Photo: Earl Gardner
Philadelphia Union
Here’s a preview of tonight’s game with the Montreal Impact, including How to watch.
Haris Medunjanin had a conference call with the media. His career and pairing with Bedoya were among some of the topics discussed. A full transcript is avaialable at PhillyVoice.
The Union’s television schedule was released. Of the team’s 34 games this season, 20 will be broadcast on TCN while five of them will be on national TV.
Want to know how to pronounce “Medunjanin”, “Wijnaldum”, “Picault”, and the rest of the new guys? Listen no further.
Twitter and Instagram accounts for all the Union players.
Jacob Born finishes his profile series with a look at the keepers.
MLS
Minnesota United signed Swiss fullback Jerome Thiesson.
Antoine Hoppenot scored his first goal for Reno 1868 FC in a 1-1 draw with the San Jose Earthquakes.
Graham Parker provides breakdown of the biggest moves of the MLS offseason.
FourFourTwo released a massive 2017 MLS Preview:
Scott French classified the Union a contender: “Earnie Stewart has done a nice job building a deep, talented side in Philly, and if Dutch-bred Bosnian controlling midfielder Haris Medunjanin is everything the Union expect – and Maurice Edu comes back strongly – these guys could do something real this year. Bonus points if Oguchi Onyewu makes an impact.”
Paul Tenorio named Andre Blake the most important player on the Union roster and Jay Simpson one of MLS’s 10 most intriguing signings: “The Union built a solid core over the past two seasons, but the lack of depth was on display as the team faded near the end of the season. That fade was amplified when the goals dried up, and it highlighted how dependent the Union were on one player to produce goals. It needed some reinforcements, and Simpson is an interesting choice. The 29-year-old has spent the past couple seasons in League One and League Two with Leyton Orient, and he netted 25 times last year. It’s a fantastic rate, but the question is whether goals in League Two – England’s fourth tier – will translate to goals in MLS.”
Nathan Nipper debunks the FC Dallas “Homegrown reputation”. FC Dallas is brought up often around these parts, so this is an interesting counterpoint to that narrative. A key point: “However, the soccer media’s broken-record rehashing of the homegrown narrative skips the fact that last season – the most successful in FCD’s history – only one homegrown player consistently featured in its starting lineup (Kellyn Acosta).”
Around the globe
The USMNT U-20s beat Haiti 4-1 on the strength of a hat trick by RSL’s Brooks Lennon. They’ll advance with a win or draw vs. St. Kitts & Nevis on Friday.
14 goals were scored in yesterday’s two Champions League matches, as Manchester City beat Monaco 5-3 and Atletico Madrid beat Bayer Leverkusen 4-2.
All good fun goes punished: Non-League Sutton United backup GK Wayne Shaw is now embroiled in a gambling scandal after eating a pie on the sideline. He has resigned his position as a result.
And in sad news, racism is alive and well in Serbia, where Brazilian Everton Luiz was subject to racial abuse by players and fans. Good thing that the (disbanded) anti-racism task force is hard at work.
Highlight of the day
Falcao’s beautiful chip to take the lead over Manchester City.
While lovely by Monaco’s RF…
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IMO the highlight of the day yesterday ~~ was Bernardo Silva’s otherworldly display of control, aggression, strength, agility and balance while fending off multiple defenders at top speed with zero room- playing on his edge – remaining completely calm, then ‘megging the final closing defender so as to find the nano second he needed to get his head up, orient himself and thread a dead on the run perfectly weighted pinpoint pass just behind John Stones to a fully mobile Falcao surrounded by three defenders.
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Chip shot Beautiful….yes – but mortal. Bernardo Silvia was ethereal.
I assume you’re talking about this (for those who did not see it): https://streamable.com/z8elk
Wow that was incredible. The pass was siiiiick. Thanks for the link.
Awesome AS. Thanks man.
That’s why it’s called the beautiful game. That pass…. there’s nothing like that kind of genius in any other sport.
Sublime.
Agreed. Monaco is a fun team to watch. Shame that the weakest part of their team (central defense) came back to bite them.
Sounds like Man United secured an option on Bernardo Silva. In a way, I hate to see a player like him go to the Prem as he really should be playing in Spain, Italy or Germany, but $$$ talks.
Tickets for the Gold Cup went on sale 40mins ago.
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http://www.philadelphiaunion.com/post/2017/02/22/tickets-2017-concacaf-gold-cup-sale-now
Interesting article on FC Dallas and their homegrown players. Will be interesting to see how many of their currently 9 homegrowns make a real impact on the first team. I wish them nothing but success so other MLS teams will copy their model. Hopefully the Union stay on the path of slowly building a team via the academy and homegrown players.
Random question…is there a PSP Fantasy League on the MLS site?
No.
Shortest answer I’ve ever seen on this site! :p
How about a Mo Edu update?
I have no basis on this but my update would be until you see him play with the first team in games time and again don’t expect to see him. But of course this is just me. I wouldn’t put much stock in what they say in random blurbs here and there.
Last I heard was that he still wasn’t practicing with the first team, he was doing rehab exercises off to the side with other coaches. If I hear anything different, it’ll be posted.
Curtin on Jan 25th:
“I hate putting timelines on it, but he’s progressing well. He’s able to walk, able to resume running. The current date, we’ll just call it the beginning of February, for beginning to run. So it’s close. Not too far off. He’s been progressing well. All things are positive. But at the same time, we have to be smart with how we manage it.”
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So if that estimate held true, Edu could have been running and working on fitness for anywhere from 1-3 weeks now. I would guess he is being held out of contact drills until they see how his body responds.
You mean Mr. Glass?
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I don’t mean that really. Well … maybe a bit- but hardly, sorta like a dig but just busting balls. Kinda like I see really good things for this team with a healthy DP type frustration of almost 18 months since last seeing him with that otherworldly glide type thing and Amobi’s been healthy all along and we all know I’m trying to mend from that and speaking of mending….mending the bottom of buckets and mending the wall and mending the fences and mending relationships and mending parenchyma…Hey Mo am I a loose cannon?
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Dude has had 2 injuries, one was a feak one. He’s not glass just unlucky. Glass is Yaro, dude gets hurt all the time. Although we could have said the same about Blake and Pontius not too long ago.
+1.
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And Amobi has not been healthy all along, and that’s part of why he’s had problems since leaving the Union.
Just being sardonic and stirring shit up. I feel for the guy. Hope he mends.
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Always arguing on behalf and advocating for my f@&cK#d over dearly departed though.