for the No. 2 pick in the 2016 MLS SuperDraft. The Union used that pick to select Georgetown central defender Josh Yaro. Some believe Yaro’s size (5’10-11″) makes him a better right back as a pro, but the Union made their intentions clear by drafting Georgetown right back Keegan Rosenberry with the No. 3 pick.
Yaro was the consensus best defensive prospect in the draft and Philly made the move for him after Chicago selected Wake Forest attacker Jack Harrison first overall. Yaro is not considered as MLS-ready as 2014 2nd overall pick Steve Birnbaum was, but he will be expected to slot into a starting role for the Union early in the 2016 season.
Rosenberry was almost a Union homegrown player but the club had his homegrown status application denied by the league. Earnie Stewart told MLSSoccer.com that the Union were high on Rosenberry even before the fullback shot up draft boards at the MLS combine.
Why not Vincent. Whyyyyyyyy
Union apparently intend to use only one side the field again this year.
Can’t wait to see what the mighty Ern has up his sleeve now.
Did they seriously think Vincent was going to drop to 6 because he wasn’t GA?
Deep breath everybody.
Ditto. In Ernie I trust.
We’re getting smaller again. Ore for the Bethlehem furnace?
So by picking a Left Back in the second round, do the Union hope he can contribute this season? Because when you pick in the second round you might as well pick the best player available and pray.
The Brazillian can play LB and Fabi is passable there. I wanted Vincent too, but there’s no reason to break ankles here.
IN EARNIE I TRUST
Yes there is. Vincent is a projected 10 year MLS LB.
its important to not get too hung up on these things. i remember when ben sweat was projected to be a great leftback a couple years ago.
Correct, there’s ALWAYS a bit of uncertainty.
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Like I said, I wanted Vincent. However, I don’t mind the idea that we have two back line guys who are highly thought of and already play well together.
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In the end, Yaro was THE highest projected player, and we didn’t think there was a shot he’d come our way. So I’m happy.
I wonder if the Union will go with a 3 man back line.
That might explain the refusal to sign or draft a left back.
Signing a 26 year old who has bounced around lower divisions in south america does not instill confidence.
3-4-3 or 3-5-2?
Kudos to the Union for getting what everyone everywhere said was the most valuable player up for grabs in this draft. I’m also puzzled about passing on Vincent….. There must have been something about him that Stewart/Curtin didn’t like (was it Vincent who din’t know what position Mo Edu played?).
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I hope Rosenberry was more than just a feel good move. I’m guessing it’s more a “he really wants to be here” move, which I can respect, but not sure why a very valuable piece was left on the table.
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I trust this is just the beginning. more pieces will fall into place.
i’m really excited about yaro- aside from being considered the best player in the draft he seems to be really intelligent. i’ve heard a couple interviews with him and he seems way smarter than other players i have heard before
I’m torn about the Union not picking Vincent with pick 2 or 3. On the one hand, I’d love to be able to pull for the USMNT. But I kind of enjoy rooting against them because no Union players ever get call ups. And if we’re going to be underdogs, it would kind of ruin the mood to have a USMNT player in the fold. That said, I am VERY concerned that Curtin and Stewart have NO IDEA WHAT THEY’RE DOING! Rosenberry would have been available at 6, so we basically got Herbers instead of Vincent, who EVERYONE ELSE had ranked in the top 3 players in the draft. Stewart’s going to have a hard time explaining this one.
I guess you have it on good authority…. jeeze louise.
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Typical Philly fans. Sak is gone, we have a qualified leader in the front office now, and people are still complaining about the decisions being made. Personally I don’t mind the Rosenberry move, good to see PA players playing for the U. Plus the guy was picked up by the USMNT camp. #HaveFaithinErnie
This is without question… other than a post I made to Jerome on another line regarding the new Brazilian CB… the single best commentary today….
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We have clamored and clamored and clamored for someone to lead this organization…the guy gets here, has his first draft which by all accounts looks good…. and we are roasting him for having NO IDEA WHAT THEY’RE DOING as my friend above and many others are feeling or thinking. This does not include many others who actually are somewhat capable of discernment.
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It is truly stultifying… It is a damning insecurity we have– what is it — can someone explain the insecurity and PATHOS. I can’t. Sure as hell can’t.
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The Philadelphia sports fan…. a breed without equal – a species without match.
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..for the most part… I put myself into that insecure bucket of crabs I speak of too… I’m just willing to sit back and observe a bit more easily… though I have to continually remind myself to do just that.
I am on the wait and see board as well on this draft. I still think it was a good option taking Yaro and Rosenberry together as they have played with one another before. I say keep the flow going. And as far as Fabian Herbers I think it is a great pick. While Vincent sounds good nothing saying that the combination of these 3 doesn’t work out better then say Vincent and Herbers.
But I wanted a leftback.
I’ve been named a Union intern troll. I believe in Earnie and giving him time to remake this club. But I vehemently disagree with your premise of typical Philly fans. It is our job, our responsibility, as Americans, to question those in leadership. Whether it be those running the government or our local sports teams. They take our money. Whether it be tickets, merchandise or tax funding for stadia. One has the right to question. One has the responsibility to question and to hold those in charge accountable. If we don’t, who will?
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I’m sorry, even though I may disagree with them, or how ludicrous the questions may be, people have the right to question.
O for sure…. we are a learned group and are not easily fooled and I certainly appreciate dissidence… but you also cannot deny we are an insecure lot with a significant complex.
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If you don’t see it…no worries… I respect your POV.
Do we here in the Delaware Valley and surrounding counties feel like we don’t get enough “respect”? Yeah probably. Would I ever admit New York is better than Philly? Never. This is home. It always will be. Is there a complex? Probably. But I love us for it. I take pride in it. And there is no better sports town anywhere.
I believe that the team doesn’t take your money, you give it to them and you can also choose not to.
You paid for the stadium, whether you knew it or not.
http://www.phillymag.com/citified/2015/03/23/public-financing-sports-stadiums/
+1
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I pay to be entertained, like I pay to see a movie or a concert. I go to games because I am a newly converted soccer lover. Have I been disappointed by my first two years as a fan?
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No, not really at all.
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Am I disappointed the team I choose to love and support hasn’t done better than they have (in a dozen different areas)? Of course…I’m just not “whiny little bitch flinging my po against the wall childish monkey fit ‘I have my RIGHTS!!!'” upset about it.
My only point was that they have the right to voice their opinion like everybody else. No matter how much we may dislike it. At the least it let’s you know who the poo flingers are. And around who you should be ready to duck.
Golly, after that post, it doesn’t really look like the Union were the ones “reaching” very far at all today.
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And the typical Philly fan thing? SPOT. FRIGGIN. ON.
Well put, Smi. Most people here (including myself) haven’t really watched a ton of these college guys play and it makes no sense to get so attached to one player. There are no sure things in the draft and there have been plenty of examples of this throughout the years.
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The Union improved their squad quite a bit today and we know that Stewart, Albright and Curtin aren’t done yet.
This is a good draft. It’s about depth everyone. We now have 7 (count ’em 7) legitimate backline starters. Mo, Richie, Anderson, Ray, Yaro, and Rosenberry. Fabihno will be for depth, and if we go 4-4-2 or 3-5-2. Right now, I thought we would move from the 4-2-3-1, but if we’re going to use that scheme, we’re stocked. My guess would be:
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GK – Blake
RB – Ray
RCB – Yaro
LCB – Richie
LB – Anderson
CDM – Mo
CDM – Nogs
LM – Pontius
CM – Barnetta
RM – Restrepo
F – CJ
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Bench: LeToux, Ayuk, Fabihno, Rosenberry, Herbers, Pfeffer, McCarthy
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How the F is anyone complaining?
Don’t forget the player to be named to Colorado. Haven’t seen anything announced yet, but just looking at the roster the only ones who make sense to me would be Herbers (though no idea why it wouldn’t have been announced immediately), Mo, Marquez, Gaddis, Fernandes, or Ayuk. The other players don’t seem likely for various reasons. Really, Mo seems pretty unlikely, too.
Hard to believe that the player to be named was Herbers. If so, they wouldn’t have even let him be introduced as a Union player.
You’re overlooking the fact that in order to get the #2 pick The Union traded Allocation And a Player to Be named, which by all accounts will be Gaddis.
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So replace Gaddis with Rosenberry. Next you need to make Fabinho your starting LB, that hasn’t changed and was confirmed by Curtin, which I think most would agree is either a neutral or a negative.
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So with these changes your starting lineup looks eerily familiar to the team that finished tied with the 2nd worst record last year and is over the course of the past 6 years the worst in the league.
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One final thought about the roster you constructed is that we have a small sample size that says Nogueira and Edu flat out can’t play together in MF. Nogueira is forced to play quite differently with Edu next to him and it has affected his play.
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That team you listed isn’t a playoff team. Clearly they have more work to do.
It’s not Gaddis.
Perhaps it’s Nogueira?
No complaints here to that line up…
I can only speak for myself. But one of the things I most enjoy about the sport is the discussion.
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Soccer is so much more complex then baseball, basketball, and the like which means that everything (formations, tactics, players, positions, so on) can be argued in more then one way very reasonably.
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Getting into the comments here at PSP and bouncing ideas around, reading other’s opinions, and voicing my own is one of the joys of the sport for me. Admittedly, I often comment to play devil’s advocate to stimulate a discussion I find fun or interesting.
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Don’t get me wrong, I believe in this front office more then before, with the removal of Sak and the addition of Earnie. But coming on here and questioning their decisions and generating discussions is part of the joy I take from being a fan of the Union.
right to voice opinion = check
right to criticize decisions we may know little about = check
right to express latent or patent anxiety about every decision = check
right to be defensive when someone calls out the anxiety (as opposed to the criticism) = check
right deny (and perhaps thereby prove) the anxiety as the basis for the comment = check
right to claim this is a peculiarly Philadelphia thing = check
right to point out that many other fan groups have all of the above and Philadelphia fans are neither special nor more anxious than the others = check
rispote.
Reading my own response to el P’s point, even I can see that I basically proved his point. I just bristle at the term “complex”. I’d much rather use the term “condition”. As in the “Philly fan” has been conditioned to be they way they are. The condition has been brought on by losing. By having hopes and dreams shot down, year after year. Before the Phillies won the World Series, this was the city that had the most losing season across the nation. That has to do something to the psyche. So they defend, complain, accuse, point fingers and make outrageous claims. Is it a surprise after all the futility?
no, but it is a choice. repeat the conditioned behavior or say “no, I am not going to be like that”. most repeat; nobody does anything in between.
So just trying to envision where we are now for starting 11:
Blake
Yaro – Marquez – Conceicao – Fabinho
Edu – Nogueira
Barnetta – Ponitius – Restrepo
Sapong
Sounds exciting, but leaves the 3rd & 6th overall picks sitting…along with the returning Fernandes, “finalist for the NASL Golden Ball & front-runner for the NASL Young Player of the Year.”
It will be interesting to see how this all works out.
curtin said he drafted yaro to be a centerback. also, i’m not sure restrepo would start over fernandes
They’ll bring in another Striker. I really don’t think Earnie goes into the season with CJ up top alone. Me thinks there’s more help coming through another overseas signing. Fingers crossed!!!
Exactly, spot on…
Would everyone be as on board with the decision to select Rosenberry over Vincent if Sak was still in charge?
Chuckle. Pitchforks and torches would be out…!!!
If Sak was in charge we would’ve trade 3 and 6 to get 2 and we would’ve taken andrew tarbell GK.
Fabinho is an offensively inclined left back, which is typically fine if you have strong center back pairings. We haven’t had that since Jeff Parke was around. We’ve just strengthened the center back position with Yaro and Anderson added to Marquez. The whole squad needs some rounding out, but the draft is not the only source or even primary source of talent acquisition.