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Philadelphia Union
The Union earned a hard fought point against league leaders LAFC Saturday night.
What they’re saying in LaLa land.
National coverage of the match. Still don’t understand why this match wasn’t on national TV.
Here’s what coach Curtin had to say postgame.
Also on Saturday night, Bethlehem Steel fell to the Indy Elven 2-1.
MLS
NYCFC keeps on winning, tightening their grip on first place.
Atlanta United was shocked by Columbus at home.
What to make of Saturday’s action.
Should the Red Bulls start to panic?
The Chicago Fire have a new owner, and are officially relocating to Chicago.
World
Chelsea had a strong showing, which may be bad news for Christian Pulisic.
Two of Germany’s top teams met on Saturday.
Clubs around the world are taking on Iran’s female soccer fan ban.
If you placed a bet on Norwich City to beat Man City, you’d be a very rich man.
Diego Maradona has gotten back into coaching.
Philly Unity Cup
The Round of 16 kicked off this weekend! Here were the matchups.
Here’s a preview of the Round of 16.
Eagles fall in Atlanta, Phillies are swept in a weekend series by the Sox and Union get a 10-inch, two column box on page 6 or 7 in the sports section, buried beneath pages of Eagles and college football. And on TV? PH 17. This sport has to fight its way through some incredibly skeptical and, probably hostile, sports editors and program directors. It’s one thing if MLS was vying against worthwhile programming, but there are hundreds of hours of garbage on all the sports networks. It’s a bummer.
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Not sure what to make of the Fabian saga. It’s truly amazing that the Union’s most expensive signing has been a bit of a bust, yet the team is exciting and vying for a top playoff spot with a real fighting chance at making a claim for the title.
Philadelphia is the provincial-ist of cities. Knowledgeable yes. But blind and naive as shit too. Borderline 2 stressors from an inpatient psychiatric unit.
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Wait til Union win MLS Cup someday and its buried with Philadelphia Soul.
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Really though… who cares. I can’t stand most of us anyway and am fine keeping the team to ‘myself’. ’
I saw McDermott said this after the Atlanta win:
https://twitter.com/TimMcDermott6/status/1168312229025976321
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challenge the narrative. change the narrative.
Was speaking Jon Ritchie at the game the other night & said at least for his show, the reason they don’t talk much about the Union is that folks don’t call in to discuss it. He played up until HS would love it if more folks did call in.
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Maybe it’s a chicken & egg thing, but if a respected radio host wants to discuss then we should. We start small & go from
there.
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Btw, what a heck of nice low key guy. We kept feeding his girls cotton candy & ice cream.
Dear Pete, soccer isn’t a mainstream sport in America. It’s just below hockey, possibly level with MMA & tennis but above indoor football and lacrosse.
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Soccer isn’t like any sport in the world but the American sports market isn’t like any sports market in the world.
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I know I know, you are going to tell me how people rise each morning and watch games from Europe and it’s just that its true potential hasn’t been tapped. The problem is that the soccer fan base is so fractured. Liga MX is the most watched league in America without question but hardly moves the needle for mainstream soccer fans. Europe on the other hand gets most the attention but in a way holds back MLS. Let’s face it, most MLS fans have loyalty to a second team or actually the MLS team is the second team. For most sports editors and program directors, MLS is minor league soccer compared to Europe. Hence it gets the same treatment as Philadelphia Soul & Wings.
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The craziest point about your statement for me is that you still read a paper.
Not gonna argue. For the white suburban demographic folk MLS is generally targeting, this comment is spot on.
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What I find more interesting, vexing, and concerning- there are only 43 comments after taking 7 points over the last three games in the order it was accomplished against the teams it was accomplished against.
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John,
This is a pretty unimaginative response. Mainstream sports weren’t born that way. They were promoted with boatloads of money and an adoring press that new the day-to-day drama of sports makes a great and saleable narrative for (mostly) men. They are travelling shows designed to fill stadia for public entertainment and sell lots and lots of concessions.
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The reason the PL does well is because it’s on TV. Every weekend, I can wake up, turn on the TV and get some pretty terrific football. The NFL is no different. Every game is on TV. You don’t have to do any work to find it.
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Right now, editors and programming directors are making choices to bury soccer coverage in mainstream press/TV/radio on nothing other than assumptions and long held prejudices against the sport. It’s not a conspiracy. it’s just a matter of taste. And I think those editors and programming directors are missing an opportunity. Every kid in America plays soccer right now. Don’t think they’d like to see players — even MLS players — in photos in their (gasp) papers or magazines and on TV? I know everyone in the Millennial cohort and younger gets everything via youtube and instagram, but mainstream coverage would move the needle. And papers and old school media can keep serving the Boomers and missing the boat with younger people who are losing interest in baseball, hockey and even the NFL.
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And, I will take every opportunity I can to moan and whine about this state of affairs, because I find it unacceptable. Though, I do find myself in El P’s camp, content at times to just have the team to myself.
it’s amazing the “four for four” perception cannot change with soccer’s addition, despite people having played it more than most of the other sports. we (me, personally) cherish the flyers despite the very narrow demographic that hits. last sentence is dead right: it gets the same treatment as Philadelphia Soul & Wings. i’m gonna push it down further, though, because the college football and basketball programs get more air time/page space that all three of these sports combined.
Glass half full POV – all games are available on WPHL 17. Yes, in a cable/streaming world it’s not the greatest option for everyone, but is probably the most an MLS Club can hope for in its home market.
When Comcast/NBCSportsPhilly had it, the games were usually sent over to their secondary channel, which wasn’t widely available outside of Comcast/Xfinity coverage areas.
I love the game and recognize the shortcomings of MLS compared to other leagues, but without a doubt, the Philadelphia Union are my first team and I try to watch each game.
I’m old enough to remember the Phillies/Flyers/Sixers games being played on channels 17, 29, 48 or 57 before PRISM was even around.
It takes decades and generations for sports and local teams to take root. MLS and soccer in the Philly market is growing and will continue to grow, but it is going to take time for it to be culturally embedded as part of the sports mainstream around here. Some sustained success would certainly help…
I liken the Union to where the Flyers were in the early pre Cup 70’s. Rabid, passionate, but relatively small fan base. Some wins, some hardware, and importantly some recognizable talent will expand their following.
Spot on Scott. The Philadelphia Flyers were picked by a hockey magazine to fold. Along came the broad street bullies and a couple of Stanley Cups….Boom. The Sixers 1977 championship game against the Trail Blazers was shown on tape delay starting at 11:30 after the news. Decades and generations is a very accurate description.
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I remember in the beginning of the season how everyone was convinced Chester was the problem with attendance and if the team was in the city they would do much better. I argued a winning team is all it took to sell out Chester much the same as the Sixers and Phillies needed for teams already inside the city. You can’t just create culture over night. Maybe it happens in a few select markets but over all time is needed for everything.
The last four games (excluding Pumas) shows that being in Chester was NOT the problem.
Perhaps a half formed thought to throw out here. Because soccer in the US has come from such a niche sport to now maybe number 5 or 4. We, the long suffering soccer fans, have had to search high and low for any news for the longest time. Obscure websites following Americans abroad. Hinky chat rooms to discuss this new soccer league starting up called MLS. Getting any news content was difficult. Much of the news for early days MLS (and for some teams still to this day) came from the league’s own site (Major League Soccer Soccer.com….that joke never gets old) There has always been a DYI vibe to our little soccer world because nothing was ever spoon fed to us. For many of us the only way to watch any pro soccer live was to get up early weekend mornings and troop down the some bar that had a huge dish on the roof to get our fix. Or learn Spanish. In fact we had to create a lot of the content ourselves (current excellent site is a prime example) Just like supporters groups help create the atmosphere on game day unlike any other major sport. Who needs cheerleaders or women in skimpy skirts with shovels. Frankly, getting any coverage in a major newspaper seems amazing to me. And everyone dies, even sports editors. So I have faith that Union news will move from page D6 to at least D2 in then next 20 years, if there is still an newspaper in 20 years.
As someone who has always had trouble finding fellow fans, I love this conversation. I’ve created 4 or 5 new Union fans this year. One of which now watches every game with me despite living 20 minutes away. For most of them, their first game was the NYRB comeback. All this team needs is excitement and winning. Relevance will come, just a matter of when. I say give it 2 years before they become a real discussion in the mainstream. I actually think they’re a championship away from challenging the Flyers right now.
I would take more 6-1 wins like the one over New England instead of excitement 🙂
Agree wholeheartedly. I like games that are locked up by halftime. Can we play DC every week?
Really interesting article from Tannenwald about the union and Charter flights for the next 3 games. As it stands the team is flying back and forth each time and flying coach.
Great article, and well-timed by Tannenwald. It’s a bad look for ownership, and Cap’n Bedoya’s tweets undercut the lame excuse they made Tanner trot out. As the article points out, it’ll be an even worse look for Jay if the Union miss 1st or 2nd place by points the drop in the Cbus game.