Photo Credit: Daniel Studio
Union
Marco Fabian talks about tomorrow night’s match against FC Dallas at home and says strong defending is crucial. Kickoff is at 7:30pm.
Haris Medunjanin joined the Pitchside Podcast with Adam Cann, discussing the Union’s defensive structure and his role within the team.
Don’t forget to buy your Phang plushies, now for sale in the stadium.
Lookin’ like some good weather for Saturday’s game ⚽️
Hit ▶️ for few things happening around our match against @FCDallas you may not have known about!#DOOP | #ThisIsPhilly pic.twitter.com/NjS8yKFtLB
— Philadelphia Union (@PhilaUnion) April 4, 2019
Steel
Bethlehem Steel have been preparing for a tough test against Swope Park Rangers on the road on Saturday. Kickoff is at 5pm and broadcasted on ESPN+.
MLS
In CCL, Monterrey beat Sporting KC 5-0 in leg one of the semi-finals. Sporting KC is the last MLS team remaining in the CCL and will play the last match of the series at home on Thursday.
MLS is defending Inter Miami from Inter Milan gaining trademark protection for the word “Inter” by claiming that lots of clubs use the word and it’s not just associated with Inter Milan.
The Chicago Fire are going through some major changes from returning to play at Soldier Field to a possible name change and club rebrand. #SavetheFire
Sacramento mayor and city officials are proposing a $33 million package to boost a soccer investment group’s plans for a downtown stadium and elevating Sacramento Republic FC to the MLS.
See the latest designs for FC Cincinnati’s new stadium.
The top 10 individual debuts in MLS history, including CJ Sapong for Sporting KC…
US
ESPN+ has a struck a deal to stream all U.S. Open Cup games.
The FIFA world rankings are out and the USMNT has moved up to No. 24.
World
10 things to look out for in the Premier League, FA Cup and European soccer in general.
Wymeswold Reserves walked off, abandoning the amateur cup final in Leicester after a supporter allegedly made racist remarks towards striker Linford Harris after being sent off against Cosby United Development.
And more racism in soccer, this time in Italy, where Juventus attacker Moise Kean drew the racist ire of Cagliari fans and didn’t get support from his coach.
Kean has his own way of answering racist fans.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvxQkaNApK2/
Grant Wahl says that the penalties for racism at soccer matches must be more strict in order to avoid more incidents in the future.
swap “Philadelphia” for “Chicago” and that article hits really close to home. seriously, almost the whole article is relatable.
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also, is this good or bad that Don didn’t call us out here: “We need a new stadium solution or a different stadium solution in Chicago,” MLS commissioner Don Garber told ESPNFC in February, grouping the Fire with stadium-challenged peers in New England and New York City. “Those are three of the top markets in the country and if they’re able to solve what are legacy stadium projects and move to the downtown urban core, I’m convinced that those teams in large cities will give the league even more wind in its sails.”
I would love for the Union to play in a true downtown stadium. Even though the Chester location is picturesque, and even ‘works’, it does nothing to generate support and kinship as a Philly team. As long as they are there, the only way they’ll fill seats is by winning…a tall order for a team that aspires to develop and sell rather than really compete. On the other hand, I have zero interest in the Union coming ‘home’ just to end up playing in the Linc. That isn’t ‘in town’. The Phillies blew their chance and defaulted to the South Philly hinterlands. Had they found a way to build in Chinatown or near 30th Street Station, the conversation might be different. A soccer-specific downtown stadium built from scratch seems like a pipe dream right now, and for some time to come.
Agree. I think Chester is a significant problem for the Union. If they were in University City or Northern Liberties, and ticket prices were reasonable, I think matches would regularly sell out. If they were near a subway stop, I know I’d go a lot more often. I don’t expect the club to be in a position to do anything about this for a long time.
Somehow I don’t believe anybody would go more often if the team was in the city. One could argue that people from New Jersey and the suburbs would go less. More traffic to deal with and more expensive in the city for parking. The Sixers are located in the city and they went from last in attendance to first, what changed? Oh yea, winning. Just look at the Phillies, how many straight sellouts to half stadium full? Maybe the honeymoon is over and although we like the team, unlike the Eagles & Flyers, they draw like the other two teams when they don’t win.
Winning is certainly a big part of it. But every study MLS has done shows the urban center stadiums just do better. How much? I’m not sure. But it’s not insignificant.
Chester is FAR from perfect, but the romantic notion of a downtown stadium is just that, romantic, but for all intents and purposes, unrealistic. The cost of real estate and the needed development of the property along with other area infrastructure would have been (and still be) staggering. Coulda/woulda/shoulda built it somewhere near the sports complex.
The racist abuse black footballers are suffering through right now is just horrifying. I think clubs where it happens, like Cagliari, should have to pay a massive fine to the players who suffered abuse. I don’t know what sort of fine makes sense, but I’d be talking half a million. Whatever it takes to make it hurt really hard.
I get that it’s a societal problem, but black players shouldn’t have to deal with it when they shop up for work. And if they hear it, I want them compensated a lot for it and it needs to sting the clubs that paper over the behavior of their fans with apologies and hallow claims that they don’t support racism.
Why not just relegate the team to the lowest division and not let them be promoted till they show the problem is fixed after each promotion?
Not sure that would be practical/possible, though it checks the “hurt hard” box. Maybe along those lines, docking teams 3 points every time it happens. But I really want to see significant compensation for the players. Danny Rose said he can’t wait to stop playing football to not hear the abuse. That’s beyond tragic.
I’m not into compensating players. They have a choice in the future to sign elsewhere. Paying players to hear racism doesn’t solve a problem in anyway. Sending the team down punishes the team and the fans who should self police when it’s happening. Yes it’s drastic but I’m sure it would send a single to everyone.
There has to be some solution, and unfortunately it has to be a financial solution. It’s the only thing that changes owner’s thinking. Crazy that this is happening so often.
I love that Aurelien Collin aka the dirtiest player in the league is one of the leaders of Faith and Family night.