Philadelphia-Chicago

Philadelphia Union captain Danny Califf won’t play against Chicago tonight. In fact, he didn’t even make the trip. The Union describe this as being due to slow recovery from an off-season knee injury. In related news, politicians have begun telling the truth, the Greek economy has recovered, and pigs have been sighted flying in Portugal.

Chestnut Hill Academy alum Dan Gargan will likely start at right back for Chicago tonight. Check out this fantastic video Gargan directed that gives an insight into players’ lives. It’s a short video, but its beautiful imagery, perfect music, and poignant scenes really capture the essence of what it is to be a pro soccer player in America. Methinks Gargan will start getting more attention here now for things other than his friends who started that big fight at PPL Park two seasons back. This is a must-watch.

Some late looks at tonight’s game:

• NBC Sports’ Steve Davis has some sharp commentary on the Danny Califf mess, now that Califf won’t play tonight.
• The Sporting News talks to Brian Carroll, who says “while certain things may happen that aren’t the prettiest, we’re all professionals,” as he urges Union fans to be patient with the club.
• The AP previews the match.
• So does the Chicago Tribune, sort of (courtesy of TSN).
• The Delaware County Times has a piece on the drama surrounding the late Sheanon Williams call-up to the U-23 national team. (And after Chris Vito’s consistent coverage over the last couple of seasons, PSP has finally added a long overdue link to the DelCo Times soccer section to our Stuff We Read section.)
• All told, the Union could be playing without three starting defenders tonight, with Porfirio Lopez having been in uniform for Costa Rica’s national team on Wednesday.
• The Chicago Sun-Times looks at the fast, new striker partnership in Chicago. If there was a pair against which to sit Califf, they seem like the one, without an aerial threat among them. Then again, with Williams and Lopez possibly out and almost no defensive depth to speak of … maybe not.

Other Philly soccer news

Union midfielder Zach Pfeffer and Union Academy players Zack Steffen and Miguel Alves have been called up to the U.S. U-18 men’s national team training camp in Carson, Cal. Steffen, a 16-year-old goalkeeper, plays for FC Delco and suited up for the Union reserve team last season, while Alves, a 16-year-old defender, also plays for the Players Development Academy.

Union Dues’ Eryin Wandel has launched an apparel line, Quaker City Apparel, through which you can obtain t-shirts with soccer and other themes. Wandel has a good eye for photos, and his t-shirts probably look good too.

Today marks week 2 in Philadelphia’s biggest adult amateur league, the Casa Soccer League. For information on the schedule of games and how to get to the fields if you want to catch a match, go to http://www.phillysoccer.org. (We missed opening day, so you get a shout-out here!)

MLS

If you didn’t see Friday night’s Seattle-Houston game, you missed a really good match won by Seattle 2-0. Two observations:

1. NBC Sports’ coverage of MLS is really, really good;
2. That match was much more exciting than this boring Chelsea-Tottenham match on ESPN2 right now.

Thierry Henry wants Michael Ballack to play for the Red Bulls. Yeah, like that’s going to happen now that his agent has ripped apart club management.

Speaking of the Red Bulls, Rafa Marquez will return from suspension Sunday for the Red Bulls against Colorado. The game will air live on ESPN at 4 p.m. Marquez also flipped a switch that turned the Empire State Building into Red Bull colors on Friday. If only the club’s personnel management was as good as Red Bull’s marketing.

Speaking of which, Red Bulls coach Hans Backe has everything under control, according to ESPN’s Leander Schaerlaeckens. That reminds me of my flight home from Germany last Saturday. We heard and felt three loud knocks on the plane during the flight. Passengers got worried and started asking questions, and the captain came over the loud speaker and started to explain that the problem might be related to the air conditioner. Everyone was with him until he said, “Don’t worry, everything’s under control.” Then people really got worried.

Elsewhere

Real Madrid plans a $1 billion island resort off the coast of Qatar. The club was able to cut a third of its debt last year due to record-breaking revenues but still had $169 million in debt as of last June’s annual report.