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“Pretty gutted at the moment.” WPS kaput? More.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

Philadelphia Union

Check out PSP’s match report, which also contains a number of illuminating quotes from the coaches and players.

John Hackworth said after the game, “It was really tough loss to lose a game like that in injury time after fighting so hard to come back and equalizing. The team in the locker room is pretty gutted at the moment. It’s just a tough one. We really feel like we deserved at least a point out of that game, in every way possible.”

Gabriel Gomez said, “It’s definitely sad. The team didn’t do what we worked on this week. We faced a good team that has proven their position in the west. We know that we have to improve a lot of things. We have a great team, great players, we work well but we are lacking attitude and we have to respect our fans that always come to support the team.”

Carlos Valdes said of the depressingly anemic Union offense, “Not scoring many goals, it’s lack of confidence in ourselves…Everybody is trying to do whatever they can without risking. And sometimes in soccer you have to take this risks in order to get points.”

More on the sputtering offense. “I’m not going to say there’s a disconnection, but I’ll say we need to trust each other more,” said Danny Mwanga. “When we get the ball, we have to trust the forwards.”

Hackworth said of the offensive woes, “It’s the entire team, it isn’t just what Lio is doing. When the ball goes to him, he has to hold it up for us and allow us to help him. It’s not one player. It’s everybody, it’s a team issue.”

Steve Lenhart has scored four goals in just two appearances at PPL Park, all from headers, the first brace coming when he was with Columbus Crew in 2010. Said Hackworth, “That guy’s a Union killer isn’t he?”

Frank Yallop said of his decisive substituting in of Steve Lenhart and Marvin Chavez in the 61st minute, “They have pace and power. We wanted to give them at least enough time to get into the game and get their rhythm. If you do with 10 minutes to go it never really works…I just felt we had to go and win the game. If we had kept with what we were doing we would’ve probably conceded a goal and probably not scored tonight.”

SI’s Avi Creditor says, “For coach Frank Yallop to dig into his bench and bring on the likes of speedster Marvin Chavez and renowned nuisance Steven Lenhart speaks volumes of the job done by general manager John Doyle to assemble his 2012 squad that is off to a Western-Conference-best 6-1-1 start after a last-minute, 2-1 road victory over the Philadelphia Union.”

Danny Califf said, “If you look at the amount we possessed the ball in comparison to San Jose tonight, it’s not good enough. When you defend for 75 to 80 percent of the game, you get tired and when you get tired, mistakes happen. There’s no way around that. If we’re going to get out of this up-and-down thing and be successful over the long haul of the season, we’re going to have to establish better possession.”

Chris Vito picks up on the trickle down effect of the Gabriel Farfan suspension, which means that Sheanon Williams is playing out of position since Porfirio Lopez is apparently so out of favor that he didn’t even make the game day roster. He quotes Califf:

” I think (Farfan’s suspension) changes us a lot due to the fact that, No. 1, Sheanon goes out on the left, where he’s not as comfortable. So you take him off the right, where he’s not only comfortable but he also is a huge part of our offense, and you put him in a spot where he’s not as comfortable and that takes away our left-sided attack out of the back…Nothing against Sheanon, but he’s not left-footed and he’s not used to playing there. He’s athletic, but he’s not going to give you anything (there). It’s hard, right? He just can’t do what Gabe does on the left. He gives us that on the right, but it’s just not there on the left. It’s kind of a dynamic of our game that’s completely lost. Not only do we not have the left, but now we don’t have as much on the right…I think Ray does a great job, but he’s still a kid and he’s still got a lot of inexperience and he shows flashes of being a brilliant player, but he needs more games. When we lose Sheanon on the right and an attacking guy on the left, it hamstrings us when we’re trying to play out of the back.”

Goal.com’s Kyle McCarthy praises Chris Wondolowski’s play: “…the prolific forward applied pressure to Union right back Raymon Gaddis and forced Gaddis to concede possession in the attacking third. When Gaddis did well to recover and shut off his attacking avenue, Wondolowski wisely played the ball backwards to retain possession. That pass started a sequence that continued with some tidy interplay – including a neat through ball by Wondolowski to Marvin Chávez – through the attacking half and concluded Steven Lenhart’s diving opener.”

The Union shutout streak ended at 407 minutes. “We’re not worried about that,” said Zac MacMath. “We’re more worried about not getting the result tonight. That’s the most frustrating part.”

Match reports and recaps from MLSsoccer.com, SJearthquakes.com(1), SJEarthquakes.com (2), the Daily News, The Mercury News, CSN Philly, SBI, Goal.com, Philly Soccer News, SB Nation, the Brotherly Game,

Local

Jersey Shore Boca have qualified for the US Open Cup after Maryland Bays were forced to forfeit due to a combination of injuries and player availability. Boca are the first New Jersey team to qualify since 1995 (if you don’t count the Pink Cows) and the first New Jersey USASA team since 1993.

Harrisburg City Islanders played University of Maryland to a 1–1 draw on Saturday with Morgan Langley netting for Harrisburg. They have their USL PRO League home opener on Friday against Charlotte.

The Patriot-News has an in-depth look at how Tom Brandt is settling in and making an impact with the City Islanders.

Friends’ Central have announced new head coaches for its varsity boys’ and girls’ teams. Galen Guindon takes over as boys’ head coach and Benjamin Davey is the new girls’ head coach.

MLS

In the Eastern Conference, first place Kansas City had the weekend off after their 1–0 loss to Portland last weekend. DC United are in second place with their 3–2 win at home over fifth place Houston. Third place New York defeated ninth place New England 1–0 but goalscorer Thierry Henry will be out three to for weeks with a hamstring injury. Fourth place Chicago lost 2–1 at home to Seattle. Montreal moves to sixth place with a 2–0 win over Portland and the Union drop to seventh with their 2–1 loss to San Jose. Eighth place Columbus lost 1–0 to Vancouver at home and Toronto remains winless after losing to Real Salt Lake 3–2.

Soccer America’s Paul Gardner says of the Disciplinary Committee’s recent retroactive punishment rulings, “I applaud the aims of the DisCo. But I’m not at all sure that using the DisCo to basically re-referee games is the right way to set about this important matter of cleaning up MLS games. Not least because it carries the clear implication that the referees are not doing the job, with the surely inevitable consequence of a downgrading of their credibility.”

Tottenham executive director Darren Eales says Giovanni Dos Santos will not be going on loan to an MLS club.

Don Garber says shirt sponsorships, the revenue of which is shared, nearly equal $100 million.

Women’s Soccer

From Soccerwire.com: “The Soccer Wire has obtained some reliable information that an announcement officially and permanently closing the entity known as Women’s Professional Soccer, or WPS, is imminent.”

In response the the above, Soccerwire.com wonders what’s next for the women’s game. Beast Mode Soccer has some suggestions about how to move forward.

Soccernation.com wonders why women’s professional soccer struggles in the US.

US

Soccer Nation wonders if futsal can help the technical development of US soccer.

Elsewhere

Today’s Manchester derby (2:30pm, ESPN) could decide the Premiership title. Read up on the significance of the game with the Guardian and SI.

Roy Hodgson is set to be named the new manager of England.

12 Comments

  1. It’s insulting that this team would play such anti-soccer with the talent we have on the team, especially at home. We looked so much better when we brought on Jack and moved to a 4-4-2.
    Just please give us one game with a 4-4-2 with Jack and Mwanga up top. This punt and pray barely worked with Le Toux, and it sure as hell ain’t going to work with a lesser forward like Pajoy.

  2. Wow, Roy Hodgson?! Hope that he will do better than with Liverpool; have my doubts since he seems to do better with less high profile teams.

  3. Also, we did have a few attacks break down because of bad passes, or delayed decisions (WHY DIDNT YOU PASS IT MARFAN!?!?!?!?!?! WHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY). This is a cohesion problem and it makes me woner why we are still seeing things like this a month into the season.

  4. I thought the way Mwanga held off two defenders and was able to lay the ball off for Gomez was a perfect example of what Pajoy cannot do.

  5. i know it’s not exactly surprising news but the wps folding is awful.

  6. mrdivothead says:

    I am pretty sure that Ocean City of the PDL has qualified for the Open Cup out of New Jersey in the last few years. I remember go to see them play Real Maryland of USL at Ocean City HS and then traveled to the Maryland SoccerPlex to see them take on DC United the following week. JT Noone was the playmaker on that squad, and was impressive against DCU.

    • Ed Farnsworth says:

      You are correct, sir! (That’s what I get for taking an article at its word.) South Jersey Barons qualified in 2002, 2004 and then as Ocean City Barons in 2005, 2007, 2009. So far, Ocean City Nor’easters, as they are now named, haven’t qualified. Before them, New Jersey Stallions qualified 1999-2002.

  7. mrdivothead says:

    I am pretty sure that Ocean City of the PDL has qualified for the Open Cup out of New Jersey in the last few years. I remember going to see them play Real Maryland of USL at Ocean City HS and then traveled to the Maryland SoccerPlex to see them take on DC United the following week. JT Noone was the playmaker on that squad, and was impressive against DCU.

  8. Oh come on…everyone knows DisCo is dead.

    But aside from that tomfoolery, still too many passes in the final third. It looked better in the second half but this team needs to get its collective head up. Though I must say, Mwanga’s assist for Gomez was pretty pretty.

  9. will miss the independence always a good game when i went

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