Daily news roundups

Le Toux says team will come back hungry, local colleges in NCAA tournaments, USMNT roster, more

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Philadelphia Union

In case you missed it on Monday, check out our article from the interview PSP editor Dan Walsh did with Philadelphia Union head coach John Hackworth. It is filled with a lot of good information.

At Philly.com, Jonathan Tannenwald notes some key points in Dan’s article.

Sebastien Le Toux did not want the season to end when it did and is eager for the start of the 2014 season. “I didn’t want to stop, but this is the reality of it. We had a lot of talent in that [locker] room and I know we will come back strong. I know we’re going to come back hungry next season to return to the playoffs. I think we’re all disappointed. But we’re going to regroup and we’ll be back…I thought we came a long way this season. We had some ups and downs, some great moments and some tough ones. We fought and scrapped as hard as we could…We have a lot to prove and we want to keep building. We want to be in the playoffs. That has to be a major goal and we have the team to do it. Once you get in, anything can happen. I like the character in this locker room and I’m sure we’ll all come back hungry for a playoff run.”

In the latest edition of Le Toux Corner, Philadelphia’s favorite Frenchman talks about his offseason plans, first of which is getting over the foot injury that dogged him at the end of the season.

Danny Cruz, whose father is currently deployed in Afghanistan, talks about how difficult Veteran’s Day can be and how he has gained a greater understanding of the meaningfulness of what his father does as he’s grown older.

An article at Philly.com makes clear how the strain of his father’s many deployments affected him as a teenager and eventually led to his parent’s divorce.

The Brotherly Game rounds up how former Union players fared last week.

Local

The La Salle women’s team will face Georgetown in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday at 1 pm at Georgetown. No. 4 seed Penn State will host Monmouth on Friday.

Despite an overall record of 12-1-4 and finishing second in the Ivy League, the University of Pennsylvania women’s team was not awarded an at-large spot int he NCAA tournament.

Millersville, Slippery Rock, and Wilmington have been drawn for Division II men’s tournament.

In the Division II women’s tournament, West Chester, Kutztown, Shippensburg, and Slippery Rock all all in.

Look for our post on the Division III draw later this morning.

University of Pennsylvania sophomore midfielder Erin Mikolai has been named Ivy League Player of the Week.

Saint Joseph’s sophomore midfielder Tim Lazorko has been named both the Atlantic 10 and Philly Soccer 6 Player of the Week.

La Salle goalkeeper John McCarthy has been named Philly Soccer 6 co-Defender of the Week along with Saint Joseph’s goalkeeper Andrew D’Ottavi.

Drexel freshman goalkeeper Tyler Afflerbach was named Colonial Athletic Conference and Philly Soccer 6 Rookie of the Week.

MLS

Sounders FC general manager and part owner Adrian Hanauer said in a conference call on Monday that no decision has been reached on whether Sigi Schmid will remain as head coach after Seattle was once again bounced out of the MLS playoffs.

The Galaxy have signed midfielder Baggio Hušidić and re-signed defender Todd Dunivant.

At SI, Brian Straus has an article detailing the confusion surrounding which MLS teams will qualify for the 2014-15 CONCACAF Champions League. Straus explains that the league proposed eight months ago altering which teams qualify in an effort to reward teams with the best regular season records but that CONCAF won’t decide on the proposal until a meeting on Dec. 13. Straus notes that, despite rumors to the contrary, a Champions League spot for the US Open Cup winner is not in jeopardy, nor is there any truth to a recent article suggesting that CONCACAF was trying to figure out a way to get the New York Cosmos into the tournament (although the fingers of Traffic Sports are everywhere in both CONCACAF and the second division NASL).

US

Turns out Jurgen Klinsmann didn’t call up any players whose clubs are still playing in the MLS postseason after all. You can view the 23-player roster for the friendlies against Scotland (Nov. 15 at 3 pm on ESPN2, WatchESPN and UniMas) and Austria (Nov. 19 at 2:45 pm on NBC Sports Network and UniMas) here.

At ESPN, Jason Davis on the state of the USMNT right back pool. After describing the potential behind Eric Lichaj’s call-up, his first since 2011, Davis says of Timothy Chandler being left off the roster, “Klinsmann might not always do what he says, but he has remained consistent in his refusal to include players he deems less than committed to the cause. Chandler’s situation is of his own making, and his exclusion this time around might signal the end of his own World Cup chances.”

At ProSoccerTalk, Steve Davis is more blunt. Calling Chandler’s USMNT chances “kaput,” Davis writes, “Timothy Chandler is plum out of chances in Klinsmann’s book.”

More reaction to the US roster from SI, ASN (1), ASN (2), and ProSoccerTalk.

Mike Magee was “a little surprised not to be called in” to the USMNT squad.

At BBCAmerica.com, one Brit expat explains why the US will win the World Cup by 2050. May I be alive to see it.

Elsewhere

At ESPN, Eric Gomez on the tension surrounding Wednesday’s first leg of the Intercontinental World Cup Qualification playoff between Mexico and New Zealand at the Azteca (3:15 pm on ESPN, Univision Deportes, UniMás, WatchESPN, ESPN3, Univision Deportes.com). At Reuters, Carlos Calvo has more on Mexico. At the Guardian, Barry Glendenning has more on New Zealand.

At ESPN, Dermot Corrigan reports, “The Spanish national side has been accused of offering support to Equatorial Guinea’s dictatorial regime by agreeing to play Saturday’s friendly in Malabo.”

The 230,000 tickets made available in the second phase of World Cup ticket sales on the FIFA website on Monday sold out in less than seven hours.

You can cast your vote for the 2013 FIFA Puskás award — given to the best goal of the year — here. Among those nominated along with the likes of Ibrahimovic and Neymar is Australian international Lisa De Vanna for her lovely bicycle kick goal for Sky Blue FC of the NWSL.

One Comment

  1. OneManWolfpack says:

    Goal of the Year has to be Zlatan Ibrahimović. I know there is some luck there, but the balls you have to have to even attempt it, let alone execute it well enough to have that luck come into play, are just ridiculous.
    .
    Although Daniel Ludueña 60 yarder over the keeper, plus the little piece of skill right before the blast is a close 2nd for me.

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