Photo: Paul Rudderow
Philadelphia Union
Philly.com caught up with Marco Fabián, and some observations.
The Union website spoke with Kai Wagner. Ich bin ein Wagner fan!
A Columbus Crew fan anatomized Accam’s first goal.
Union-related nuggets from #USL.
–John McCarthy has 2 clean sheets with the Rowdies.
–3 players with Union/Steel ties (Santi Moar, Brian Brown, Aodhan Quinn) in top 10 in scoring.
–Moar & Ken Tribbett made USL Team of the Week
–Ben Ofeimu has attempted most passes in USL pic.twitter.com/PQSoQyVvtx— Joe Tansey (@JTansey90) March 26, 2019
Local
Penn Fusion product Michael Hewes will play college soccer at the University of Pennsylvania.
West Chester University‘s men’s team added eight-year-old Colby Palomeque to the squad. Palomeque is battling ROHHAD Syndrome.
Saint Joseph’s freshman Asia Whittenberger is one of 10 Atlantic 10 Conference student-athletes that will join more than 500 athletic leaders and other student-athletes for the 2019 NCAA Inclusion Forum in Atlanta in April.
MLS
The Impact signed draft pick Amar Sejdic.
How a former Orlando, Atlanta executive is shaping Inter Miami.
Wow, Delaware is in the FloSports geofence for D.C. United games. When I think of the D.C. area, the Credit Card state doesn’t come to mind.
MLS taps SendtoNews for digital content distribution.
NWSL
Sky Blue will train at Georgian Court University, and defender Mandy Freeman is likely done for the season.
U.S. Soccer
Pulisic got injured as the U.S. had a draw with Chile, 1-1.
The U.S. used to rule the women’s sports landscape, but with momentum stalled, the rest of the world is catching up.
Around the globe
About 100,000 fans caught Mexico play in San Diego and Santa Clara.
Nike was fined 12.5M euros for blocking United and Barcelona merchandise sales in Europe.
Louis van Gaal says he should have coached Tottenham instead of Manchester United.
Cardiff City are reportedly refusing to pay the £15M transfer fee agreed for Nantes striker Emiliano Sala prior to the player’s death.
Highlight of the day
ICYMI, Ernst Tanner spoke at the Sons of Ben tailgate this past Saturday:
Great “Anatomy of a Goal” from the Crew fan’s Massive Report…
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And as it points out, Elliott’s tackle/interception/pass to Bedoya was awesome. It started that counterattack up so quickly and caught the Crew out of shape. I really love Elliott’s passing this season. He is so much more effective at it than Trusty, who would have just cleared that same ball out of bounds…
Amazing watching Chile play… I pay close attention to them. Have for years as I love their football… and I love Bielsa and he still permeates through every aspect of their play as the veterans begin to age.
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Seems like so many times, I sit and observe, wow are they out of sorts, and helter skelter and what are they doing, man they’re just a mess– then 25 minutes in you actually realize the boa constrictor was just not actively tightening its muscles— they have been slowly slowly coiling around your body the whole time none the less. Did anyone see the bended ball to Vidal at the top of the 18 in 52nd minute by the left back #6? I replayed it about 5 times…. an exquisite work of art that lifted my spirits from the doldrums.
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on an individual player note, I’ve noticed the same seems to go for Lionel Messi.
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He spends the first 10-15 minutes of a match in an apparent unenthused ennui. practically walks around the field. One could easily wonder about this flea.
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But really, he’s measuring, calculating, bending time and space in his mind, diagnosing and finding his exploitables and expendables on the field… and next you know- he’s the greatest player to ever play— all over again.
What I realized (or maybe remembered?) as I watched was how far the US is from being competitive on the world stage. You can talk about style and systems all you want, but problem number one is that the technical ability is just flat lacking. So many bad first touches, errant passes, and the like. You can hardly evaluate Berhalter’s methods (or any coach’s for that matter) when these deficiencies ruin so many movements. As long as the team is made up in any significant part by players from MLS, improvement will only come in dribs and drabs. Players who can’t cut it in bigger, better leagues…can’t compete with teams made up of players who can cut it in bigger, better leagues.
Chickens and eggs.
And yet….with a US B team….the score was 1-1
There were definitely points where the US looked liked chickens without heads and every man was needed on deck as the ship was going down. Whereas Chile, despite going down early seemed more the well oiled machine. I have to put some of this down to Chile actually having played mostly together for two World Cup cycles and the US has mismatched parts. Beyond this though, the US players don’t seem to have the innate ability to react to how the game evolves around them. The Chileans played as if they could see where the play was going vs. the US seemed to react to the play.
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A story about Wayne Gretzky strikes me as relevant. Wayne as a child would watch hockey games with a pencil and a sheet of paper with a rink embossed on it. As the game went he would trace on the paper were the puck moved. After the game he would then analyze where the pen marks were darkest. When he played, he would always be in those places. He wasn’t the biggest, fastest, or strongest. He was the best. He became the best because he was always in the right spot. My point is maybe the US needs to teach coaching to players as well as individual skills and responsibilities.
That tweet is depressing. If we kept last year’s team together and still played in Bethlehem, we would have been a top 4 team in the East this season.
I’m genuinely curious about your perspective on this. I don’t have any feeling toward Steel, but wonder what is accomplished by keeping the team together with other young players waiting in the wings. Then, beyond that, what is accomplished by keeping the team in Bethlehem? It has to be a money-losing enterprise. You seem passionate about it and I want to know.