Photo: Paul Rudderow
Philadelphia Union
Jack Elliott’s contract extension is official.
Jim Curtin spoke about this weekend’s matchup — and how big of a threat new Timbers signee Brian Fernandes is.
Portland will be without Christhian Paredes when the come to Chester Saturday.
MLS
Chad Marshall — maybe the greatest defender in MLS history — announced his retirement.
In the only midweek action, New York Red Bulls and Vancouver Whitecaps played a weird 2-2 draw. The Armchair Analyst has some thoughts on the contrast in styles.
Here’s a rundown of what MLS teams are doing for the league’s Soccer For All month. (Not sure why it’s not included, but the Union’s Pride Night is June 8th vs. Red Bulls [also the night of the PSP tailgate!])
Inter Miami’s ambitious roster plan.
USL
USL1 is serious fun. North Texas SC topped Forward Madison 3-1 in Wisconsin last night. For those not watching, North Texas is *stacked* with FC Dallas academy players.
Also of note: Future MLSers Nashville SC held off Birmingham Legion 1-0 in USL Championship.
NWSL
With a boatload of talent leaving for the World Cup, what teams can keep winning?
U.S. Soccer
A computer tries to predict who will advance in the 2019 World Cup.
Want to see some new USMNT names? Take a look at the Gold Cup training roster.
Winger Jonathan Amon is getting interest from Club Brugge.
In 2012 when Piotr Nowak tried to sell Seba after making the playoffs in 2011 and didn’t try to build off that teams foundation, I thought it was devastating to the fan base. People started to question the commitment of the team to win, especially after they thought they had pieces to build around Seba. This right here is where I think the Union lost the fan base in the past.
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Since then, you had Ernie basically tell the fan base if winning is the only thing you’re interested in stay home.
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Ernst is giving the fan base hope and he’s doing it much the way Jay Sugarman outlined in the beginning of the year. Finding players like Kai Wagner and Kacper Przybylko, true budget friendly players who can compete in MLS and have an upside still in their development. Giving homegrown players time on the field and revamping the Steel with teenagers to give them a clear path towards the first team.
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By rewarding Jack Elliott who was a fourth round pick and exceeding expectations, he’s sending the message, hard work will be rewarded. If an asset like David Accam who has value but doesn’t fit the system, move on and reward a player like Michee Ngalina who’s younger and fits the system better.
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I don’t know if Ernst is going to bring in someone in during the next signing period but if he does and it’s a DP type player….start up the band wagon train and welcome aboard.
It’s remarkable that someone like Stewart would fail to recognize the success of teams that didn’t have to spend to win. RSL, Dallas, Houston, San Jose, Columbus.
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All they needed was competence.
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Something we’ve never had…until now.
Don’t know about bringing anyone in as much as positioning to have the resources to keep Monteiro.
Yea, I’m not saying it’s going to happen but if it did, I think you grab a lot of people by surprise. They still have some players right now in Santos & Fabián who need to stay healthy and get consistent minutes before you sign anyone.
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I wouldn’t be surprised if someone like Cory Burke or Fafa Picault was moved and they signed another striker though. Both are 28 and could have value in the league but might have reached their limit here.
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A DP striker would definitely make this team a legitimate contender to get to MLS Cup. Will that happen…..to dream the impossible dream.
Buying Montiero, if it happened, would be an amazing piece of business. I would take that and be happy.
Ernst has already stated the team isn’t finished. He’s got moves planned. Maybe it’s not during the summer transfer window, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were.
Really good points John. I agree with you. Great to see Elliott signed. And I won’t be surprised if Tanner does pull the trigger on a player in the summer window. He’s demonstrated a willingness to think big and make moves for the benefit of the team.
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Along these lines, I know he’s not the greatest player, but I wonder what trading Seba did to fan interest in the team when Stewart sent him to Colorado two seasons ago. There’s never been a more Union player. I’m sure selling Rosenberry this year had a similar effect (though I think doing so was good business by Tanner). Just sort of wondering aloud….
Selling Rosenberry definitely had the feel of here we go again and I think you saw that with even smaller crowds at Talen, even though some weather might have contributed. Since then Colorado is a mess and their defence is a revolving door. Meanwhile the Union defence with a 0.92 goal against and 0.60 in the last ten probably won them back and given Ernst more credibility with them.
The reason that this season is so surprising for me is that this plan that they’ve been telling me about for 9 seasons is finally working. I’m all for “moneyball” if works out, but when you have 4 keepers on the roster, or you don’t sign a real left back, or you keep trotting out “strikers” even though they can’t score, I start to question if there is actually a plan.
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And fwiw, Ernst Tanner has made Earnie Stewart and Nick Sakiewicz look silly. Stewart came in with a bold plan, did almost nothing to progress towards that plan, then Tanner comes in and has this team on the top of the table thanks to the moves he made.
i think “almost nothing to progress towards that plan” is his legacy here. we may be fortunate for his brief tenure looking back to the pre-2019 Union. the contrast to the assets he left us with and how quickly Tanner was able to evaluate, surgically (and seemingly painfully to the fanbase, initially) remove what didn’t fit his plan, and compose a winning team is remarkable. granted, the injuries to Fabian and exile by Burke may be helping young reserves shine despite Tanner and Curtin’s plan. overall, though, i don’t think the squad is punching above their weight.
Missing the forest for the trees. Stewart set the foundation we are enjoying today. There is no way in hell Ernst would be as successful in his short tenure so far if it had not been for Ernie cleaning up Saks monumental mess. Yeah, he wasn’t very transparent. BFD!
MLS all-star ballot is open. I just voted for all 8 DC United players so they can run around for awhile in the Orlando heat 4 days before they play the Union.
Should have also mentioned that it seems silly that Fabian is on the ballot but that Aaronson, Wagner, and Monteiro are not.
No respect for the Union again. Color me NOT SHOCKED
I think each team gets to select which 8 players they want on the ballot (or are you saying I have no respect for the Union, in which case I’ll say I have no respect for the all-star game and want to see the Union players not have to travel for a meaningless midweek game?)
Anyone see the SiriusXM FC 157 poll: “Which MLS Eastern Conference Team would you call the biggest pretender?”. Union is leading that poll with 38%. 5.1/2hrs left to vote. Vote for Montreal! Let’s hope we can show all at the end of the season that we are the biggest contender!
Anyone who thinks Union are pretenders either: are hand football fans first, too young to have an adequate quiver of good footy to pull from as reference or simply suffer from muy estupido syndrome.
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There’s no way this team are pretenders. I’ve seen enough.
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Anything short of 1-3 place finish becomes a failure situation.
They WILL hit a slump, though. Virtually every team does. Either we will have a recurrence of the Finishing Blues, or else the defense will soften (I think we’ve been a bit lucky in the latter department so far this season anyway).
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When that happens, we will see how much Curtin has developed, with the team’s newfound depth. Will he be willing to shuffle the pieces? Or will he doggedly stick with people, as he’s often done in the past? That may determine our eventual position in the standings.