Philadelphia Union
23 days till the home opener!
Jim Curtin had a conference call yesterday. Here’s the Union trying to control the messaging. Regarding signing a No. 10, he said, “The later it gets the more likely it is that we’re going to go with the guys that are here. … There’s definitely a curve if you get a guy later.” And another quote: “It’s difficult throughout the world to sign players.”
There’s a scrimmage today with Chicago at 11 AM, which will be streamed here. The fate of trialist Omar Castro will be decided after the final whistle.
The Union’s annual “meet the team” is February 28th at Dave and Busters in Penn’s Landing.
Curtin and John McCarthy’s feelings on the Eagles.
Local
Jeremy Rafanello, the Union’s U19 leading scorer is going to Penn State after previously committing to Drexel.
Penn FC named Raoul Voss as head coach.
Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer will honor Manayunk’s Starfinder Foundation with a Community Award.
MLS
Maurice Edu is no longer training with LAFC.
Dynamo re-signed goalkeeper Joe Willis.
RSL signed Croatian midfielder Damir Kreilach.
Hey, buddy, what’s the official TAM/GAM exchange rate?
D.C. United acquired the Sounders’ outside back Oniel Fisher. And Ben Olsen will not coach in D.C.’s season opener; my favorite quote in that article is Olsen being ejected last April for “generally being annoying”.
NYCFC stadium in Queens?
For the data-obsessed, a dashboard featuring ages of current MLS players.
Jeb Brovsky of Montreal Impact and NYCFC fame has launched Generation Footy.
U.S. Soccer
The presidential election is this Saturday in Orlando — the USSF will stream it. FWIW: World Soccer Talk endorses Wynalda and Martino. Oh, and, Hope Solo gave an interview to The Guardian.
USWNT vs. Mexico in Houston for an April friendly.
Around the globe
Alexis Sánchez accepted a 16-month Spanish prison sentence for tax fraud, but he’ll serve no jail time.
Telemundo partners with Copa90 to launch Hispanic soccer content creator network for the World Cup.
Liga MX may suspend promotion, relegation.
Tottenham beat Newport County 2-0 to advance in FA Cup, with Erik Lamela playing the full 90 and scoring one of the goals.
Frankfurt sink sloppy Mainz to reach German Cup semis.
A giant flag foiled a Portugal VAR camera.
For you biography lovers out there, Raphael Honigstein’s Bring the Noise: The Jürgen Klopp Story came out Tuesday.
Highlight of the day
U.S.’s Miazga fined for “inappropriate” grab.
It’s a disgrace that we have not signed a #10 yet. I get that things can fall through with signings, but at this point you have a great MLS players sitting at home in NE that fits the role perfectly. They need to go and get him.
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It’s also a disgrace that NYCFC doesn’t have a stadium.
It’s truly stupefying.
It is especially frustrating because the talk at ticket renewal time was “we know we need to make signings” and “knife to a gun fight.” Well, the other MLS teams are only signing bigger and better guns. How much worse is this season going to be?
A team that missed the playoffs last season have made (aside from signing a handful of young prospects) 1 (one) signing
So glad I did not renew. Saw this coming all along that they would not be willing to spend money on a good 10. Sugarman needs to sell this team ASAP. A good team that has a chance to win a Championship will get this city passionate, just as the Eagles did! Hope more of you will boycott this team instead of supporting that clown Sugarman.
I am not buying a single ticket for this club unless/until they get a real #10, or show me that they can win matches without one. Which I highly doubt.
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I mean, Accam was a great signing, yes. But he isn’t enough. The league gets better every year. The Union are barely keeping up, much less getting ahead.
Failure to sign a #10 is something about which we should all continue to howl. It is an absolute abdication of any sort of responsible way to put this club together. They MIGHT be able to string some results together with Najem in the spot, but it’s a huge gamble, and a gamble that quite clearly informs the fan base that this club has no ambition whatsoever. It can’t even be bothered to field a competitive squad. If I were Bedoya or Accam or even Medunjanin — or any player on that squad — I’d be pissed. And we get social media slo mo videos of the team playing cornhole on a Florida beach. In any real footballing country fans would show up to the stadium with pitchforks and torches. It’s a farce.
So you tell the new 10, this is where we look for you to apply pressure. These are the channels where we need you to force the play to the flanks.
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otherwise, go out and make something happen. Be, you know, creative.
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With all due respect, this isn’t Antonio Conte, Cholo, or Pep level tactics in Philadelphia—- you know how I know?
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…cause I watch the goalie kick it over the entire team’s head over and over.
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The idea a high quality CAM can’t find his way pretty adroitly with his new teammates is as absurd as as as as as a Tesla in Space.
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they already understand line, perspective, tone and use of light…. you just let them go be artists.
But the players can’t learn a new formation. Soccer is hard in Philadelphia….
On a day when I should be ecstatic, the Union, once again, have pissed in the pool. Jim, sometimes your honesty, is just stupidity. This is one of those times. I’ve gone from defending Curtin, to tolerating him. Now, it’s complete dislike.
The blame lies with Sugarman and Earnie though. They just like to hide from the media.
Of course. But Jim doesn’t need to pour gasoline on the fire.
There is still PLENTY of blame that is directly on Curtin.
Great article here about Salah and why others like him did not work out at Chelsea: http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/42964824
Great piece. If Salah goes to Madrid, I’ll be devastated. He claims to have been a Liverpool supporter since childhood. I hope the club does right by him and pays him what he deserves.
4:29 in to a preseason game, Haris plays deep and through OB then to John McCarthy who plays it to OB, who plays it back to keeper— who then airbuses it over everyones head.
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6:04 midfield cycles possessed ball to defense then to John McCarthy who doesn’t even try to play to a wide open weak side OB instead, airbuses it over everyones’ head.
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these are meaningless preseason games with ZERO intent to keep the ball on the ground in a windswept Florida stadium.
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Such a disappointment…. this brand of soccer.
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There is NEVER a third man already in the space, only a third man checking back to the ball. There is NEVER numerical advantage in the middle third of the field. Wingers play the ball negative in one or two touches and instead of moving on angle of support turn and just fucking stampede down the field. I detest it.
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This is the first preseason game and I already want to jump in front of a motorcade parade bus at Broad and Lombard.
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It was quite uninspiring. They look the same old Union.
There’s no gold stripe down the middle so they look a little different.
Well put, A.
I was busy watching play, not the costumes. But whatever floats your boat.
It was just a joke, I was agreeing with you that the only thing that looked different was the uniforms and then only slightly. The play looked the same as it always does.
Sorry I was trying to be tongue and cheek, but it didn’t work. I thought the “costumes” conveyed that, but I was wrong. Should have added the wink emoji or whatever. My bad.
“It’s difficult throughout the world to sign players.”
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No it’s not. Just spend money. Period. The fact is you don’t and won’t. Disgraceful.
Yeah, my job is difficult too, but I still go out and do it every day.
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Do your job!!!!
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We have one real signing so far this offseason. ONE. And only 5 total – 3 of which are homegrowns.
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There are two other teams that have less signings than us so far, Seattle & Toronto. Seattle finished 2nd in the West, and Toronto won MLS Cup.
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What are Ernie and Albright doing?