Photo: Paul Rudderow
Philadelphia Union
FC Dallas aren’t just another Union opponent. They’re a reflection of the potential success of Philadelphia’s homegrown talent. Pro Soccer USA’s Joe Tansey has the story.
Matthew De George on how the Union can kick their crossing habit.
A captain on and off the field, how Alejandro Bedoya has forged a friendship with one child battling cancer.
Local
Union academy-product Michael Pellegrino commits to Notre Dame.
Penn FC’s home opener is this Saturday at 7pm against Charleston Battery.
MLS
FC Dallas won’t be relying solely on homegrowns to beat the Union. Here’s a look at how the club is diving deeper into the “analytics revolution.”
After a hot start, Columbus Crew’s attack has dried up. Is Gyasi Zardes bad again?
Speaking of the Crew, maybe they won’t be going anywhere. MLS has met with local investors.
The five teams that could benefit from a deadline transfer.
Alphonso Davies isn’t the young kid anymore in Vancouver. The Whitecaps signed 16-year-old Simon Colyn to a Homegrown deal.
After landing a blow on Auston Trusty’s onion bag, the league has suspended San Jose center back an additional game.
U.S. soccer
The U.S. president tweeted again last night— no, not that one. Carlos Cordeiro offered an update on U.S. soccer.
Cordeiro also said the U.S. will announce a general manager in the coming weeks. Union sporting director Earnie Stewart has been interviewed for the job.
Who’s supporting whom in the bid for the 2026 World Cup
The USMNT will face England at Wembley on Nov. 15.
Former Union-man Antoine Hoppenot was featured over at uslsoccer.com. His luscious locks are no longer, but he is the driving force of Reno 1868 FC’s attack.
Around the globe
With Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final again, the New York Times explains why Spain is bracing for a demonstration of Catalan independence.
How the UEFA Champions League is devouring the significance of domestic silverware.
Courtesy of The Set Pieces: Mohamed Maouche and the extraordinary story of the FLN football team
Highlight of the day
Hoppenot isn’t the only Union alum in today’s news. Fresno FC’s Pedro Ribeiro scored this spectacular goal last night in California.
We are just going to sit this right here @ESPN #SCTop10!
OMG Pedro Ribeiro! Take. A. Bow#FRSvTUL pic.twitter.com/zt0b1149Am
— USL (@USL) April 19, 2018
Slow clap for “landing a blow on Trusty’s onion bag.” Slow, slow clap.
Wilson’s piece on the potential for a European super league is intriguing. Not sure how doing something like that wouldn’t lay waste to the domestic leagues. Can you imagine a PL without United, Liverpool, City and Spurs? Or La Liga without Barca and Madrid? Serie A without Juve? If Champion’s league is any indication, it would absolutely be the pinnacle of football competition, but it would really take away from 100 years of domestic league tradition for a lot of the clubs involved.
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News that New England snubbed a $750,000 transfer offer for Nguyen is amazing to me. There is no way they are going to get that for him now.
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Also, the Cincinnati Fussball Club thing is pretty damn funny. I don’t really care, but can’t figure out what they were thinking.
fussball. tragic as to be beyond tragedy.
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GMO soccer…. the arid, glysophated top soil watershed runoff soon to be dust bowl Interstellar The Movie preamble to all that which is fake and dying from underneath it 6% market share on TV lets keep adding teams to the league to support the structure.
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you know me well enough by now. support local. rage against the machine otherwise.
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In other news I love Alejandro Bedoya. Totally authentic.
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In other other news, local (top) academy player training as a professional and with professionals for years —– opts for collegiate amateur route.
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Still so damn incongruous.
I’m with you on Bedoya. From his political stands to this work with the young fan. Just pure class.
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On Pellegrino going to Notre Dame, college is such a universal cultural thing in the U.S., it’s tough to argue for any alternative path. Particularly when (I’d guess) nearly every academy player is still middle class. Going to college is more than just a choice, it’s identity.
I’m not sure what the big deal is with Fussball Club Cincinnati. Tragic? Cincinnati has a big German heritage, and the neighborhood bordering their proposed stadium site is called Over-the-Rhine owing to the large number of German immigrants that once lived there (the “Rhine” being a canal that had to be crossed to get to the German neighborhood). Also, technically, the club is formally known now as Futbol Club Cincinnati (though no one really refers to it as that), so switching to a German spelling seems somewhat more appropriate. And whether it is spelled with the double s or the Eszett (ẞ), I’m also not sure that it really matters that much; the club will still be mostly known as FC Cincinnati or FCC to the fans. So if nothing else it is an homage to the city’s heritage, which involves at least a little more thought, and seems a tad more genuine, than some other team names.
Jon,
Why bother with all that nonsense, though? What’s wrong with Football Club? To me, it’s as silly as naming it Ballspielverein Cincinnati. The Union is actually a pretty good model to follow, in my opinion. A cool and appropriate name that makes sense and follows an American team naming convention. Imagine if, in a nod to the area’s Italian heritage, it called the club Calcio Philadelphia. Or in a nod to the Swedes who first landed here we called the club Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Philadelphia.
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I get tired at the neverending politics of authenticity when it comes to the sport, but Fussball is, at best, it’s trying too hard. It just smacks of a bunch of marketing hacks trying to put some Bundesliga polish on a club that really doesn’t need any to be supported by its remarkable fanbase.
Is it really any worse than Sporting, Real, Dynamo, United, or even FC in general?
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At least it has a little meaning given Cincy’s roots.
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In the end it’s all still just posering. For as much as everyone complains about the MLS 1.0 team names, they were at the very least original (for the most part). It’s a shame that teams are afraid of being creative anymore.
i respect both sides of this argument. we’ve certainly seen worse and with less regional meaning.
Sporting and United are at least English and don’t require a character that isn’t even in our alphabet. I wouldn’t mind a few Rangers, Wanderers, or Rovers, etc. in the league, but the best names are the originals — Fire, Galaxy, Union, Sounders, et. al. Sacramento Republic is a great name. I think recent efforts from Orlando, Minnesota and Atlanta are, quite simply, lacking.
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To be fair, Real is just as bad as Fussball Club.
Trusty committed to UNC. Real and McKenzie committed to Wake Forest, with the latter playing a year for the Demon Deacons
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These kids have to commit to somewhere just in case the Union or Steel don’t come knocking on the door with a professional contract.
I thought the FC in FC Cincinnati stood for Five-way Chili.
agree on most followup thoughts. re: naming, atlanta being the worst as they had a clean slate. i respect minnesota and orlando for carrying the name from their previous incarnations. unfortunate for the plethora of united.
….love Matt DeGeorge writing an article I’ve been writing about for three years here.
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Can I have ghost writing credit?
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Sincerely,
el Poacher.
Wenger is leaving the Gunners
#WengerIN
#CurtinOUT
Which Wenger? The winger Wenger or the Wanker Wenger? What would the winger Wenger want when wages were weighed? Would Wanker Wenger work well with whatever wage winger Wenger wanted? Wondering…
Which wha…
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Wait…My eyes…I can’t see anymore! I can’t SEE anymore!!!
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I should have NEVER tried reading that!
Not surprised about Cummings getting an extra game suspension. How freakin’ stupid to miss 2 games for doing something in the dying seconds of stoppage time far away from the ball.
College education is an investment that pays off until you die, especially if you avoid a narrowly monetary definition of ‘pays off”.
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A smart, perceptive individual who loves the game recently commented, and I do quote, “This is temporary.” Education is lifetime, which I grant is also temporary.
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As a soccer parent said several months ago now, when discussing an offspring’s College decision, and I can no longer quote verbatim only substantively, this is Plan B..
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I myself still remember the crux of John Stuart Mill’s argument in On Liberty from my freshman English equivalent. But my legs now are doing well if they let me walk somewhere rapidly.
College is overrated and always willing to take your money.
No denying that, but I am glad I got the training I got.
True Tim, apologies for being snarky.