Daily news roundups

Club v Academy, headgear for soccer in Princeton, US Open Cup semis, more

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Philadelphia Union

Today is Zac MacMath’s birthday. Help him celebrate by voting for him for Save of the Week.

The Reading Eagle has a story illustrating the dilemma posed by the recent requirement that players with clubs that are part of the US Development Academy system cannot play high school soccer. Jason Klinger, who attends Exeter High School in Berks County, is a member of the Union’s U-18 academy team and will not be playing for his high school team in his senior year.

The Union comes in at No. 8 in ProSoccerTalk’s power rankings.

Kevin Kinkead talks to the excellent Union color analyst Alejandro Moreno about his new gig as an analyst for the new “ESPN FC on TV” show, which debuts on Aug. 11 on ESPN2. Moreno is one hard working dude.

The Daily Doop is back.

Local

Harrisburg City Islanders host Charlotte Eagles tonight in their penultimate regular season home game of 2013 (7 pm, USL Live). Currently in third place in USL PRO and guaranteed a playoff spot, a win tonight will help in the team’s battle for home field advantage in the playoffs. Here’s a match preview from the USL PRO site.

Harrisburg’s Lucky Mkosana, who has scored seven goals over his ongoing five-game scoring streak, has been named to the USL PRO Team of the Week for the third consecutive week. Joining him on the Team of the Week is Matt Bahner. Jamiel Hardware and Stephen Basso received honorable mentions.

NBC 10 reports that the Princeton school district has mandated the wearing of protective headgear for all middle and high school soccer, field hockey and lacrosse players in an effort to reduce concussion injuries. While praising the school district’s efforts, Joanna Boyd, a concussion specialist at the Brain Injury Alliance of New Jersey, says there is no evidence that wearing such head gear can prevent concussions following a blow to the head. “The damage created by that is going to depend on so many other environmental factors. It’s the speed, it’s the angle, it’s the kind of hit it is.”

MLS

Clint Dempsey missed his first training session with Seattle after apparently picking up a virus.

Dempsey’s Seattle debut on Aug. 25 against Portland has sold out.

Will Dempsey’s return to the US to play for Seattle harm is standing with Jurgen Klinsmann? ProSoccerTalk considers.

SBI reports that Juan Agudelo has signed a pre-contract with Stoke City. Agudelo will reportedly join the Premier League team after his MLS contract expires at the end of the year.

Colorado Rapids have signed 33 year old Uruguayan international Vicente Sanchez.

Former Celtic winger Paddy McCourt wants to play in MLS.

CONCACAF Champions League play returns for MLS teams tonight with Montreal hosting San Jose (8 pm, Fox Soccer Plus) and Kansas City traveling to face Real Esteli in Nicaragua (10 pm, Fox Soccer Plus).

Orlando City Soccer Club President Phil Rawlins has asked the Orange County commissioners for $20 million in tourist development tax funding to help in the building of a new stadium. County commissioners had plenty of questions.

Rawlins promised the club will sign a “Brazilian Beckham” as a DP if the team moves up to MLS. Good to know there are apparently more than one.

At ESPN, Jeff Carlisle looks at Orlando’s big league plans.

A commentary piece at The Orlando Sentinel look’s at the similarities between the sports cultures in Orlando and Kansas City and says if MLS can be a hit in Missouri, so it can be in Central Florida.

NWSL

Three games to night in the NWSL. Sixth place Boston hosts second place Portland (7 pm, Boston Breakers.com), fourth place Western New York hosts seventh place Seattle, and last place Washington hosts fifth place Chicago (7:30 pm, YouTube).

US

The semifinals of the US Open Cup will take place tonight with Chicago Fire hosting DC United (8:30 pm, ChicagoFire.com) and Real Salt Lake hosting Portland Timbers (9:30 pm, USsoccer.com). Previews from The Cup.us, MLSsoccer.com (first game), MLSsoccer.com (second game), the Chicago Fire (video), DC United, Real Salt Lake, and the Portland Timbers.

Bosnia and Herzegovinia have released their roster for the friendly against the US Wednesday, Aug. 14, at the Olympic Stadium in Sarajevo.

Elsewhere

An unnamed Jamaica player has been provisionally suspended for 30 days after failing a drug test administered after the World Cup qualifier against Honduras on June 11.

The German Football Association denies allegations of doping on West Germany’s 1966 World Cup team.

5 Comments

  1. LOL, the new Daily Doop is just a rehash of the retread articles no one reads in the first place….. nothing like eating peanut butter and FLUFF on your BIMBO bread

  2. Did the double rainbow at PPL this past weekend occur as a counter balance to Chick-fil-A night? (Sorry I just couldn’t resist).

  3. Does anyone actually believe Moreno will be doing Union games next year.

  4. There are also lots of them in the mine before the
    Deadmines dungeon entrance. So, just how will you get your gold in order to have the strength to do so.
    The Savior of Hallow’s End – Once per hour, the Headless Horseman will attack one of the starting zones.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*