Daily news roundups

Blake wins Save of the Week, Union hosting GA Cup qualifiers this weekend, USA-Cuba, more

Photo: Earl Gardner

Philadelphia Union

Andre Blake has won the vote for Save of the Week with a commanding 69 percent of the vote. MLSsoccer.com has a highlight reel of Blake’s saves with the Union.

Also at MLSsoccer.com, another video features Chris Pontius talking about some of what is behind his success in MLS.

At Philly Voice, Kevin Kinkead has a transcript of new signing Kevin Kratz’s discussion with reporters at Wednesday’s training session. More at Philadelphia Union.

Philly Soccer News has quotes from Jim Curtin after Wednesday’s training session.

Metro seems to think the Orlando game is this Sunday rather than Sunday, Oct. 16.

Former Union man Steven Vitoria scored in Canada’s 4-0 win over Mauritania in a friendly played in Marrakech, Morocco. He got a six in the player ratings at MLSsoccer.com.

Philadelphia Union Academy

The Union Academy is hosting the Generation adidas Cup East Regional qualifiers at the Power Training Complex beginning today through Monday. Here’s the schedule for the Union U-17s:

Friday, Oct. 7 vs. Atlanta United FC at 2pm
Saturday, Oct. 8 vs. New England Revolution at 4pm
Monday, Oct. 10 vs. NYCFC at 4pm

At the Union website and Brotherly Game, previews of the weekend’s games.

All of the Union Academy teams save one are off this weekend from US Soccer Development Academy play. The U-12s host Cedar Stars Academy-Bergen at YSC with two games at 11:30 am.

Local

Only one home game this weekend in Philly Soccer Six play when Penn hosts Colombia on Saturday at 7:30 pm. Villanova is on the road on Saturday to face Providence, La Salle travels to face Rhode Island, Saint Joseph’s is away to George Mason, and Temple is on the road to play SMU. Drexel was scheduled to travel to face College of Charleston on Saturday but the game has been postponed due to Hurricane Matthew.

At Philly.com, Jonathan Tannenwald reports on Abby Wambach’s appearance on Thursday at the Pennsylvania Conference for Women.

MLS

The Denver Post on the importance of former Union man Sebastien Le Toux in Colorado’s quest for the Supporters’ Shield.

Atlanta has signed 16-year-old midfielder Chris Goslin as a Homegrown Player.

DaMarcus Beasley says he’s unlikely to re-sign with Houston when his contract is up at the end of the year.

Soccer America previews this weekend’s USL conference semifinal games.

Indianapolis Star reviews recent concerns about the future of the NASL. Indianapolis Business Journal looks at how declining attendance for Indy Eleven — which led the NASL in attendance in its first two seasons — has harmed the team’s hopes to build a new downtown stadium.

NWSL

Washington Spirit faces Western New York Flash in the NWSL championship game on Sunday (5 pm, FS1).

At Excelle Sports, league commissioner Jeff Plush discusses the state of the league.

US

The USMNT faces Cuba in a friendly in Havana today (4 pm, ESPN2, Watch ESPN, UniMás, UDN). Previews at PSP, US Soccer, Miami HeraldMLSsoccer.com, ESPNASNGoal.comSBI, and Pro Soccer Talk.

As of Thursday, Cuba had not released a roster for today’s game. MLSsoccer.com has some perspective on what to expect.

Soccer America wonders, “If Danny Williams and/or Perry Kitchen perform well in the upcoming friendlies against Cuba and New Zealand, does that significantly alter the thoughts of U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has he makes his plans for the Hexagonal?”

SI on how the Cuba and New Zealand friendlies are an opportunity for the next generation of US goalkeepers to stake a claim. More on that next generation at Fox Soccer.

The U-20 MNT faces Netherlands today at the Four Nations tournament in England. You will recall that the Union’s Auston Trusty and Derrick Jones are both with the team, although neither appeared in the 1-0 loss to Germany in the team’s first game in the tournament on Wednesday.

Jill Ellis has named her 24-player roster for the friendlies against Switzerland on Oct. 19 in Sandy, Utah (8 pm, ESPN2) and Oct. 23 in Minneapolis (2:45 pm, FS1). Eleven players on the roster have never earned a cap with the USWNT. Ellis said, “Right now, we are in a phase where we want to try to expand the player pool, look at a number of players and start the long process to qualifying for the next World Cup. That means several of our more experienced players won’t be in for this camp while we get to evaluate some different personnel.” More on the roster at Soccer America.

Among those not on the roster is Megan Rapinoe who, in a post at The Players Tribune published before the roster announcement, says she will continue to kneel during the national anthem.

The US plays Japan in their final group game at the U-17 Women’s World Cup on Saturday (12 pm: FS2, Fox Soccer 2Go, Fox Sports Go, NBC Universo, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo). After losing 2-1 to Ghana on Tuesday, it’s a must-win game for the US.

At Philly.com, Jonathan Tannenwald notes the letter sent by members of the US Senate’s Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions to SUM Marketing asking for information to help “better understand how commercial and revenue agreements may help explain wage disparity between the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team and the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team.” UCLA law professor Steven Bank is quoted in the article, “Congress historically has liked formal investigations of sports, even if at the end of the day Congress has a track record of doing very little. It gives them the opportunity to hobnob with people that they find interesting.”

Elsewhere

Reuters reports the former Costa Rican soccer federation president, Eduardo Li, “was arrested last year in a U.S. corruption probe involving the sport’s global governing body FIFA, is expected to plead guilty on Friday, according to court records.” The report notes of the 42 individuals and entities charged in the US investigation, 16 people and two sports marketing companies have pleaded guilty so far.

The AFP reports, “FIFA president Gianni Infantino vowed on Thursday that the 2026 World Cup bidding process will be free of the controversy that surrounded the selection of Russia as 2018 hosts and Qatar in 2022.” The report notes, “Infantino was responding to a recent claim by US President Barack Obama that decisions on who hosts the Olympics and World Cups are corrupt.”

Check out the latest Footy on the Telly for listings of live soccer on TV, online, and on satellite radio.

17 Comments

  1. I still don’t understand how Atlanta can sign homegrown players and we weren’t allowed to sign Rosenberry.

    • My understanding was that he played over the summer for a PDL team in the kc area once, and then SKC filed a claim challenging his homegrown status for the union. Which was apparently more than enough to cancel out the years of work he put in here.

      • And my understanding of that was that Peter Vermes filed the claim because he’s still sore about the “give us your keys” chant.

      • I think it was also affected by Rosenberry taking a summer class at Georgetown instead of playing in the PDL for Reading last (2015) summer.

      • Old Soccer Coach says:

        that’s my memory, as well.

    • OneManWolfpack says:

      So all MLS bullshit then… thanks, got it

  2. I think the look on Grella’s face won Blake the Save Of The Week award.

  3. I think Blake just won Save of the Week for a save that wasn’t even his best of the match!

  4. Penn is hosting Colombia on Saturday? Colombia has a WC qualification match on Tuesday against Uruguay, so maybe they will rest their starters and Penn will be able to steal a point.

  5. OneManWolfpack says:

    Nothing on Blake’s apparent impending departure to Europe in the offseason?

  6. Really hoping NASL can piece this together. The Indy articles suggested that the league could swap with USL and become the 3rd division which would lower entry fees (as well as population requirements) making it easier to replace teams that have departed for greener pastures. Would hate to lose the league, or at the very least the franchises that are worth something.
    .
    All that being said, US soccer needs to re-evaluate the state of the lower division leagues. Too many teams are simply using the lower leagues as a chance to get a seat at the MLS table. If and when some start to fold, the long term viability of NASL and USL can and will be questioned.

  7. Andre Blake has won the vote for Save of the Week
    .
    Mike Grella voted 1000 times

  8. General Franco is stiil dead and Maurice Edu is still . . . .

    • Dude, everyone knows that Maurice Edu’s aren’t real. They are like Bigfoot and Unicorns. You need to focus on grown-up things and stop looking for imaginary creatures.

  9. And Joe Bendick has won like half of this season’s saves of the week???? Really???

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