Daily news roundups

News roundup: Garber tours Philly, USWNT fall, Jones praised, more

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Philadelphia Union

Matthew DeGeorge praised Derrick Jones and the Union’s ability to grind out a draw on the road. Dave Zeitlin came to the same conclusion in his recap.

Don Garber enjoyed his day in Philadelphia. He was very complimentary of the Union’s Academy. More from the Don’s visit at the Daily Times.

Mark Geiger is set to ref this weekend’s game. But I’m sure the game will be handled with no controversy whatsoever.

Get to know Toronto FC.

MLS

MLS released full rosters, complete with roster status and player category (international, DP, etc.).

The MLS anonymous player survey was released.

The Union fell 4 spots to 16th in MLSSoccer’s Power Rankings: “The Union didn’t generate much of anything at all going forward, but they’ll take a point on the road every single time. Youngster Derrick Jones was solid, and veteran Oguchi Onyewu showed off that old man strength a couple of times as well.”

Derrick Jones was also among 5 young players recognized for their play the first weekend at SBI.

Will Parchman analyzes what Orlando City will do without Kaka.

Atlanta United’s fan chants have been coming under scrutiny. This weekend featured them chanting some…inappropriate Spanish.

Around the globe

The USWNT lost 3-0 against France in the SheBelieves Cup. Eugenie Le Sommer made easy work of the USWNT CBs.

The Gold Cup groups have been drawn. Lincoln Financial Field will host two Quarterfinal matchups on July 19th.

DeAndre Yedlin has picked up a minor knock, putting in doubt his status for the upcoming World Cup Qualifier this month against Honduras.

Arsenal lost 5-1 to Bayern Munich in the Champions League. Again. 10-2 over two legs. Ugly. Real Madrid also finished off Napoli.

Highlight of the day

As a goalie, this save from non-league English play just blows my mind.

Reminder: PhillySoccerPage is here. PhillySoccerPage thanks you!

30 Comments

  1. pragmatist says:

    The ESPN survey is always interesting. I like comparing the two DP questions: Which DP do you want to see in MLS, and do you like the DP rule. They seem very excited to see Ibra (realistically) or Messi/Ronaldo (less realistic) but past that the players don’t seem very big fans of the entire DP structure.
    .
    Hopefully, by about MLS 5.0, the DP will be a thing of the past and tucked away under “necessary growing pains.”

    • Don’t know why but I really hate the talk of “who would we like to bring to the league,” and the discussions of Zlatan and Messi and Ronaldo. It makes US soccer sound like 9-year-olds picking who they want to be in a pickup game of imaginary World Cup. Or putting an Ultimate FIFA 17 team together. That’s probably not reasonable of me, but ugh. Enough already.

      • pragmatist says:

        I agree. Unfortunately, that’s where we are. A vast majority of our league couldn’t get minutes on any team in a top league in Europe. Being that we are down in the pecking order, they are dreaming of playing with the big boys.
        .
        Like I said, hopefully by 5.0 that will be a thing of the past and players will be choosing us over teams in the top leagues. Obviously it’s unlikely they’ll pick MLS over teams like Barca, Chelsea, or Bayern. But they could start picking MLS over teams like Malaga, Southampton, or Bremen. When that happens, we can stop asking that question.

    • What I found most interesting was that 5% think Bedoya is over-rated. So far I tend to agree.

      • That 5% number is a misread of what the survey question was asking. It I think asked who was most over rated

      • I concur. Seems like he’s solid in a lot of areas, but isn’t great at anything. Maybe that works for central midfielders in MLS, but I think we are in trouble if we are counting on him to create scoring opportunities or any real type of excitement. For my money, I’d rather watch “no defense” Alberg (as I saw him named yesterday) “try stuff” than Ale run around a lot. The fact that Bedoya was even on the list of options prob means that MLS players in general think he’s one of the more over-hyped guys in the league.

      • But Alberg doesn’t create anything either. We don’t have a playmaker on this squad except for Ilsinho and Najem.

      • Guys like Alberg provide a lot more flash, but I personally would rather watch guys like Bedoya who provide wins.

      • Andy Muenz says:

        3 of the top 5 overrated players will be in Chester Saturday.

  2. el Pachyderm says:

    Hello team USA, please enjoy the well earned World Cup victory as it will likely be the last. Ever more quickly the women’s game is growing and cultivating truly tactical and technical players.
    .
    For me, this is a red red red flag ‘we’ are not doing it the right way. ‘We’ are not focusing on the right things. ‘We’ have an enormous coaching vacuum.
    .
    Let us stop grunting and groaning in this game with Gladiators. And the game teaches bulllshit. THE GAME DOES NOT TEACH…teachers teach the game. teachers need to be taught. I have respect for our licensing process, I do but its not enough.
    .
    Please. Enough with Shock and Awe soccer. Doesn’t work.

    • What’s really mind boggling is that this country dominated the women’s game and could not parlay that into any interest in a competitive league. Now our best players have to go to France and England to play the game and be paid for it. Amazing.

      • Are you guys really shocked that women’s pro leagues are viewed as not being at the top-levels of a game, and that there’s a lack of interest? I’m not a sexist, just is what it is. All for equality, but pro sports are a business and you can’t make women be as fast or strong as elite male athletes. Yes, there may be exceptions but on a whole its true. We are equal but different. I enjoy the USWNT and root for our ladies adamantly. But it’s not close. In Europe the set-up is men’s clubs have ladies teams. Do you think they would be self-sustaining without being owned and supported by the men’s pro clubs? It’s not like we didn’t try to form a women’s league several times. There just was not enough interest to create a profitable business!

      • Maybe as the sport and MLS grows in the US, there could be a market for ladies MLS teams, and the model could work because they could use MLS stadiums and training facilities to keep the costs down.

      • el Pachyderm says:

        The important note to your salient post is men’s ‘clubs’ have ladies teams… and Women’s sport business suffers in america. This is the reason. Until MLS ties women soccer into its fold, which to be honest is the next iteration in my opinion, we will keep falling further and further behind.
        .
        The set up is entirely different. That said girls ODP and College soccer needs to raise the bar of education. Period.
        .
        It will not be long till USWNT wins against the lesser teams easy and gets spun in circles by countries with higher education and money investments.

      • I certainly don’t have the knowledge and understanding of the the ODP and College soccer set ups that you do, El P (though I think I’ve learned a lot from this site, so thanks). And while I doubt for reasons listed above that women’s pro sports would ever become as popular and profitable as men’s, when it comes to publicly-funded sports, education, and national teams, our girls deserve every opportunity the boys have to develop their talents in pursuit of an education and national pride and glory. Business-wise, an MLS affiliated ladies league provides a product to a market that (while maybe not as large) does exist, and could solidify and grow it by creating the communal link to the men’s club. I’d do a an all-day double header and watch a lunch time Union Ladies game before a 7pm MLS match. Buy a Union ticket, get admission to the ladies game for an extra $10-15 bucks or something?

      • el Pachyderm says:

        Heck Yeah… and my understanding is cursory. I just type loud.
        .
        As far as Double Headers and a Campus down the River with shops and food and things…. I’m digging the Sugarman Vision.
        .

      • I hear the thought process, but note that the model that you are describing hasn’t exactly led to a raging success with the WNBA, either. I coached young women for years, and love to watch both women’s basketball and women’s soccer, but I am not sure that keeping the two together isn’t just forcing the matter into a “little sister” type of a role. Unless and until US Soccer commits to treating women equally to men, and marketing the sport equally, then women will see their careers max out at college. If MLOS wants to do this, then they will equally need to devote significant resources to developing the girls that play into the women that pay to watch. Those that do not, eventually, make the team will need to be the market that brings their kids to the matches.

      • Not shocked at all about popularity of men vs women’s teams/leagues, bit in the disparity between the popularity of the women’s national team, which draws .Ore viewers than the men, and a women’s league. Pachy is right. Women’s leagues elsewhere are being supported July big clubs. MLS will need to catch up.

    • You could see it in the last WC. The USWNT beat people with pure physicality and Route 1 balls while the other countries were playing on the ground and building through possession. The other countries are bound to catch us the way it currently looks.
      .
      It seems that by going to a 3-5-2 that Ellis is trying to forced modern day tactics by the teams throat. That may be a great long term move but in the short term it is going to really hurt since our players are the equivalent tactically to a 1980’s English squad.

  3. Hmmm, if Yedlin is out would Arena consider Rosenberry for at least a call up again?

    • let’s see what another game or two does for him. game saving highlight will pick up some heads.

      • Just thinking how thin the outside back position is.
        .
        Who does Arena sees behind Yedlin at the position? Zusi? Chandler? Etc?

  4. That was one ugly USWNT game, and I am trying to tease out whether it was the formation alone, or the wings. It seemed that every one of those goals, including the penalty, were brought about by the inability to cover the gaps in the corner with appropriate personnel due to the high press that was the offensive goal of the formation.

    • Joel Pterosaur says:

      Yeah it was not a pretty sight. My feeling is that it’s partly the formation, partly attitude/focus, and partly an over reliance on players that don’t really fit the vision of the team. Plus France just brought it. They clearly saw the spaces that were showing and exploited them.

  5. Full marks and high praise to MLS for the expanded, more open treatment of Rosters.
    .
    Up front admission, I am a roster junkie. The details hint at things front offices might be thinking.
    .
    If you follow the link, do read the explanatory notes at the top of the entire article before you jump to the Union’s section. They explain why there are only 28 players listed instead of 30, and why Aaron Jones and Jack Elliott – the two most recent signings – do not yet appear on the list, even though there are two blank spaces in the Reserve roster chart, numbers 26 and 27.
    .
    we now know which Union players are on the Senior Roster, aka the Salary Cap roster, which are on the Supplemental, and which are on the Reserve. We could make intelligent deductions in the past, based on the rules and the Players Association release of salary numbers in late spring, but now we know.
    .
    Most surprising thing to me is that Giliano Wijnaldum is on the supplemental roster not the senior one.
    .
    For an example of a roster junkie’s hint, Richie Marquezz and Keegan Rosenberry are on the Senior Roster. By salary they could have been on the Supplemental. Might the positioning telegraph current intent? Whereas Ken Tribbett is now on the supplemental having been on the reserve (deduced from salary). Reassuring that Tribbett is not on the Senior list.
    .
    Applause for the greater openness. May it expand.

  6. el Pachyderm says:

    http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2017/03/07/mls-commissioner-don-garber-rates-union-academy-among-best-world
    .
    .
    .
    From the mouth of the man who is helping build it to the ears of all those who struggle to hear, are apathetic or can’t think bigger than some league results and points earned…
    .
    .. this is/ has been/ and will continue to be about raising the tide of the United States soccer player– thereby raising the quality of the National Team…. THE DEFENSE RESTS.
    .
    This public service announcement brought to you by
    ~ The Elefant.
    .
    Thank you.

  7. John O'Donnell Jr says:

    MSL tv ratings were up across all networks for opening week, with Univision leading the way with over a half million viewers. Looks like expansion and new signings created with TAM are moving the needle, not to mention the influx of homegrown players.

    • This is the real metric that they league needs to improve on. TV is where the money is.

    • I think having a 4 PM Saturday spot on Unimas is going to drive numbers a lot. That’s a great spot to have, Unimas obviously liked what they saw last season and gave it a better spot.

Leave a Reply to el Pachyderm Cancel

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*