Photo: Earl Gardner
Philadelphia Union
A training notes post at the Union website says of Tuesday’s training session, “Brian Carroll and Ilsinho looked strong on their feet but playing time is still undetermined for this weekend.” Perhaps Jim Curtin will have more info in today’s weekly press conference (12:30 pm, Facebook).
At Goal.com, Ives Galarcep details Sporting Kansas City’s efforts to deny the Union’s homegrown claim on Keegan Rosenberry before the 2016 SuperDraft. Interesting stuff.
In MLSsoccer.com’s power rankings, the Union move up one spot to No. 7: “The Union have won three of four with Alejandro Bedoya in the starting lineup. Can they go to Chicago and win a trap game without him?”
Looking ahead to Saturday’s road game in Chicago, a post at the Fire website reports on Veljko Paunovic’s hopes to restore confidence in his squad after their 6-2 thumping in DC.
At FourFourTwo, a top ten list of the best playmakers in MLS. Tranquillo Barnetta gets an honorable mention from the FourFourTwo staff but, as of this writing, has been up-voted by readers to No. 10..
At the Union website, Derrick Jones and Auston Trusty talk about how things have gone since signing with the first team. Both players train with the first team while continuing to get regular minutes with Bethlehem Steel. Says Bethlehem head coach Brendan Burke, “I’ve noticed huge improvements for both; Jonesy especially as he’s been with them a bit longer. He’s been a lot more assertive and more physical. Overall it’s been great for both.”
At the Union website, the latest edition of the weekly “By the Numbers” post.
Also at the Union website, an email is reprinted from Sons of Ben tifo director Ryan Bross describing how last Saturday’s Game of Thones-inspired tifo featuring Earnie Stewart sitting on the throne of swords came into being.
A poll at Philly.com on “the best Philadelphia sports venue, past or present” does not include Talen Energy Stadium (On the list: Citizen’s Bank Park, The Linc, Veterans Stadium, The Spectrum, Wells Fargo Center, and The Palestra. A h/t to Steve K. for letting me know about the poll.)
Former Union man Amobi Okugo has launched a website called Frugal Athlete: “I started Frugal Athlete for the simple fact that I felt that aspiring athletes, fans and individuals alike never really knew the financial decisions athletes go through within their career. It is different looking at a situation from the outside and not knowing why this athlete or that athlete chose to make certain decisions that we may not agree with or understand.”
Bethlehem Steel FC
On the road to face the City Islanders in Harrisburg on Tuesday, Bethlehem Steel came from behind with a goal from Erick Ayuk in first half stoppage time after the home side took the 1-0 lead in the 43rd minute. Bethlehem then made it 2-1 with a goal from James Chambers in the 49th minute before Craig Foster, who had scored the opening goal, tallied again in the 81st minute for the 2-2 draw.
Maurice Edu did not feature for Bethlehem in the game.
Bethlehem is now winless in its last eight games with a 0-5-3 record over that stretch, while City Islanders are now undefeated over the past four games with a win and three draws. Recaps at Bethlehem Steel, City Islanders, USLsoccer.com, and Philly Soccer News (Bethlehem, City Islanders).
Goal.com notes the City Islanders wore jerseys with an image of R2D2 on them as part of a Star Wars promotion for the game.
Bethlehem hosts Eastern Conference leaders NYRB II on Sunday at 3 pm. City Islanders are off until Sept. 7 when they travel to face NYRB II.
Local
Danny Barbir (West Bromwich Albion; Allentown, Pa.) is among those named to the 20-player US U-20 MNT roster for the Stevan-Vilotic Cele tournament in Serbia, Sept. 1-5.
An 88th minute penalty kick from Matt Robinson saw La Salle’s men’s team defeat Drexel 1–0 on Tuesday.
MLS
LA Galaxy has announced Gyasi Zardes will miss the rest of the season with “a broken fifth metatarsal in his right foot.” Steven Gerrard will miss two weeks with a hamstring injury.
Bruce Arena has confirmed Nigel de Jong is in talks to finalize a move to Galatasaray: “Nigel is pursuing an opportunity, with our blessing.”
SI reports Chicago Fire are interested in signing Bastian Schweinsteiger. With the transfer window closed, if the fire do land the 32-year-old midfielder he could not join the team until January.
Displeased with the lack of communication with majority ownership group Rayo Vallecano, and having been told the team’s field was being sold, minority owner Sean Jones of NASL-side Rayo OKC ordered the removal of 40 of the 92 temporary artificial turf pallets that cover the field for the team’s home games at Yukon High School’s Miller Field. The Oklahoman reports,”The club initially filed a report last Wednesday with the Yukon Police Department regarding the missing turf pallets before learning Jones’ was responsible. The club said that it is no longer pursuing an investigation now that they know Jones has the turf.” The club said in a statement, “We still don’t know Mr. Jones’ intention for the turf or its whereabouts. There is no resolution in preparation for our home match on Sept. 11 (vs. Jacksonville Armada).”
US
At ESPN, “Reasons for hope, reasons for worry for U.S. in World Cup qualifying.” More on the upcoming round of qualifiers at SI.
Sacha Kljestan on getting his first USMNT call up in two years: “To be honest, I thought someone might have been pranking me. I got a text message from an Orange County phone number where I grew up and my brother lives. I thought maybe one of my friends was pulling my leg. Then [USMNT head coach Jurgen Klinsmann] called me, and then a few minutes later we spoke on the phone.” More on Kljestan’s return at ESPN.
SI reports there is a “50-50 chance” Christian Pulisic could be loaned or sold by Dortmund before the transfer deadline next week.
Jurgen Klinsmann says he was never contacted by the FA about taking the England manager job: “My message since I took over this role, since five years ago, to all of them — if it’s clubs or countries — is, ‘I’m very, very privileged to have this role, and I feel very honored, and I will respect my contract which goes until Russia [at the 2018 World Cup] and then we will see.'”
US Soccer has announced two USWNT friendlies in October against Switzerland, in Sandy, Utah on Wednesday, Oct. 19 (10 pm, ESPN2) and in Minneapolis on Sunday, Oct. 23 (1:45 pm, FS1).
Hope Solo has announced she will not rejoin Seattle Reign this season:
Coming to terms with the fact I was fired from the U.S. women’s national team after 17 years of service has been devastating. After careful consideration, I have decided to end my season with the Seattle Reign, an organization I love playing for.
Mentally, I am not there yet. After watching the team’s win against Portland this weekend and seeing Haley Kopmeyer playing so well in goal, I truly believe this decision is what’s best for me and for the Reign organization.
More at Seattle Times, ESPN, and The Guardian.
Elsewhere
From ESPN: “Premier League clubs have now spent more than £1 billion on transfers in the summer window.” The window closes today at 11 pm UK time.
Hmmm. Hopefully Edu is out there this weekend then.
Marco?
….. Polo.
Geico
Give it up Edu this season is a lost cause we should all be talking about who we can pull one over on to give up Edu and what we can get in return.
I agree that we aren’t likely to see Edu this season, unless maybe the playoffs. But even then, I think introducing him back in after a long injury layoff may upset the team’s balance, a la Eric Lindros in the Flyers Stanley Cup finals.
Scott Stevens.
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Broke my heart.
Ugh. To think what Lindros could have been.
and Eric’s cerebral cortex.
while I have to grit my teeth to offer service to those following the baby energy drinks, loyalty to those who still follow the City Islanders demands that I offer assistance.
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I watched the game’s live stream until it died.
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during that time the announcers explained clearly that the game originally scheduled to be played in NJ as a home game for NYRB2 could not be played there for whatever reason.
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So, the game will be played at Millersville University at 4:00 PM on Wednesday, September 7th.
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The announcers drew no conclusions from the following fact overtly, but the did mention it. The Harrisburg assistant coach is the head coach at Millersville, and they report it is an excellent pitch.
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Millersville is of course part of the greater Lancaster area.
From PennLive…
“City will play their next two matches against New York Red Bulls II and Wilmington Hammerheads FC at Millersburg (sic) University on September 7th and 17th respectively.”
The match on the 17th was relocated from Clipper Magazine Stadium.
I went to the City Islanders games against BSFC and TFCII at Clipper. It’s not a terrible setup, certainly at least as good as NYCFC for size. Attendance wasn’t crazy I think the BSFC game was around 1400 (paid) but rain kept actual bodies to a minimum.
I wonder what the relocation to MU is all about.
Union trivia question: I believe Saturday was the second time in Union history where the team was involved in an 11 on 9 situation. The first time was the other way, the Union were the team with 9. The question is who was the game against, which players were ejected, and what was the final result?
Seattle, first game in History. Players were the finnish kid from UConn and the left back, Mears? Result was a loss.
Nope, Union only had Tony Stahl get a red card in that one.
Win in the Open Cup? Was that win they rolled out a false 9 with Maidana? Can’t remember if that was 9 or 10 men.
I think it was at Chivas, at least one Farfan got tossed, and the Union got a result (can’t remember win or draw).
April 21, 2012 vs Chivas. Garfan and Daniel each got ejected, and actually Nowak got ejected too. Amazingly they won, I think it was a goal late in the 1st half, ejections were in the final 20 minutes.
And Freddy Adu scored the goal.
Bingo. It was Keon then Garfan (and Nowak) but they were able to win 0-1 on the Adu back heel goal from Marfan.
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Also the last win for the Union with Nowak as head coach.
https://twitter.com/Kevin_Kinkead/status/770728021988896769
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So, Kevin is dropping clues, and hinting that it will be Edu playing this weekend. For which team is still TBD…
He is the working definition of Twitter Tease.
To me that sounds like Brian Carroll will be back (Player related) and Edu is being shut down for the season (off-field).
Edu being shut down could be the player related one, but that’s not a off-field one. That’s going to be something with a business end or academy or something like that.
The follow-up tweet:
https://twitter.com/Kevin_Kinkead/status/770730670574432256
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(Other user response): “I’m guessing Mo Edu to play Sunday would be the player related one”
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(Kevin’s response to that): “I think so, yea. I’m way out of the loop but same source gave me the Le Toux trade information.”
Also, since no one has said it yet. F KC and F MLS for not giving us Rosenberry as a homegrown. That situation is complete bull. The fact that Atlanta already has a homegrown player but Rosenberry didn’t count for us because he wanted to finish collage is insane.
Yeah, I think there wasn’t any mention of it because we already all agree that MLS’ rules are ridiculous and tend to randomly screw the non-favorite teams.
MLS gonna MLS.
Bingo. As much as I want to I can’t blame KC for operating within the league rules. I can be pissed about how twisted the MLS rule book is however!
Speculation that maybe the hiring of Tommy Smyth as color commentator is the off-field move. I quite liked Smyth’s commentary during the Columbus match (I didn’t see the KC match). But apparently he has a considerable following of haters…
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2009/apr/15/tommy-smyth-us-soccer-espn
Operation Onion Bag. Now that’s funny…
“his accent has gotten stronger to such an extent that he’s now 94% angry leprechaun”
“Beelzebub’s handmaid”, a “pathetic and insulting blight”, a “garbage commentator”, a “ridiculous clown” and “the biggest tit on the air” who talks “incessant drivel” and “utters inanity after absurdity after stupidity”.
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ouch.
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my only problem is a lack of [even recently retired] youth or, god forbid, progressive casting of a woman in the announcer’s booth. JP has old white guy covered. you’re telling me no one else is a worthy candidate to cover any diversity?
I hereby repeat my plea for Heather Mitts
Hope Solo is looking for a job these days…
we’re done with criminal ex-goalkeepers
Ha!
Pow! Nice one.
Seconded.
My daughter decided he sounded like a leprechaun (though not necessarily an angry one) after watching the Columbus match.
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And I’ll second Heather Mitts.
could end up being their “Lucky Charm”.
Tommy seemed a bit less annoying during the Columbus match, compared to what I remember of him from his time with ESPN. It could be contextual. I liked Taylor Twellman’s Chester work, but now that he’s on the national scene, I cannot stand him and hit the mute button.
Sporting KC is my least favorite team in the league
I used to feel that way, but now it’s Chicago Fire. Once I get over that by Sunday, it will be Montreal Impact…
…. no question- LAG.
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I’m philly through and through aggrieved by what others have.
I’m more annoyed by Toronto (historically crappy) and NYCFC (new) who get rules made for them. At least LA was MLS for a while there. And we just don’t play them enough.