Photo by Paul Rudderow
Philadelphia Union
It’s the Union’s first double game week! And it will be a critical one for Keegan Rosenberry.
Don’t look now, but the Union are suddenly surging.
The last two games have seen an unbelievable turnaround.
The Union’s June 3 game has been moved back to a 1 p.m. start.
Major League Soccer
The league Team of the Week features two Union nods.
Your MLS wrap-up, including a bit on the Union’s roll. Speaking of, Soccer America’s power rankings see Philadelphia up to 15th.
Six takeaways (and if you keep scrolling, power rankings) from a high-scoring week across the league.
The vaunted NYRB-LA match saw two league behemoths searching for answers. Or are the Galaxy finally on the same page?
The ownership group behind Sacramento’s MLS bid has acquired USL club Sacramento Republic FC.
Is Colombus’ Justin Meram the best winger in the league?
U.S. Soccer
6 players who deserve a Gold Cup call-up (C.J. Sapong makes the list).
A possible U.S. Soccer presidential challenger has emerged.
Why are more women national teamers choosing to play abroad?
NWSL
What does the long-awaited NWSL Players Association mean for players?
How did USWNT players perform across the league this week?
It’s amazing what a 4-0 walloping of a lousy team can do for confidence. All the fear and loathing of the last month has suddenly evaporated. Not gonna say it’s not nice, but I remain unconvinced by this team until it can demonstrate success against better clubs.
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The BIG question for me is how Curtin manages this stretch of back to back games. Does he do the usual stubborn “my guys don’t need rest” thing and play the same lineup as Sat? Or does he look to rest a few guys who likely need it (Sapong)? I know the lousy beginning has put the team in a position in which it can’t risk dropping any points, but you can’t afford to run your players into the ground.
I’d rest a few guys tomorrow and go for the throat against the weaker team in Colorado on Saturday. I’m not saying give up on Wednesday, but if you go full bore Wed. night and lose… you aren’t in the best spot to get it back Saturday. Where as the reverse of that, for me, is the better outcome.
+1. That would be my approach.
CJ and Onyewu need to rest one of these games. Don’t be surprised to see Gaddis on the left and KR on the right in a game, giving Fabs a break.
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It would be nice to have Yaro back so he can work into the rotation and get back to starting.
I read into Wijnaldum’s absence this week for Steel is that he will play on Wed at left back, but I could be totally wrong on this.
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I would expect Gaddis to play on Wed given Houston’s pace up front and Rosenberry gets a run out on Sat when we will need to be more offensive minded.
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I think that Gooch will sit on Wed with Marquez coming in and perhaps Sun, it becomes Gooch and Marquez with Elliott resting.
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I have no idea what gets done in midfield, I can’t see Medunjanin playing 3 games in 8 days, but Bedoya may have to. We are really thin in this area with no Derrick Jones. Najem will probably get a run out on Wed or Sun as well.
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All that said, it wouldn’t surprise me if Curtin rolls out virtually the same XI for both games as he’s done it in the past and the team is totally gassed in the 3rd game.
about the midfield, I’m not feeling very patriotic these days because it’s obvious that his club needs Derrick Jones more than his country, please come home safe and fit Derrick!
I think Creavalle will play a game in place of Haris. But Bedoya won’t be sitting at all until Jones comes back.
If Alberg is healthy, he’ll get minutes.
The wings can be any combo of Fafa, Pontius, Herbers, Ilsinho, and possibly Epps, if they want.
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All of this is irrelevant if Curtin hasn’t learned his lesson about giving guys rest.
Wijnaldum was the 2nd FB on the bench at DC. No CB on the bench. Steel played in Toronto,hence Real starting for BSFC.
Doc – Wijnaldum wasn’t in the 18 for the Union or Steel this past weekend.
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Marquez and Rosenberry were both on the bench for the Union in DC.
Part of Matt Real starting v. tFC II Sat is that Charlie Reymann has been unavailable recently, as shown when Matt Mahoney came on as replacement when Real got a studs tattoo on his shin late in the game.
My bad. Must of been an error on the broadcast. They listed Wijnaldum instead of Marquez.
Expect the same lineup tomorrow night as Saturday. Curtin is as consistent as the sun coming up every morning. We’ll see about Saturday. His lineup changes are usually health related,not tactical.
I hope you are wrong. This would show me a young coach learning from mistakes. Learning on the job. Learning the needed skills to manage a team.
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I hope you are wrong.
At this point, I’m kinda giving up on the ‘Fire Curtin’ mantra.
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I absolutely wish Stewart had been able to bring in his own guy to coach the team when he came in, but at this point, everything Ernie has said this season tells me that there is no way he’s going to fire Curtin this summer.
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So, unless I want the team to tank enough that Stewart reaches his breaking point (WE SHOULD NEVER BECOME THE 76ers FOR ANY REASON), I’m forced to resign to the fact that Curtin is here to stay for the time being.
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Let’s just hope the team continues to overcome any tactical shortcomings.
I’m a Sixers fan, and wholly approve of their “process,” but it is a plan that works very specifically for basketball. It is not a workable plan for any other major sport.
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I don’t think that if the approach here. Earnie’s taking the long view and trying to grow the team organically from within, with a few key (and cheap) additions from the outside. Agree or disagree with that philosophy, but it’s not even in the same ballpark as what the Sixers are doing. (Or should I say, “what the Sixers are finishing up.”)
@pragmatist I’m not a big basketball fan so that was probably a naive sentence.
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I’m just reacting negatively to the idea of wanting your team to tank. It just runs contrary to the essence of sport.
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Not trying to criticize 76er fans. I just think that the NBA needs to figure out a better way to bring up the bottom teams than by telling them they should be as bad as possible so that they can be rewarded the most.
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Just to swing it back, I can’t root for Curtin to do poorly, I would love to see him figure this team out and get us deep into the playoffs. I just don’t think he’s up to it.
Tomorrow will be interesting to see how the Union come out.
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The descriptions I have read earlier of Houston suggest a defend-and-counter approach with strong quick strike ability.
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It would not suRprise me to see Marquez for Onyewu, as much for pace as for rest.
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I thought pace had a role in Gaddis replacing Rosenberry v. Montreal, since a guy named Oduro plays for the Québécois.
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Onyewu did magnificently v. BWP in the Red Bulls game. But pace and rest make a strong case for Marquez, it seems to me.
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I agree with someone above that Adam Najem may get some minutes at some point in the sequence if a game gets out of hand one way or the other. But Bedoya will likely play all ninety v. Houston as I think I remember their #6 is a force.
Good read. Not just for the quotes about Pulisic but the quotes about the game as a whole.
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http://www.espnfc.us/german-bundesliga/10/blog/post/3124069/hannes-wolf-played-key-role-for-christian-pulisic-and-dortmund-and-is-tipped-for-big-things
Thanks for posting. Very interesting. Germany is really producing some excellent young coaches.
I wrote this as a reposes to ALL4U in another post from yesterday regarding the Town Hall….but feel it carries weight beyond just his comment and my response to it. I also include this TopDrawer Soccer article which I found to be very interesting.
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http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/the91stminute/2017/05/how-each-mls-club-strives-and-struggles-to-find-authentic-identity/
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A bit of a rebuttal to your point. Will can annoy me at points but I think this is a pretty solid article with a sound POV.
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I am most certainly not okay with being mediocre… by the way– as I am unsure if that was a barb in my direction.
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To my way of thinking, I think Earnie Stewart is trying to express he is aiming to build something ‘more than a club’ that uses wins and loses as it’s only metric for success.
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At no point have I ever heard him say, we are not trying to win.
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What I hear him saying is, “I have a vision for the Philadelphia Union as a WHOLE entity that goes beyond whether we win or lose. I admire this as much as I admire Athletico Madrid supports singing LONG after being defeated by Real Madrid the way I admire Bayern fans singing in the upper echelons of the away stadium LONG after being defeated, the way I see South Americans in train stations singing songs LONG after the final whistle in defeat.” These are my words super imposed onto his.
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If you argue for a wins are the only thing that matter ethos, I’m sorry. Maybe in the other professional sports, but this game is different than all the others.
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This is anything BUT being mediocre. This is culture Earnie Stewart is trying to build. May take awhile. May be maddening. But in the end I think we will all be very proud, so long as it is not only about wins and losses.
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JUST
PLAY
WELL.
Your examples of Atleti and Bayern are misleading. They are two of the biggest and richest clubs in the world. And they’ve won trophies in the past and have the potential to win trophies in the future.
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If you don’t think that winning is important, ask a Bayern supporter how happy they would be with a trophy-less season where they finish in the bottom half of the league, but still have a great youth set-up. I don’t think that they would be very pleased with that outcome at all.
I’m not saying winning isn’t important. Why do people keep writing this.
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Earnie Stewart hasn’t said winning isn’t important either.
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I’m saying culture has to be built and it can’t be built over night. Culture trumps winning and losing. Culture is what a club’s identity is built around. This is the point of the TopDrawer article I included.
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Well, I interpreted your post that way so:
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JUST
POST
BETTER
😉
The Union want to be an upper left quadrant club in the:
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N/Designated Player / TAM Player Spending
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Chart.
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And I am fine with that and excited they are building for the future.