Photo: Jose Castellanos/Prost Soccer
Philadelphia Union
The Union lost to Houston, 3-0. One goal for every time they’ve lost the Open Cup? Too soon?
Nice peek into a team meeting where Curtin honored McCarthy, Trusty & Simpson on making Team of the Week.
Here are the ref assignments for Saturday’s match against the Crew:
REF: Drew Fischer
AR1: Kathryn Nesbitt
AR2: Peter Manikowski
4TH: Dave Gantar
VAR: Caleb Mendez
The Crew’s Berhalter might be blowing smoke, but he sees Sapong as a threat.
Local
Temple’s men earned a 1-1 draw against Villanova after playing for only 70 minutes due to lightning.
Penn FC fell 2-0 to Pittsburgh in the Keystone Cup final. It’s the first time they lost to a Pennsylvania opponent in 2018.
ICYMI: some recent college action, including St. Joseph’s women rallying to beat conference rivals La Salle.
MLS
NYCFC clinched a playoff spot with a 2-0 win over Chicago.
Atlanta’s mini-pitches are breaking barriers by reimagining American soccer culture.
Trivia time: which year had the most MLS head coaches getting the boot?
U.S. Soccer
It’s been almost one year since the USMNT failed to qualify for the World Cup, and not one candidate for head coach has been interviewed.
Not sure how much this story has gotten out there, but Ashli Rice (@PhilaUnion's incredible anthem singer) has been invited at Earnie Stewart's request on an all-expenses paid trip to sing the anthem for @ussoccer_mnt vs Colombia in October. #DOOP
— MK_27 (@mk_27) September 26, 2018
USL
FC Cincinnati‘s title-clinching win sets a league record.
NWSL
Sky Blue FC’s Imani Dorsey wins Rookie of the Year.
Around the globe
Frank Lampard’s Derby County knocked Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United out of the Carabao Cup in PK’s.
Dortmund walloped Nurnberg, 7-0, with Pulisic logging an assist in the opening goal.
Barcelona lost for the first time this season to bottom-of-the-table Leganes, 2-1.
The quarter finals for Australia’s FFA Cup are in the books.
Soccer’s not mentioned in this article, but still an interesting read: The best coach in college sports might be a psychologist.
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Union Shart.
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…thought they had it under control but didn’t. Time to clean up the mess of a gutless turd of a game- the quesies got the best of you again – throw those undies away men and forget about them.
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Do you stand up, pin the shoulders back and put some ‘fuck you’ in the fight? Or nutsack up on a cold day and pack it in?
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Ought to be interesting.
I always suspected you wrote for Hallmark…now I’m certain.
Nice.
I’m totally putting this on my wall.
The mini pitches are genius. Linking them to rail lines even more so.
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As mentioned in the article… it is no small reason why England has resurfaced as a world power. Its not philosophy, tactics or playing style… its a section of Southwest London with an enormous street profile and a number of young players who have come from this area and rose through the ranks now playing in top tiers and for the NT.
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The street culture of France is legendary… France is World Class deep in every position of the field 4 and 5 players. Clairfontaine just polishes them. I repeat, Clairfontaine, which is an amazing place by all accounts just polishes these players.
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very smart of cities (Atlanta Los Angeles) to treat themselves as little countries… and build their own street culture. Especially since MLS has made Homegrown policies that will not allow other MLS teams to poach players from other HOMEGROWN hotbeds.
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In other news -I’ve noticed YSC is now closed on Sundays. Used to be I’d complain about NFL football being on the TV there. I was up there for a free play game the other week and couldn’t even take a piss inside. CLOSED. During soccer season.
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Bottom lines being what they are and all. One city grows its game through free play. Another city closes its academy on a Sunday- instead of using the facility as a free play hotbed.
When soccer can be played by kids (and adults) as freely and easily as pick up basketball, this country will rocket forward in the game.
Challenge for the Union now is to rapidly forget all about the Open Cup and get on with the regular season campaign that still has some distance left to go. Everybody on the team — players, coaches — failed. There’s no individual to blame. They lost big as a team. If they dwell on it and skid through the rest of the season, it would be a catastrophe.
Please just get rid of Curtin. Nothing will change until he goes. Always gonna be passive, always gonna play 4-3-3 NO MATTER WHAT ! Always going to be on the shit side of mediocre. It is too painful.
I love it when a poster shoots his credibility clean off when writing something stupid.
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They have never played a 4-3-3 under Curtin.
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You putz.
I fell of the chair laughing on this one……..well played, Lolz!
Interesting that MK27 refers to Ashli Rice as an “incredible anthem singer.” I think she’s absolutely terrible. Great voice, for sure. Just a terrible anthem singer. *shrug* I’ve heard dirges that have more tempo…
Seriously? Look, she’s no 7yr old, but I feel like she’s been doing great this year!
Yep, seriously. I think she’s a very good singer who also happens to be a very bad performer of the national anthem.
Ashli Rice is just fine. Uh, the kids they’ve been running out there in her place? “Sun dial slow AND off-key is no way to go through life kids.” (And a quick pace SHOULD be required by the U in the first place) Maybe they should be trying dance instead.
At the risk of even dipping a toe into this debate, I’m just popping up to thank John Osborn and the PhillySoccerPage team for drawing my attention to the Stewart-Rice development in the first place.
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Seeing that tweet after the goal.com article made for a strangely satisfying “U.S. Soccer” section one-two. Props to the best soccer blog around.