Photo: Paul Rudderow
In conjunction with CoverSports, PSP is giving away two tickets to the home game against Chicago Fire on July 9, which is Ticket for Troops Night at Talen Energy Stadium. All you need to do to enter into the drawing for the giveaway is send an email to giveaway@phillysoccerpage.com with your name, address and phone number. The winner also will have the opportunity to participate in an on-field tribute with members of the military. The deadline to enter the drawing is Thursday night at midnight.
Philadelphia Union
After a less than pleasing first half that finished with them down 1-0, Philadelphia Union roared back with goals from Chris Pontius in the 55th and 60th minute to defeat New York Red Bulls 2-1 in US Open Cup Round of 16 play at Talen Energy Stadium on Wednesday night. The Union will now face New England Revolution, who defeated New York Cosmos, in the quarterfinals at Harvard University on July 20. It’s the Union’s fourth quarterfinal appearance in the last five years.
Jim Curtin called it a “big-boy” win, and rightly so.
While the game also included the surprise ejection of Union assistant coach Mike Sorber, not to mention a hilarious (or shameful, take your pick) outburst featuring some ball throwing from NYRB head coach Jesse Marsch following his own ejection, it also included a scary collision that eventually saw Sebastien Le Toux leave the game with an apparent head injury. Jim Curtin after the game of Le Toux, “I don’t want to speculate on it but obviously head injuries you want to be very cautious. He’s seeing our doctors right now, so I won’t jump to any conclusions but it sounds like he took a pretty good knock. Hopefully he is able to recover quickly. We’ll see.”
Hopefully we’ll have some good news regarding Le Toux’s status soon. We should also get more details on the injury Fabian Herbers suffered in Training on Tuesday that prevented him from playing on Wednesday. With CJ Sapong out since the beginning of the month with an ankle injury, options could be thin up top for the Union when they travel to face Houston on Saturday. However, Curtin did say after Wednesday’s game that Sapong “will be a factor in Saturday’s game, I can say that with confidence now. Minutes? I don’t know yet, but if I know CJ, he’ll want to start, for sure.”
UPDATE: Matthew De George spoke to Jim Curtin after Thursday morning training session and tweeted that Le Toux sustained a concussion on Wednesday night: “Scans showed no further injury. No timeline on concussion protocols.” He also tweeted, “Fabian Herbers did not train today but went through ‘strength building exercises.’ Curtin unsure of his status for Saturday.” (After the game on Wednesday night, De George tweeted details of the injury that kept Herbers out of the NYRB game: “Fabian Herbers said it was a little twinge in his hamstring. He mentioned that sitting out was mostly precautionary.”) De George added, “Curtin said CJ Sapong will definitely travel to Houston. Leo Fernandes as the false nine is the contingency plan.”
Recaps and reports from Wednesday night’s win at PSP (recap, postgame), Philadelphia Union (recap, report), US Soccer, TheCup.us, MLSsoccer.com (recap, Union, NYRB, Marsch), Philly.com (recap, report), Delco Times, CSN Philly, 973espn.com, Philly Soccer News (recap, report), Brotherly Game (recap, Marsch), Pattison Ave, Prost Amerika, Vavel, Section 215, Playing for 90, New York Red Bulls, Big Apple Soccer (recap, report, Marsch), SBI, Empire of Soccer (recap, Marsch), Metro Soccer Nation, Once a Metro (recap, analysis), and ESPN.
In the latest update on the Fan XI vote for the All-Star Game, Keegan Rosenberry has vaulted to the top of the list of defenders. Andre Blake remains at No. 1 for goalkeepers, with Tranquillo Barnetta at No. 8 for midfielders, and CJ Sapong at No. 5 for forwards. Cast your vote here before the deadline on Monday, July 4 at 3 pm.
With the 2016 season now at the midway point, Brotherly Game looks at player rating averages and Philadelphia Sports Nation reviews the Union’s year so far.
Bleacher Report on how the Union and Colorado Rapids are using different paths to fight to the top of their conferences.
Crystal Palace has announced it will be hosting special meet and greet fan events on July 12, the day before they play the Union in a friendly.
PDL
After drawing their first meeting, and losing their second, a 72nd minute goal saw Reading United fall 1-0 on the road to NYRB U-23s on Wednesday night. Despite the loss, Reading (19 points, 6-3-1) remains in first place in the Mid-Atlantic Division, two points in front of second place Baltimore Bohemians, the team they will host on Saturday at 7 pm. Match report at Reading Eagle.
Ocean City Nor’easters forward Chevaughn Walsh has been named to the PDL Team of the Week. Walsh scored a hat trick in the 6-1 win over Evergreen FC last Wednesday and a brace in the 4-3 loss to Reading United on Saturday.
Local
The 91st Minute picks up on a report from German soccer publication Kicker that says Downingtown’s Zack Steffen has been promoted to the first team at Freiburg.
Allentown Morning Call has a profile piece on local lads Ken Silva and Danny Barbir and their national team aspirations.
Five Penn State players are among those called up for the US U-20 WNT training camp in Chula Vista, July 6-15.
Christian Sload (Reading, Pa., Wilson High School, FC Revolution, PA Classics) is among six players joining the Penn State men’s team for the 2016 season.
MLS
In US Open Cup play, Philadelphia came from behind to defeat NYRB, 2-1. Their quarterfinal opponent on July 20 will be New England, who defeated NASL-side New York Cosmos with a 3-2 comeback victory. NASL-side Fort Lauderdale Strikers will travel to face Chicago in the quarterfinals after defeating Orlando 2-1 in extra time with a goal in the 120th minute after finishing 1-1 at the end of regulation time with both teams down to ten men. Houston brushed aside reigning champions Kansas City with a 3-1 win and will host Dallas, who defeated Colorado 2-1 in extra time with a goal in the 98th minute, in the quarterfinals. LA Galaxy defeated Portland, 1-0, and will host Seattle.
Down 2-0 on the road in stoppage time in the second leg of the Canadian Championship, miscommunication between Vancouver goalkeeper and defender Kendall Waston in the 95th minute saw Will Johnson pounce on a loose ball to score Toronto’s lone goal on Wednesday night, a strike that was enough to defeat the Whitecaps on away goals (2-2 on aggregate) for the national title after winning the first leg at home, 1-0.
Chicago Fire and Designated Player Gilberto have mutually agreed to part ways.
NYCFC have sold Kwadwo Poku to NASL-side Miami FC.
ESPN says Eastern Conference teams are battling to be the “least worst” in the league.
San Jose Earthquakes and Reno 1868 have announced an affiliation agreement that will begin in 2017 when the Nevada expansion side begins play in the USL. Current Earthquakes USL affiliate Sacramento Republic is a leading contender to win a MLS franchise. More at Reno Gazette-Journal, The Sacramento Bee,
St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports on the progress made by those working to secure a MLS franchise for that city.
US
Vice Sports says the US is back where it started with the completion of the Copa America Centenario: “Klinsmann is back at the helm, and the U.S. National Team’s fortunes seem to be tied to his erratic levels of success. They won as much as they lost, and for every development on the roster, there was another that ran stagnant. The future of U.S. soccer now feels like a game of averages. It’s not the sort of math that tallies up to the world power that was promised.”
ESPN on why Jurgen Klinsmann is wrong for the England job. Sporting News on why many US fans would be happy for Klinsmann to take the job. Yahoo Sports on how seriously to take the Klinsmann for England manager chatter. Alexi Lalas tweeted that a US Soccer source says the England FA has not contacted the federation about Klinsmann.
Elsewhere
Euro 2016 quarterfinal play begins today with Poland against Portugal (2:30 pm: ESPN2, ESPN3, Watch ESPN, ESPN Deportes).
Goal.com reports, “CONMEBOL and UEFA are in discussions to set up a match between the Euro 2016 winner and Copa America champion Chile.”
Sometimes I just wish people who were so anti-Klinsmann would spend an ounce of their vicious anger pointed at the youth development practices and expectations in this country instead.
Agreed that youth development has a long, long way to go. It is making incremental steps with additional USL teams and MLS teams academies growing more and more.
I consider myself anti-Klinsmann because I don’t think he puts our players in a situation to be successful. Our player pool is what it is, but the least we can do is have a coach who can put his players in spots that plays to their strengths and hides their weaknesses.
Having underwhelming youth development is no excuse for poor player selection and garbage tactics that have virtually no chance of success.
The objective of a coach isn’t to be better than (insert team), it’s to get the very most out of the players they have available.
Well put, Kevin.
Umm. Klinsmann is also the technical director, directly responsible for youth development in the US.
Jack beat me to it. Practices and expectations are ultimately set by the US Soccer Technical Director…which is Klinsmann
And he has helped it and it’s better than it was. But it still has a long way to go and there are still plenty of things we have to admit that are beyond JKs control.
How can you say it is better than it was? Previous US teams have had more success than the current team. And as a previous 91st minute article clearly indicated the whole national youth team development is a grandiose mess currently.
Success means nothing in this transition period.
It’s still a mess, yeah. Like it has been forever. Like it was under American heroes Bruce Arena and bob Bradley.
But now we finally have someone up top wiling to admit it, focus on it, and do something to fix it. That’s a start. And we’re still only at the start.
i’m not trying to be snide or argumentative, but has he done anything concrete to change/improve the program? i’m not aware of anything specific but i’m also not steeped in this kind of knowledge
@Kyle: He’s done things, each time this comes up I wish I save the bullet pointed list. But some things like introduce new age groups.
Don’t think that Arena or Bradley ever held the joint title (or paid the high salary) that Klinsmann currently has.
Well thats no excuse. So they just lacked the extremely important foresight to want to make american soccer better. thats great.
Now you’re clearly just trolling, James.
Good news on the USMNT front:
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The injury that kept Brooks out of the third place Copa match is not serious. Team doctors are calling it a left knee sprain and he will take a 3-week holiday that was pre-planned since he played in the Copa. He will be back in time for their Europa League qualifiers in about a month.
A match between the Copa America winner and the Euro winner seems like a no brainer.
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Hope they pull it off.
Call it the Hemispheres Cup… and of course have a trophy like a cerebral cortex with a dancer on one side and stately gentleman on the other.
Nice one, el Pach
Ok, laaaaaaaay off the sauce… 😉
Poku to Miami FC. When will MLS learn that having guys like Poku, at his age and talent level, leave the league for a “lesser” league (in MLS eyes – not everyone’s) is not a good thing. More money will attract and keep better players.
I think everyone is overrating Poku. 2 coaches have now not really liked him. Miami is throwing lots of money at marginal players. And they do play in a lesser league in the vast majority of people’s eyes. I’d be more surprised is Miami FC wins anything rather than folding in a couple of years.
Players around the world leave better leagues all of the time in order to get paid a boatload of money and play in a lesser league.
If I’m reading the news correctly, Miami also just bought Ft.Lauderdale’s place in the USOC tournament. More money does a lot of things at every level……….
What? Like they are now going to play in quarterfinals? That sounds crazy!
Union bits coming via reporters on twitter:
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Le Toux officially has a concussion. He will go through league protocols and there is no timetable yet for his return.
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Herbers did not train with the team today but did some work by himself.
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CJ will travel with the team to Houston and sounds available to play at least a few minutes off the bench.
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Leo starting up top on Saturday sounds likely.
I’m very intrigued by Leo up top. I think he could succeed up there. He’s a combination of a poor man’s Herbers and a poor man’s CJ. Stronger than Herbers, more fluid than CJ. I’m curious how the chemistry will be with the midfielders around him who have been playing so well.
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With no LeToux, either, it would seem the Missimo will be on the bench again, but Restrepo should expect some minutes in place of Ilsinho in the second half.
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Curious game coming up.
Oh yeah. Very interesting decisions coming up. Although Hopefully CJ is ready to roll for 30 at least, could move Leo out to the wing then if necessary.
While it worked well last night vs a tired defense, starting Leo up top is not a good idea in my opinion. His movement is very languid and labored. This will not be able to prevent the Houston backline from compressing the space on the Union’s midfield and making things difficult for us.
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I think that it will be Pontius and/or Alberg up high on Sat.
We have moved strikers to CB before, I say we move Tribbett up top and see what happens…
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I agree that it probably should be Pontius though, with hopefully CJ able to come in for the last 20-30.
Because I’m an ass and try not to live my outward family, friend or professional life saying— told you so…. it becomes kinda fun doing it here.
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My those……. Tranquillo Barnetta derisions….. from the offseason seemed to have fallen by the wayside… I appreciate keenly arguing this team would function entirely different with him at full flow.
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The Calm is a stud… just as he showed us during the adjustment period last season.
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So anyway…. pat pat pat… self congratulatory of course.
He is clearly one of the best players in MLS and for my money the best we as a team have ever had and really fits the team and city identity. Hoping he doesn’t hold that second title for long though!
Also, if we are patting ourselves on the back in this space, I would like to take credit for the coaching job Curtin did yesterday completely turning that game around. Not many here were too happy with him this offseason.
pat pat pat away.
The temptation to take this in a completely scarcastic direction has been successfully resisted!
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Pat, pat, pa…Oh damn 😉
Spot on. I was among those who briefly questioned whether he was a good signing, once the state of his knees was revealed, but you know, any questions are out the door at this point.
NOOO! Don’t vote for Rosenberry for the meaningless All-Star Game. A couple days of rest is better for all the players rather than risking injury for a silly exhibition.
Honestly, while you’re not wrong, I feel like we’ve been bad and ignored for so long, the more recognition we can get the better. I want Rosenberry to get his name out there, I want him to get NT calls.
Spot on james. He won’t play 90 minutes, it’ll be a glorified scrimmage (albeit against some serious competition). But it’s a good chance for the kid to show a) what he’s about and b) what our youth academy is about. The union haven’t just been good this year, they’re fun to watch. And proliferating the positive style of our games to fans that don’t watch our union players regularly should be good for the growth of the game (and hopefully the style too)
This is a great point, and his specific skill set is a great example of the new style of play for the team. He is the modern outside fullback, capable of being an offensive weapon, as well as locking down the best offensive players on the field.
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Granted, he’s shorter than most of the modern fullbacks, but that’s the only thing lacking right now. (Well, and experience.)
I would argue those are not the only things he is lacking but he at least has been improving. Still gets schooled on the defensive end when anyone cuts inside him, but Tribbett and Yaro have learned to compensate for that.
The problem is that even though he won’t play 90, it still means being in San Jose Thursday night, followed by a 3000 mile flight back east, and then a game on Sunday.
Getting ready to watch the Poland-Portugal PK shootout. Wouldn’t it by ironic if Christiano Ronaldo misses his PK the same way Messi did Sunday night.
He made it…