Photo: Earl Gardner
Philadelphia Union
The Union completed their 4th straight shutout in a PSP, SBI, DelcoTimes, CSNPhilly, BrotherlyGame, Section215, and PattisonAve.
This game was the first of three big games for the Union.
Kinkead summed things up with two tweets: The Union committed to the shape and changed the personnel. Early in the season, many people were calling for changes just to see if the result would change. It took a lot of experimentation, but it looks like the Union finally found a working combination.
Ilsinho may be the answer at the #10.
With the win, the Union find themselves right back in the playoff hunt.
Local
Reading United shocked NY Cosmos 3-2 in US Open Cup play and aim to take down local rival Harrisburg City Islanders in the third round.
The Gold Cup is a chance for Philadelphia to prove that it should be part of World Cup hosting.
Auston Trusty was officially added to the USMNT U-20 roster.
Brendan Burke’s weekly conference call for the Steel.
MLS
Who is the most important player on each team?
A look at potential MLS newcomer of the year winners.
Around the globe
CONCACAF secretary general Philippe Moggio met with reporters in New York to cover a variety of CONCACAF-related topics.
Monaco clinched the Ligue 1 title.
Final day La Liga scenarios.
Final day Premier League scenarios.
Juventus won the Coppa Italia as they move closer to the treble.
Dirk Kuyt is retiring after a long career.
How Mallory Pugh was convinced to join the Washington Spirit.
Highlight of the day
Ronaldo confusing people as to which foot he’s better with.
Good for Reading and Coach Hogan!
So that story on the Most Important Player on Each MLS Team is interesting. For the Union, the pick was Sapong. Trying to decide if I agree with that. I guess I’m not sure, since we haven’t seen enough of Jay Simpson to know how good of a replacement he would be. My first thoughts were Medunjanin or Bedoya, but Derrick Jones emergence has meant that we have at least a very strong backup in those roles (even without quite the same capabilities, obviously). I might have to pick Andre Blake.
Blake.
Blake was last season, but he hasn’t been (or needed to be) superhuman this year. CJ has been the difference-maker this year.
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But at the end of the year, the choice could easily revert back to Blake. Now he just needs to work on his distribution. Although it has been better of late, like everything else the team is doing.
First thought was Blake. But with the way the U are committed to playing – 1 striker, high press, etc. I can see why CJ was chosen.
Prag, Blake has played a HUGE roll in this unbeaten streak. He’s made key saves in every game. He’s been equally good during this streak, as last year.
I slightly disagree, but as a credit to his defense, more than a knock on him. He hasn’t had to make as many acrobatic saves in the past 5 games because the defense isn’t letting teams get shots off. We’re all well aware that he is capable of them, I just don’t think he’s had the opportunity to show it off over the past few weeks, thanks to the stellar play of the backline.
The Union go down a goal in that Red Bulls match if anyone other than Blake is in goal. And if that happens, it’s a whole new ballgame, and maybe we never see that Sapong hat trick because NYRB parks the bus.
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No disrespect to Sapong, by the way. He’s probably my favorite player on the Union. (If/when we start up our old Raves series again, he’s probably my pick.) But Blake is irreplaceable within MLS.
Damn this site. Why can’t this be Yahoo where people are ill-informed and pull false opinions from the butts?
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Point taken, Dan. I yield.
Happy for the team today. Kudos to Curtin for pulling the right levers. Glad to see good things happening for Fafa and Ilsinho. A little swagger should get this team going pretty well… and amazingly only 7 points off the first place mark.
Gotta play your skill players.
Period.
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Zeitlin reports Union are 3-0-1 in games Fafa starts and have outscored opposing team 9-0.
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Speed helps too…..how nice was it to see him hit the jets and get behind defense on the Ilsinho pass in 2nd half.
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Seeing it up close Haris is complete class and Jack Elliot played 3 half volleys dead to the feet of an outlet to relieve pressure.
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Now for the nitpicking…which is no small thing IMO.
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I have significant concerns with the lack of confidence in Andres ability with the ball at his feet. Team hoofs it too much… too many time Haris or jack lay a possessed ball off to him and he punts it up field at least 3 times with Fabinho flashing wide into ACRES of space but Andre wasn’t looking….For me to totally by in with Jim Curtin and the goalie for that matter – this team needs to show me a greater willingness to grow in building play on the ground from the back.
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Well done U. Keep rounding.
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Playing Well.
To continue nit-picking, Fafa has used his speed to create 2 breakaways and has badly botched both of them. Both time a heavy touch to the left of goal has taken him out of a good position. Cutting towards the center last night probably draws a penalty or at least give him a much better shooting angle.
Agreed he has not been clinical.
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The deep threat is honest though and if he’s scoring in other ways we can hope with more and more time on field he will get better.
Totally agree. I love having some speed out there finally.
It all falls on the head coach, I get it, but goalies are generally their own beasts. I wonder how much of that falls on Oka? Andre obviously has the athletic ability, shouldn’t they be focusing on his one glaring weakness?
I didn’t catch the first half, but the second half it seemed very purposeful by Blake to send it long. He setup like he was going to play short and then wave everyone. I think it was to waste as much time as he could. Or maybe just not confident with Houston pushing high.
I’m going to take a break from local news for a minute:
http://www.espnfc.com/english-premier-league/story/3128683/football-association-backs-proposal-for-retrospective-diving-bans
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AND THERE WAS JOY ACROSS THE LAND!!!
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2 game suspensions for diving, based on a post-game review. LOVE THIS.
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Sorry for yelling, but I haven’t been this excited about a change in the game since…well no, this is about as excited about a change as I have ever been.
Long overdue!
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“In my shoes, a walking sleep
And my youth I pray to keep
Heaven sent hell away
No one sings like you anymore”
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raining on a good mood day.
I feel gutted. RIP.