Photo Credit: Philadelphia Union
Union
Signings have been made this week! In addition to Aurelien Collin earlier this week, the Union have signed goalkeeper Carlos Miguel Coronel. Here’s what Tanner and Curtin had to say about the signing.
Tim McDermott and Ernst Tanner will be hosting a live Q&A on Facebook today at 2:45pm. You can submit your questions here.
Mbaizo plans on using the preseason to earn his spot as right back this season.
Trusty and McKenzie are still on Berhalter’s now 23-man USMNT roster heading into the friendly against Panama on Sunday.
Local
Bethlehem signed Ben Ofeimu on Wednesday. Fun fact, he’s the first player to sign a professional contract who has completed the Union Academy’s Residency Program.
Tim Oswald will return as the head coach of the Ocean City Nor’easters for the 2019 season.
MLS
Gregory van der Wiel is leaving Toronto FC after an “altercation” with head coach Greg Vanney during preseason training camp. Altercation can also be spelled “insubordination” in this case.
Atlanta United acquired Pity Martinez from River Plate.
Is Charlotte the next target for an expansion team? The NFL’s Carolina Panthers owner is eager and trying to make it happen.
Landon Donovan is coming out of retirement (again) to join the San Diego Sockers in the Major Arena Soccer League.
While Tim Howard is retiring at the end of this upcoming season, it’s not a farewell tour.
US
The USMNT will play Panama in an international friendly on Sunday at 8pm ET.
And two months from now, on March 26th the USMNT will host Chile at the Houston Dynamo’s stadium.
World
The groups have been set for the 2019 Copa America, which kicks off on June 14th in Brazil.
Bayern Munich signed 18-year-old, Chris Richards from FC Dallas.
Chelsea defeated Tottenham and will face Man City in the Carabao Cup.
10 things to watch for in the fourth round of the FA Cup this weekend.
I’d love to see the original list of questions before the interns cherry pick the softballs for ET and Mickey-D to answer. Guessing that “When will Sugarman’s open his wallet?” and “When will Sugarman sell the team?” will feature prominently.
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Over-under on when we’ll first see “Pity Party” as a headline on the league website?
Looked at some of them on Twitter. Yes. Most are exactly that. Over/under is week 3… when they play the Union 🙂
I have to say that I’m pretty interested to see what Tanner can do before the season opens. I like the way he’s operated so far. Seems like he’s delivering on the moneyball promise Stewart made and never really realized. And I like that our most significant signings are Brazilian. We’ve got a pretty good Brazilian thing going on with Fabinho, Real, Santos and the new keeper. I know I’m habitually susceptible to bouts of optimism, but I think this squad might not be terrible. And I expect another signing or two before the season starts. South American Windows are open for many more weeks and months in some cases.
I think some of what Tanner is able to do is based on the foundation that Stewart started. Can’t sell all of your draft picks if the Academy hadn’t started to deliver first team players.
Yeah, I don’t mean to disparage Stewart. A lot of what he did is likely in just getting the organization organized. Probably no small feat.
The Union are probably 1 starter piece away from having a complete team, and that’s a new #10. We also probably need another depth LB/RB and 1 or 2 depth CB. If we run a 3 man backline I guess we could have a complete team now. I am interested to see how this all shakes out, hopefully sooner rather than later.
Don’t forget the Brazilian coaches at the Academy either, Kleberson and Fred.
It is flat IDIOTIC to keep asking Sugurman to keep “opening his wallet”. Stop it.
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If you’re kid came up to you and asked you to buy her/him a Lamborghini, and you’re making $75K, are you going to “open up your wallet” and get the damned car?
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Stupid.
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He’s not Arthur Blank, GET OVER IT!
Couldn’t understand you. Something of Sugarman’s was in your mouth…. quit apologizing for the wealthy owner cause his ass is making plenty.
Arthur Blank isn’t losing money so lets not pretend he is. It’s not unreasonable to live in one of the biggest markets and expect your owner to spend decent money. Honestly if we got to 10 in money spent I think people would be happy.
I personally don’t want a “Blank”. I’ll take someone like Paulson from Portland. Doesn’t spend alot, and spends wisely.
The thing is Sugarman CAN “open his wallet” but will not. Nothing is stopping him for spending or taking on investors.
However, the kids dad CANNOT ever afford a Lamborghini.
Stop making excuses for Sugarman, GET OVER IT!
You know what’s even more IDIOTIC? Yelling at people and calling them names like a petulant child while defending a man who’s name you can’t even spell.
Some people have opinions that aren’t yours, GET OVER IT!
It’s FUTILE to keep asking him to open his wallet but it’s not IDIOTIC. He is the owner of a professional sports franchise – and I, personally, don’t care if he lost his money in the depression or real estate crisis or whatever. If he’s struggling financially, sell the team, or find more investors so you can spend more. (By the way, a sports team value is higher when they win and sell more tickets, which means more money for the owner.) I fork over my hard-earned money to buy season tickets for a team that perennially disappoints me; the least he could do – I mean, literally, the least – is spend a few more dollars to make his team more competitive. Or, he could sell the team and no longer be a “struggling” millionaire.
This is the rub. Sugarman’s incentive to spend more money is hugely offset by the fact that his investment is growing substantially without additional capital. Rather than transact short term assets like DPs, he’s wisely investing in long term ones instead like the Academy. Very little about the team’s annual performance needs to change because of those factors couple with declining but roughly predictable attendance.
I think insane (doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results – in this case Sugarman opening his wallet) is a better description than idiotic.
+1.
Listening to the Q&A with Tim McDermott and Ernst Tanner. They are putting $3.5M/year into the academy. That’s the DP salary..
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Salaries*…$3.5 mil would cover all three DP slots easily.
And doing a hell of job of making themselves irrelevant to much of the local sports market in the process. I have no problem with the investment in the academy, but some additional investment in talent in positions of need would be a nice way to generate some excitement with the upcoming season.
Other MLS teams manage to spend money on BOTH their academies AND pay transfer fees and salaries for DPs. For the Union it seems to an “either-or” rather than a “both-and” situation.
Time for a Tim Jones academy update. How is that 3.5 soent? How many new students? What percentage are local? How many scholarships?
Is tuition still $28 grand for 20% who don’t have scholarships?
Curious as no one commented that I saw- what is opinion tab ramos\mckenzie\tanner news?
Pro side shows union value McKenzie enough to not risk injury and to help with points, aka firmino.
Serious about winning in conference.
Saying McKenzie is a man not a muppet, belongs On usmnt not u20?
On other side
Slap at earnie stewart?
No depth in defense?
Hurts exposure of McKenzie?
Hurts academy prospects who might dream of us team play?
Tough call. What does McKenzie want?
During off years i agree with teams allowing players who want to decline by hiding behind team need as excuse so as to avoid risk of injury but not hurt later chances at callups.
But this is world cup for u20s’—negatives outweigh positives? McKenzie hurt most of all it be does want to play.
And for Union would be interesting if Ramos and Stewart respond by not recognizing other union organization players across us system as message to mls teams? Tanners letter unusual enough to have Ramos call it out, puts ussf in position of retaliation or lose face.
Who benefits then?
Thoughts?
McKenzie stays, plain and simple. He will be playing against men (and has for a year), what benefit would he get from the U20’s? Maybe you could argue it’s a “World Cup” experience/environment, but he’s already got that with the U18’s. He also doesn’t seem to be one that would wilt under the spotlight.
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Honestly, who gives a shit about Ramos. If he’s butt hurt, too bad. If US soccer tries to teach people lessons then they can just keep pissing away any goodwill from the fan base, while also cutting their nose off despite their face. Who does US soccer think they are? I can tell you I think they are the one’s that have screwed up the national program for too stinking long. Stewart’s and Berhalter’s appointments do nothing, nada, zero, zilch, to assuage this ill will that has been built up. Exactly who has US soccer helped develop? Waiting…and waiting. If Ernst didn’t laugh in their faces I sure would have.