Photo: Earl Gardner
Philadelphia Union
ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle tweeted on Tuesday that the Union’s pursuit of Alejandro Bedoya “Will go down to the wire.” He added that the Union “still has [the] inside track” but Chicago, who has the No. 1 spot in the allocation order (the Union is at No. 2), is “making a push.” (You will recall Chicago was in prime position to sign Jermaine Jones and Didier Drogba before Jones ended up at New England and Drogba at Montreal.)
Ouest-France Sports reporter Kévin Guisnel also tweeted Bedoya has offers from the Union and Chicago and that his departure from Nantes is “imminent.”
Appearing on SiriusXM FC’s Counter Attack show on Tuesday, Ives Galarcep said of Bedoya, “Latest I’ve heard is that he’s agreed to make the move. Now it’s a question of the paperwork getting done.” Unfortunately, the quote comes from a SiriusXM FC tweet and does not specify to which club Bedoya has agreed to move to. Anyone subscribe to SiriusXM and listen to the show?
On Wednesday morning, Kevin Kinkead tweeted, “Bedoya is basically just caught up in MLS paperwork/dumb rules right now,” adding, “Sounds like salary, xfer fee, terms, all of that is agreed upon. Just need to go through the required MLS hoops (allocation order, etc).” So far as Chicago and the allocation order goes, Kinkead tweeted, “I think they will just hard ball to try to get the most they can out of Philly.”
Anyway, if the example of the primary transfer window is any indication, the current secondary or summer transfer window will close tonight at 1 am ET (which is midnight in Chicago where US Soccer headquarters is located).
Just to keep things interesting, MLS Transfers tweeted on Tuesday, “Hearing Portuguese side Vitória S.C. have shown an interest in CJ Sapong.” MLS Transfers then tweeted, “Source tells me no bid is imminent for CJ Sapong, but scouts will be in person watching CJ ‘at some point before the season ends.'” Kevin Kinkead tweeted of Vitória’s reported interest in Sapong, “Not the first team. A bid for 1 million came in this winter from Turkey and was rejected.”
At Philly Voice, Kevin Kinkead wonders if the Union want Bedoya as a No. 8 to replace Vincent Nogueira, or if he is more of a long term replacement at the No. 10 spot for Tranquillo Barnetta, whose contract is up at the end of the season. More on where Bedoya might fit from Dave Zeitlin at MLSsoccer.com.
Random thought: If Bedoya comes to Philly and plays on the wing and combines well with Keegan Rosenberry, what might that do to bolster Rosenberry’s chances of getting a look from Jurgen Klinsmann?
ESPN’s Paul Mariner thinks a Bedoya to the Union move would be a good one (video).
Prost Amerika talks to Chris Pontius, who says of the team’s current struggles, “Just now we’ve hit a rough patch where results haven’t gone our way. The key will be how we respond. We’re a team that hasn’t panicked in any situation. We don’t let the highs get too high, or the lows get too low. Pretty soon the balls will start bouncing our way. We had the same message all year, don’t do anything different from when we’ve had success and things will turn around again.”
In a look at how MLS teams have done in the middle third of the season, Soccer America notes, “Fans of Philly will be concerned that their team’s record in the past 10 games is the same as that of conference bottom-feeder Chicago.”
Power Rankings! At MLSsoccer.com, the Union drop four spots to No. 10: “Philly’s midfield and backline have been at odds with each other for most of the last two months, and the gaps between the lines have been a profitable place for opponents to set up shop. They need to stay more connected and compact, and do a better job of tracking runners in the channels.”
US
The USWNT begins their campaign to become the first reigning Women’s World Cup champion to win Olympic Gold today when they face New Zealand in the opening of group play at the Rio Games — even though the game is in Belo Horizonte. (6 pm, NBCSN; you can watch live streams of every Olympic soccer game — men’s and women’s — at nbcolympics.com).
One of the things that I really looked into is why has a repeat never been done? Is it a change of personnel? Is it complacency? Is it timing? To make sure that doesn’t happen I had a lot of individual meetings … and that was one of the questions I posed to players: Are you as hungry? Do you feel as focused? The resounding response was ‘yes.’ These players want to make history.
Previews of today’s game at US Soccer, Pro Soccer Talk, Fox Soccer, USA Today,
Soccer America on why the USWNT will win gold at the Olympics. Fox Soccer on what could prevent the team from winning gold. SBI on how the team is embracing the pressure. More at New York Times and Yahoo Sports.
At the New Yorker: Is Mallory Pugh the next great American soccer star?
FourFourTwo looks back to the 2000 Games in Sydney, the only time the US did not finish with the gold medal (they won silver).
Eight US players make The Guardian’s list of the top 20 women players of all time: Mia Hamm (No. 2), Michelle Akers (No. 3), Abby Wambach (No. 6), Kristine Lilly (No. 11), Briana Scurry (No. 14), Carin Jennings-Gabarra (No. 15), Joy Fawcett (No. 16), and Hope Solo (No. 18).
The most popular leagues on US television? World Soccer Talk says No. 1 is Liga MX, followed by the Premier League and MLS.
City Islanders
The City Islanders conceded four goals in the second half to lose 5-0 at home to NYRB II on Tuesday night. With the win, New York is now in first place in the Eastern Conference. The 12th place City Islanders are back in action next Wednesday when they face second place Louisville on the road. Recaps at City Islanders, Philly Soccer News, USLsoccer.com, New York Red Bulls, SNY, Empire of Soccer, and Once a Metro.
Local
At the Reading United website, Sean Doyle reviews the team’s memorable 2016 season.
MLS
In CONCACAF Champions League play, Vancouver defeated Trinidad and Tobago’s Central FC 1-0 on the road. In Champions League play tonight, NYRB hosts Guatemalan side Antigua GFC at 8 pm, and Portland hosts El Salvadoran side CD Dragón at 10 pm. With no English language broadcast deal in place, Philly.com and MLSsoccer.com report Champions League games will be live streamed on CONCACAF’s Facebook page and the official CONCACAF Champions League Facebook page.
In league play, Toronto hosts Salt Lake tonight (7 pm, MLS Live).
Portland has signed 23-year-old Nigerian defender Gbenga Arokoyo: “The Timbers acquired the Discovery Priority on the defender from New York City FC in exchange for Targeted Allocation Money and a conditional third–round 2017 MLS SuperDraft pick.”
Portland has waived 2015 SuperDraft pick and defender Anthony Manning.
Atlanta has loaned midfielder Chris McCann to League One side Coventry City through December, 2016.
Dallas has signed 32-year-old Argentine center back Norberto Paparatto after acquiring the Right of First Refusal from Portland in exchange for Targeted Allocation Money. Paparatto played for Portland in 2014 and 2015 (making his MLS debut in the 1-1 draw with the Union on March 8, 2014) before joining Atlético Rafaela.
The Oregonian reports, “The Portland Timbers are in the process of examining the feasibility of a new stadium expansion plan that could add up to 3,500 seats to Providence Park.”
The Charlotte Observer on the MLS aspirations of USL-side Charlotte Independence.
Elsewhere
The AP reports, “Turkey’s soccer federation says it has sacked 94 members of the association, including a number of referees. The Turkish Football Federation said the action was taken as a ‘necessity’ without saying whether those dismissed were suspected of links to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey accuses of masterminding the country’s July 15 failed coup. The decision came days after the federation said all members of all of its committees had tendered their resignations to help the investigation into Gulen’s movement.”
Off topic question, but, has anyone here done the “U Camp Out” thing? If so, is it mostly families with children or more of a mix?
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I ask because my wife and I were thinking about doing it later this month to try out some of the new camping gear we just bought but I’m worried we will end up being the only couple there without any children, which would be pretty weird.
This is funny. I haven’t done it, but yeah, it might really be creepy if you don’t have kids. I’m eager to hear responses to this.
We do it every year.. It is mainly a family thing. Kids will play soccer till about 12:30. They show a movie on screen. Parents kind of just hang out. Its a pretty cool event.
Meh! Looks like I’ll be trying everything out in the backyard some weekend then.
Regarding Bedoya: Checking Reddit and Twitter, it appears Chicago has traded the top allocation spot to the Union for “a sack of MLS funny money”. Kinkead is saying the transfer is caught up in MLS paperwork and rules. Not sure if that’s a bad thing… or just where it’s at right now.
The interesting part of that is that we have a few guys whose salaries are paid down using TAM and GAM (Barnetta, Ilsinho, Pontius, for example). I’m curious how this plays against our cap space, and what it will mean for the off-season.
These league rules for Allocation, DPs, discovery lists, ect. are complete bullshit. I forgot to add to my post yesterday what total horseshit the $200million fee to buy into the league. This is a sports Ponzi scheme like no other. My question is, when these big spenders come in a la Blank in ATL, do they get a bigger vote on players moves? Do people realize how inorganic it is to buy in to a league? That this is an exclusive club of mega-rich owners that don’t want competition/risk for the investment, which isn’t the American way. Then you see teams like Chicago nickel and dime their way to obscurity. Not to mention the poor chide of putting stadiums in economically cheap poor areas to save cash while touting how they are helping the local economy (they aren’t). Every decision this league makes down through the franchises reeks of cheapness fostered on us with the crowds seen in KC, Seattle and Portland while the bad location stadiums like NYRB, Colombus, Philly, Chicago continue to have poor crowds (by the way- if Philly was in Philadelphia it would sell out and support 25K per game. How is that for lost revenue?) Wake up people.
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Also, if Chicago hijack the deal, I give up on MLS and will focus my time as a Euro-snob (the Land of the Free Clubs!)
+100. On all points. I think the stadium locations are a bigger deal than people realize, too. Imagine if the Union park was in University City or Nor. Liberties. Add 5 to 10 thousand cheaper seats and you’d sell em out every game day.
Why not make it 300 million buy in. I’d much rather have money spent on franchise fee then players
I agree with everything except for the fact that it is totally American. Why people pretend that the American way isn’t a group of exclusive rich guys keeping everyone else down mystifies me.
Looks official!
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http://www.fcnantes.com/articles/article2809.php?num=14575
Makes for an interesting press conference today…
Yes! We got a baller!
Why is anyone surprised that Liga MX is the most popular league in the US? The soccer-first families in this country are primarily Latino and Hispanic – key demographics that are virtually untapped. Part of that is the MLS ownership structure. It’s not enough to just show up with $200M, you need to jive with the rest of the ownership groups.
Now the question is, how much are the U paying and how much time does this guy miss for USMNT stuff.
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I’d hate to see them hamstrung with a bad contract (again).