Daily news roundups / Featured

Tracy lottery, Pfeffer doing well with US U18s, Dempsey Face, more

Photo: Courtesy of US Soccer

Philadelphia Union

At Wednesday’s weekly press conference, John Hackworth confirmed the Union are interested in Marcus Tracy, though he admitted “He would be someone we look toward for the future, more so than an immediate impact.” Hackworth said of the injury that have plagued Tracy’s career, “It’s always a concern but only he can answer the critics. Until he gets back with a team in full training and puts himself on the field, I think it’s up to Marcus more than anything. I hope he’s going to do that in a Union jersey.”

The Union are not alone in their interest in the 25-year-old forward. On Wednesday, the New England Revolution tweeted, “Marcus Tracy lottery update: #Revs 1 of 8 teams in lottery. NE has best chance to win his rights (33.2%). Lottery on Thurs morning.” The next best chance is FC Dallas at 19.7 percent, followed by the Union at 16.8 percent. The lottery will take place today at 10am.

Gabriel Gomez, an unused sub in last Friday’s 1–0 loss, returned to the starting XI for Panama’s 2–0 win on Tuesday. Carlos Valdes, who went the full 90 in Colombia’s 4–0 win over Uruguay, was an unused sub in Tuesday’s 3–1 win over Chile.

With Zack Steffen between the posts, Zach Pfeffer assisted the first goal in the US U-18’s 4–2 win over the Netherlands on Tuesday. Both players went the full 90.

In addition to feeling honored to represent the US, Pfeffer says, “I think this will help me at the Union because I am getting more quality games and more experience. Coming back to the Union after representing my country gives me a lot of confidence and hopefully I can make a contribution for the remainder of the season.”

Local

Betty D’Anjolell, a pioneer in the growth of girls’ and women’s soccer in the US, and former director of the Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer Association, passed away on Wednesday.

Corey Hertzog, the Reading native who was on loan from New York Red Bulls to USL Pro side Wilmington Hammerheads, is back training with New York, filled with confidence. Hertzog says, “It was a great experience; every player wants to play in games. It was really good, going down there and training, playing every game. Definitely helped with my touches, my confidence. That was the main thing I got from it, getting my confidence up there.” More from Hertzog here.

Dodji Freitas, a senior at Holy Family, was named the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Men’s Soccer Player of the Week after scoring four goals in the season opener against Caldwell.

Jim Murray (Class of 1963) and Ellen (Stenrud) Martinez (Class of 2000) are to be inducted into the St. Joseph’s University Athletics Hall of Fame.

University of Pennsylvania’s men’s team has had a tough opening to the season and will look to turn things around against Villanova on Friday on the first day of the annual Ivy League/BIG EAST Challenge.

In the NSCAA/Continental Tire NCAA Division III Men’s Top 25, Franklin & Marshall comes in a t No. 5, Rutgers-Camden at No. 6. York comes in at No. 19.

MLS

Chicago moves into second place in the East with a 2–1 win over Toronto. Toronto remains in last place, five points behind the ninth place Union.

MLSsoccer.com reports that Danny Califf has played in every match but one since being dealt by Peter Nowak to Chivas USA. On Sunday he left the game agaisnt Seattle in the 63rd minute. I mention this becasue of this gem of a sentence in the report: “Califf, 32, said he has had no issues with injuries this season prior to Saturday.” What’s that, Mr. Nowak?

The MLS business summit concludes today in Columbus. The Columbus Dispatch reports the mood at the summit has been one of optimism.

Leading international media rights agency MP & Silva have extended their partnership with MLS through 2014. A press release says, “The deal includes the exclusive rights distribution outside North America to all MLS games, tournaments and events, including MLS regular season, MLS Cup Playoffs and MLS Cup. Internationally, MP & Silva continues to support MLS’ increase in global popularity. The 2011 MLS season reached 118 million homes in a total of 112 countries.”

A coalition of groups concerned about the erosion of green space could cause problems for the proposed MLS stadium in Queens.

US

Look for our analysis and player ratings from Tuesday night’s win over Jamaica later this morning.

The players talked a great deal about the atmosphere at Crew Stadium for Tuesday night’s win. Steve Davis writes at ProSoccerTalk,

“Even if you throw the ‘atmosphere as competitive edge’ argument out the window, MLS organizations that have worked so hard to develop these grounds and the markets deserve the games. Big-draw friendlies beyond these World Cup qualifiers and other important, competitive events? Sure, hold ‘em in the massive NFL grounds and make a ton of cash. I have no problem with that. But matches that matter should never again become attempted cash grabs.”

US Soccer Players takes four things from Tuesday’s game. The Guardian takes five things.

MLS Talk looks at some of the warning signs from the USMNT’s win.

At MLSsoccer.com, Greg Seltzer grades Jurgen Klinsman’s first year with the USMNT.

Sporting News credits Klinsman for being open-minded when it comes to player selection.

Grab a few minutes and read this piece from Howler on the tactical evolution of the USMNT since 1990.

And then there’s Dempsey Face.

Elsewhere

 Match fixing in Canada? Believe it.

6 Comments

  1. James "4-3-3" Forever says:

    Tracy is 6’1 and is apparently good in the air. I’d take a flier on him.

  2. The Chili – Columbia match was incredibile. Was so happy that I DVR’ed it and watched it the other night!!! Both sides went for it, but Chili had a player sent off early and seemed to run out of gas and/or lost concentration at some point. The 3 Columbia goals came late. Like that BEin shows these matches and that the quaslity of them is much better than when GOAL showed them – if they ever did.

  3. Loved the article from Howler. When do the T shirts come out? The ones that say “Run fast, Try hard”

  4. Somehow I can’t picture someone doing Dempsey Face in American football and not getting their head smashed. Someone needs to make a picture mask of that and give out to the crowd at their next home match.

  5. Pretty nice post. I simply stumbled upon your weblog and wished to mention that I have truly enjoyed surfing around your weblog posts.

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