Photo: Earl Gardner
Philadelphia Union
Former Union defender Austin Berry is retiring from soccer to join the FC Cincinnati coaching staff.
Local
Ocean City Nor’Easters will be holding open tryouts January 6th at Carey Stadium in Ocean City, NJ.
NCAA
Stanford won the NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship 3-2 over UCLA on a screamer.
Don’t forget the men’s finals take place at Talen this weekend. Tickets on sale here.
MLS
Diego Valeri was named the 2017 MLS MVP after an incredible season. His daughter was adorably stoked.
Saturday’s MLS Cup rematch underscores the league’s evolution away from parity and towards haves (ambition) and have nots (money).
Jordan Morris looks to play super-sub at MLS Cup.
Boosted by Columbus viewership (hmm…), MLS playoff TV ratings are up 38 percent on ESPN.
Four cities, just two expansion spots. Who should be in?
San Antonio missed the cut and now Austin may cut in line.
Ahem, Save the Crew.
U.S. Soccer
Sunil Gulati says he won’t seek another term as USSF president.
While it won’t end Gulati’s impact on U.S. soccer, his exit blows the presidential race wide open.
The U.S. will host 2019 CONCACAF Women’s World Cup Qualifying.
Playing the foil to Alexis Lalas’ Uncle Sam schtick, Taylor Twellman says “we cannot do soccer the American way.”
it is not at all clear to me whether the author of the linked article ever spoke with Taylor Twellman
While it’s great that a woman has entered the race for USSF pres., it’s hard not see Kathy Carter as being the most representative of the status quo. I’m more than willing to keep an open mind, but her website doesn’t do much to instill confidence that she wants to change anything. It’s mostly just platitudes about hard work and diversity. Nor do endorsements from Garber and Gulati help her case.
Hard work and diversity are both immensely important. I hope they don’t become the focus of this election however. Change is needed and there seem to be several decent candidates.
This move by Sunil Gulati and SUM and MLS and US Soccer is a brilliant chess move, thinking well in advance of the situation at hand.
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…without question an attempt by the status quo to maintain, the status quo.
Depends on how Gulati is judged. A lot of talk is about that last night when the US did not qualify and that this was the only negative point in his 12yr reign. Not enough is made out of the fact that the US did not qualify for the last few Olympics. I warned repeatedly that the lessons of this should be taken more serious but they never were. Most recently the U17 team got beat 5-0 by Holland and ended up in last place in the friendly Nike tournament. These are all signs that drastic change is needed.
I may be in the minority with these thoughts, but I actually think the salary cap structure the league has created stifles parity and creates a more uneven playing field. There’s really no difference between paying $2 million or $12 million for players so long as their “salary” stays under the cap. If the league insists on a salary cap I think they’d be better suited to create a hard cap around much higher (maybe $8 or $10 million) with penalties for going over – but still allow TAM to bring costs down. But right Toronto and Atlanta can still go out and spend $10 million on a player and it still only costs the same number against the cap as a Medunjanin or Alberg, which is almost counter-intuitive to the purpose of a salary cap.
100%. I argued this last week as well, sir.
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Here’s a league designed for Americanized Parity we all seem to love, yet it is becoming clear, there will be 5 or so teams capable of winning, which is really no different then the open structure leagues these Parity Professors, like an unnamed poster I’ve argued with for 3 years here, seem to rail against.
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It is a joke.
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Once again, at least lets make it possible that Eastern Bumblefuck FC can earn their right to play in the top league, and be mid table, which ultimately drives the competition to reach the top level which then ultimately drives the development of players across the entire lower levels of the pyramid—- cause either way, its BECOMING a tilted stilted slope of which few teams have the capital to reach the top of.
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For the 100% time promotion and relegation is about more than the twenty teams in the top division and the 2 that go up and the two that go down.
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Atlanta, NYCFC, LAFC……… these are game changing FRANCHISES…. and as sad as it sounds, I’d rather have to sweat whether Jay Sugarman will muster the resources to stay relevant in the top league than be told again and again, “We’re gonna get this thing right.”
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Know why, cause I love the game and will support the team at any level. Just don’t make me feel a fool, cause I’m not.
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el Poacher, likely agrees.
As usual Pachy your assertion is sopt on. I hear guys I work with say they would never follow a second level team…but they love college football…so…I suppose thats a differane thing?? I have only been following soccer closely for 15 years. But I think most in this country don’t have the same mentality as other football loving countries. The local team gets no support here. Cuz its not the pro game. And it also isn’t tbe only game in town. I hope the pyramid opens! Till then… we got what we got!
I used to feel the same way, that I’d never support a 2nd tier team. But wouldn’t it be kind of nice to bring in Cincinnati, Louisville, etc and just beat the living crap out of them for a year while paying half price for tickets?
I’d rather watch my team fighting for promotion or against relegation than the purgatory of, to borrow Pachy’s apt observation, “we’re going to get this thing right.” I’m sure Wolves and Cardiff fans are having fun. (I’m rooting for Bristol City)
For those of you who are complete junkies and long for a sense of tribalism and camaraderie within the game we will doubtful ever experience,
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watch the Netflix documentary…. Boca Juniors.
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So good. Watched it in rapt silence last night. Near reverence actually bouncing between the images and the translation. I was exhausted by the end of it, which felt right. Wearily dragged myself to bed and wished to know the feeling of La Bombonera …
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…like Funes, with the rain drops hitting his head.
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enjoyed even more than Ballon sur bitume which is an all time excellent documentary.
Thanks. Will check it out.
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They are calling her Kathy Cartel.
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So funny I can’t take it.
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Then there is this…
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https://thesefootballtimes.co/2017/12/05/spencer-owen-hashtag-united-and-major-league-soccer-the-revolution-will-not-be-televised/
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Likely this guy is just another rant given drivel tant.trum monger with an agenda, right?
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Forgive me.
What do we say if the team goes down and never makes it up? What do we say if they can’t keep pace with the bills of a first division team in a D2 league? What do we say when they fold the Steel to save money and soon after the academy? What do we say if the team folds because teams are so strong in Seattle, New York, Atlanta, Toronto and Los Angeles that they don’t think they can ever catch up? What do you say when investors won’t risk Philadelphia because unless you have Barcelona money the risk isn’t worth it. Anyone who says they would be happy to watch this team avoid relegation is lying. They would have avoided relegation this year and everyone is miserable. Please tell me who would be happy finishing 14-17 every year…..because it’s happening now. If you think this would be a better purgatory in a pro/rel league I’m gone to give you the squishy face stare. You better hope they stay with the salary budget and change the rules with youth development and selling players. Because that would be a game changer for this team.
Honestly if they went down I’d be fine. It’d be something different than this purgatory. If going down caused them to eventually start selling off piece by piece and eventually folding, I’d be fine by that. That would be more exciting than this malaise I feel.
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First and foremost you have to believe that quality will come to the forefront. If your players/team/coach can’t stave off relegation then there are reasons and things need to be changed. Owners will be forced to compete or be passed by. I also find it really hard to believe they would leave this market unattended for too long. As it stands now with Harrisburg and it’s new affiliation, they would have just as good a chance to get promoted and stay up and could easily be just as good a story and team to root for. Where there’s a will there’s a way.
So Union could aspire to be West Brom, Birmingham, Middlesbrough, Hull City or Crystal Palace.
Also Precourts would abound…moving tier 2 teams to and fro and maybe even a tier 1 ala club de cuervos.
England and Europe have advantage of geography that makes US imitation of pro relegation very difficult and cost prohibitive.
Maybe if US could sustain a two otheriered regional system where west and east never meet except in mls cup that might work. Teams only up and down in their region only.
To be honest I prefer MLB…farm system built like Harrisburg from orgs like Rush Academy rise to MLS. Individual pro relegation vs team.
UnionGoal