Photo: Courtesy of al Dia

Philadelphia Union

The Union played Costa Rica Primera Division-leading Municipal Perez Zeledon on Sunday, losing 1–0. With no news about the game yet forthcoming from the Union, so far the only information that can be learned is from an article from Costa Rican news site al Dia that is actually about the friendship between Josue Martinez and Porfirio Lopez, and a very grainy 59 second video clip posted on YouTube attributed to Costa Rican soccer website Everardo Herrera.  The Al Dia article says that both Martinez and Porfirio Lopez started (crappy translation here). The brief match video contains 8 seconds of first half footage in which Lionard Pajoy, Danny Mwanga, Keon Daniel and Lopez are recognizable. After that, the footage is from the second half and begins with the Zeledon goal, in which Michael Farfan, Carlos Valdes, Zach Pfeffer, Sheanon Williams, Gabriel Farfan, Danny Califf, Brian Carroll, Roger Torres, and Lopez are identifiable, with big blurry orange guy in goal. Another sequence shows Krystian Witkowski shooting wide. Make of it what you will.

With First Kick less than two weeks away, preseason previews are popping up all of the web, often enough from sites I’ve never heard of. The Black Out Blog Network (Huh?) sees no playoffs for the Union, who they think will finish 14th in 2012.

World Soccer Reader has a much more in depth preview. While it refrains from making a specific prediction, it shares the theme that will likely be present in most previews of the season: Why did the Union trade Le Toux away? Can the “youth movement” get the job done? The preview concludes that, in the end, “In Nowak Philly fans trust. They really don’t have much other choice right now, do they?”

Roger Torres gets the tap in this piece as one of the Union’s young players who may be poised for more leadership responsibility and stardom.

Taylor Twellman gives some love back to Philly in this clip from the MLS Road to First Kick event at Dicks Sporting Goods in Wilmington on Saturday.”This place is something special for me…Philadelphia is doing it right.”

MLS

Sebastien Le Toux scored a PK in Vancouver’s 1–0 win over Houston on Sunday, his second of the Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic preseason tournament. Nice to see he’s still wearing those purple boots.

Goal.com looks at the recent changes in the league’s roster rules.

The brother of that guy who used to play for Everton scored a goal for Orlando City in the Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic.

Orlando has been creating some buzz lately as a candidate for the 20th MLS team. Here’s some nonsense about Minneapolis’s being a candidate.

More on the recent Independent Supporters Council meeting, aimed a developing a league-wide supporters’ Bill of Rights, that we linked to last week.

The Energy Drinks are looking to add a third DP in the summer transfer window. You know, because the first two have made such a difference.

The Energy drinks are currently 1–2–3 in the preseason and are scoreless over the last three games.

Sportsnet.ca looks at the problem of bad tackles.

With Major League Baseball teams abandoning Tuscon, could it be MLS to the rescue? More on the growing connection between Tuscon and the MLS preseason here.

We may not know if Michael Ballack will be moving to MLS during the summer transfer window in July, but we do know that he will be one of ESPN’s analysts for the Euros in June.

Portland Timbers get the Portlandia treatment. “Please, please, win. Meow, meow, meow.” Priceless.

Women’s Pro Soccer

Following last week’s apparently inconclusive status request hearing, Beau Dure examines at why the Borislow-WPS case will not die. It is looking more and more like WPS legal counsel is inept and that blame for the protracted legal wranglings resides in poor decisions made by the league.

Is Alex Morgan about to join Hope Solo and Sydney Leroux on the Seattle Sounders Women team?

US

Landon Donovan is out of the US squad with bronchitis and will miss the friendly against Italy on Wednesday. With Timothy Chandler and Jose Torres also out with injuries, Jurgen Klinsmann has called up Sacha Kljestan and Brek Shea. Jermaine Jones is also out with an injury, but Klinsmann says he will not be replaced.

Here’s who the US will be facing on the Italian squad.

Michael Bradley is up for the match against Italy.

PSP’s article on the US at the 1934 World Cup.)

Jozy Altidore wants to be on the Olympic squad.

The St. Louis Dispatch looks at hometown star Becky Sauerbrunn’s opportunity to break into the regular USWNT roster.

In her first blog post for ESPNW, Megan Rapinoe writes about how, following preparations for the recent friendly against New Zealand and the upcoming Algarve Cup in Portugal, constantly being on the road can be a bit of a blur.

US youth international Samir Badr, whose Palestinian-born parents grew up in Egypt before immigrating to the US, plays for Egyptian League leader Haras El-Hodood. Now back at home in the US, he describes his reaction to watching the recent stadium tragedy.

Elsewhere

Liverpool’s Carling Cup win was particularly unconvincing, writes Jonathan Wilson. The team’s American owner says the win is a great first step.

Tim Vickery paints a rather black and white distinction between different models of how clubs are run—on one side, the “crude” single entity model of MLS, on the other, the “idea of a club as a predominantly social organisation” as is widely held in South America—before discussing the recent players strike in Peru.

Speaking of South America, have I mentioned how much I love Riquelme lately? Here’s an example of why.