Photo credit: Earl Gardner
Philadelphia Union
The Union went out west to Vancouver and came from behind to draw the Vancouver Whitecaps 1-1.
Local, Canadian, and national coverage.
But the real headline was in the stands. Southsiders and Curva Nord, two Vancouver supporters groups, staged their second consecutive walkout in protest of the way the Whitecaps organization and Canadian soccer has responded to allegations of racism and abuse from one of their youth coaches.
Union captain Alejandro Bedoya is the latest voice joining the chorus calling for improved MLS travel conditions.
MLS
Long-time MLS player Atiba Harris (now with the OKC Energy) reports that he was called the N-word by a Tulsa Roughnecks player. The Tulsa front office responded by terminating Fabian Bastidas’ contract.
It didn’t take long for Jordan Morris to get on the board. Unfortunately for the Sounders, it didn’t take LAFC much longer either, and game ended 1-1.
Minnesota United earned their first win at Allianz Field, finallying bringing “Wonderwall” to it’s new home.
Panamanian Omar Browne made his debut for Montreal, and scored a late goal to help the Impact beat Chicago 1-0.
Early goals in the first and second half left the Crew helpless in Houston, losing 2-0.
Six yellow cards and just one goal as the New York Red Bulls beat FC Cincinnati 1-0.
Atlanta United beat the Colorado Rapids, but they did it without meaningful help from designated player Pity Martinez.
Whether Portland won or Toronto lost, the Timbers got their second win of the season the week after their first.
Now Zlatan is going into the other team’s locker room to say crazy stuff.
We know MLS is still expanding, but Forbes is thinking about what the league will look like when it stops expanding.
NWSL
Michelle Maemone didn’t let a 101-degree fever keep her from starting in the Utah Royals home opener.
After being forced to delay the game yesterday due to snow, the Chicago Red Stars beat the Seattle Reign 3-0, in part due to a goal and assist by Yūki Nagasato.
Christen Press scored early for the Utah Royals, taking the team past the Orlando Pride 1-0 and to the top of the NWSL standings.
Carli Lloyd scored twice to give Sky Blue FC an early 2-0 lead, but Tobin Heath and the Portland Thorns fought back in the second half to ensure Sky Blue remained winless on the year.
A team performance had the North Carolina Courage hand the Houston Dash their first loss of the season, an embarassing 4-1.
US Soccer
Is it too early to start speculating about the Women’s World Cup roster? I don’t think so.
The currently-on-hiatus NASL filed joint motion to extend the discovery period for their lawsuit against the USSF.
Bruce Arena is a front-runner for new Scottish National Team manager.
World
Breaking news: the Premier League is really top-heavy.
More than you’ve ever wanted to read about Eden Hazard’s butt. Probably.
David de Gea is hitting a rough patch.
I feel like I’m constantly in the mode of Grandpa Simpson in the Old man yells at cloud meme, but here it goes:
–
Minnesota is home to The Replacements, The Jayhawks, Soul Asylum, The Time and…. AND Prince!!! And the fans chose to sing Wonderwall? Now, I like me some Oasis, but that’s a Manchester City song. I mean, is there not a Price or Replacements song that would work???? Ugh.
–
On the Times piece on the PL being top heavy. It’s certainly a concern, yet, that league sells out from top to bottom. I watched already relegated Fullham play trying (badly) to not be sent down Cardiff and it was a great match. Stadium was full. Atmosphere was crackling…. Yet in the league of parity, MLS, I regularly see a lot of half-empty stadiums. Montreal-Chicago was even more empty than Vancouver this weekend, which I guess is partly explained by the justified walkout. I like the idea of parity, but it seems that most people don’t care.
There isn’t as much competition to the PL over there; No MLB, no NFL, no NBA, no NHL. It’s basically PL and rugby. There might be more parity here, but there’s also way more options fans could be watching.
What exactly is the history of the song in relation to Minnesota? Was it just randomly picked? Especially with all the bands you listed, it just seems like an odd pairing.
Every NHL and NBA playoff game was sold out but very few MLB games. I’m sure people still care about MLB teams. There a lot going on here and can you believe the crowd and tv ratings the NFL draft had?
There’s a history with one of the former assistant coaches and his NASL squad.
I don’t buy the “there’s lots else to do” thing. What else is going on in Montreal on a sunny afternoon? I think the MLS efforts should be as much focused on getting real soccer fans to matches and don’t worry as much about the mythical casual fan.
Doesn’t the evolutionary theory state that real soccer fans started out as primitive casual fans?
Yeah, that’s fair, John. I think, though, you can go a bit overboard on attracting the casuals. I don’t have an answer, that’s for sure, but I wonder more what MLS could do to get the guys (I know some) who will watch the PL, La Liga and Serie A, but have no time whatsoever for MLS. There are more of these people than you think. Go to the fan bars for PL teams on match days.
I’ve been there and 95% of those fans support seven teams. Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester city, Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid. The other five percent support the flavor of the month like Leicester City when they made the run, or a team connected to a U.S. player like Dortmund. Anyone else supporting any other team is usually an anomaly or a transplant from that country where they or their parents grew up.
.
Seriously, do you believe there are real basketball fans in Philadelphia? Because the Sixers led the league in attendance this year but somehow were last just a little while ago. Other than the NFL, what league in America draws close to 100% capacity? America likes big game and big hype around star players. A perfect example will be RBA with Zlatan Ibrahimović and the Galaxy this week. Do you think it will be empty as usual?
Not sure what the point of your first graph is. Those are precisely the people I’m talking about. unless you’re saying they’re not real fans. I think a lot of those people invest significant time into watching and following the sport. They should be the most likely people to persuade to come out to a live match. These people fill huge stadia for friendlies. There has to be a way to entice some of them to root for a local club.
–
On the second graph, yes I think there are a lot of real hoops fans in Philadelphia. Many of them did not like the process and stayed away. Sure, some didn’t want to bother with a losing team. And I’m not asking for 100% sell out crowds. But a lot of these MLS games might as well be at the local graveyard.
Half empty is generous.
2:00 Saturday with good weather expected…not a chance. Might be more Zlatan fans than Red Bull fans. It’s the place MLS is right now. Big stars vs. play your kids….kids don’t draw crowds, just look around, because as a soccer nation we aren’t there yet.
Keep sticking to this narrative, John O’D—sooner or later it’s ‘truthiness’ will make it reality.
.
Truthiness is the new cultural normative.
Amen, Pete. Sing “Runaway Train” after a loss, and something by Prince after a win.
–
The Union should follow suit too. Lots of the music coming from the River End could be updated, and there are plenty of Philly musicians to choose from for new songs.
Yeah, maybe blast “Let’s Go Crazy” after a win. Might not have the same sing-a-long quality as Wonderwall, but at least it’s a great song and local.
(To the tune of “Motown Philly” by Boyz II Men):
“Come on Union, back again.
Doin’ a little east coast doopin’
Our Boys in Blue are going off,
Score a goal, then score one more.”
Anyone know what the deal was with Ilsinho and Burke being out for personal reasons? Was that code for something? Or was it actually personal issues? Just curious. Seemed odd.
Probable guess: Rest for rotation due to West Coast trip and 3 games in 8 days.
.
Stretch conspiracy: Transfer window open through May 7.
Curtin made comments during his presser prior to the game that they would miss to handle personal things “outside of soccer”. Thinking family business, something along those lines.
do not underestimate turf.
If he wanted to rotate the squad, why not just say that he left them back home to rest because he wants to rotate the squad??
–
OTOH, it’s weird for them both to have last-minute personal things come up ahead of the same match.
–
In the end, I believe the latter is most likely true, because he left himself only a single offensive substitution for a potentially winnable road match. And I can’t believe he would do that deliberately.
Good thoughts. Maybe the turf concerns made for convenient timing for some players to take care of some personal things.
.
Then again, I’d think Haris or Ale would have benefited rather than Burke.
As for a Philly song to play after a Union win, how about Hall & Oates’ “You Make My Dreams Come True”?