Daily news roundups

Reaction to Union loss in Seattle, City Islanders thumped at home, league results, more

Photo: Courtesy of Shayna Gosney/Prost Amerika

Philadelphia Union

Maurice Edu said before the Union’s game in Seattle, “This is going to show our character and how we are as a team. It’s easy when things are going your way and you’re getting the wins and all of the balls are falling for you. But when things aren’t falling into place, it’s a good test of character. How do you respond to that? And how do we rebound from our past performances.”

In this case, the Union responded with a better performance that was undercut by all too familiar defensive mistakes, resulting in a 2-1 loss.

Getting a mark in the scoring column was certainly nice after two goalless losses in a row. But as encouraging as the goal — and the early lead it provided — was, the fact remains that it was a Seattle own-goal. It has now been 280 minutes since a Union player scored a goal with Le Toux’s penalty kick tally in the 2-1 loss to New York on April 16. With the Seattle game now in the books, the Union have played 395 minutes since they last scored from open play with Andrew Wenger’s goal in the 55th minute of the 2-2 draw with Real Salt Lake on April 12. That’s an almost unbelievable six hours and 35 minutes of game time without a goal from open play. While the Union created 15 attempts on goal against Seattle, only one was on target.

John Hackworth said after the loss in Seattle, “We take away that we can come into probably one of the most difficult environments in MLS and compete and play with, in my opinion, the best team in the league right now. And we had an opportunity to get a result tonight. But once again, we kind of let ourselves down.”

Hackworth added, “Right now our issues are our team, not so much individuals. We have a lot of guys that are playing good. We continue to make mistakes in some critical moments.”

Amobi Okugo said of the team’s performance, “I think we came out in the first half, stuck to the game plan and got a good goal. The second half, we came out kind of flat. We still held firm. They got two goals off sort of mistakes. They capitalized on their goals and got the win.”

The bizarre thing is that Union’s eight points are only six points behind the 14 points currently held by the third place Red Bulls, who, like the Union, have played ten games. First place Kansas City and second place New England also have 14 points but Kansas City has played only eight games, while New England has played nine. The Union have five games before the World Cup break, three of which are on the road. Among the five games are the road game against Kansas City on May 14 and the home game against New England on May 17. Whether Maurice Edu will be called up for the national team and be unavailable for those two games remains unclear. One thing is clear: this Saturday’s home game against DC is as big as they come and may end up defining the Union’s season.

Recaps and reaction from PSP, here. Also, USA Today and  Prost America have photo galleries from the game.

Here’s a sneak peak at part two of the Maurice Edu documentary that is being co-produced by Arch Rivals and ASN.

Nick Sakiewicz is a finalist for the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Award for the greater Philadelphia region.

Philadelphia Union Academy

On Sunday, the Union Academy teams faced their DC United counterparts in US Development Academy East Conference play. The U-13/14’s earned a 4-1 win with a brace from Colin Brezniak, and single goals from Anthony Fontana and Juan Infante. The U-15/16s suffered a 4-1 loss with Isaiah Young registering the lone tally for the Union from the penalty spot. The U-17/18s played to a 1-1 draw with captain Noah Snyder scoring the equalizer for the Union

Local

Opening a four-game homestand on Friday, Harrisburg City Islanders fell 4-0 to the previously winless Charleston Battery. The Union’s Ethan White, on loan to the team, was shown a red card in the 66th minute. Head coach Bill Becher said after the game,

For lack of a better word, it’s embarrassing. No life in the first half, on your home field, after playing so well in Sacramento with all the energy, and we come out with absolutely no life. One shot in the first 45 minutes and it was a skimmed header. There’s no excuses, it was just not good enough tonight. And if we play like that, we’re not gonna win many games. If we play like we did in Sacramento, we’re gonna win a lot of games. If you don’t bring an energy and life to this game — and a fight — you’re not gonna win in this league. And we didn’t have it today.

More on the embarrassing loss from USL PRO, Charleston Battery, Penn Live, and The Sentinel.

Reading United have announced that two area players, defender Quincy Thomas, who plays at University of Memphis and has played PA Classics and with the Union Academy in the Generation Adidas Cup and in a 2011 friendly against the Everton FC Academy, and goalkeeper Scott Krotee, who last played for the indoor side, Pennsylvania Roar.

The Eastern Pennsylvania President’s Cup finals were played on Sunday and the 12 champions — six boys and six girls teams, U-12 through U-17 — will now advance to the US Youth Soccer Presidents Cup Region I Championships in Slippery Rock, Pa. that begin on Friday, May 23. The winners of the Region I titles will advance to the national championships in Greenville, South Carolina that begin on July 10. Click here for more information on the Eastern PA. winners.

MLS

In the Eastern Conference, Kansas City (14 points) is in first place with their 2-0 win over fourth place Columbus (12 points). New England (14 points) is in second place after their 2-1 road win over seventh place Toronto (9 points). New York (14 points) is in third place with a 1-0 road win over Dallas. Fifth place DC (11 points) fell 3-2 on the road to Portland. Sixth place Houston (11 points) walloped Chivas USA 4-1 on the road. The Union (8 points) are in eighth place after the 2-1 road loss to Seattle. Ninth place Montreal (6 points) had the weekend off. Last place Chicago (6 points) remains winless after falling 3-2 at home to Real Salt Lake.

In the Western Conference, Seattle (19 points) is in first place after their 2-1 win over Philadelphia. Real Salt Lake (17 points) is in second place after their 3-2 road win over Chicago. Dallas is in third place following their 1-0 home loss to New York. Colorado (14 points) moves into fourth place with a 1-0 win over sixth place LA Galaxy (8 points). Fifth place Vancouver (13 points) defeated eighth place San Jose (6 points) 3-2. Portland (8 points) moves into seventh place with their last gasp 3-2 win over DC, their first win of the season. Last place Chivas USA (6 points) fell 4-1 at home to Houston.

Toronto Globe and Mail looks at how, despite the massive spending by Toronto FC in the offseason, it’s home loss to New England on Saturday highlights “a familiar pattern of failing to convert chances being punished late on as tactical naïveté and technical inadequacies.” Hmm, that does sound familiar.

Vancouver and Kenny Miller have mutually agreed to part ways.

At The New Yorker, Noah Davis looks at some of the issues that will be in play at the negotiations for the next collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players union.

Philip Richiuso, the Erie, Pa. man who former Union goalkeeper Chris Seitz donated bone marrow to in 2012, remains cancer free and hopes to meet Seitz for the first time when FC Dallas plays Columbus on June 28. “He was ready to give up his career in soccer to do this for me, ” Richiuso told erietvnews.com. “I was on the phone almost crying. Thinking that someone would give their life to someone they didn’t know.”

Orange County Commissioner Ted Edwards wants proof that building a new stadium for Orlando City SC was more economically feasible than housing the team in the Citrus Bowl, which is in the midst of a $207 million renovation. Edwards has called Orlando needing to build a soccer specific stadium while the newly awarded Atlanta franchise will share it’s home with the NFL’s Falcons in a new $1.2 billion stadium a “double standard.”

The Florida bill aimed at providing tax relief for stadium construction and renovation that will benefit Orlando City and the David Beckham Miami franchise has moved from the state legislature for the signature of Gov. Rick Scott.

NWSL

Seattle Reign (15 points) are in first place with a 2-1 road win over fourth place Washington Spirit (6 points). Second place Portland Thorns (8 points) drew 1-1 on the road with sixth place Western New York Flash (4 points). Third place Kansas City (7 points) walloped last place Houston Dash (3 points) 4-0. Sky Blue FC (5 points) moves into fifth place with a 1-0 win over eighth place Boston Breakers (3 points).  Seventh place Chicago Red Stars (3 points) meets Sky Blue on Wednesday after having the weekend off. Also on Wednesday, Kansas City travels to Western New York.

Goal.com on the impressive fan support enjoyed by Portland Thorns.

US

On Friday, Steven Goff reported at the Washington Post that the German-born Arsenal phenom Gedion Zelalem was in Washington DC “with his father this weekend for naturalization purposes.” Goff continued, “By the time they return to London, both will likely be carrying U.S. passports.” Zelalem, who lived in the DC suburbs for six years before joining Arsenal last year, has been the subject of a great deal of speculation so far as his national team allegiance is concerned, speculation that gathered a good deal of momentum when he withdrew form the Germany U-17 squad before the qualifiers for the European championship.

Philly.com’s Jonathan Tannenwald and USA Today on ESPN’s plans for the network’s coverage of the World Cup.

Despite the fact that Fox won the rights to broadcast the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments, ESPN boss John Skipper says the network will remain committed to covering soccer: “We have to be there.”

ESPN begins its series on the ten greatest World Cup upsets with the US victory over England at the 1950 tournament.

Elsewhere

In the wake of the Dani Alves incident, SI looks at racism in Brazilian soccer. Interesting read.

The AP reports, “A Brazilian soccer fan was killed when he was struck in the head by a toilet bowl hurled from stadium stands as supporters of rival clubs clashed in the northeastern World Cup host city of Recife, police said Saturday.” The report also says, “In Natal, fans clashed before a match between rival clubs ABC and America in a test event at the Arena das Dunas on Saturday.” The Arena das Dunas will be the venue for the USA vs. Ghana match on June 16.

Sticking with the fan violence theme, at Saturday’s Coppa Italia final between Fiorentina and Napoli, clashes between rival supporters outside of the stadium before kickoff resulted in a Napoli fan being shot by a Roma ultra. That’s right, the Napoli fan was shot by a supporter of a team not even in the game. While the victim is in critical condition after surgery to remove the bullet from his body, his mother says she forgives his assailant. By the way, Napoli won.

At SI, Jonathan Wilson has a good read on the Bosnia-Herzegovina team ahead of the World Cup.

Wow, Cristiano Ronaldo, wow.

17 Comments

  1. Better performance, fair result. Seattle is a good team in great form, and 2-1 is better than the 3-0 predicted score. The fact that our only goal was an own-goal is frustrating, but they put themselves in a situation to create that chance and Maidana took advantage.

    If Berry is in the 18, he should be in the eleven.

    Martins is a dive-artist of the finest form. He and Dempsey get away with EVERYTHING. How Martins didn’t get whistled more for simulation is mind-boggling, and on 3 separate occasions that I remember Clint shoved or hit Union players and nothing was even called. He deserved at least one other yellow, and maybe even a straight red for his forearm to Wheeler’s head. Just like Henry, the referees baby Dempsey because he’s the league’s shiny new toy.

    • scottymac says:

      As long as Hoppenot wears the blue and gold, not sure we can call out other players for diving.It doesn’t matter if he tripped,he comes up and asks for the call.Just disgraceful.

      There was once or twice when Wheeler had both hands on Martins, maybe he embellished but if you’re going to extend your arms you’re going to get called.

      • This was Cruz’s MO before Hoppenot took over. We didn’t get this reputation for diving overnight.

      • John Ling says:

        And Adu. And Ruiz. And Moreno. yep, it’s definitely not an overnight reputation.

      • All fair points. I just chose to ignore Hoppenot’s behavior. It’s one thing to have a reputation for diving (he does), it’s another thing completely to literally trip yourself then flail your arms like you were thrown to the ground. He consistently contributes nothing to the game outside his theatrics, and they have worked so few times.

        I didn’t mean to call out Martins, just making note of his masterful performance. Hoppenot should’ve been carded for his antics, Martins didn’t come close to that. Either way he put one in the back of the net, so he gets the last laugh.

  2. I don’t think I’m alone in thinking the DC United game should be pretty close to a “must win” for Hackworth. That said, all that really matters is what Sak thinks, and things had to get absurdly awful for him to finally sh*t-can Nowak.
    .
    I don’t want Hackworth out necessarily, I just want to win, and for this team to play to its potential. Right now, we’re not winning, and we’ve been not winning in pretty much the same manner all season. A home game against an improved by still not great DC United team is game we should win. Period. If we don’t, and I’m not particularly confident we will, I think we should be looking for a new manager.

    • A manager should be judged first by the performance of his team on the field. In Nowak’s case, I feel the locker room situation was overlooked by the fact that he led them to the playoffs in their 2nd season. But in 2012 it was no longer possible to overlook his poor management of the locker room. I understand Hackworth stabilized a volatile situation, and got stuck with those bad contracts Nowak signed, but it seems like Sak is hiding behind that because Hack is a “nice guy.” The truth is, the team is wildly underperforming, especially with the guys that Hackworth wanted to bring in. If this is his team, it should perform like it. If this team can’t get to 3 wins by the World Cup break (2 out the next 6) then he needs to go. In 2011 the team went 3-5-6 down the stretch, but besides that they haven’t come close to being a legitimate contender in 4 seasons. In my opinion, he has 6 games to turn things around. If he doesn’t, the new manager gets a nice 2-week break to introduce his system.

    • With the new players, I can understand the team having some early season struggles with chemistry. The main issue I have is that the Union are having exactly the same problems as last year: surrendering late leads, ineffective when given a man advantage, & set piece defense.
      .
      If many of the players are different and the system is apparently different, why do these same problems exist? I feel like this team could have the best roster in the league, and they’d still struggle.
      .
      I want the team to win, but it gets harder and harder to defend Hackworth when we see the same errors happening again and again.

      • There is no improvement. As you said it’s the same issues from last year, and while he acknowledges some of them, it doesn’t seem they’re being addressed. The team has 5 new starters, so the fact not much has changed indicates poor management.

  3. I was at the Islanders game and watched Ethan White very closely. Let me tell you, Wheeler might not be better than Berry, but he is better than White. White had the ball taken off of his feet multiple times, leaving no one but the GK between the ball and the net. His distribution was bad also.

  4. Andy Muenz says:

    Not sure what it’s worth, but the last time the Union played each of the next 5 teams at the venue they are playing at this month, the U came out with 3 points.
    .
    In March, they beat New England at home. Last year they beat DC at home and KC on the road. In 2012 they won at both Chivas and at LA. Given that pretty much everyone here thinks this team is more talented than either last year’s team or the 2012 team, this means they should have 23 points by the end of the month, right? Of course they also beat Seattle last time they went there and we saw how much that helped Saturday night…

  5. So Seattle is down 1-0 to the Union near halftime, and get gifted a PK. Rather than give it to the hottest striker in MLS, or a guy who has never missed a PK in his pro career, they give the kick to a guy with a poor history of PK’s, because it’s his daughter’s birthday. It’s as if they knew they didn’t really need the PK. That, in a nutshell, shows the level of respect other clubs have for the Union at this point.

  6. OneManWolfpack says:

    Currently at 1-4-5 and 8 pts., if this team doesn’t have 15 points by the end of the month, I think this season is a lost cause. That would be a 2-2-1 record in the next 5. I don’t think that’s impossible, and given they have 2 straight conference opponents at home, 2 wins in those games would go a long way.
    .
    If they bomb out by the end of the month, I think the “Hack has to go” conversation, has got to get louder.

    • I think if they can’t hit the low bar you’ve set for this month, I will be one of the ones loudening that conversation.

      • OneManWolfpack says:

        I just wanted to say that I set it so low because a 2-2-1 stretch would be quite the turn around for this team. And given the state of the East, they might be top 3 if they pull it off

  7. MD Jessup says:

    What is the longest streak of blocked PKs? That is one silver lining I have not seen much chatter about. Zack saving his third in a row is incredible.

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