Philadelphia Union
Jim Curtin didn’t speak yesterday, so instead you can watch this video of the Union’s top ten goals of all time. Hard to argue with any of these, but just for the sake of the sweet memories throw your alternates into the comments below with links for my coffee break (please).
MLS honors Blake for the save of the month.
Local
Ocean City Nor’easters snapped a two game losing streak and shut out Jersey Express last night.
Palumbo Soccer club has camps and training opportunities.
Street Soccer USA is in Philly this weekend. The court will be at the Art Museum steps. You can play.
John McCarthy grew up in Philly and played for North Catholic. He’s staying true to his roots.
Major League Soccer
Beckham may build a soccer stadium. I would say, “Don’t hold your breath,” but maybe this time real progress is happening?
U. S. Soccer
Will Parchman has a look at four MLS Trinidadian players that will suit up tonight against the U. S.
The U. S. aims for all three points with a key qualifier against Trinidad at home. Many consider it a must-win, with a tough game against Mexico coming up at Azteca next.
Beckham wants to be a major player in the league. In order to have that happen, you need to be successful, particularly in Miami, home of the Fairweather Fans (TM).
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Considering the evolution of MLS clubs, wouldn’t it be a great first step for them to set up an Academy? You don’t even need to have the big club yet. You can swallow Miami FC (and our old friend, Mike Lahoud) as your affiliate team, further cementing a path from the Academy, to the USL (as long as Miami FC is willing to swap leagues – which is a different discussion), and then to MLS.
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But you get the feeling they are just going to build a stadium and throw some Euro stars at it and hope it works out.
Sounds like it….though I’ve read along the way that David Beckham wants to do it ‘the right way’…. whatever that means in American Soccer and MLS.
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My guess is, if a franchise is awarded, all the other pieces fall in place similarly to how Atlanta swallowed up a combined couple of academies in the south to build their academy I believe.
Only issue with that is, from what I’ve read, Miami FC’s owner is pretty ambitious. I don’t think he’d want to play second fiddle to anybody.
Money Money Money… it will be speaking rather loudly in Miami
Brought this over to today as yesterday it spent a good bit of time in moderation related to URL I think… I’m unsure what moderation means, if others can see it or not…anyway….read a quote from Luca Modric on how Zidane found an achilles heel in the Juventus defense and set about aligning his team’s possession tactics to attack this weakness in defending…and then proceeded to score 4 goals against a team only giving up 1 goal every 4 or 5 games. Nobody else thought about this. He did.
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Zidane. Maestro. Two time defending European Champion. A god on the field- now a god on the sidelines.
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Check out the fourfourtwo article on Zidane about his rise to Real coach from my yesterday comment in the news thread if you are interested.
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Stole all this from FourFourTwo…like “Everything. Literally.” else I write.
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Enjoy the weather. Heat on the way.
Zizou is a very smart manager and I hope that people start to recognize that about him. When you think about his reaction as a player when Madrid sold Makelele away, it showed that even then he understood the important elements of building a team.
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My only fear is that where does he go from here. Madrid is set up well for the future, but that organization is tricky for a manager to stay on long-term due to the internal politics. Luckily for him, he is and will always be a legend at the club so he will always have a lofty perch to fight those battles from.
re: goal videos
https://youtu.be/92jK6SnrlRA?t=5m31s
Marfan set piece in the box vs Chivas 2013.
just outside “best” but maybe we can have a followup collection of “memorable” goals.
not a bad list. KK admits the #2 by le toux is too high. otherwise, a decent list.
This goal was nuts. The fact that is was an indirect kick was crazy. Perfect placement.
Note: tonight good bar viewing doubleheader. Stanley Cup final game 5, all tied 2-2 on same time as Qualifier.
Kinkead reporting that West Brom center back and Allentown PA native Danny Barbir training with the team…. With this team’s injury history, I don’t think you can have too many center backs on the roster.
He trained with the Union prior to heading overseas in the first place. I’m not sure what the context was then – had he signed but had to wait for paperwork or something?
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So it very well could just be training since he is familiar with the organization, but then again, that is how Ilsinho and Gooch started out before they were signed.
And Picault, too.
Great goal compilation. That LeToux hat trick and the roar of that big crowd at the Linc makes me want more of that. I like ppl/Talen, but it can’t hold a crowd that big. Makes Talen look like an unnecessary waste of taxpayer money. cf: Seattle Sounders. Makes the Linc look underutilized
Agreed. I still contend that we could easily draw 25k each week if we were down at the Linc. Sure, it wasn’t perfect for soccer, but it had all of the other key elements which would have drawn more fans on a consistent basis.
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I bet that our media coverage would be better as well if we played & practiced in Philly.
Would be a compelling thing for Eagles and Union to share The Linc… I remember when Manchester United opened the arena, Sir Alex Ferguson called the pitch exceptional. Only issue is that there’s no way the U could fill a 70,000-seat arena.
Sorry, Talen is a much better stadium to watch a game that the Linc. There’s a reason they call it a soccer specific stadium. You can argue location and crowd size/atmosphere all you’d like, but if your goal is to actually watch the game (and not have anyone needing binoculars to see), Talen wins hands down.
Agreed! Talen is definitely the better stadium for watching soccer. The sight lines throughout Talen are great, and even fans in the back row aren’t far from the pitch.
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I would add that 15-18,000 fans in a stadium that holds 18,000 is a much better atmosphere than 20-25,000 fans in a stadium that holds close to 70,000.
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Need proof? Head down to the Linc to watch a typical Temple football game (i.e., not against Penn State or Notre Dame). Even with a decent crowd, the place feels empty, and many of the concession stands are closed.
Agreed. Just look at the awful vibe at Gillette for Revs games (or RFK for DC). Granted, it’s not in the city like the Linc, but…
I went to St. Matts… graduated ’95. Cool to see McCarthy there. Makes me feel OLD 🙂
Can’t argue with that Ruiz goal being #1.
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My favorite part of that Ayuk USOC goal at RBA was how Kjlestan just dropped his head after Vincent’s brillant dummy.
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Some great memories there.
agreed. that game was special and worth the trip up there.
And the fact that it went to PK’s was awesome since it made life difficult for management who wanted a smooth transition for the game that night.
Le Toux’s 3rd Goal Free Kick vs DC United in 1st ever home game at the Linc. Not the most amazing goal but still a good one. And what an amazing way to end your first game at home as a franchise. To finish off the hat trick at that. My Union memories don’t get much better than being at this game and watching that goal go in.