Photo: Earl Gardner
Last week, he scored the second hat trick in Union history, and the first at Talen Energy Stadium. And he could have easily had two more. Pretty impressive.
On Saturday, he notched another goal, early in the match against Vancouver. That powerful finish brought his total to seven goals in the last four games.
That’s not just “pretty impressive.” That’s “someone forgot to change the setting on FIFA 16 from rookie” levels of dominance.
Only one member of the Union has made MLS look like his own personal playground over the last twelve days. Rocketing from the bottom of Jim Curtin’s bench to a must-start force at the No. 10 like, well, a very large and powerful rocket, there is no question who deserves this week’s PSP Player of the Week Award.
Take a bow, Roland Alberg.
A barely related note from the author: Roland Alberg’s name always reminds me of the Warren Zevon song “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner.” It is a ludicrous song (if you haven’t heard it, check it out here) and I sincerely hope the Sons of Ben figure out a way to sing it for Roland during his tenure in Philadelphia.
I am going to keep including this note any time I write something about Roland Alberg until this actually happens or Ed Farnsworth locks me out of my PSP account.
Honorable mentions
Two other Philly-area players deserve special attention for their accomplishments this past week…
- Bethlehem Steel’s captain, Ryan Richter, is a local boy. And though his time with the Union never quite produced the desired fruit, he’s contributing to the first-year USL side in a big way. This week, Richter provided heroics twice against Richmond Kickers with goal-line clearances in the 20th and 56th minutes. By twice denying the Kickers, even after they had beaten Samir Badr, Richter preserved a scoreless draw that ultimately netted BSFC one point. A big performance from the captain.
- Alberg wasn’t the only hat-trick hero of the week, either. Emmanuel Perez, of the Union U-18s, scored a second half hat trick with his squad down 3-0. Despite ultimately losing 4-3 to Kendall FC, Perez’s outburst provided the U-18s with enough goals to squeak into the knockout round of the USSDA playoffs. Maybe we’ll see him with the big club some day.
PSP Player of the Week Awards, 2016 Season
Roland Alberg (6/21, 6/28)
Brian Carroll (4/26, 6/1)
Richie Marquez (5/24)
Keegan Rosenberry (5/17)
Sebastien Le Toux (4/19)
Tranquillo Barnetta (4/11)
C.J. Sapong (3/22)
Chris Pontius (3/15)
Andre Blake (3/8)
The article could have simply been, “If you don’t know why he was selected, we can’t help you. The end.”
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I don’t follow BSFC closely enough, but the Richter story is proving to be one of the best items about our organization this year. It seems like he may never pan out to be an MLS quality player, but he could be setting himself up for a coaching career within the organization. Having homegrown guys at that level is a great thing, in my opinion.
+1 on the Zevon reference: “Roland the Union Midfield Gunner”
Would absolutely love to hear this as a chant.
Based on the picture on the main page linking to this article, it should be “Roland the Headless Midfield Gunner”.
If he keeps this up, next year’s tune might be “Roland’s Tons of Money”.
The list of P.O.W. is quite impressive; each was won by a different player at varied positions. Great stuff.