Photo: Earl Gardner

Philadelphia Union

In his weekly press conference on Monday (full transcript here at PSP), Jim Curtin confirmed Andre Blake will be with the Union for the Orlando and Colorado road games before leaving to join the Jamaican national team for its Copa America preparations. Blake will therefore be unavailable when the Union host Columbus on June 1 in their final game before the Copa America break. Curtin praised for how Jamaica worked with the Union — “Jamaica has been excellent with us” — to allow Blake to stay with the team rather than leaving to play in Jamaica’s friendly against Chile on Friday, as mentioned in the Jamaica roster announcement we linked to in Monday’s roundup.

Some highlights from Curtin’s presser:

• Curtin said the entire team will travel today to Orlando: “We will take every player on our roster on the trip, which is unique, we haven’t done that before. But, at the same time, I believe we are a deep team and everyone is going to contribute — some not with minutes, but some by pushing training while we are away.”
• On the injury front, Curtin said Fabinho is fine after being subbed out in last Friday’s win over DC: “It was just cramps, fortunately, it was just cramps…No pulls or anything like that, just fatigue.”
• Curtin said Ilsinho and Vincent Nogueira have been running on the side. Asked if they will be available for Wednesday, Curtin said, “I honestly don’t know whether they’ll be available by Wednesday. We’ll assess after Wednesday’s game and see what it looks like for Colorado.”
• Responding to questions about reports that Michael Lahoud had been sold to Miami FC, Curtin said, “There are some things going on right now. Nothing’s finalized so I’m not able to comment on any details of it, but there’s something in the works, it’s an accurate report.”
• Asked if a deal does go through would Lahoud be removed completely, and immediately, from the Union’s salary budget, Curtin responded, “Yes.”
• Curtin also said, “I believe we are starting to form an identity as a team that is very tough to break down defensively, is very good at home. Now we need to carry that mentality on to the road in two very hostile places.”

More from the press conference at Philly.com, Delco Times, CSN Philly, SBI, MLSsoccer.com, Vavel, and Playing for 90.

At Delco Times, Matthew De George talks to Vincent Nogueira about his injury, a strained oblique. Nogueira said, “It’s painful. If I can play with the pain, it will be all right. But if the pain goes higher and higher, it will be tough to stay on the pitch. It’s day-by-day. We are talking a lot with the physio about how I can get better, and we’ll see. Hopefully the pain will leave very quick.” De George reports both Nogueira and Ilsinho trained off to the side on Monday but Ilsinho’s “strained quad relented enough for him to do some tactical work late in training.”

At the Union website, Marisa Pilla has more notes (but no quotes) from Monday’s training session, including this update: “Maurice Edu once again continued his rehab sessions on the field with the team, passing the ball around with the training staff.”

Orlando right back Rafael Ramos (hamstring) and center back Seb Hines (knee) will both be out of the lineup on Wednesday. Orlando head coach Adrian Heath said Tommy Redding and Kevin Alston will likely start against the Union. More at MLSsoccer.com.

Fellow SB Nation blogs Brotherly Game and The Mane Land talk to one another ahead of Wednesday’s game in Florida. Also at The Mane Land, some kind of beer and food based preview or something.

At the Union website, game notes for Wednesday’s contest in Orlando.

Richie Marquez has been named to MLSsoccer.com’s Team of the Week. Andre Blake made the bench. More on the honors at the Union website.

Following Marquez’s game-winning goal over DC (which did not make the nominees for Goal of the Week), Kevin Kinkead at Philly Voice goes into the video vault to identify the best goal scored by a defender in Union history.

At the Union website, Matt Bodiford talks to Marquez about the defender’s path to the pros.

At Brotherly Game, Jared Young looks at the latest Union salary numbers to determine what the Union have to use in the summer transfer window.

Power rankings! At ESPN, the Union move up one spot to No. 2: “What a time for Richie Marquez’s first career goal. It not only gave the Union the win against D.C. United on Friday, it put Philly in first place in the Eastern Conference.” At Soccer America, the Union move up two spots to No. 4. At SI, the Union move up one spot yo No. 5. The article’s lede and the blurb accompanying the rating is a snarky collection of insults big and small.

At Goal.com, Ives Galarcep writes,

The Union are fast becoming a team that is a late-game threat to win rather than a risk to collapse late, as in past years. Jim Curtin’s side is riding some stingy defending on the way to the best start in club history.

Friday’s win against D.C. United wasn’t exactly dominant — the visitors had stretches of control during the match and finished with more shots — but the Union showed once again that they are a team developing real poise in pressure situations.

In an interview at USA Today Landon Donovan is asked what teams he’s enjoying this year he did not expect to enjoy. He replies,

Colorado is the relatively obvious choice. I’ve known Pablo [Mastroeni] for a really long time, and I’m really happy for him. I’ve known Chris Albright and Earnie Stewart for a long time, too, so I’m really happy to see them do well in Philadelphia. You end up rooting for the people you know and like, and you end up rooting for them to succeed. So I’ve been really happy to see that.

Philadelphia Union Academy

Soccer Wire has recaps of the Union Academy games against NYRB last weekend. More at the Union Academy website.

Harrisburg City Islanders

The City Islanders host Toronto FC II tonight at Clipper Magazine Stadium in Lancaster at 7 pm (YouTube). Previews at Harrisburg City Islanders, Brotherly Game, USLsoccer.com, and Toronto FC II.

MLS

Columbus Dispatch reports, “Crew SC defender Gaston Sauro suffered a torn knee ligament Saturday during a 0-0 tie at Toronto FC and is expected to miss at least four months, coach Gregg Berhalter said Monday.”

DC United’s Steve Birnbaum to Feyenoord?

Robbie Keane says he wants to stick around in MLS at least until Cristiano Ronaldo joins the league.

Andrea Pirlo on playing in MLS: “It’s a very hard league to play in. It’s very physical, there’s a lot of running. So there is a lot of physical work and to me, in my mind, too little play.” Zing! In case you missed, both Pirlo and Sebastian Giovinco were not included in Italy’s roster for the Euros.

Minneapolis Star Tribune reports, “Minnesota United FC emerged from the legislative session with victories in two of its three stadium-related requests. Lawmakers agreed to a property tax exemption for the St. Paul land where the soccer team wants to build a 20,000-seat stadium and approved a liquor license for the stadium. However, the team didn’t get a sales tax exemption on construction materials.” Minnesota governor Mark Dayton “said the team is getting most of what it asked for and could apply for a refund on the construction materials sales tax.”

NBC San Diego reports, “According to multiple sources close to the situation, the United Soccer League (USL), one of the top professional leagues in America, is negotiating to put an expansion franchise in San Diego. It’s possible the new team could start play as early as April of 2017.” You will recall the league announced last week expansion into Nashville, with the as yet unnamed team expected to begin play in 2018.

US

The final rosters for the 16 teams participating in the  Copa America Centenario have been announced.

Jurgen Klinsmann has added FC Dallas defender Kellyn Acosta to the roster for Wednesday’s friendly against Ecuador. The addition comes as reports from Europe say that Timothy Chandler “exited Eintracht Frankfurt’s relegation playoff second leg with an apparent muscle injury.” However, ESPN’s Doug McIntyre later tweeted, “Per U.S. spokesman, Timmy Chandler texted #usmnt assistant coach Andi Herzog to tell him he’s OK, will report tomorrow [Tuesday] as scheduled.”

At the US Soccer website, five things to know about Ecuador.

Also at the US Soccer website, an article on Brad Guzan being named the starting goalkeeper for the Copa America tournament. SI reports Guzan is ready to move on from Aston Villa following the team’s relegation from the Premier League and that a return to MLS could be an option.

At ESPN, four questions Jurgen Klinsmann and the USMNT need to answer ahead of the Copa America.

At ESPN, a long form piece on Carli Lloyd.

Elsewhere

The AP reports, “FIFA has sacked deputy secretary general Markus Kattner after allegedly uncovering financial wrongdoing during an internal investigation.” A statement from FIFA said an “internal investigation uncovered breaches of his fiduciary responsibilities in connection with his employment contract.” The Guardian reports the “deputy secretary general has been fired with immediate effect after the discovery of a secret bonus scheme that paid out millions of dollars over a period of years…Sources said the payments came to light at the end of last week during an internal probe by the US law firm Quinn Emmanuel as a result of an ongoing trawl of millions of documents.” Kattner had been acting secretary general since the firing and ban of Jérôme Valcke. More at Reuters.

Reuters reports, “Security failures exposed at France’s soccer cup final over the weekend will be sorted out before the start of Euro 2016 contest in three weeks’ time, the government said on Monday.”

The AP reports, “Ten members of the Camorra crime syndicate have been arrested and three soccer players have been placed under investigation by Italian authorities probing an alleged Serie B match-fixing ring.”

The AP reports, “Chile has broken the world record for the most participants in a soccer match. The mark was achieved Sunday night after a match that featured 2,357 people who took turns to keep the ball rolling during more than 120 hours. The score? A close 505-504.”

Thank goodness that’s over with, now the real fun can begin.