Photo: Earl Gardner
Philadelphia Union
Jack Elliott and Jim Curtin were named to the MLS Team of the Week.
Former PSP contributor Adam Cann sat down with new Union Sporting Director Ernst Tanner for a solid, in-depth podcast for the Union. Definitely worth a listen.
Dan Walsh isn’t the only one who thinks the Union are good. MLSSoccer’s Bobby Warshaw says the Union are a team to watch.
Adam Najem earned a first-team call up with Afghanistan for their August 19 friendly against Palestine.
Local
ICYMI: Week Two winners and losers from week two of the Philadelphia Unity Cup.
Bethlehem Steel keeper Jake McGuire was named to the USL Team of the Week.
MLS
LA Galaxy tied Colorado Rapids at the StubHub Center 2-2.
Sporting KC defender Jimmy Midranda will have season-ending surgery on his knee.
USA
USL III applied for sanctioning from U.S.S.F.
Around the globe
It’s a new year in broadcasting for soccer with different ways to watch. Jonathan Tannenwald breaks down how to watch Champions League.
Baby Warshaw’s article is great but forgets to mention Burke and does not allow comments.
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The Champions League saga is ridiculous. There is a quote in Tannenwald’s article: “We’re just trying to be more creative with the spokes”. R u kidding me?! In the past I could see all and any of the matches on DirecTV. Now I have to pay an extra $80. That is not being creative; that is robbery. And if you want to see more leagues/games it will cost you $750 as per NY Times article I quoted yesterday.
I responded to Warshaw on Twitter…. said I agree they’re getting good, but questioned the “fun to watch” part for the season. I didn’t hear back.
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There’s a big opportunity for MLS in the lunacy of international football TV rights. Last year I could watch nearly everything on ESPN, FS1+2 and NBC Sports. Now it seems I’ve lost nearly half of the fixtures I could watch before to obscure streaming services. I think a huge part of Premier League success in the US has been ubiquity. For years, NBCS has been available in even the most basic cable and streaming TV packages.
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If MLS could get a majority of its games on one of the major sports networks, it might pick up some of the people who are losing lots of options and aren’t eager to go subscribe to three different streaming services. I know MLS can’t just wave a magic wand and score a deal like that, but I think it would make a difference.
i laughed at that too, Pete. yeah, i can recall moments of fun but that’s about it. the 0-0 vs columbus this year: probably the worst match i’ve ever seen. is it fun when you dominated possession but didn’t finish? is it fun when you saw the same lineup knowing it would produce the same result? is it fun knowing the formation was inflexible? only now am i thawing to the idea they have the potential to be fun.
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as for tv rights (and wrongs), the push to monetize and the fragmentation are threatening the growing audience. i know i’m not paying for NBC Gold again. i know i didn’t jump on ESPN+ and, at best, if i can carve out champion’s league in my work schedule, i’ll maybe buy per match. i’ve grown more accustomed to reading and watching highlights than sitting down for a match.
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i read an article about how content fragmentation will be more nefarious than your cable package.
I think Warshaw watches a lot of other MLS teams than we here do so I think that’s the comparison he’s making. We only see highlights from most other games. He’s also talking about our recent run not the beginning of the year.
I’ll say they’ve been very fun to watch. In comparison to where this team was, and the “talent” it had in ANY previous season? I’ll take watching this squad every single time.
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I can’t name a player of squad previous to 2016 or 17 that I’d rather see plugged in here.
chris, espn+ is the most intriguing to me, particularly for having the Championship and now Serie A. I’m even a fan of ESPN FC and was sore when they moved it off of ESPN News to become a + exclusive. But I’m not going to sign up for 5 services to watch football. Fortunately, Liverpool is typically going to get priority status, so my Prem mornings will be fine.
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Dave R. I’ve not been able to watch every Union game, so my opinion only counts so much, but several of the matches I’ve seen have been excruciating to watch. Just the inability to convert in the attacking third has been a misery. I’m glad they’re turning it around, now though.
Pete, it HAS been rough when CJ (and I DO like CJ) has started, he just doesn’t have the instincts or ball handling ability of Burke.
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Burke makes things a heck of a lot more interesting as do the kids. Would love to see Fontana get more minutes, but I guess that will have to wait until Dockal’s loan is up.
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Regardless, that quality of talent/play this year is night and day better than it’s ever been for this club.
Looks like the academy signed a couple of decent U17 players recently. Gotta think having 2 levels of pro teams and actually giving young players a chance to play could start paying dividends on who actually decides to join our academy.
I can’t stop thinking that this team will have a USL3 team soon and probably in Wilmington. It just makes so much sense to do. They’re already affiliated with the Sixers in Wilmington building the Sixers field house for their G-league team. They’re signing young African players in the 18-20 year range and have been scouting players for the academy. Plus MLS keeps talking about solidarity and training fees and how it’s on the player’s union. If not Wilmington maybe Reading could make the jump.
I just cancelled Fox MatchPass, and will be signing up for the Bleacher Report streaming service. Fox isn’t worth $20 a month for just a few extra Bundesliga and FA Cup matches. But overall, I don’t really have a problem paying fairly reasonable yearly fees for these streaming services if I get access to an entire league’s fixture list. With all Serie A and MLS games available, ESPN + is worth 5 bucks a month/60 a year to me. So…
$80 yr – B/R
$50 yr – NBC Gold
$60 yr – ESPN +
$190 a year ($16 a month) for every match across the EPL, Serie A, MLS, USL, UCL, and Europa League. It’s like SiriusXM, if you use it, its worth it.
No thank you. I’m not interested in having my money pecked to nothing. If this is truly the trend I’ll be missing a lot of soccer.
Use the Mobdro app. Seems you can watch BT sport, Eurosport, BEIN and Foxsports, all free. Needs an Android device or Firestick. Not on iOS.