Daily news roundups

Herdling: What position? New USA jersey, Y or N?

Photo: Courtesy TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

Philadelphia Union

The Union confirmed on Monday that they have signed Kai Herdling on loan from 1899 Hoffenheim ahead of the close of the transfer window on Monday night.

Herdling is listed most places—from Wikipedia, to fussballdaten.de, soccerway.com, ESPN Soccernet, transfermarket.co.uk (who put his market value at €150,000,or $196,865.45), footballjustice.com—as a forward or striker, but Sportspundit.com says he is “playing currently for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim II as a midfielder.”

Sources among the Union technical staff tell Kerith Gabriel that Herdling, while classified as a striker, “is viewed by the Union as more of an attacking midfielder who can play behind the strikers, similar to Torres’ role.” One source says, “I think Kai is an attacking player that gives us something different. More a midfielder than a forward, but he’s very technical and can score…He’s more of a combination guy who is very versatile and can provide a lot of things. But he is very creative and could give us something interesting.”

Chris Vito also reports that Herdling “provides the Union with a temporary fill-in for Roger Torres.”

Union super fan (and all around super person) @barbcvphilly captured video of Kai Herdling practicing with the first team squad at last Monday’s reserve league game. (He’s wearing an orange pinney and Barb focuses in on him in the last third or so of the video. That grey haired guy has some nice one-touch moves, too.)

Herdling has spent the vast amount of his senior career in second division and reserve play (my understanding of the soccer pyramid in German is not very good), where he has shown an impressive knack for scoring. With so little known about him, one could be tempted to react to the Herdling news with a great deal of skepticism like many did (myself included) when Paunovic joined the club. But most of us (myself included) ended up loving Pauno. So, here’s hoping things turnout as well as that did. Afterall, “attacking midfielder who can play behind the strikers” kind of sounds a bit like what Pauno ended up doing.

Herdling’s can play for the Union upon completion of his P-1 visa and receipt of his international transfer certificate. We’ll see if that happens in time for him to play against Chivas USA on Saturday.

Freddy Adu says, “My goal this year is to be an impact player for the team – not just to be play well. I want to be involved a lot more offensively and going forward…The key is you always have to be unpredictable. Keep the defender always guessing…That’s what you have to do as a player. You don’t want them to get up on you and restrict your space. For me, I like to get the ball and face up. I don’t want to play with my back to the goal.”

You can submit questions to Freddy Adu for his weekly Q&A with fans at his website, freddyadu.com.

The latest Inside Doop is available. The big question is whether the Union will again go with a five-man midfield when they travel to Chivas USA.

The Union move up to No. 16 in SBI’s power rankings, as they are at Sporting News and ESPN. At SI, the Union are at No. 15.

About the upcoming friendly with Schalke, bundesligafanatic.com notes, “Philadelphia manager Peter Nowak was a teammate of Schalke’s Director of Sport Horst Heldt at 1860 Munich from 1995-1998.”

Local

Former Central Jersey Spartan and Ocean City Nor’easter forward Ryan Finley has joined Reading United. He is a junior at Notre Dame, having started his college career at Duke, where he was named ACC Offensive Player of the year while a sophomore.

In a move that further integrates the team into the Philadelphia Union structure, Reading United have announced a four year deal with adidas. Adidas will now supply all Reading United gear including game jerseys, warmup jerseys, polo shirts, fleeces, jackets, and camp gear. You can see Reading’s new home and away kit, which now, as is the case with the Union, features the team crest in the center of the chest, as well as the YSC Sports logo on the back above the shirt number. Jerseys are available at a special pre-order price of $49 through May 1.

Eileen Boneck, a four-time All-Catholic player and former Philadelphia Catholic League Most Valuable Player, has been named coach of Archbishop Carroll’s varsity girls team. Boneck will graduate from East Stroudsburg University in May.

MLS

Not only was Toronto’s loss to Chivas USA, their fifth since the beginning of the season, the worst start in the history of the league, it is also the longest losing streak since the league began 16 years ago.

San Jose right back Steven Beitashour says of the foul by Rafa Marquez that broke the collarbone of Shea Salinas, “I understand you want to be physical and stay tight with him, but you can’t just wrap someone up like that, take them to the ground and then, afterwards, kick them in the head. That’s not being physical. That’s just being dirty.”

More on why Marquez sucks.

Despite earlier rumors, Newcastle United will not be coming to the US this summer.

The league has broken the 1 million mark for attendance after six weeks and 53 games. The Union are ninth in the league with an average of 18,263, up from the 2011 season average of 18,259.

In news from expansion hopefuls, fans in North Carolina, while sobered by the announcement from MLS president Mark Abbott that MLS will not be expanding into the Triangle area any time soon, are heartened by the continued progress of the NASL. In San Diego, a recent meeting discussed how to better build the game in that area.

Women’s Soccer

More on recent Philadelphia Fever signing, Cherie Kpannah Sayon, a former Liberia international.

USWNT defender Becky Sauerbrunn has signed with DC United Women.

Is Olympique Lyonnais Féminine the best women’s club team in the world?

US

The big news out of US Soccer was yesterday’s release of the new home jersey (not that the design was much of a secret). Opinion seems to be very much divided into you love it or you hate it, with the hate its leading by a wide margin. Just about the only thing there seems to be agreement on is that it is good that both the Men and Women’s teams will wear the same jersey design (the previously current women’s jerseys can’t be consigned to the memory hole fast enough). My thoughts are that while I love hoops—particularly the royal blue and green variety—why can’t we just stick with the sash? Also, how about spending some resources on a new US Soccer crest? I’ve never liked the current one, no matter what jersey it adorns. What are your thoughts? (Skip the Waldo references, if you please, they become tired after the third or fourth hundredth time.)

Pia Sundhage says the USWNT must deliver the gold at the London Olympics.

ESPN looks at Claudio Reyna’s vision for youth development in the US.

A legends match at the Home Depot Center between US and Mexico teams made up of national team players from the 1990s and early 2000s was won by the Stars ans Stripes, 2–0. Some 12,500, mostly green shirt wearing, fans were on hand. Sounds like it was a lot of fun.

Elsewhere

Fabrice Muamba is out of hospital, less than a month after his collapse from cardiac arrest during a match.

The autopsy on Piermario Morosini was unable to determine a cause of death after his collapse during a Serie B match on Saturday.

The final phase of testing of goal line technology is to start this month and continue through May. A vote on which of two systems to adopt will be held in July. Of course, they may just decide neither is acceptable.

Oliver Kay tweets, “Witness at Berlusconi trial in Rome claims Italy’s ex-PM watched a striptease by a woman wearing a football shirt and … a Ronaldinho mask.” Bunga bunga, indeed!

Bayern Munich v Real Madrid in Champions League semifinal action, toady at 2:30pm on FSC.

16 Comments

  1. Agreed on the crest it just seems cheesy, I didnt realize men and women would be wearing the same jersey I think thats cool and I’m not a huge fan of the jersey but I dont hate it either

  2. The jerseys seem too busy, in part because different images seem to showcase different features.

    I think the hoops are great, and if it was just that, I’d love ’em. But featuring the number to break-up the hoop? Having a watermarked sash? And that stupid old crest? Ugh.

  3. Wow, so 90% of resources list this guy as a forward yet the first thing the Union says about him is “durrr heeerrrrrr we think he is more a midfi3ld3rzzz.”
    What a disaster in the making. We can’t even wait to play foreign players out of position.

  4. DarthLos117 says:

    I rate the US crest higher than the MLS crest…but thats not saying much. Now the Union, the Union have the best looking crest in the league hands down!!!

  5. As far as the jerseys go,I give them a resounding… Meh. But I kinda sorta hate the number up front. But I don’t hate it enough to hate it. knowwhatiamsaying.

  6. I mind the new jerseys much less now that i see the “ghost sash”, as i have been calling it. It offers a bit of continuity between the new and the previous few (the blue with a white sash being my personal fave.). I also like the fact that the men and women will both be wearing this. I need to see them on the players, on the pitch to make a final judgement though… agree with the crest comment, as well. Time to update it (though not as drastically as the jersey it will adorn)… 🙂

  7. Like what Claudia Reyna has to say about Futsal.

  8. New Reading United Adidas Kit > New US Soccer Nike Kit

    Looking forward to an exciting season for Reading United. Lots of very good talent will be on display at Shirk Stadium in the likes of Ryan Finley, Stephen Okai, Paul Wyatt and Deshorn Brown. Home opener is Saturday May 12th! We Win Games!

  9. Oh yeah, forgot one very important thing: C’MON URRRRRRRRZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!! We’re going up!

  10. MikeRSoccer says:

    Huge huge fan of the new home jersey. I realize that I am in the minority, but they are probably one of my favorite US jerseys ever. Sure, tradition is nice, but it’s also good to mix things up every now and then. This jersey respects tradition with the sash, but it appeals to that sense of…well…’Merica. It’s a classy way to essentially be dressed in an American flag while representing your nation, which is a sentiment I would imagine most people would agree with. You can argue whether Nike accomplished that goal, but they surely did better than the 1994 melting light blue American flag. A+ in my book and I can’t wait to order one regardless of what the majority think about them. Also, I would argue that most people don’t like when things change, but those changes often grow on them. I remember a statistic on Facebook about how public polling showed when they make an appearance change, like they did with timeline, something like 80% of people hate it, but 6 months later when those same people are polled the number is nearly reversed with 65% liking it. I’m not saying I like timeline or that this will be the case with the new U.S. jersey, but given the amount of people who dislike it I will be interested to see this jerseys legacy.

    • i like it too. and i also think the number makes it look better. you aren’t alone tho. SBI did a poll and it was pretty evenly distributed as far as love or like vs. dislike and hate.

  11. Our crest is poor, still looks like we can’t play the game. I like the stripes over the sash (which I hated)

    Kind looks like a “where waldo” book though….I didn’t see it up yet and yeah I am that guy.

    As per the German loan, we have 10 field players pulling their weight right now and then Pajoy, and we just signed a STRIKER…you tell me where he should play.

    If he goes into the mid-field who sits? Gomez, Adu, Marfan or Keon? All are playing well right now.

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