Photo by Marjorie Elzy
Philadelphia Union
Match report: Philadelphia Union 1-1 New England Revolution
In case you missed it, the Union officially announced the signing of attacking midfielder Daniel Gazdag from Hungarian side Honved
MLS
MLS Players Association releases updated 2021 players salary guide
MLSsoccer.com’s Steve Zakuani’s takeaways from Wednesday’ action
FC Cincinnati sign defender Geoff Cameron to a multi-year deal
International
Not panicking on the Union. I don’t think a repeat supporters shield is likely, but I never thought there was going to be a strong shot at that considering the added games in CCL and the way the Union’s roster depth would be tested. That said, I don’t think the Union have played as bad as their record would indicate, and getting a more creative player like Gazdag has the potential to shore up a lot of what the team lacks right now. I imagine the Union will end the season in the top half of the East and be a contender for the MLS cup.
Brief thoughts on salaries. They paid starter $ to Stuart Findlay – a shade less than Glesnes and more than Elliott. I’m not a Cory Burke hater or anything like that, but is he REALLY worth 400k? Is Kacper really worth 900k – in my not so informed opinion he needs to step up this season. Who is Gino Portella?
Compared to his peers, Kacper doesn’t really seem overpaid IMO. He was 11th in the league last year in goal scoring, and roughly 50 players make more money than him most of whom are attackers.
I guess you could say he’s overpaid in the sense that strikers generally are overpaid relative to their teammates, but I don’t think he’s overpaid compared to strikers around the league. Burke I could go either way on, because honestly I’m not sure how well I rate him as a player.
Kacber worth that. Cory worth that.
To answer Gruncle Bob’s excellent question, who is Gino Portella? and it’s implicit corollary, “Why is he listed as a member of the Philadelphia Union in M:S drawing an MLS salary,” we need to understand two points of background both of which involve degrees of speculation but which seem to be true because they make sense of the factual observable data.
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1. The Philadelphia Union and Major League Soccer are the only team and league available to Keystone Sports for purposes of signing legally valid player contracts. Ever since leaving USL Championship last October, Philadelphia Union 2 is NOT. Union 2 can and has signed coaches. It cannot sign players.
When Birmingham Legion came calling, Ben Ofeimu simply walked. Keystone Sports had no legal hold on him, almost certainly.
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2. Even though the organization has never said so overtly, Selmir Miscic is listed by MLSPA salary data as drawing an MLS salary and as being a member of the Philadelphia Union. They have never listed anyone who has been a member of the Philadelphia Union 2/II or Bethlehem Steel FC. Furthermore, exact readings of both the Miscic loan announcement by Philadelphia, the announcement by North Carolina FC, and the recap of NC FC’s first USL League One match May 8 against Greenville in which Miscic scored, all say in so many words that Miscic was loaned to NC from the Philadelphia Union, NOT by the Philadelphia Union 2. Now, neither the union website itself nor MLS’s website’s version of the Union’s roster has ever included Miscic. But it is my speculation that because there is no USLC contract binding Miscic anymore because Union 2 are out of that league, for legal purposes beyond my understanding, to loan him to NC FC, he had to sign an MLS contract.
I have had no confirmation whatsoever of any kind for my guesses about Mscic’s situation. I may be entirely wrong. But my theory explains the facts as I understand them.
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Finally to answer GRuncle Bob’s question, we can probably guess safely that Gino Portella is someone Ernst Tanner has either already brought, or wants to bring, to Philly to play with Union 2. I say Union 2 because that roster is where you will find him on transfermarkt.
BUT,Tanner cannot sign anyone to a Union 2 contract right now.
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So, one conclusion is that he has a deal with MLS to sign players to MLS contracts but not have them count against Philadelphia Union roster slots. The conclusion explains both Selmir Miscic and Gino Portella appearing in the MLSPA salary day, but never appearing on either the Union’s version of its own roster or MLS’s.
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Philadelphia Union 2, Portland Timbers 2, and Orlando City B are spending a year in limbo existing on ad hoc solutions until whatever it may be that lies in their future emerges into the light of day.
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It is my hope that hindsight will tell us some time in the next few years that taking extra time to get it right — whatever it turns out to be — was a better alternative than rushing into something that was poorly conceived and poorly executed.
Just received 2 e-mails from the team.
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1) Stadium will be allowed up to 75% capacity starting Monday which means additional tickets will be available for the Portland match on May 30.
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2) Starting tomorrow night masks are recommended but NOT required for those who are fully vaccinated (dang…missed it by 3 days…worst thing to happen in this regards since they raised the drinking age from 20 to 21 in Massachusetts effective the day before my 20th birthday and grandfathered people in…) I don’t know how they’ll will be enforcing this but thought people would like to know.