Photo: Paul Rudderow
Philadelphia Union
The Union face Chicago Fire at Talen Energy Stadium tonight. Here’s everything you need to know for the match.
…and here’s a little more from Adam Cann.
Earnie Stewart looks to be finishing up his move to US Soccer. He spoke to SB Nation about youth development in American Soccer.
The NCAA Champion Villanova men’s basketball team will be at the game tonight.
Highlight’s from Jim Curtin’s midweek presser.
Given the packed schedule coming up, Cory Burke and David Accam may return to the starting lineup.
MLS
It’s official: Cincinnati will be the newest MLS expansion side.
Local
West Chester United SC shut out Electric City Shock in their NPSL match, 4-0.
USA
As the USWNT heads to China, stars Tobin Heath, Chriten Press, and Julie Ertz return to the roster.
Christian Pulisic has been released from the USMNT roster, as the team leaves for Europe. No surprise there.
Around the globe
According to his agent, Robert Lewandowski is looking to leave Bayern Munich.
Any rumors on the replacement for Stewart? Please, please, please, don’t tell me Albright.
It won’t be hard for the Union to exceed my expectations when (if?) they replace Stewart. I’m not expecting any changes at all. Hiring Curtis, who is supposedly looking for an MLS return, would be remarkable, but I’d have to assume he has irons in other, more attractive fires.
“you can take that to the bank.”
Curtis left the Red Bulls because Jesse Marsch is, well, kind of a jerk and the two didn’t see eye to eye. But the Union right now are a total reclamation project, and it would only add to an impressive resume if he were to turn the ship around. Plus, he was competing with Stewart for the USMNT GM job, so why not stick it right in Earnie’s craw by taking his former team to an MLS Cup title?
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That being said, I would place the odds of the Union getting him at pretty low. They will be looking mid-season though, which may give them an advantage.
Albright is, frankly, my expectation. If so, I hope they don’t do the BS move of sticking the “interim” tag on him only to remove it later.
Albright was already doing the job before they brought in Stewart. Unless he’s going for some power grab, I don’t think his title will change.
Why did Curtis leave Red Bull? I’ve yet to see a reason anywhere and please don’t tell me it’s because he didn’t get along with the coach he hired. Curtis made the switch replacing a coach who just won the Supporters Shield and made it to the eastern conference finals the next year. Since then his replacement has also one a SS but still not getting past the eastern conference final. Curtis has exactly two years experience running a team and came from the MLS front office when he took the job at Red Bull. Although he was born in Philadelphia like Albright, how much more experience does he have? It’s not like he’s going to come in and change the philosophy like he did at Red Bull from aging DP’s to homegrown players, the Union already have the same philosophy already. So my question is why do so many people think he would be an amazing hire? Albright has been working in the system with Stewart and knows the entire organization already. Unless you’re changing ownership, I rather go with Albright. Ali Curtis has same qualifications Piotr Nowak had with less ambition and success at the same point in his career. If it isn’t Albright, I hope it’s someone bigger than Curtis.
“Differing views” which included Jesse Marsch’s viewpoints.
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https://www.foxsports.com/soccer/story/ali-curtis-out-new-york-red-bulls-021617
pretty compelling argument.
This is a pretty fair take. I think for most people, Curtis represents recent Red Bull excellence that we’d like to see at the Union. How much is Curtis responsible for, I can’t say I have any idea. Along those lines, I don’t really know what I can say for sure about Stewart’s tenure as well. We could probably get a good chicken-or-egg debate going here about just who is married to the 4-2-3-1? Curtin? Or Stewart? I don’t know for sure. MLS teams run in virtual darkness compared to other leagues in both global football and other US sports. Ernie may have made the Union front office the absolute model of efficiency and other off-the-field things that are not related to results. Not sure how we’d know that.
At least Curtis wouldn’t be scared to bring in his own coach…
Ernie asked Curtin what system he wanted to run and Curtin answered by telling Stewart what the personnel they had might excel at. Ernie replied, “no Jim, what do you want to run”? Curtis brought in a coach to run the system he wanted the team to play. The success the Red Bull experienced was already started with the Academy well before he got there and they still used the MLS 2.0 model of aging DP’s. Curtis understood that the Academy needed to be used and giving young players a chance. It’s pretty much what we’re starting to see here now. Changing coaches now makes no sense and probably takes a year to get everyone on the same page. Unless they are going to hire a big name with a proven record, give me Albright.
Philadelphia union has been my team since they were founded, but neither the coach or Stewart has won us anything. If one goes both should go. Can’t blame Stewart for wanting to help fix team USA.