Photo: Paul Rudderow
Philadelphia Union
Keegan Rosenberry has been named to MLSsoccer.com’s Team of the Week. Roland Alberg made the bench.
Rosenberry remains at No. 2 behind Jordan Morris in the latest Rookie Rankings at MLSsoccer.com. While Morris’ goal against Portland in Seattle’s 4-2 loss over the weekend is mentioned, Rosenberry’s game-winner against Columbus is not. (The Rookie Rankings post is simply updated rather than published each week as a new stand alone article so I’m unable to check to see if Rosenberry’s goal was factored into last week’s rankings.)
Rosenberry has been named SBI’s Rookie of the Week: “If not for Jordan Morris, Keegan Rosenberry would be the favorite to win the MLS Rookie of the Year award.” Yep.
The Union were named SBI’s Team of the Week: “The Philadelphia Union’s 2-0 win over Sporting Kansas City was the most underrated of the weekend. The hosts were absolutely rampant and could have won by at least four or five goals. Tranquillo Barnetta, Fabian Herbers and Roland Alberg were unstoppable at times in the final third. The defense was equally impressive, too, as Keegan Rosenberry and Josh Yaro were stalwarts at the back to lead the Union to their sixth clean sheet of 2016.”
Power rankings! At Soccer America, the Union move up three spots to No. 10: “A six point week is always a great thing, and this one also halted a barren streak of just one victory in eight games.” At ESPN, the Union move up three spots to No. 7: “Roland Alberg’s goal off the bench in the 2-0 win over Sporting Kansas City deserves plenty of praise, as does the Union’s attack in general. No team in MLS has scored more than Philadelphia in 2016 (47).” At SI, the Union move up two spots to No. 7: “The Union made some big strides with a 2-1 victory over Eastern rival Columbus Crew on Sunday and then a 2-0 win over Sporting Kansas City on Saturday. The wins saw encouraging contributions from the Union’s excellent rookie class (Fabian Herbers and Keegan Rosenberry scored on Wednesday), as well as the team’s key foreign signings (Roland Alberg and Tranquillo Barnetta scored on Saturday).”
Andre Blake makes MLSsoccer.com’s Fantasy Team of the Week.
A week in review post at World Soccer Talk says the Union are back on track, adding, “This is as exciting a time to be a Union fan as there ever has been. This is a good young team with solid young management. It’s a franchise trending up as much as any in MLS.”
MLSsoccer.com has a video review the cards that went against Kansas City last Saturday and concludes they were soft (Union-KC review starts at 5:36). More on Saturday’s win over Kansas City at The Blue Testament.
At the Union website, a look at how last weekend’s Eastern Conference games played out.
Section 215 has some head-scratching lineup suggestions for Saturday’s road game against Chicago.
Bethlehem Steel
Ninth place City Islanders (26 points, 7-14-5) hosts tenth place Bethlehem (26 points, 6-11-8) tonight at 7 pm in Harrisburg. The City Islanders won the team’s two previous meetings. The game marks the end of a four-game road swing for Bethlehem. Previews at Bethlehem Steel, City Islanders, USLsoccer.com, and Brotherly Game.
Local
The Philly Soccer Six weekly awards have been announced:
Player of the Week: Joonas Jokinen, Temple (2 goals in 2 wins including GWG over St. Joe’s)
Defensive Player of the Week: Mike Kirk, La Salle (4 saves including PK in 1-0 win over Loyola)
Rookie of the Week: Daniel Klemm, Drexel (team save in first half, game-saving blocked shot in 2OT in 0-0 draw at St. John’s)
Klemm was also named the Colonial Athletic Association’s Rookie of the Week. Temple’s Alex Cagle has been named the American Athletic Conference Goalkeeper of the Week.
West Chester United has been named the winner of the 2016 Rocco Amoroso Award for Fair Play by USASA Region I.
MLS
Toronto has announced Sebastian Giovinco has been diagnosed with “strains in his quadriceps and adductor” and is expected to be out of the team for four weeks. Additionally, midfielder Jay Chapman will be out three weeks as he recovers from an MCL tear, and defender Ashtone Morgan will be out six to eight weeks after undergoing this Friday for a stress fracture in his foot.
LA Galaxy are reportedly in discussions with Galatasaray to transfer Nigel de Jong. A source tells ESPN it is “quite likely” the deal will be completed before the close of the European transfer window on Thursday. More at Goal.com.
In other Galaxy news, Goal.com reports Gyasi Zardes suffered a broken right foot in last weekend’s scoreless draw with Vancouver, “an injury that could force him to miss the rest of the MLS regular season, if not the rest of the year.” Zardes entered the game in the 31st minute to replace an injured Steven Gerrard. Additionally, Jelle van Damme tweeted on Monday he will be out two-three weeks with a MCL sprain.
San Jose has fired general manager John Doyle, who has been in the position since 2007 when the team returned to MLS after a two-year hiatus. Prior to that, Doyle was with the club as a player, assistant coach, and television color analyst. “Technical director Chris Leitch has been named interim general manager, while head coach Dominic Kinnear and the coaching staff will continue in their roles.”
San Jose president Dave Kaval said in a teleconference with reporters, “We fell we need a fresh approach on the technical side because the performance really wasn’t where it needed to be…We don’t want to be a team that just trolls along the red line. Our style of play got kind of boring. We want to create a team that is more competitive, more exciting to watch, and we feel that a new approach was necessary to achieve that. We expect more, and this action shows that.” San Jose, who lost 2-0 on the road to Columbus last weekend, is currently seventh place in the Western Conference, three points behind sixth place Portland.
New England have waived defender Samba, who was on loan from club partner Sporting Clube de Portugal.
The Washington Post on how MLS continues to hurt itself by now halting play during international windows.
USL-side Oklahoma City Energy have MLS aspirations.
US
Sacha Kljestan has been added to the USMNT roster for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers, replacing John Brooks. It’s his first call up since 2014.
Jurgen Klinsmann is hopeful Clint Dempsey will be available soon for selection after being diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat. In the meanwhile, looking ahead to the World Cup qualifiers on Friday and next Tuesday, Klinsmann said, “We have a lot of attacking options for these two games.”
US Soccer Players looks ahead to the USMNT’s schedule over the next 14 months (assuming the team advances to the final round of World Cup qualifiers).
Elsewhere
Reuters reports, “Frank McCourt, the former owner of U.S. baseball team the L.A. Dodgers, said on Monday he had entered exclusive negotiations to buy French Ligue 1 soccer club Olympique de Marseille (OM), vowing to restore the team to its former glory.” More from the AP.
The Guardian on the psychological toll on a player of being “frozen out” by a team.
If your faith in humanity needs some restoring, watch this:
https://twitter.com/FootballMundiaI/status/770185919739617280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Jordan is the leagues poster boy… for all who think Keegan stands a chance at ROY- not going to happen- really though does that matter- at all.
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A resounding no.
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For my part im fully unimpressed with Jordan Morris’ game. Would I take him, sure…
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The Barca boys video is blowing up Twitter. As it should.
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…On my knees like that Montreal Tifo? Leave that for the league.
But Pac, Jordan Morris is strong, and so fast, and you can “send him”!
It’s annoying that the fact the league is pushing him so much (Rosenberry and Harrison have been better for my money), that it is causing us to not like a good young American player. But it is what it is I suppose.
reminds me of Ghost with the Flyers this past season. same defensive role with offensive scoring power. didn’t stand a chance but we as a city are lucky to have them both
I can’t wait to watch the Sounders miss the playoffs, while the Union make them. AND THEN watch the league try to rationalize that Morris’ contributions to his club were/are greater than KR’s. I see Garber and the boys crafting the narrative now…
My thoughts exactly…
Sorry fellas but JoMo and the Sounders are gonna qualify for the playoffs, the other teams fighting for that playoff spot are just too bad. What can ya do. He’s been solid, but yea comparatively Rosenberry has definitely been better
btw…seems I got my spacing off with the last comment above… meant that to follow the “would I take him, sure…”
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The barca video stands alone as it should.
Well done, Barca! Sportsmanship starts early.
agreed …… from my POV that is leadership in the video.
Team of the Week is a joke. Tim Howard played 1 game, gave up 2 goals and LOST. Steve Clark on the bench got a shutout, so is closer, but also lost a game. Who did he lose to? Andre Blake. Blake won 2 games, got credited with 1 shutout, and probably should have received credit for 2.
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I guess the league is trying to convince Jurgen to play Howard over Guzan on Friday.
Maybe, but Howard did make some great saves and kept that game close. He should start over Guzan as he’s been in better form lately.
that one save… so nice.
Its all one big gimmick with a bunch of little spoke gimmick offshoots.
Well I mean MLSsoccer.com is essentially the 1 and only national marketing arm for the league. So its just basically borderline league propaganda.
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Thankful that we have PSP and a few other outlets to provide the occasional contrasting point of view.
+1. While I enjoy Mlssoccer.com’s in league commentary the bias really shows when it comes time to talk about the National Team. MLS players are always inflated.
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That being said, their coverage is normally very tactically focused and game oriented vs. coverage of other sports by Fox and ESPN who often seem more like celebrity gossip channels.
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PSP obviously on a whole other level though.
The only person exhaling louder than me on that Gio news is Tribbett.
hahahaha
Not really, 4 weeks could easily mean he is back on September 24.
I have a feeling he wouldn’t have been in the lineup anyway. He still has nightmares from the last matchup to get over.
You know the team has been good when Blake is not in the running for Save of the Week.