Photo: Earl Gardner
Philadelphia Union
Four Union homegrowns took part in the 1-1 draw on Tuesday night in Atlanta against UANL Tigres U-20s.
Seventeen-year-old Brenden Aaronson became the first in the Philadelphia Union Academy to be named to the USL Team of the Week.
The Union released a statement about the next sporting director:
Philadelphia Union have spent the past two months interviewing and vetting multiple candidates to be the club’s next Sporting Director. We have identified and agreed to terms with our chosen candidate and are in the process of finalizing a contract with that candidate. When that process is complete, the club looks forward to making an announcement. In the meantime, soccer decisions will be made by members of the Union’s existing technical staff, who have been preparing for this transition and are evaluating transfer window opportunities.
Philly.com interviewed Earnie Stewart, and Kevin Kinkead asks exactly what is his Union legacy.
Matt De George dug up some interesting stats: “Since the start of 2015, the Union are 10-4-4 in midweek MLS games (Tues/Wed/Thurs). If you factor in the Open Cup, the Union are 17-4-8 in all comps in midweek games since the start of the 2015 season (penalty kick games count as draws). The downside is that most MLS games are played on weekends. Since start of 2015, Union are 30-51-24 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.”
Hey, Eric Ayuk, unpack your bags. The Union allegedly were looking for about $500K for him. Curtin said, “It’s all still up in the air. It’s been a volatile one, but nothing new to report until something’s finalized. I’ve got no new news.”
https://twitter.com/PhilaUnion/status/1024690037068390401
Local
Reading United is benefitting from partnership with the Union and Steel. Also, they’re helped by a complex recruitment process.
The Philadelphia International Unity Cup kicks off Friday night.
MLS
Juventus beat the MLS All-Stars last night in PK’s, 1(3)-1(5).
Ives Galarcep wonders if it’s time to change the MLS All-Star Game format, and Pro Soccer reports that next year’s match will take place in Orlando.
While the USL expansion fee has risen 47-fold in 9 years, MLS' expansion fee has risen only 7-fold in twice that time (20 years). Also, player salaries have risen about ~2.5x.
Pretty incredible that USL's growth has out-accelerated MLS'. Why is that?https://t.co/IsEDbxuMp2
— Nipun Chopra, PhD (@NipunChopra7) July 31, 2018
Around the globe
beIN Sports goes dark on Comcast. Verizon Fios subscribers also could lose it.
Manchester United’s Anthony Martial returns to training today, risking a £180,000 fine.
Bayern Munich CEO denies Mesut Ozil’s racism claims.
In the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, managers will be shown yellow and red cards.
Forest Green Rovers, which plays in England’s fourth division, has become the first professional sports team in the world to be certified carbon-neutral by the United Nations. Gaia just shrugs.
A lot of us are going to miss BeIn Sports if it is not restored by the time World Cup Qualifying starts. Or maybe not since the US record in the games televised there in the most recent hexagonal was pretty abysmal.
Looks like it will stay on DirecTV. Really started to enjoy The Xtra doing the WC.
It’s Albright….
Nope. I asked Brendan Burke Weds after lunch whether he was acquainted with the new guy, and he answered he had not.
Enjoyed the all-Star game a lot. Seemed to be much better than in previous years. Valerie and Martinez looked very good. The atmosphere in the stadium was something else!
I wish every other basketball court in this city was turned into a futsal court. If you build it they will come.
You’ve said this before, pachy.
Didn’t union provide a few futsal courts in chester? What’s status? How many kids in a weekend or weekday even are playing there? And are they playing futsal or something else?
My neighborhood tennis court was used for street hockey so much that’s what township finally did with it so I think kids will turn basketball court into futsal if they wanted to do that.
UnionGoal
The Union’s midweek record is no surprise considering Curtin doesn’t change his lineup and other teams likely rest players or make adjustments.