Photo: Earl Gardner
Note: PSP is looking for a volunteer to write our Thursday news roundups. If interested, please email dwalsh@phillysoccerpage.com.
Philadelphia Union
The Union keep providing more questions than answers. The biggest one: If Earnie Stewart says fans need to wait for the Union Academy to produce and Jim Curtin says he won’t play the Academy products until Stewart gives him enough quality to set the Academy products up for success, then what’s the plan?
The lack of playing time for Derrick Jones is concerning.
Why to watch this weekend’s game.
The Union say they received “no formal offers” on Andre Blake.
Local
The Steel are playing for more than points this weekend.
Chris Wingate underwent surgery.
The Philly Unity Cup is in action again this weekend, with 24 matches going on around Philadelphia as group play winds down. For previews of each game, click here.
MLS
Snapshots of the Eastern Conference and Western Conference playoff pictures.
A look at how Atlanta has been so successful in drawing fans and fan interest. This level of success was unexpected.
The USMNT U-17 World Cup roster was announced. Six players with MLS deals and six players in MLS academies are among the squad, none from the Union. There is one player from Philadelphia, but he is in Benfica’s academy.
A conversation about academies, homegrown players in MLS, and some of the top homegrown players who deserve more time. Top teams are producing top prospects to supplement their top players. The way it’s supposed to be.
D.C. United’s new stadium may not be open in time for them to play all their home games there next season.
Around the globe
The USSF and USWNT are back at odds over turf fields. 6 of 22 MLS stadiums currently have turf fields.
The England FA is more concerned with saving face than seeking the truth.
Neymar is still not the undisputed #1 star he wants to be.
Diego Costa will be heading to Atletico Madrid when the next window opens.
All the Error 404 team pages. Some of these are legitimately funny.
Highlight of the day
This spectacular left-footed finish.
All of this talk is assuming Curtin 1) Knows what he is talking about and 2) Has earned the benefit of the doubt.
I think the answer to those two things are a resounding NO.
I think he is wrong AND dumb. I watched Jones with my own two eyes. I’ve seen Warren C play too. I’d take Jones 10 out of 10 times, and 15 out of 10 times when we are in “Nothing to play for” territory.
If anything, this sounds like Curtin subscribes too heavily to the old school American attitude of “SHOW IT TO ME IN PRACTICE”.
I was in the “give Curtin another year” camp when the year started. I’m now in the “we’ve seen more than enough; let’s move on” camp. And I’m going to go a step further now.
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I’m in the “fire Curtin now and instruct the interim coach to play the kids” camp.
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I think “show it to me in practice” isn’t a bad metric, but it can’t be the only metric.
If you think Stewart said play the kids Curtin would disobey?
I think Stewart doesn’t ask Curtin to do anything. Managers manage. I’m with John. Curtin’s time has come. We need a new gaffer.
Really you think the person who has overall control of the direction and Curtins boss doesn’t have anything to say about playing the kids?
Nothing?
Not even in passing conversation?
Not in meetings about player development?
Not in emails about the future of the franchise?
Nothing at all?
Really.
““I know that people want guys to just be thrown out there and get a chance, but they have to be earned,” Curtin said. “There’s examples of guys doing that: Derrick early on in the year absolutely did it.””
Like seriously – what the fuck has Pontius done to earn his time?
Well, if we take Curtin at his word, he must be the best practice player ever. Because all that seems to matter for gameday selection is how well you trained.
I’ve heard that this player is fantastic in training and the best part is…he’s available for a free right now!
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https://www.transfermarkt.com/keon-daniel/profil/spieler/77653
Play a positions with no alternatives and do what the coaches ask him on D? I’m nto saying he should be playing, but with injuries and lack of depth, who else are they going to play there?
Anything. For the love of god, anything at all. Anything besides trotting out the same crap every week, then telling us you won’t play new, possibly better crap because of some platitudes about training and “Earning it”.
Agreed. They are losing the fan base to apathy. And running the same lineup/formation through the end of the year is just going to make us all more apathetic and less optimistic about next season…
Tuck Furf
Cire Furtin
It’s simply time for a new coach and fingers crossed that they would play the players that produce on the field like Derrick Jones, Creavalle , picault , Elliot , Yaro and others. I want to see a fresh start in the coaching Department. I want to see someone come in with an impressive record. Not someone learning on the job. Those days are over.
The more that the leaders in the Union organization try to convey what their current and future plans are, the more confusing things become. The flaws and contradictions of these mixed messages only reinforce to the consumer that you should stay away until things crystallize more.
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Only the most pollyannaish Union fans can buy into this empty rhetoric.
Agree. It’s so contradictory.
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On one hand, “We’re going to build from the academy, develop smart money ball techniques, sell players to re-invest in our roster.”
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And on the other hand, “None of our academy guys are ready, We’ll sign and payout $500,000 contracts to bench warmers and third tier strikers, sell Blake? Never heard of him.”
i love that people think that there is even a remote chance that they will fire curtin and replace him with a proven successful coach. they haven’t done that with the players. if they get rid of him they will replace him with another young inexperienced coach and tout his potential. that is why i don’t think they should fire him. it would be such an obvious scapegoating and it will make no difference in team results unless they change their philosophy and start spending enough money to at least keep up with other middle of the pack teams
Yep, absolutely. If we’re going to hire another young, inexperienced coach better to just keep Jim around and maintain some consistency of a system.
I’m really struggling to understand this line of thinking. Year after year, the Union have been a consistent failure under the leadership of Jim Curtin, yet we should keep him around for the sake of consistency????
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I agree that the Union ought to replace JC with an experienced coach with a proven track record of success, but I fail to see how hiring another rookie coach would be much worse than the present situation. At the very least, it would give fans some hope for improvement.
MSG this might be just a matter of opinion but the reason for the team’s failure in the past few years is that the roster has been terrible. i don’t think they’ve ever had a complete competent first team at any point in curtin’s tenure and they will not be successful until they do. i don’t think a better coach would have been able to do all that much better than curtin has with the rosters he has worked with. i think we’d all feel just as disgruntled if they had the same group of players and had 2 more points because they had an experienced coach. a mediocre team can’t compete regardless of who is coaching them
A coach can change philosophy. Every coach since Novak has been like a Hand me down, from the same philosophy I believe. They need to cut the chord and start from a new. Someone with a record and experience. Yes, easier said than done.
I don’t care. That’s where I am now. I forced myself to care enough to come back and read up on the same tried quotes, but I just can’t care.
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Prove to me that I have a reason to care. Until then, don’t expect any emotional or financial involvement.
^^^This.
yup. my next game is ATL. when announced it was to introduce MLS to my fam down there. get them into the sport. now i’m going for the spectacle rather than supporting the Union. i’ll wear the colors but if this org doesn’t care, why should i?
The fact that no one from the Union Academy is on the U17 WC roster is very concerning (Atlanta has 3)! This shows that our Academy needs a major revision, which I will bring up next time I see Earnie.
I think it proves that young players see what we’re seeing, and are going away or staying away.
Career Killer Curtin is prowling the Union sidelines. Good ol’ Triple C, if you’ll accept the typo 😉
Eddie Murphy would say that your 3 C’s are just fine:
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“Kill my landlord. Kill my landlord. C-I-L-L my land-lord.”
Dear Union,
I could honestly write a 10 pager on my thoughts and feelings about the current state of the club, and maybe I will do that in the future. For now, I am going to go back to when it was our fist season and what has become one of my most resounding memories as a Union Fan. It wasn’t a memory of happiness or sadness it was a memory of doubt. I remember that first season when you put out your first fan survey and one of the questions was which of the following reasons would keep you from coming to watch the Union. My answer was decisive and easy to choose: Poor quality of play on the field. For the honeymoon period it was easy to take the highs and lows. After the first playoff lost I started to struggle and it got worse and worse and worse. If it wasn’t for the tailgate group that formed I would have been out sooner. I’m afraid that continuing doubt, that resounding lack of quality on the field has finally done me in. I wish you the best.
A founding Member from Section 113.
Dear Mr. Sugarman.
Please read the article on how Atlanta United has managed to draw fan interest. Learn from this.
There was no mention of chief tattoo officers, money ball, silly Facebook postings, sole reliance on preaching patience from the academy bearing fruit in the future, adherence to playing a system that does not fit the talent or coaches that are learning on the job.
Think about what Atlanta has done and why their city is buzzing with excitement while attendance in your building is declining and apathy is increasing.
You can fix this Mr. Sugarman. Make a commitment and give Earnie the resources to build a winner. Invest in your product. We are not talking Manchester United or Real Madrid type of money, but simply a similar, modest type of investment that has paid off in Atlanta.
It is working in Atlanta and in can work here too.
Dear Mr Sugarman
Sell to someone who can actually afford a team. You’re obviously over your head. You tried and you failed. It happens.
Signed
Pretty much everyone paying attention.
PS-nobody wants to see you get Chivas’d
I 2nd the Chivas concern. A top flight MLS team can flourish in this area with some attention and resources. Unless something changes we are well on the road to Chivas.