Photo: Earl Gardner
Philadelphia Union
ICYMI, PSP’s Peter Andrews wrote a piece about the gulf between the Union and its supporters.
Brotherly Game asks, “Are the Union hopeless again? Signs are pointing to yes.”
Damn, the Steel’s got a lot of teenagers on its roster!
The Steel’s Zach Zandi was named to the USL Championship Team of the Week.
Local
Two products of Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer are staying local for college: Brice McInroy is transferring to Villanova from the University of Tennessee, and Antonia Linus will play for West Chester University.
MLS
Both the New York Red Bulls and Houston Dynamo are out of the Concacaf Champions League (CCL).
The league says other cities will have to wait behind St. Louis and Sacramento for teams.
The Revolution’s Andrew Farrell is out for a month after rupturing a retina in training.
Looks like Major Arena Soccer League is the new retirement league. Jermaine Jones joined Ontario Fury.
I feel bad for D.C. United fans and that FloSports fiasco.
https://twitter.com/MLSRewind/status/1105518154598572033
NWSL
Sky Blue‘s coach and players claim there’s a “fresh energy” after concerns are addressed.
Canadian midfielder Sophie Schmidt joins Houston Dash.
U.S. Soccer
Gregg Berhalter called up 24 players ahead of friendlies against Ecuador in Orlando and Chile in Houston, featuring Tyler Adams and Christian Pulisic. Bobby Warshaw had some thoughts about it.
Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe ruled out boycotting this year’s World Cup as part of their fight for equal pay and conditions. And here’s another Yahoo! Sports article with seven of the most compelling arguments in the USWNT lawsuit.
Hope Solo has partnered with Street Soccer USA to hire more females in the sport.
Around the globe
Three NCAA soccer coaches charged in massive college admissions bribery scheme.
Man City shellacked Schalke, 7-0, in Champions League quarters.
Cristiano Ronaldo had a phenomenal hat-trick against Atlético, firing Juventus into last eight of the Champions League. Oh, and here’s an up-to-date timeline on Ronaldo’s sexual assault case.
Arsenal’s Vivianne Miedema says, “There’s a big difference playing with boys and with girls.”
Why was a Neo-Nazi hooligan mourned at a football game in Germany?
Highlight of the day
It’s almost like, when something is beautiful and designed well, people actually want to buy it… https://t.co/yRmBM6yPxI
— All3Points (@all3points) March 12, 2019
Seeing NYRB crash and burn was good fun. Houston losing 3-0 on agg was a shame but I couldn’t help but imagine how much worse it would’ve been if the Union were in their place. 6-0 on agg? 10-0? Man City dismantling Schalke surprised me. I know City are capable of lighting it up but I figured Schalke would at least show up to play. I pity the many travelling supporters I saw on social media.
listened to the City match while it unfolded. was easily over after 2nd goal. Schalke gave up early. embarrassing and were i a Schalke fan, i’d have been pissed by the lack of effort. broadcast crew basically shooting the breeze for the last half hour. i kept thinking ‘wow that was a fast match’ only to realize it was still going.
Yeah, I wasn’t even thinking about that (thankfully) as I was watching the game last night. Union would have been *decimated* in both legs against Tigres!
Watched the Juve – Atleti match…. What to say other than that the career of the greatest big game athlete I’ve ever seen is in serious jeopardy of being marred by an increasingly more substantive claim of sexual assault (Thanks for the link, John). It’s a shame, because the performance last night was really extraordinary.
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On a more positive note, I was really impressed by Dybala, Matuidi and Can, who put in the sort of performance that I wish I’d seen more of while he was in Liverpool’s midfield. Like the look of Moise Kane as well.
Zidane back on speed dial in his Audi-“call Cristiano.”… ‘uh, Cristiano, seems I’m heading back to Spain after all… what’dya say. Once more to the bridge?’
A tangent more than a reply: This will come off eurosnobby, but I honestly cannot see him settling for Miami. (Though, to be fair, I might have said the same of Zlatan.) But even more so, Ronaldo seems most excited by big stages. After Lisbon, Milan, Cardiff and Kiev, how will does he get up for Kansas City, Carson or Chester?
Wow that Ronaldo article is enlightening. Quite disappointing, though I’m not totally surprised. I don’t know if there’s any hope it gets resolved.
From the article about Sacramento and St. Louis:
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“Sports teams ought to be forever. They’re not always that way, but you make the decision with that in mind,” Garber said on Monday. “We think that in order for us to be successful in [Detroit], we need a soccer-specific stadium. And the options that we’re presented with today are only at Ford Field.”
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Right. That’s why MLS applied that standard when they admitted NYCFC and Atlanta to the league, requiring new stadiums for each rather than letting them play in somebody else’s stadium. It’s also why the league has forced Seattle and New England to pony up and build their own stadiums rather than remaining in football stadiums.
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Because, you know, MLS is nothing if not consistent, right? Why would they want billionaire owners in a city Garber himself has deemed an important market. I’ll admit I haven’t read a whole lot on plan for Detroit, but from what I’ve seen it looks to be a lot closer to Atlanta or Seattle than NE or NYCFC.
I just listened to a great 6 part podcast called “The Dropout”. If you’re not familiar, go check it out. Or if reading is more your thing… it’s based on the book “Bad Blood”, which details the whole Theranos scam run by Elizabeth Holmes and Sunni Balwani, etc. Really interesting. ANYWAY – I am starting to think MLS is Theranos. Just raising money, raising it’s profile, sort of producing a better product year by year, but never really ever interested in being fully formed… or operating to it’s full potential. It just wants to exist to make money and has no real 5 year plan, 10 year plan, etc. There is no real “end game” here. Is it pro-rel? Is it multiple leagues? Multiple conferences? I think they are just existing to make money. As evidenced by who they let in the game? How can Garber, with a straight face nonetheless, claim Detroit needs a soccer-specific stadium? It’s a scam. This whole thing could be a giant scam.
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Sorry about the rant… I just genuinely wonder what the hell is going with MLS on both a micro and macro level, when I read about things like what Garber said about Detroit. And while I am proud of the strides it has made as a league, it’s what comes next that is most concerning… but we all know we’re not getting answers to any of these questions… so this was probably pointless.
I’m not a podcast person, but I’ll check the book out. Thanks for the recommendation.
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Back to the general topic… for me, it’d be one thing if Seattle and NE were “grandfathered” in. Similarly, a temporary arrangement is also fine – Minnesota, for example. It would even be quasi-acceptable (to me, that is) if it was just an excuse to block an ownership group that can’t afford to compete. But the Detroit thing is just utterly baffling. From everything I’ve seen, it’s a solid ownership group that was made even stronger with the addition of the Ford family.
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There’s also the fact that both Sacramento and St. Louis look like fantastic choices, but only one will get picked because Garber absolutely fucked things up by letting Carpetbagger Precourt have his expansion team in Austin. That plus the Detroit thing plus the other cities mentioned in the article tells me MLS isn’t stopping at 28 teams. Honestly, 28 is probably too big as it is; 30 or 32 (or, dare I say it, 34+) is absolutely insane without other, significant, structural changes.
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Or, in other words, I agree with your “this whole thing could be a giant scam” thesis…
Yea, it’s a scam where they get some very smart and rich people to invest. Selling them on a sport that’s not gotten to stability in this country for over a century, while other not so popular sports such as hockey and American football have in the last half century. Hmm how can they not see this so clearly? Lol
sardonic. usual.
Wolfpack and JL…..forced scarcity isn’t a scam. its a strategy.
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feels like a scam for some. but its viable. power resides in the hands of the few.
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amazing if one takes a look at the empty seats this past week.. yet the narrative of a thriving game. This is what bakes my noodle.
In the ‘Where Are They Now’ category:
Eric Ayuk – Osmanlispor
“The Osmanlispor winger closed February by scoring insurance tallies in consecutive victories over Karabükspor and second flight leaders Denizlispor, giving him a career-high five goals on the season. The following week, Ayuk and friends finally saw their 10-game win streak end with a 1-0 home loss against Gazisehir. They will start Saturday’s home tilt with Hatayspor standing three points off the summit in third place.”
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https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019/03/13/mls-exports-impressive-showings-england-germany-mexico-and-costa-rica
Good for eric. chasing a footy dream in a footy rampant culture.
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Sergio Santos out at least a month according to midweek presser. Hip flexor. “Not good” says Jimbo.
*facepalm*
And Ilsinho left practice after “limping off”, but apparently his is not serious. To take from something The Elephant might do… Oh, think twice… it’s just another day for you and me in paradise…
Nothing is easy
Though time gets you worrying
My friend, it’s OK
Just take your life easy
And stop all that hurrying
Be happy my way
When tension starts mounting
And you’ve lost count of the pennies you’ve missed
Just try hard
And see why they’re not worrying me
They’re last on my list
Nothing’s easy
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life as a Philadelphia Union fan, summed up by Jethro Tull.
In case you cannot access the story about the teenagers on the Bethlehem
roster behind the pay wall,
James Chambers 32
Zach Zandi 22
Saed Diaz 19
Steve Kingue 19
Ben Ofeimu 18
Michee Ngalina 18
Faris 18
Selmir Miscic* 16
Issa Rayyan 18
Chavany Willis 21
Walter Cortes 19
Jamoi Topey 19
Yomi Scintu. 21