Photo: Daniel Studio
Philadelphia Union
Describing Sunday night’s extremely disappointing loss to Real Salt Lake as “A bit of a strange game,” Jim Curtin explained, “It wasn’t a perfect night of soccer but I still don’t think that there were any guys that you could single out as having a bad night. So, again, [we’ll] watch the tape, we’ll learn from it. No time to feel sorry for ourselves, we have to get back out there against a good DC.”
Curtin added, “You’ll see teams go on dips and runs; you win two games in a row in the East and you can see what that does for your team. That’s the task that we have at hand. We didn’t do ourselves any favors, don’t get me wrong: we had a step back tonight. At home we need three points – always. That’s the mentality that we have in our players and we failed that tonight. We will have to steal those points somewhere else now, and that’ll have to be in DC or New England — we have to get points there.
Chris Pontius echoed Curtin’s comments: “Every season you’re going to run into a roller coaster of emotions. You try not to let the highs get too high or the lows get too low. We’ve lost a few games now. We’re in a bit of a hole. No one is panicking in that locker room, at all.”
Recaps and reports at PSP (recap, postgame), Philadelphia Union, Philly.com, Delco Times, CSN Philly (recap, report), Philly Soccer News (recap, report), Brotherly Game, Pattison Ave, Prost Amerika, Vavel, Section 215, MLSsoccer.com (recap, Union, RSL), Real Salt Lake, The Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News, 4UtahKTVX, RSL Soapbox (recap, report, player ratings), SBI (Union, RSL), Pro Soccer Talk, and MLS Multiplex. USA Today has a photo gallery.
Through the season’s first three months the Philadelphia Union gave up just more than a goal per game. Through the last two months, they’ve conceded just under three goals per game.
Sunday’s 2-1 loss to RSL was not an outlier. The Union have been defending deeper and more desperately, and it’s largely because good teams have been tearing through an unbalanced midfield. RSL have been struggling, but they’re still mostly a good team, and punished a Philly side that’s at sea.
The Union were without Tranquillo Barnetta for Sunday’s game because of yellow card accumulation. They’ll be without Fabinho for Saturday’s road game against DC for the same reason.
In case you missed it, Andre Blake’s save on the strike by Arsenal’s Mohamed Elneny made the top spot on SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays last Thursday. Section 215 says Blake is on his way to becoming a MLS superstar.
With the transfer window closing on Wednesday, Brotherly Game wonders what the Union’s biggest need might be. Section 215 thinks the Union should go after Mix Diskerud.
Union Academy grads Yosef Samuel and Sebastian Elney, have been called up for the US U-20 MNT camp in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, July 30-Aug. 8. Also called up was Chad Poarch (D: Continental FC Delco; Middletown, Dela.).
From the Delco Times: “An independent analysis of [Chester’s] financial woes recommends ‘extreme measures’ including reducing emergency services, implementing new taxes and bringing in professional accountants to fix a growing budget deficit by 2018.
Bethlehem Steel
Bethlehem was defeated 3-2 at home by Toronto FC II on Sunday. After Toronto went ahead in the first half, Nick Bibbs equalized in the 48th minute but the visitors answered with goals in the 58th and 78th minutes. Ryan Richter scored for the home team in the 81st minute from the penalty spot after Toronto’s Wesley Charpie was sent off but it was not enough. Here’s Bethlehem’s lineup for the game:
Samir Badr; Ryan Richter (captain), Nick Bibbs, Anderson Conceicao, Taylor Washington; Boluwatife Akinyode, James Chambers, Seku Conneh (Fred da Silva, 44’); Josh Heard (Matthew Real, 89’), Gabe Gissie (Jamie Luchini, 66’), Cory Burke (Amoy Brown, 75’)
Substitutes not used: Lamine Conte
Recaps and reports at Bethlehem Steel (recap, quote sheet), Allentown Morning Call, WFMZ, Unauthorized Bethlehem Steel FC Blog, Philly Soccer News, USLsoccer.com, and Toronto FC II.
Auston Trusty went the full 90 in the US U-20 MNT’s 1-0 win over Spain at the Sub-20 l’Acudia COTIF tournament on Friday. The team plays Bahrain today. Soccer America notes:
The USA is in third place in Group A, tied on six points with second-place Spain, which has a superior goal difference, and one point behind first-place Venezuela.
Spain faces Venezuela in its final group game. The top two finishers in Group A and will reach the semifinals against the top two finishers in Group B, which is led by Argentina and Mexico, followed by Qatar, Costa Rica, Morocco.
Unauthorized Bethlehem Steel FC Blog notes Bethlehem’s roster is at the league minimum for professional players.
Also at Unauthorized Bethlehem Steel FC Blog, what does the Union signing Derrick Jones mean for Bethlehem?
Derrick Jones is a Union man now, but his time with Bethlehem saw him at No. 10 in the 20 Under 20 series at USLsoccer.com.
City Islanders
After the visiting Rochester Rhinos took a late 1-0 lead with a goal in the 87th minute, a stoppage time header from Brett Jankouskas saw the City Islanders draw 1-1 on Friday night at FNB Field. Recaps and reports at City Islanders, Philly Soccer News, USLsoccer.com, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, WHAM, and The Bent Musket.
The City Islanders are back in action at FNB Field on Tuesday night when they host NYRB II (7 pm, YouTube).
PDL
PDL Eastern Conference champion Ocean City Nor’easters’ run for the PDL championship foundered with a 3-0 home loss to Western Conference champion Calgary Foothills FC in Saturday’s semifinal game. Said head coach Tim Oswald, “We’re heartbroken. We’re upset. The guys had a great run this year. At zero-zero at halftime I told them to keep doing what you’re doing and find the first goal of the match and make Calgary chase the game. And unfortunately Calgary found the first goal and sat in and defended us well. And even when we countered and dropped numbers behind the ball they deserved to win the game today.” Calgary plays Michigan Bucks, who defeated Midland/Odessa Sockers 3-0 in the other semifinal, for the national championship on Saturday.
Recaps and reports at Ocean City Nor’easters, Press of Atlantic City, and USLPDL.com.
Local
At the US Youth Soccer national championships in Frisco, YMS Premier Xplosion defeated California’s Beach FC 3-2 in extra time to win the U-17 girls title. YMS was down 2-0 after the first half before Maddie Elwell halved the scoreline with a free kick goal in the 62 minute, and Murphy Agnew equalized in the 85th minute with another free kick goal. Agnew would then score the championship winning goal in the 113th minute. It was YMS Premier Xplosion’s fourth consecutive trip to the national championships and their first title. Agnew finished as the tournament’s top goalscorer with four goals, earning her third consecutive Golden Ball at nationals.
Said head coach John Greaves after the game, “It feels a bit surreal now. For a long period of time in that game we were second best. We corrected a few things during one water break and knew that if we could get one, we would have a go at coming back. I know the character of them and that proved to be right.”
Lehigh Valley United were defeated 4-1 by Santa Barbara in the semifinals of the U-18 championship on Saturday. Steven Gaber tallied for LVU in the 83rd minute with the team already behind 3-0. Santa Clara won the championship game on Sunday.
You will recall the FC Florida U-19 team has three former Union Academy players on it, Mo Conde, Zach Perez, and John Schroeder. The team faced FC Golden State in the U-19 final on Saturday, losing 3-1. Schroeder scored the lone goal for Florida in the 78th minute with the team behind 3-0 in the battle for the McGuire Cup.
MLS
In the Eastern Conference, first place NYCFC (36 points, 10-7-6) defeated Colorado, 2-2 on the road with last place Chicago (18 points, 4-10-6) thanks to a Bradley Wright-Phillips equalizer in the 90th minute. Third place Toronto (30 points, 8-7-6) breezed past ninth place Columbus (19 points, 3-8-10), 3-0. Fourth place Philadelphia (30 points, 8-8-6) gave up a home lead to lose 2-1 to RSL. Fifth place Montreal (30 points, 7-5-9) equalized in the 86th minute to draw 1-1 on the road with eighth place DC (23 points, 5-8-8). Montreal finished with ten men after Didier Drogba kicked a player, earning what might be the dumbest red card of the year. Sixth place New England (26 points, 6-8-8) lost 3-1 on the road to seventh place Orlando (26 points, 5-5-11) who had their first win under new head coach Jason Kreis.
In the Western Conference, first place Dallas (44 points, 13-6-5) defeated sixth place Vancouver (30 points, 8-5-6), 2-0. Second place Colorado (38 points, 10-3-8) was thumped, 5-1, on the road by NYCFC. Third place LAG (36 points, 9-3-9) came from behind to draw 1-1 on the road with ninth place Seattle (21 points, 6-12-3). Fourth place Kansas City (34 points, 10-10-4) defeated seventh place Portland (29 points, 7-8-8), 1-0. Fifth place Salt Lake (34 points, 9-6-7) came from behind to defeat Philadelphia 2-1 on the road. Eighth place San Jose (27 points, 6-6-9) came from behind to draw 1-1 with last place Houston (20 points, 4-9-8).
ESPN reports, “Colombian Fabian Castillo will be returning to Major League Soccer after the FC Dallas winger’s negotiations with Turkish side Trabzonspor fell through.”
Chicago has traded Nigerian striker Kennedy Igboananike to DC in exchange for “Targeted Allocation Money and the natural third round selection in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft…Igboananike will continue to be classified as a Designated Player on Chicago’s roster and budget in 2016 and Chicago will retain a percentage of any future transfer fee if the player is transferred outside of the league in 2016.”
Houston has traded Giles Barnes to Vancouver in exchange for “General Allocation Money and a right of first refusal for Costa Rican defender Keyner Brown…The Dynamo will retain a percentage of any future transfer fees if Barnes is loaned or transferred outside the league.”
Houston has acquired 20-year-old Colombian midfielder Yair Arboleda Quiñones on loan from Independiente Santa Fe “through the end of 2016 with an option for a permanent transfer.”
San Jose has traded forward Adam Jahn to Columbus in exchange for Targeted Allocation Money.
Columbus midfielder Ben Swanson has been placed on the Season-ending Injury List after successfully undergoing surgery on his right shoulder.
Goalkeeper Tally Hall has announced his retirement.
Fox Soccer reports, “Charlie Davies has been diagnosed with cancer. Doctors told the New England Revolution forward that he had liposarcoma in the spring and he says that he is now in remission.”
Sports Business Daily reports, “Bayern Munich is considering teaming up with a Major League Soccer franchise to support football’s growth in the U.S., club CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said…Rummenigge said European football has ‘an obligation to help’ grow the sport in the U.S.”
Finance & Commerce reports, “The St. Paul Zoning Committee lifted a proposed Major League Soccer stadium over two small hurdles Thursday, but not before venting some discomfort with the piecemeal nature of the approval process…Mollie Scozzari, a spokeswoman for the St. Paul Planning & Economic Development department, said no construction work can occur at the stadium site until the city approves the preliminary plat and an environmental review. She said the review should be complete on Aug. 9.”
Detroit Free Press reports “the joint venture between billionaires Dan Gilbert and Tom Gores to bring Major League Soccer to Detroit is entering into a period of activity. The group should receive a clarified timetable on its MLS expansion process soon. And…the commitment remains to build a soccer stadium at the unfinished Wayne County jail site”
NWSL
First place Portland (29 points, 8-2-5) defeated sixth place Seattle (20 points, 5-5-5), 1-0. Second place Washington (29 points, 9-3-2) defeated fifth place Sky Blue (22 points, 6-5-4), 3-1. Third place Western New York (26 points, 8-5-2) drew 3-3 on the road with ninth place Houston (12 points, 3-7-3). Fourth place Chicago (25 points, 7-4-4) defeated eighth place Kansas City (16 points, 4-7-4), 1-0. Seventh place Orlando (18 points, 6-9-0) lost 1-0 on the road to last place Boston (7 points, 2-11-1).
US
Philly.com talks to local lass Carli Lloyd about the upcoming Olympic tournament. More at Philly.com about the USWNT here and here.
At FourFourTwo, “How fullbacks exemplify USWNT’s tactical, stylistic evolution since World Cup.”
105,826 were on hand for Saturday’s Real-Madrid-Chelsea International Champions Cup match at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, the second best attended soccer game in US history. The top spot is 109,318 for the Manchester United-Real Madrid game at the same stadium in 2014.
Elsewhere
Reuters reports, “A former president of Guatemala’s soccer federation pleaded guilty on Friday to charges he received bribes to award lucrative media and marketing rights for soccer matches, the latest development in the U.S. corruption investigation into world soccer’s governing body FIFA. Brayan Jimenez said he was guilty of racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud charges at a hearing in federal court in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Levy. Jimenez also agreed to forfeit $350,000.”
The AP reports, “Turkey’s soccer federation says all members of its committees have resigned to help the investigation into the movement of a U.S.-based cleric who the country’s government says was behind the failed July 15 coup that left more than 200 people dead…The Turkish Football Federation said in a statement on its website Sunday that every member of all its committees had tendered their resignations ‘for the well-being of the ongoing security investigation.”
I realized after venting a bit on last night’s game wrap that our sudden sense of doom and despair has been compounded by a team that overachieved modest pre-season expectations. Now, after a sunny start, this team looks like it’s going to go full Philly on us and start pulling a tank job.
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Mix Diskerud is compelling, but probably far too expensive at $761,000. I know there are strange MLS rules where the club picks up a portion of DP salary, but I don’t feel like dong calculus during my lunch break to figure it out. He’s likely an upgrade over Creavalle, but probably not in keeping with the over half a million dollar bump in salary. While Edu, Diskerud and Barnetta in the midfield is interesting to think about, I think Stewart is far more likely to find an unknown commodity from Europe or South America that does the job without the hefty paycheck.
My sense of doom is squarely linked to a team that I feel WASNT overachieving but was playing a brand of game that was compelling add in the return of Mo and this team was on its way to higher things…
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Losing Nogueira as written many times before cast a pall over the season.
Tally Hall says it isn’t so. Best name in MLS.
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Hey ES and majority owner JS and minority owner RG… how bout a sit down with Bayern Munich or better Ajax. Yes!
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Yes. Keep asking around the bundesliga until you find a solid partner. Do it. Do it now.
Don’t we already have a ludicrous partner in AFC Bournemouth that just started in the late days of summer last year?
I’d take an Emerson Hyndman loan in a half-second.
That would be a perfect fit for the Union, but I hope/expect Bournemouth picked him up to play him in the EPL this season.
I’m still not panicking. Before the year started, a reasonable expectation from this team was for them to finish 4-6 in the East. I thought NYRB and Columbus were clearly better and I thought Toronto or Montreal would likely be the 3 seed. I thought the Union could compete with any of the other teams for a bottom playoff spot. I was clearly wrong about Columbus, but the Union are still in a playoff spot right now. Better to be there than having this slide and be in 9th place like they have been the past few seasons.
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This year is different because the U didn’t put themselves in a hole to start the year. Yes, they are wobbling and they need to sort out their midfield, as well as figure out how to get a result on the road, but they are still in a much better spot than the past few years. Vincent dropped a bomb on the organization and they are still trying to sort it out. A result or two against DC and NE and all is fine. Even with no results there, I think the team is still in an OK (not great position) to MAKE THE PLAYOFFS. That was the goal and I feel like most of the comments on this site before the year seemed to indicate that playoffs weren’t even a realistic expectation from this team.
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Yes, they may go into a complete tailspin the rest of the year, but I’m not ready to start panicking. If they haven’t won a game come September 1st, then it’s time to light those torches and grab those pitchforks.
Watched the Steel game earlier in the day. way more entertaining than the first team. great line from TFC II coach after being ejected: [protesting] THIS IS PROFESSIONAL SOCCER!
Hahaha I heard that too.
It’s regression to the mean. This team has never had the talent to win the division (even with Nogs), and was always going to have to scrap for a playoff spot (especially without Nogs).
The question I have is will they make any mid-season moves, are are they willing to let things play out and save their powder for the off-season, given the poor record of mid-season signings generally in MLS.
I have zero problems with ES limiting the void-fill search to players in the MLS pool, but come on please….we could really use 2 serviceable players, so make it happen. Warren starting for us really says something about our ambitions. I don’t want to be mean, but there is no upside for WC. At least with Tribett/Yaro there is reasonable hopes for improvement. Ilsinho prob will be good next year (if he is still around), but he is currently a very limited player (kinda reminds me of Midana’s first year). One road win an no wins against western conference = need for improvement
7 points in 8 games since Nogs left. 5 of those games have been at home. The team needs to spend the next couple of weeks looking for a way to right the ship.
Replace Nogs. What’s so difficult to understand about that?
I still think the only option in the short for this team is to sign Mix to replace Nogs. Make NYCFC pick up half his salary puts him at about $375,000 for the year which is less than Nogs Salary and revitalize Mix’s career. He in turn helps the Union make the playoffs. He can fit and when Edu is healthy we could have one of the most athletic and well sized CDMs in MLS. I mean the pair of them I think if they learn to work together could remind me of Trapp and Tchani pairing. He also doesn’t take an international roster slot leaving the space to sign a striker from abroad.
Just curious, how does the DP designation work out with portions of salary being picked up by other clubs? I honestly don’t know.
Me either, That one was new. I’ve heard it said that Earnie has joked that when he started calling people he knew about what it would be like to work in MLS, the advice he got from everybody was, “Don’t bother to learn the rules. They’ll change.”
Yeah don’t know how it works when other salary is picked up as far as DP rules go. However Edu is the only DP on the roster so even if he counted towards a DP slot we still have another and a spot for a young DP if needed.
Per ESPN – Union in advanced talks for Bedoya. I like it… I like it a lot. They want him to play the 8. Barnetta back to the 10. I assume Edu at the 6?
How long area the terms is what I’d like to know.
Would be a nice addition. One one who wouldn’t have to come here before signing. So one that could be kept under wraps until near signing, so maybe believable.
Can Bedoya really play the #8? Dude is a winger.
My thoughts exactly. He is a right winger from everything I have ever seen.
Remember that Chicago was exactly in this position, dvanced talks, all but a done deal with Jermaine Jones.
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And the Robert Kraft waved his mega millions and got the coin flip.
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My own cynical bet is that he bribed somebody to make sure it was a two-headed coin.
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Count no chicken until it has shit in your hand.
“Count no chicken until it has shit in your hand.” is an expression I didn’t know I needed until now.
So $200,000,000 expansion fee now to join the cartel.
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And ‘you’ call this progress.
suggests a Ponzi scheme fueled by expansion fees.
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or possibly a way to force up the valuation of franchises for ownerships that want to sell?
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Clear evidence that the organization has been trying to make a meaningful addition. Goes to credibility.
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we’ll see if the deal actually closes.
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I own to being surprised that they re-opened pursuit, as last time I had the impression Nantes had made a determination to keep him, and the reported length of his current contract suggests that as well.
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There must be some factor driving the player to dissatisfaction with his overall circumstance that the Union knows about. Playing time? Something off field?
And we are selling him the idea that we can fix it.
My bet is he just wants to come home. 29 years old. Young family. Now has a good enough league here. We have seen this with a bunch of US players that are in this age bracket (and even younger). It really shouldn’t be surprising.
He has said he wants his kids to go to school in the US. So, yeah, he’s actively trying to come over here for his family. We’ll gladly be the beneficiaries.
I believe Nantes brought in 3 more midfields during the window, meaning minutes will be hard to come by. That may have triggered a restart in the conversations.
I wake up to this Bedoya talk and have really mixed feelings. Loving the chance to sign an USMNTer but do we need a winger…at all? This seems like a “we didn’t make any signings we needed but look at this shiny new player” type signing to distract we supporters. It’ll be especially worrisome if we just throw him into the spine of the pitch and claim he can handle it. The whole thing is fishy.
He plays centrally for club and I assume that’s what he’d do here. I think the plan would be for him and Barnetta to both be 8/10 hybrid players. They both have great work rate which would be nice, and I do think Bedoya is a pretty good defensive player so it could work.
Correct. Also, he’s versatile, as he can play the 8 or 10, as well on the wings. Considering the fluidity of formation that Jim/Earnie like, this allows a player like him to interchange with Ilsinho from wing to center.
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One of his strengths is his passing ability. If he’s running the 8 for us, that will be massive, since that is what we are missing without Nogs.
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I’m not claiming he’s a panacea, but he’s a talent upgrade. It’s very hard to argue this. It’s also hard to argue that the FO is going out and spending big money on a quality player. Yet, people will argue nonetheless.