Photo: Paul Rudderow
Note: PSP is looking for a volunteer to write our Thursday news roundups. If interested, please email dwalsh@phillysoccerpage.com.
Philadelphia Union
No game this weekend due to the international break.
MLS released updated player and team salaries. The Union have fallen much further off the spending pace since April. Like past offseasons, merely replacing the salary of departed players will not be sufficient to compete.
Local
Two South Jersey teens helped the Steel earn a road draw in their last game.
MLS
It appears FC Dallas fielded an ineligible player against Orlando. Under MLS rules, that should result in both a fine and an automatic 3-0 forfeit. MLS apparently only fined Dallas. MLS, you have rules for a reason. Enforce them.
MLS records are under siege. As the league continues to expand and get better, expect records to continue to fall.
One record being broken repeatedly is the single game attendance record, with Atlanta set to break their own record again.
Some of the most significant injuries in MLS this season.
PRO is calling for a review of safety measures after a referee was hit by a beer cup while jogging to review a play. The assaulter was arrested.
Around the globe
Games don’t get much bigger for the USMNT than tonight’s clash with Panama. The pressure is building. Tactical analysis.
European World Cup qualifying action. England and Germany booked their spots in the big tournament.
CONMEBOL qualifying is utter insanity, with one crazy final match day to go.
Only 10 teams have officially qualified.
The best teams to miss the World Cup.
Editor’s choice: The dark side of football academies. Only a few make it to the pros. What of the rest? The Guardian has this fascinating, in-depth feature story.
Highlight of the day
Paraguay goes end to end in stoppage time and scores with help from a keeper error.
Just a technical point – the MLSPA released salaries, not the league
CONMEBOL is just the best. Aside from Brazil, no other country has qualified yet going into the final matchday.
CONMEBOL is just INSANE. Uruguay is virtually in as they have clinched at least making the playoff round and host 9th place Bolivia on Tuesday. But at this point I would rate 7th place Paraguay (home against 10th place Venezuela) with a better chance than 3rd place Chile (at Brazil who wants to avenge their only loss in qualifying). Argentina heads up to Quito, Ecuador needing a win while 5th place Peru hosts 4th place Colombia with one of them likely dropping down and getting eliminated.
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At this point it is not unlikely that both teams in one of the 2014 semifinals (Netherlands and Argentina) and one other quarterfinalist (Colombia) all fail to qualify for Russia.
Agreed on Uruguay.
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The twists in last night’s matches were something else. Chile losing a lead at home and then immediately pinging back Ecuador to get a vital 3 pts. Colombia looked like they had punched their ticket until Paraguay got two late goals to keep their campaign alive. Tuesday is gonna be fantastic.
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Remember when Messi “retired” after their Copa loss to Chile and everyone wrote that his sponsors wouldn’t allow this to happen with the WC coming. Now, he could miss it any way.
Our Philly Unity Cup has some good knockout games this weekend:
http://unitycup.phila.gov/play-in-previews/
Come and see for free some fun soccer at the Ramp Playgrounds
I’m glad that “fan throwing a cup at the ref” thing happened in Atlanta and not here. Thanks to lazy journalism and stereotypes, if it had happened here it would be national news and would include talk about throwing snowballs at Santa Claus, batteries at J.D. Drew, and fans puking on kids…
agree, and yet it happened in Atlanta and more than 24 hours later there were like three stories on the internet I guess that’s a different kind of lazy, for sure had it been Philly it would have been 3000 stories
MLS? National news? You’re funny.
We’ll qualify, then get flamed in the opening round with a kid phenom and a bunch of over-the-hill geriatric footballers………..need to bring the next crop up from the 20’s. Hell, Germany won the damn thing and are playing a whole new crop of kids………and winning as usual. Honestly, if we don’t qualify……..I won’t be surprised and good may come out of it. Them hitting rock bottom might bring a needed reset.
love the guardian article, shows that England has our old problem with sports, promise of glory distracting kids from becoming competent mature humans.