Photo: Paul Rudderow
Philadelphia Union
If you haven’t read it yet, make sure to check out PSP’s Chris Gibbons’ match preview of tonight’s match in Toronto.
Is Borek Dockal ready to turn the corner?
The Union kick off a tough stretch tonight with three road games in nine days. How difficult will it be for Philadelphia?
When the U.S. U19s challenge for the Slovakia Cup, the Union academy will be represented.
Local
Looking to get back on track, Bethlehem Steel host Richmond Kickers on Sunday.
Penn FC host Tampa Bay Rowdies tonight at 7pm.
U.S. Soccer
When it comes to the 2026 World Cup, North America is hoping economics outweigh politics.
MLS
Interesting interview with Gio Savarese spanning from his work with the Timbers to the next steps for the USMNT.
After a quiet close to the transfer window, here’s why most teams stood pat.
Las Palmas reportedly turned down a $12 million bid from an MLS team for their star striker.
Around the globe
The New York Times with a remarkable read on how and why a world class soccer player is hiding out in a California bakery.
The Set Pieces asks if women’s soccer has the breakthrough into our sporting consciousness.
SI’s Grant Wahl spoke with Chicharito about the art of Mexico’s synchronization.
Atletico Madrid spoiled Arsene Wenger’s fairy tale send-off, advancing to the Europa final ahead of Arsenal.
They’ll face Marseille, whose dramatic goal in stoppage time sent them to the final over FC Salzburg.
It’s really remarkable that in the US, where the Women’s National Team has had so much success and many of the best players are household names (or close to it) that the NWSL is such an afterthought. You’d think there’d be better support. It’s also remarkable that there is no local women’s team. People will say, well, you can’t even fill Talen for a men’s game, but the US has set the standard for a high level when it comes to women in football and we’re ceding it to Europe. Lyon had something like 13,000 attend a champions league match against City. And now Manchester United getting involved means there will be a women’s Manchester Derby. Exciting stuff for women’s football, but it would be nice to have some of that excitement here.
I’m the constant bad guy in this argument but I’ll make it anyway (from my normal username, of course). I look at in one plain way: women’s soccer is not as entertaining because physiologically the female body cannot perform at the same level as a male’s. In all competition (except long distance swimming (seriously)) women pale in comparison to the abilities of men. The entertainment value of this lesser form is severely diminished. I personally would rather watch the Union play DC United over the USWNT vs anyone. Women’s sports have been around my entire lifetime (to some degree) but they’ve never commanded the attention some claim they deserve. Is it possible, maybe, that the product just isn’t good enough to care for? Every girl and woman in this country should be able to play the sports they want to (I currently have a female right back on my Casa team and I’m quite satisfied with her abilities) but why do we have to keep having this argument? The WNBA is never going to have as many slam dunks but should it still exist? Sure, for those willing to support it. But it’s always going to be inferior to the slam dunking NBA that sells billions of dollars worth of sneakers and jerseys and video games.
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I, for one, would prefer masses of this country getting on-board with male soccer as a whole before we worry about the support of the female side of things.
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Okay, I’m ready to defend myself. Go!
I tend to agree with you on these points in general, but idk, I’ve always found soccer to be the outlier. Maybe the fastest male and female players won’t finish a race even, but there can still be such quality in soccer. You don’t need to be as physically gifted to be great. You need to know how to move, have a great touch, etc. obviously being bigger can help a lot at times. Idk personally I’ve enjoyed watching women’s soccer, whereas not so much with basketball etc
IDK I’ve never seen a man paint like Georgia O’Keefe….
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Art and the beautiful game being the same and all.
I am not a weight lifter.
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Years ago an article gave me the impression that in the lower body types of lifts women were potentially stronger.
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AS a man I have no direct experience of childbirth. I would think those muscles in a woman have to be quite strong. Weakness would be fatal.
Women’s club soccer in America will never gain mass appeal because of the money. The WNBA and the women’s clubs in England can operate at a loss because their male counterpart clubs make so much money. They can absorb the cash loss and write it off as a marketing cost for their men’s teams. This can’t be done in the US because the MLS doesn’t generate the same kind of revenue.
Truth,
Not asking for women’s game to eclipse the men’s; I just think there’s more of a place for the former than we think. There’s no argument that the best male athlete is going to be stronger, etc. than the best female athlete, but I think we exaggerate that gap. If the Women’s National Team were to take on the Union, I wouldn’t be be confident to put money on the Union. Part of the failure for women’s sports to make a dent is our assumptions that they’re vastly inferior.
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Also, I get the argument about the men’s club game lacking a lot here, but, again, one of the biggest rationalizations people make for the lack of MLS mojo in the US is that it doesn’t represent the best the sport has to offer. But we did (do?) have the best women players on the planet.
To play the part of the American soccer hater: Maybe people don’t respect men’s soccer in this country because only our women can “get it done” in competition.
Great article about Sukur….
Agree. So sad what Turkey has become. Hope he’ll be our gain and Turkey’s loss.
Why don’t articles ever say things like, “The Union play two games in 7 days,” when writers always say things like, “The Union play 3 games in 9 days.” The latter is apparently an unthinkable gauntlet while the former is business as usual.
Chris, I think the point is that they are “away” games. If your emphasis is that the team is on a road trip then, naturally, you would use the full time they are away. In this case, 3 matches.
They will play the 2nd game on the fifth day, like a conventional major league baseball starting pitching rotation.
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The real challenge is the third game in the series when they play on the 3rd day.