Photo: Earl Gardner
Philadelphia Union
The Union hung out with the Phillies in Clearwater yesterday along with future Sons of Ben capo Jason Kelce.
This is totally unverified, but it’s a slow news day: This story links 30-year-old Czech midfielder Bořek Dočkal to the Union. Dočkal is currently playing in China after a long and successful stint with Sparta Prague.
Bethlehem Steel
2018 NYCFC second-round draft pick AJ Paterson joins Bethlehem Steel.
MLS
CONCACAF Champions League kicks off tonight with Colorado Rapids and Toronto FC!
Here’s a full rundown of the first round.
Long-time Real Salt Lake defender Chris Wingert retires.
New England Revolution are sounding very Union-y.
Can Wondo make history in 2018?
USL
After getting bumped from another MLS team, former Union favorite Jack Mac joins Indy 11.
U.S. Soccer
It’s forward Josh Sargent’s 18th birthday, which also means it’s the day he officially signs for Werder Bremen.
17-year-old Atlanta United academy product Zyen Jones is the latest American to join Schalke in the Bundesliga.
The U.S. U-20 WNT is heading to France this week for a tune-up ahead of August’s World Cup.
Help wanted!
If you didn’t see it yesterday, PSP is looking for volunteers!
its weird that no one in mls signed mcinerny. i feel like he usually scores a lot of goals wherever he plays but come to think of it he didn’t seem to do much in la
The Union get unfairly bashed for releasing Okugo, Ribeiro, Jack Mac, Pfeffer, etc. but the fact is that none of them had success anywhere else either. At least success on a consistent, reliable basis. I mean Alberg led the team (maybe league) last year in goals per 90 minutes, but that can be a misleading stat (See: Le Toux as Union striker vs. everywhere else).
Another MLS academy player headed abroad. As this starts to happen more frequently with MLS investing in a player and getting zero return, how long before something changes? Do you think at the next CBA, MLS might dangle very lenient free agency for a promise that MLSPU does not sue over solidarity payments? To me it’s the turning point for player’s and owners as they both will benefit now.
Yeah, can’t imagine MLS liked losing money and high potential players. Seems like an incredibly poorly setup system.
Yes and no. For years it kept cost down as hardly anybody was going out and they had nothing to lose. The academy system for MLS only became mandatory in 2013. Say what you like but MLS was still thought of a league that might fold only a decade ago because of lack of revenue.
It has to do with US law that clubs can not get solidarity payments, not MLS.
This is not entirely accurate. If MLS wants to institute Solidarity and Compensation it will be able to do so.
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There are ways and means around the child labor laws of which you write.
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At this point training and solidarity is a US Soccer issue first and foremost as best I understand it.
This was a big discussion point of the rumor mill after last season. There was a buzz that the teams were going to get to keep much more of their money. It’s part of what made the NYCFC moves seem unseemly. They were selling…to themselves…and getting substantial profits.
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I don’t know if anything was finalized, but the move was in heavy discussion.
Tannenwald reporting that Dockal is in Philly getting a physical and signing the contract. Obviously not a 100% done deal but looking pretty good.
Huh. Interesting. China’s HJ Jianye paid almost 8 million pounds for his transfer. Wonder if we get him on a free (Earnie’s favorite bit of business). Don’t know what else to think about this guy, but I had never really heard of Barnetta before, either, so if he’s comparable in quality, that’s a good thing. We’re now less than 20 weeks from opening day, so….
11 days, I think, to play straight man to your gentle irony. 😉
Huh…the Chinese soccer market it crashing? Who saw THAT coming?!
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(Hint: everyone.)
Wow when I put the roundup together this morning that Czech site was the only one reporting it… things move fast.
I guess that’s where the circle of Ernie’s dome of silence ends.
You know how I know it’s fake? They used the old Union logo in the tweet. [sad trombone]
Make. It. So.
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Judging from everything I can find on him, this would be a great signing.
Tannewald’s tweet sounds pretty confident.
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There is an audio pronunciation guide of his individual page on transfermarkt. To my ears it sounded lie BOR zhek DOSCH kal.
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Here is Tannewald’s tweet:
@thegoalkeeper
56 minutes ago
Jonathan Tannenwald Retweeted SPORT INVEST
Czech Republic midfielder Borek Dockal is in Philadelphia to negotiate a move to the Union. Medical examinations to come and the contract isn’t signed yet, but a well-placed source tells the Inquirer and Daily News that Dockal is the Union’s big playmaker target.
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His birthday is 30 Sept 88, so he is 29 years 5 months.
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They are buying time for Fontana to develop with the Steel, as well as trying to become better now.
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TRansfermarkt says his roster value is falling at 1.44 million pounds and that his contract with Henan Jianye ran until 22 Feb 2020.
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Earnie got it right with Medunjanin. Tannenwald knows what he is doing and seems well connected with the first team. He is correct that it is not done until he is in the shirt on the pitch, but … .
On behalf of everyone who’s workplace blocks Twitter, I thank you for your comment
Dockal has a family and they would have been living in Zhengzhou, Henan province in the Yellow River Valley in north central China, if they were living with him.
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it is on a major interior N_S rail line as wel as an e-w one.
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In 1938 in what the Chinese call the Anti-Japanese War, Jiang Jie-she aka Chiang Kai Shek breached the yellow River’s dikes near there to try to slow the advance of the Japanese Army.
Re: Dockal
FYI – for those who use FIFA rating to give them an idea:
https://sofifa.com/player/181271
Natural #10, takes a good free kick and good with both feet. I’d be excited if this happens.
Me too. May consider getting season tickets again.
Steel signed a young LB on loan. Had a really good showing at the U-20 WC last year.
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https://www.philadelphiaunion.com/post/2018/02/20/bethlehem-steel-fc-acquires-zambian-defender-prosper-chiluya
Starting to see a pattern with the Steel and Union with signing players. For the Steel it’s been high draft picks for other teams and international youth players. For the Union it’s players on national teams that are considered second tier in Europe or players in second tier leagues. Basically dumpster diving as last year is a good example.
Ok, so clearly it is not even worth asking Jim or Earnie about plans for future additions to the squad. Whatever they have planned, they ain’t gonna tell us.
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But the question remains: assuming this deal goes through, why would it have taken them until late Feburary to sign our #10, when the need has been painfully apparent since, I don’t know, last April???
assuming this deal goes through, it was only done because of Ilsinho’s injury. Obvious or not, they were not going to buy a #10 unless absolutely necessary.
I doubt they could turn it around that quickly since Ilsinho’s injury. This was likely in the works for a while. His team ust may not have been willing to recognize they bought him on an incredibly-inflated price and weren’t ready to take the loss until now.
It sounds like the Miami Marlins former owner runs the Chinese team — just kidding — salary dump.
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He signed in China a year ago, almost to the day.
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His contract with the Chinese team ran until 2020.
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Were this highly speculative train of thought to have any validity, they had to terminate the contract. Make everything square with Chinese laws about capital flows from foreign sources. Get the appropriate Chinese bureaucrats to approve stuff. Do it all over the phone using translators. To say nothing of Chinese customs about developing “connections [guangxi]” before doing any business. A personal relationship is apparently the sine qua non.
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That’s not a recipe for speedy business I would bet.
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Especially since the only thing slower than a Chinese bureaucrat is an MLS one.
based on what I read, it took them a long time to make the deal because of opposition by the Chinese club, but if your comment was meant to be sarcastic negadelphian (Sure, they got a good playmaker, but what TOOK them so long) I apologize
No, I was not being sarcastic at all. Now they have to integrate the guy into the squad late. We don’t know if he speaks English. I find it frankly bizarre that it took this long for such a gigantic area of need.
If you believe Ernie, they have been “really close” on multiple occasions (last off-season, summer window, a few months ago) – but close don’t count. Results do.
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Maybe this has all part of Ernie’s MLS learning curve, while also being Sugarmanly handicapped during the process, and he’ll get 4 DP’s in during next year’s off-season….
It’s impossible to know. One could assume that Earnie — being an able-minded soccer exec — had a list of targets. As those targets fell through — we heard of one French player a week or so ago — then he has to go to the next best thing. This guy’s contract is up on Feb 22. So it’s a waiting game to get him for free (something Stewart deserves some credit for). Unless he decides to let us in on how he makes these decisions, we’ll all be left guessing.
His contract was valid until 2020.
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Cobbling together some small pieces of info I’ve seen (so really, there is nothing hard evidence based in what follows…) the move could have been pushed forward thanks to roster compliance due in China. I count 6 international players on Henan Jianye’s roster and I believe the international player roster limit for the Super League is 5. The Super League season starts in about two weeks and their transfer window ends at the end of the month meaning that teams would likely need to be compliant soon or face fines, etc.
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Also saw something from Czech media that said his family wanted to move.
Ah, thanks for the clarification. Not sure where I got that Feb 22 from.
“The new Beckham.” – from 2012
First three highlights are of him hitting the post…but then they get better
Tannenwald now reporting that this is most likely a loan, although he has not been able to confirm that with anyone in the US.
the foreign news sites (the ones linked in his article) call it a one-year loan
That’s not unusual. A lot of MLS deals aren’t straight transfers. A majority are “loan with an option to buy.” I’ve never put the energy to learning why, but that seems to be the MO of the league.
sounds like an upgrade any way you slice it. time for the union to hire language teacher fluent in czech.