Photo: Rob Simmons
Bethlehem Steel
ICYMI: Bethlehem Steel announce plan to play home games at Talen Energy Stadium in 2019. A setback for soccer in the Lehigh Valley that will hopefully end up benefiting the club, players, and, most importantly, fans.
Local coverage of the announcement here.
Local
A nice story on Jersey juggernaut Washington Township and their keeper Mike Pagano.
Springside Chestnut Hill Academy is back in the PAIS Championship.
Philadelphia Union Academy U-15 midfielder Quinn Sullivan scored both goals in the team’s 2-2 draw with Players Development Academy.
MLS
Incoming MLS expansion side FC Cincinnati unveiled their new crest Monday. It is… underwhelming.
Atlanta United v. Red Bulls in the Eastern Conference Championship could be the best playoff series in league history.
Not even FiveThirtyEight can pick a favorite in the game, giving each team a 50-50 shot.
Sporting Kansas City’s Daniel Salloi became the first Homegrown player to net a brace in a playoff game.
Zlatan was named MLS Newcomer of the Year.
USL
USL named their Defender and Goalkeeper of the Year. Props to very-good-name-haver Forrest Lasso on the former honor.
U.S. Soccer
With Zack Steffen injured, Jonathon Klinsmann was called up to the senior squad for the upcoming slate of friendlies.
The U.S. women face Scotland tomorrow night in their final test of 2018.
The Cincy crest link just goes to a random front page of a news website.
Good I thought that was just me.
Haha weird — fixed. It was the local Cinci news article…
With totally respect to the Lehigh Valley and its rich and admirable footy tradition… this is a no brainer. I could lick the thumb and rummage through past news feeds and find the exact times I argued for this but… alas- no need is there to trumpet my own trunk like Colonel Hathi.
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If the taste for the game is strong up there, in my humble opinion, investors could easily bring a fully owned and funded USL team into the city…hell even starting at USL III or II and you guessed it promote up to the top level of USL… I imagine Union would even gladly part ways with the logo and name and just call it Union II in Talen, which is what it is and is supposed to be. Hell, take the extra cash and fund a women’s team down there in Chester too… link the game day experience across the board.
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Can’t serve two masters- ultimately, either the parent franchise, the satellite franchise OR / AND OR worse yet – the fans get short shrifted. I know I know it works for baseball yada yada yada… those Barcelona and Bayern and Chivas and Lyon professional baseball teams are really really good.
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Lets reduce overhead. Lets reduce travel time and expenses. Lets reduce playing afternoon games because there are no lights in August on a 125 degree field… and guess what we could do with the million or two extra dollars a year?
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BUY.A.STRIKER.
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Sincerely and with great affection.
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the elephant in the room.
It’s almost as if marketing the Bethlehem Steel name was the priority….
I’m glad you’re happy Steel is moving to Talen. You definitely seem like you’ve got it all figured out. I’m sure you’ll be the first one through the gates at every Steel match in Chester.
Did I use the word ‘happy’ ?
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Happiness is not part of the equation. If you are unhappy I certainly understand. For me it’s logic and suitability.
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If Ernst Tanner feels the age of Steel will be / should be getting lower and lower this means the roster will be populated more and more with academy, injured, reserve first team players which means that can all happen from headquarters.
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Once again…. I’m pulling for Bethlehem in this. The storied history deserves its own USL team not as stepping stone for Union… which incidentally if done right would be a boon for the area.
i like the cincy crest but do miss the crown.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018/11/12/fc-cincinnati-mls-logo-and-colors
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disappointed in the inevitable fold of Steel into Talen. no real effort to resolve the USL requirements in Bethlehem, nor to get fans to Goodman. can’t see this move bringing in any more fans than Bethlehem offered. you can’t get people to go to Chester for a Union match. at least the Union-affiliate shackles have been removed. hopefully the Valley can get a D2 or 3 team in the near future.
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MLS newcomer isn’t a surprise. i saw Diego Rossi on that list and i thought how much the MLS landscape changed. In Spring, Rossi i thought was the sensation. With Zlatan and Rooney’s arrival and some guy named Vela… distant memory.
The continued hate for Steel and the Lehigh Valley by some commenters here is disappointing. I don’t get what your guys’ problem is. I can’t believe anyone honestly thinks the team playing at Talen is better for anybody.
Steel has done it’s job on the field and off the field, despite no marketing or attempt to market, we still had respectable crowds.
A Valley club will come and we will get 8-10k a game if it’s done properly. That can happen with or without the Union. Up to them.
Curtin #4
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https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018/11/13/atlanta-uniteds-gerardo-tata-martino-named-2018-mls-coach-year
he’ll get the new contract. want to see into the crystal ball for next season under Curtin? slow start, hot in the summer, back into the end of the season. copy and paste for his tenure.