Daily news roundups

Union Academy leads the news, local HS soccer state tournament results, students protest Blatter, more

Photo: Courtesy of Philadelphia Union

Philadelphia Union

Bloomberg’s profile on the growth of soccer in the US largely revolves around the YSC Academy, “the only high school dedicated to developing American players,” which was founded by Union co-owner Rich Graham and is the home of the Philadelphia Union Academy. The article notes “Graham is the Union’s second-largest stakeholder behind Jay Sugarman.”

Graham describes how when researching best practices before YSC Academy was opened, a particular focus was on Germany. “They had had terrible results and they got together and between the federation and the Bundesliga, they really put together a game plan for driving and incentivizing investment into youth development. The fruits of that labor we see in the World Cup and in the number and quality of players playing in the Bundesliga.”

Syracuse University’s The Daily Orange profiles Union Academy alum Chris Gomez (he’s now with PDA), who is expected to immediately start at Syracuse when the left back begins his college career next year. Syracuse is currently ranked No. 1 in the country.

Two Union Academy defenders, Andrew Aprahamian (Malvern) and Matthew Real (Drexel Hill), have been called up for US U-16 YNT camp in France, Nov. 13-21. Real is quoted in the Bloomberg piece linked to above.

Brotherly Game continues its “You be the GM” series with Conor Casey.

Local

The Philadelphia University men’s team advanced to the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament semifinals with a 2-1 overtime win over Bloomfield.

Tuesday was a day of PIAA state tournament high school soccer action with the winners advancing to the quarterfinals on Saturday at times and locations to be determined. Here are some local results:

District 12 champion Philadelphia Academy Charter lost 3-1 to Plumstead Christian in PIAA Class A first-round boys’ soccer play at Northeast High School.

At the South Philadelphia Super Site, Lansdale Catholic was defeated 2-0 by Gettysburg in PIAA Class AA state first-round boys’ soccer play.

Following a 3-3 draw after regulation time and two overtime periods, Archbishop Wood defeated Wissahickon 3-2 on penalty kicks in PIAA Class AAA state first-round boys’ soccer play. Wood next face District Three runner-up Lower Dauphin in the quarterfinals.

Central Bucks East defeated Central York 2-1 in PIAA Class AAA state first-round boys’ soccer play. East next faces Mechanicsburg on Saturday.

In PIAA Class AAA girls soccer first round play at Scranton Memorial Stadium, Central Bucks West defeated Pittston 3-0. West next faces District One champion Pennsbury.

In more PIAA Class AAA girls soccer first round play, Central Bucks East defeated Ephrata 2-1 at William Tennent High School in Warminster. East next faces District Seven champion Seneca Valley.

In another PIAA Class AAA girls soccer first round game, Archbishop Ryan defeated Council Rock, 2-1. Ryan will next face Elizabethtown on Saturday.

The Archbishop Wood girls soccer team was defeated 2-0 by District 11 champion Northwestern Lehigh at Northeast High School in PIAA Class AA play.

Christopher Dock defeated Conwell-Egan 5-1 in PIAA Class A girls soccer play at Souderton High School. Dock face District Three champion Trinity on Saturday at a site and time to be determined.

MLS

The Goat Parade has a handy Dispersal Draft guide. The Dispersal Draft, you will recall, will allow teams to select from the roster of the closed Chivas USAand is supposed to take place sometime around Dec. 1.

The London Evening Standard reports, “Queens Park Rangers have a deal in place to sign Jermain Defoe when the transfer window reopens in January.” The report says, “Rangers boss Harry Redknapp is confident Defoe will move to Loftus Road from FC Toronto on a three-year contract worth around £90,000 a week.”

Portland Timbers midfielder Diego Valeri underwent successful surgery on Monday to repair a torn left anterior cruciate ligament. He is expected to be out for five months.

Houston Dynamo have announced Matt Jordan as vice president/general manager “to oversee soccer operations and the technical areas of the club.” Jordan was most recently technical director at Montreal Impact.

Houston Chronicle reports Jordan’s hiring “was met with apprehension from a Dynamo fan base that has grown to despise Jordan’s former club’s rugged play and the tactics his front office employed during the 2011 expansion draft.”

New Orlando kitOrlando City unveiled their new home kit today. Nice. It’s also good to see the new league logo on a uniform. In this instance, anyway, it doesn’t look bad at all.

Grant Wahl on the possibility of MLS taking part in the Copa Libertadores: “When I asked MLS commissioner Don Garber about it, he said MLS is indeed interested in joining the tournament, and that would be a step toward his goal of making MLS one of the world’s top leagues by 2022. But he added there has not yet been an official invitation from CONMEBOL. For now, Garber says, MLS is focused on succeeding in the CONCACAF Champions League and getting an MLS team to the FIFA Club World Cup for the first time.”

Howler on Sacramento Republic’s MLS aspirations.

More on interest from Japanese investment group in investing in San Antonio Scorpions aimed at winning a MLS franchise.

The Guardian on how Indy Eleven came to be. It will be a familiar story to the Sons of Ben.

US

Hope Solo’s trial for misdemeanor domestic violence charges, scheduled to begin on Nov. 17, has been delayed until Jan. 20. In a hearing on Tuesday, Judge Michael Lambo ruled that Solo’s attorneys should be allowed to interview the two alleged victims in the presence of a court stenographer. Solo’s teenage nephew and her half-sister had previously refused to be so interviewed.

King5.com reports, “New court documents reveal that prosecutors have unearthed a video of Solo’s jail booking may use it during Solo’s trial. It is unclear what exactly the video shows, but the jail officers have been subpoenaed to testify as have the arresting officers from the night in question.” Documents also show prosecutors “offered a plea deal to Solo if she plead guilty to at least one count.”

Elsewhere

Reuters reports, “Police in riot gear were deployed at a university in Zurich as protesters tried to force their way into a room where the FIFA president Sepp Blatter was giving a lecture. At least one smoke bomb was let off after between 60 and 100 students managed to enter the building on Tuesday night, although they did not get into the room itself.” 20 Minuten has a gallery of photos from the protest.

The AP reports, “FIFA anti-racism adviser Tokyo Sexwale believes black players could boycott the 2018 World Cup and urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to demand tougher action against racism in football.”

A statement on the FIFA website says, “The chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee has decided to extend the sanction imposed by the Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body of UEFA on Carlo Tavecchio, president of the Italian Football Association (FIGC), which was announced on 7 October 2014.” Tavecchio “is ineligible for any position as a FIFA official for a period of six months.” You will recall that Tavecchio referred to African players as banana eaters when he was running for the presidency of the Italian FA.

In more Italian soccer news, the Guardian reports, “The worrying rise of violence towards officials could see strike action in Italy’s Serie A, according to the president of the Italian Referees’ Association (AIA) Marcello Nicchi.” Nicchi said, “Enough is enough now. The FA has got to do something and give definite answers. We’re faced with what is a national disgrace. We are not prepared to suffer any more violence and we could take action. We could go on strike, starting with Serie A.” La Gazzetta dello Sport reports there have been some 375 reported incidents in which referees have been attacked this season in Italian amateur soccer.

The AP has an interesting story on the abuse that Ronaldinho has received since joining Queretaro in Liga MX. “Mexico has a history of racism on the pitch. But it was largely overlooked until the arrival of Ronaldinho. Racism in Europe often involves white against black. But in Mexico and other parts of Latin America that have mixed-race societies, it can involve dark-skinned people shouting insults at other dark-skinned people.”

10 Comments

  1. Is Gomez able to be a HG siging?

    • Ed Farnsworth says:

      From a Brotherly Game interview with Gomez in 2013: “Yes, I could be available to sign a Home Grown Player contract, and it’s something that might be brought up in the future, as my dad has talked to Jim Curtin about how the whole system works.” I’m not sure why he’s now with PDA rather than still with the Union Academy, but he’s certainly within the Union catchment area. He’s from Jamison, Pa. and attends CB East.

  2. Tokyo Sexwale – what a brilliant name.

  3. So the question is whether the Union will wind up number 1 in the dispersal draft and be able to take Kennedy as the unquestioned top player or if they will need to spend allocation money to trade up to number 1 and get Kennedy?

    • OneManWolfpack says:

      Cause they are getting Kennedy. This much we know. You can ever have enough starting caliber goalkeepers on your game day roster.

  4. Kaka is going to make us all look, ‘man I think the clock is sloooowwww.’
    .
    He looks good in regal purple. Hmm, come to think of it he looked good in regal purple for that super club in europe. The one where he lost a step related to injury but than found his step more recently and now has that same quickness about his game, though not quite as quick as before the injury but quick none the less- oh yea and that says nothing about how quick he is with his mind spinning parables about wine and water as we go staring into the well looking for more and more water but alas its not there and he’s not there and neither is the ball anymore- cause he just gutted you with a blind no look saw it 5 seconds ago in the run of play buildup pass and is standing next to the flag as everyone realizes the ball is already in the goal. Magic. Abracadabra. Kaka. Ricardo dos Santos. You remember Kaka, right? Arguably the most gifted player in the Solar Confederation as recently as five or so years ago. Legion bowed before him.

  5. Richard Graham. Now there is a guy with vision — and he has two different Icee flavors up there to boot. The blue leaves you with blue lips for three days afterwards. Big fan of the Blue Icee.

    .
    about 15 years ago someone asked me if I wanted to join him in buying a warehouse to turn into a multipurpose indoor facility. I said no thanks, thinking, who the hell would use that. Who would clamor for time on a field to practice year round. Duh.
    .

  6. variant1

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