Daily news roundups

News roundup: Union conjure up a point in Kansas City

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Philadelphia Union

The Union traveled to Kansas City on their last game before the international break and managed a 1-1 draw. John McCarthy did his best Andre Blake impression, C.J. Sapong finally got a call, and Roland Alberg coolly finished a PK for his 4th of the year. More from the Union, MLS, CSNPhilly, BrotherlyGame,

Post-match interviews. Highlights.

Don’t celebrate too much just yet – the Union will have to prove they can avoid their yearly collapse.

“Gooch” is reminding the doubters why he was once in Europe’s top leagues and a USMNT mainstay.

When faced with a last-minute roster opening, Bruce Arena called up Chris Pontius, an ol’ reliable.

Local

Congrats to Real Jersey U13, Penn Fusion U19/20, and Philadelphia Ukranians U16 on their regional championships.

Reading continued their playoff push with a 2-0 win over Lehigh Valley.

Bethlehem’s weekly conference call.

MLS

Scores and recaps from the past two days.

Not quite power rankings, but a general ranking of the teams in the league. The Union come in at “Tier 2: In the hunt”. That opening stretch feels more like a nightmare than reality with each passing game.

I normally don’t report on rumors, but then there normally aren’t trade rumors of an MLS DP in midseason. Could Yura Movsisyan be on the move?

Another week, another complaint about MLS officiating. Wonder how much Kreis gets fined for this one.

The MLS Players Union made MLS player salaries much more sortable and searchable.

An update on Matheus Silva’s incident and current status – he is awake but they have not yest determined whether he suffered any permanent physical or mental damage.

Around the globe

The official FIFA world rankings are out and Germany is back on top. The USMNT has dropped all the way down to 35.

CONCACAF is attempting to stamp out offensive chants at the Gold Cup.

Now this is fun. Florent Malouda is not eligible to play for French Guiana in the Gold Cup, but he can play. French Guiana has to decide whether trying to win the game unofficially is more important than losing officially.

It doesn’t matter which team is King of CONCACAF.

Michael Platini is still banned from FIFA.

If you’re into historic games, here is a nice tactical recap of “the Miracle of Istanbul”.

Highlight of the day

If you were in charge, how many games would you suspend Yangel Herrera for this acting job? There’s a difference between “embellishment” and “acting”, and this is clearly 100% on the wrong side of the line.

7 Comments

  1. Andy Muenz says:

    I haven’t seen a lot of notice about it, but the Union is encouraging fans to bring teddy bears to the Swansea game for Chester first responders to give to kids in Chester to help calm them when they are affected by fire or crimes.
    .
    https://www.philadelphiaunion.com/post/2017/06/21/timeless-teddies-and-philadelphia-union-ask-fans-donate-new-teddy-bears

  2. So many prior to this match said this game will be entirely up to John McCarthy. It was, and he rose to the challenge. While I’ve been down on McCarthy this year (both his USOC and BSFC appearances) he definitely stepped up for this game and kept the Union in it.

    That said, definite penalty, f*ck Feilhaber and all his excuses. No SKC hasn’t gotten any penalties all season; wasn’t that us last season (or two ago)? The PK disparity is a result of if you foul in the box, not favoritism. CJ FINALLY got a call!

    Last note – I really hope this Alberg thing gets sorted, either on his end of Curtin’s. The dude is a clear finisher, but doesn’t do hardly anything else – definition of a supersub to me.

    • Benny Cryharder…’nough said

    • I have always hated Benny Feilhaber. And his obnoxious attitude is even more galling considering how talented he is. Why he can’t just STFU and let his play do the talking is beyond me. I’m sure he’s upset at himself for pushing CJ, but just deal with it, man, and quit acting like a whining punk all the time.

    • As for Alberg, he and Epps definitely provided a needed burst of energy upon their entry, and I give Curtin credit for the good substitution (which I thought he would never do).

      But having said that, this should be his last year with the team. He’s a second striker on a team that plays with one. I hope he scores several more impressive goals in the second half of the season so that we might be able to get something for him in trade value.

    • In the pushing and shoving after the penalty, I though I saw a hand go to Gooch’s neck/throat area. I wonder if a league review will find anything or if it was just a weird angle or something and I was just seeing things.

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