Photo: Daniel Studio
Philadelphia Union
Of course, the Union lost to Columbus. PSP’s Nick Fishman has the recap for ya. [Editors Note: Check back later today for full player ratings]
The Union may also lose Fabinho and Sapong to injury.
Matt Real got called up to the US U-20 team. With international friendlies on May 17 and 19 in Honduras, he most likely will miss the Union match against RSL on May 19.
Philly Soccer Show posted a new pod. They recorded it before the Columbus match, but still some good stuff in there.
Local
Bethlehem Steel FC head coach Brendan Burke talks about beating the Kickers and the next match at Charleston.
Looking for more Steel coverage? How about a Bethlehem-specific podcast?
Penn FC beat Toronto II, 1-0.
Atlantic City FC won its first NPSL Keystone Conference game, 2-0, against FC Monmouth.
Villanova announced its 2018 recruiting class.
Open Cup
Reading United rallied from a 1-0 deficit at halftime to win in penalty kicks, 5-4 over Christos FC United.
Ocean City also won, 3-0, against AFC Ann Arbor.
Here’s what went down for all of the First Round.
USL
Chicago Cubs’ owner is starting a USL team, aiming for a 2020 launch. They plan on building a 20,000 stadium on the North Side.
For those unfamiliar with Chicago, Lincoln Yards is pretty much *the* spot in the city you'd want to build a stadium for an MLS team. Parking could be an issue, but location is basically ideal.
— Sam Stejskal (@samstejskal) May 9, 2018
Indy Eleven is drawing big crowds. Maybe it wasn’t a step down for Jack McInerney after all.
MLS
More MLS matches than you can shake a streaming app at:
- Atlanta 0-2 Sporting KC — Geiger strikes again
- Toronto 1-2 Seattle
- Chicago 1-0 Montreal
- LAFC 2-0 Minnesota
Conor Casey is embracing his evolving role with the Rapids. I guess that clothing company he ran with Dan Gargan didn’t work out.
A D.C. United supporter on why the rumored Rooney move might make sense.
US Soccer
A proposed Wednesday meeting between Rocco Commisso and the USSF was canceled. Now the NY Cosmos owner is threatening to pull his $500 million offer to fund a revamped NASL off the table.
Around the globe
EPL action yesterday:
- Chelsea 1-1 Huddersfield (the latter won’t be relegated, and the former’s chance of a top four place look bleak)
- Tottenham 1-0 Newcastle (Kane’s goal guarantees Champions League spot next year)
- Man City 3-1 Brighton (Pep and crew continue to rack up records)
- Leicester 3-1 Arsenal (Wenger’s side went down to 10 men after 15 minutes)
For his last match, ManU’s Michael Carrick will start this weekend.
Juventus won their fourth consecutive Coppa Italia as they thrashed AC Milan.
What does it say about me as a person that I hoped CJ Sapong wasn’t able to continue last night? That at this point, knowing injuries derail careers under this management, I was hoping Jay Simpson or Corey Burke would be brought on, get a run of games and jumpstart a totally INSIPID and LIFELESS team. What does it say about me that I want to say, ‘here’s jay Simpson finally getting an actual chance to play in this league with a decent 10 and scores 6 goals in 8 games.’
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What does it say about Dockal that he was godawful last night… and it wouldn’t matter if Mario Balotelli was striker?
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What does it say about me that I am convinced through the newspapers, social media, this place, Brotherly Game et all…. a game needs to be picked in the very near future before World Cup and a boycott needs to be arranged….
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…a home game with ZERO fans in the stands.
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this is dire. because this is unacceptable.
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because I believe 7 players on the field are older than 30 years. because because because because it is it is it is it is unacceptable.
It would be a true spectacle if everyone showed up for the game but stayed in the parking lot. Unfortunately thousands of fans comes to Talen Energy Stadium and don’t honestly care about the performance. It’s an easy outing for families and the like. Those people will never join in protest and those are the people Sugarman will continue to suck money from.
Burke should have been brought on when Fabhino went down. They needed to generate some offense. Bringing on Gaddis only made sense if they were being spotted 2 goals and were really winning 2-1 at the time. (Simpson wasn’t on the 18 so he wasn’t a possibility.)
Truth, el Pac, You both sum up my feelings perfectly. I have already started my own boycott wherein I will only tailgate and not go into the game (parking and all is already paid for so might as well get something out of it).
And…agree 100%, Sugarman doesn’t care about the hardcores like us, as long as Soccer moms and dads come down and root for Jim et al he doesn’t care about us. Why should he? (rhetorical question)
Yeah its a goddamn shame Curtin will only rotate his players when they are injured.
Geiger needed a police escort off the field in Atlanta. Does anyone think Talen will ever see that level of passion again in an MLS match?
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For the record, the disallowed goal was a *terrible* call. The red card against Guzan was spot on, though.
Am I correct in thinking that Seattle have now passed us and the Union have scored the fewest goals in the league?
One year later.
One year ago we had a meeting with Earnie Stewart being promised (or, ok, at least being confident)this club would be on the upward direction. Here we are, one year later, and to my embarrassment, we’re worse. I’m an original season ticket member. It is getting harder and harder to heighten any enthusiasm. Oh, I’ll end up being at Talen, because I care about the game and team too much. But what more proof do you need about this team’s road presence. We had 9….9!!!!!…road points last year. What blows me away even more is that, despite being a marginal club, we’re generally ok, dare I say somewhat good(ok that’s a stretch), at home. So when you can’t muster up anything (nothing!)on the road, what does that say about your coaching staff. If we were getting numerous chances and were just unlucky not to score on the road, that’s one thing. But there’s literally 1(!) dangerous Union chance per road match. When your analyst, Tommy Smyth, is saying in the 80th min…”kick it the box and maybe something will happen”, it’s time to throw in the towel people. This is beyond unacceptable. Take out the DC United game…3 goals in 8 matches…and none on the road. What more proof do we need to make a change? Preaching to the choir I know, but it still boggles the mind.
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The most offense the team generated last night
was a
Free
Kick
The number
6
Accidentally
Played in
On
Goal
when
No one
was
Watching
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Read this again
And
Again to grasp the level
Of difficulty this is to attain.
I mean Dockal did have a nice volley DIRECTLY into Steffan’s chest… but your point is made. And despite the volley…I also agree that Dockal sucked… AGAIN
Eight points out of a possible 27. less than a point per game. After this team’s inevitable capitulation in Montreal on Saturday, Curtin should just acknowledge this challenge is beyond him and resign. His future employment prospects will only suffer the longer this farce goes on.
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Maybe someone will come along and fire up a Philadelphia USL team with a 20,000-seat park in the city. Give us something to root for.
Oh, I’m there. Please happen.
I would buy season tickets to that USL side faster than you could say “doop”
Call em the DOOPers. Ruin Sugarman. If I ever hit the lottery it will be the Philadelphia DOOPers.
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Also someone said it yesterday on PSP I think… Curtin will never coach anywhere again after he eventually leaves… at some point… when we’re all old and gray. And that should say something.
agreed. pay attention to Chicago in the USL link above. it will be interesting how that plays out.
At this point I’m going full “process era Sixers fan” mode and actively rooting for loses. It is only by extreme losing that the front office / ownership will eventually make a change with either the coach or general manager. We will never be a good team under this current coaching staff. This team really needs a whole new ownership, GM, AND coach but that doesn’t seem realistic at the moment so a coaching change may be the best I can hope for.
Sadly no #1 draft picks are coming with that strategy where we can snag bonafide college players ready to lead a franchise. Extreme losing going to change things? If nothing is changing now, why would you expect that then?
Chivas USA.
future fan of PhillyFC
I’m a Sixers STH and I was on-board with the process (had my tix before it began, too) but when you can land Ben Simmons and are lucky enough to land Embiid – and then patient enough to wait him out, AND have a coach willing to put up with losing for 3 seasons – the Process works. But after 8 seasons of losing while trying to win, can we really trust them to actually make it work? I mean, they would have to start playing Real, Jones, Burke, and others all the time, even if it meant taking time from the veterans, and we as a fanbase would have to endure the growing pains.
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The Union have been losing since 2012 – and do they really have anything to show for it yet?
Losing doesn’t help anyone in MLS. Draftees are pretty much an afterthought with all of the academies up and running now. Actually getting a draftee that pans out is akin to winning the lottery (which Union have been on the luckier side of – more-so because they aren’t buying the talent that would displace their recruits).
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You do end up with a little more TAM/GAM than other teams, but that’s about it.
This might just be me, but … if Commisso has $500 million to invest into a revamped NASL, why doesn’t he just build a stadium for the Cosmos and enter USL? Better yet, why not invest in the USL, pitch the same ideas for the NASL and try and get Pro-Rel going between USL and its new 3rd division? I don’t understand for the life of me why there is this obsession with the NASL NOW. I get the reasons why they initially broke off, but the USL has revamped and is huge now, and the NASL failed for many reasons.
While I don’t think we have a great roster, I refuse to believe it’s totally void of talent. We should be better than 6 goals scored this season. What formation/lineups do you think a competent coach would use? Why isn’t JC trying something different when what’s he’s doing is obviously failing?
WSSM
Rotate players. Give guys rest. Maybe try a 4-4-2. CJ has proven he can’t play alone. Or throw caution to the wind when you’re at home and play 3 in the back and try to get some goals to spark some offensive action. Curtin plays the same guys, in the same formation, and gets the same result. This isn’t rocket science. TRY ANYTHING
Let’s wear paper bags on our heads to the next game. Why not (weather permitting)?
I won’t be there till Chicago game on May 30, but I’m game.