Daily news roundups

Re-entry Draft phase 2 today, Clearwater spring training deal expected today, DC stadium deal approved, Garcia resigns, more

Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Philadelphia Union

The second phase of the Re-entry draft takes place today. (I like to call it the Re-Re-Entry Draft.) The Union have the seventh pick of the draft and at CBS Philly Kevin Kinkead has ten players the team might consider for selection. At Union Tally, Matthew De George has nine options.

Corben Bone, Fred, and Brian Carroll are available for selection from the Union. Here’s the complete list of available players.

The Clearwater Gazette reports Clearwater officials and the Union are expected to sign a 3-year deal today to lease the city’s Joe DiMaggio Sports Complex for spring training. The deal will reportedly cost $23,000 per year to lease the facility for four weeks each preseason and will include two options for renewal. The report says,

The team will also agree to conduct one youth soccer clinic as well as visit a local school to hold an exhibition each preseason.

The city will establish a capital fund in the amount of $148,000 to be used towards prepping and making improvements to the sports complex.

The cost of the field improvements will be funded by a transfer of $100,000 from the city’s general fund reserves, the $23,000 from the lease payment, and a $25,000 contribution from the Conventions and Visitors Bureau.

Clearwater parks and recreation director Kevin Dunbar said of the deal, “It works out very well from a marketing perspective in what we currently do in the Philadelphia market with the Phillies.”

CJ Sapong is excited about joining the Union, telling Dave Zeitlin at MLSsoccer.com, “There’s a renewed focus and drive. It definitely felt like it was the perfect time for me to go on elsewhere and try to provide an impact somewhere else…It’s a perfect fit, man.” As for where he expects to be on the pitch, Sapong said.

I think [Union head coach Jim Curtin] and I both know the No. 9 spot is where I’ve had the most success in this league. For me, that’s a spot I’ve been itching to play for a while now. It’s going to be good to be able to get back to that. I’m ready to shake off the rust in that position. I played that position my whole life. It’s like riding a bike.

Sapong said he and former Reading United teammate Andrew Wenger are “going to cause trouble” for opponents. Make it so!

At the Union website, Kerith Gabriel talks to Zac MacMath, Sheanon Williams, and Ray Gaddis about the length of the offseason, each of whom agree it is too long.

Sporting Kansas City CEO Robb Heineman says the club was never trying to deal for Zac MacMath.

Leo Fernandes has been honored by his hometown of Babylon, New York. Tuesday, Dec. 23 will be “Leonardo Fernandes Day.”

At the Union website, the vote for the best moment of 2014 among the five best moments as picked by fans is now open.

Local

Harrisburg City Islanders will be hosting an open tryout at In the Net Sports Complex in Palmyra, Pa., Jan. 14 and 15.

Ocean City Nor’easters have postponed the open tryout scheduled for December 20-21 “to an undecided date in March 2015” The tryout scheduled for Jan. 3-4 will go ahead as planned.

Moravian Academy’s Robert Hartman has been named NSCAA’s National Private/Parochial Boys Soccer Coach of the Year.

Villa Joseph Marie’s Rich Finneyfrock has been named NSCAA’s National Small School Girls Soccer Coach of the Year.

South Jersey Times on the passing of former Woodbury Soccer Club coach Robert J. McKinney.

MLS

The Washington DC city council gave final approval to the plan to build a soccer specific stadium for DC United at Buzzard Point. Groundbreaking is expected to happen in 2015 with a projected opening for the stadium in 2017. More on the news from DC UnitedWashington Post (1), Washington Post (2), Washington Times, CBS DC, DCist, Washington City Paper, WashingtonianBlack and Red UnitedSIMLSsoccer.com, ASNUS Soccer Players, Goal.com, ProSoccerTalk, and SBIVice Sports has an entertaining takedown of the “trainwreck of an article” at the New York Times we linked to on Wednesday about the stadium deal.

The Las Vegas city council narrowly approved $50 million in public funding for a new downtown stadium that is part of that city’s bid to land a MLS franchise. The stadium is projected to cost $200 million. More from Las Vegas Review-JournalLas Vegas Sun, KNPR, KTNVMLSsoccer.comSoccer AmericaProSoccerTalk, and SBI.

Are Seattle Sounders looking to build their own stadium? Taylor Twellman believes so. Twellman believes Garth Lagerwey is joining the Sounders so Adrian Hanauer can focus on the campaign to build a new stadium. More from Puget Sound Business Journal.

Sporting Kansas City have signed Dom Dwyer to a new contract.

Chicago Fire have signed Eric Gehrig, whose rights were acquired in a trade with Orlando City after the Lions selected the defender in the Expansion Draft from Columbus Crew.

San Jose Earthquakes have signed Steve Lenhart to a new deal.

“Sources have confirmed” to Goal.com that Houston is leading the race to sign Erick “Cubo” Torres.

Are Orlando and New England battling it out to land Robinho?

Bill McGuire, the Minnesota United owner who is leading the bid to land a MLS franchise in Minneapolis that is competing against another bid backed by the Minnesota Vikings, says public funding may be necessary to build the soccer specific stadium that is part of his plan for an MLS team. More from Minnesota Public Radio.

US

Wednesday’s USWNT game against Argentina in the International Tournament of Brasilia was postponed because of flooding from heavy rains and will be played today.

The USMNT moved up one spot to No. 27 in the latest rankings at FIFA. Mexico remains ranked at No. 20.

The Cook County Record reports that US Soccer “has entered a legal shootout with its players’ association over when it has the right to use images and likenesses of players,” explaining, “U.S. Soccer Federation Inc. filed suit Dec. 10 against the U.S. National Soccer Team Players Association in Chicago’s federal court, seeking to vacate terms of the collective bargaining arbitration that lead to the 2013 agreement at the heart of the dispute.”

The Register-Herald on how the move by former Houston Dynamo president Oliver Luck from athletic director at West Virginia University to vice president of regulatory affairs at the NCAA could help efforts to move college soccer to an expanded fall-spring schedule. More at MLSsoccer.com.

In Spain, the US U-18s defeated Germany, 2-1, on Wednesday. Germany scored from the penalty spot in stoppage time after starting US goalkeeper Jonathan Klinsmann was red carded. The teams play again on Friday.

Deadspin picks up on the Guardian article we linked to in Wednesday’s roundup in which Alexi Lalas described efforts by European clubs to open academies in the US as a “land grab” and asks, “Who will develop the first great American soccer star?”.

Elsewhere

Michael Garcia, the lead investigator into alleged corruption in the bids to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, has resigned in protest. Garcia said in a statement, “No independent governance committee, investigator, or arbitration panel can change the culture of an organization.” Garcia’s resignation comes after news on Tuesday that FIFA’s appeals committee said Garcia had no grounds to file an appeal against the summary report of his investigation, which Garcia said contained numerous factual errors.

As the BBC put it, “Garcia did not just quit — he called into question the entire integrity, leadership and culture of FIFA.”

Reports on Garcia’s resignation from New York Times, Wall Street JournalNew York Daily News, TimeThe Guardian, Evening StandardFinancial Times, Business StandardBBC, Sky SportsThe Week, IOL Sport, World Soccer InsiderDeadspin, Goal.com, ProSoccerTalkReuters, and the AP.

When asked for comment on the resignation, Sepp Blatter said, “Listen, we just received this information. I cannot make any comment. I will do it together tomorrow with the Executive Committee,” adding, “I’m just surprised. It’s all what I can say. Just that.”

UEFA president Michel Platini said, “FIFA’s ethics committee was created to increase transparency at the organisation, that’s what we wanted, but in the end it has just caused more confusion. Mr. Garcia’s resignation is a new failure for FIFA.”

At ESPN, Gabriele Marcotti examines the possibility of whether Garcia’s full report might be leaked.

The AP on the continuing abuse and disregard for workers’ rights in Qatar.

The AP reports that migrant workers in Qatar are being paid to be spectators at sport events in Qatar to fill up the stands. “They sit through volleyball, handball and football, applaud to order, do the wave with no enthusiasm and even dress up in white robes and head-scarves as Qataris, to plump up ‘home’ crowds.”

The AP on the work underway in Qatar to build a team that won’t embarrass itself in the 2022 World Cup.

Reuters reports, “The world players’ union FifPro has warned members not to sign for clubs in Serbia because they run the risk of not getting paid.” Has anyone told Freddy Adu?

The Economist reports that soccer is about to become “a compulsory part of the national curriculum at schools” in China. Apparently, President Xi Jinping is a big soccer fan.

A new autopsy of Cameroonian footballer Albert Ebossé, who reportedly died after being struck by an object thrown from the stands during a club game in Algeria in August, says that he died “as the result of ‘brutal aggression’ amid ‘signs of a struggle’ in the changing room and may also have been stabbed.

16 Comments

  1. There are pieces to be had this rentry draft I think the Union are gonna pick up a player or two.

    • I agree, but I believe it’s only possible to pick up 1 today.

      • Eli Pearlman-Storch says:

        The re-entry draft is structured to continue until all teams have passed. That means that if the Union pick someone the first time through, they have a pick on the second time around the horn, as well. So on and so forth until they choose to pass, so they can acquire multiple players provided they’re still available.

      • Oh wow, I did not know that. Thanks!

  2. MacMath, Williams, and Gaddis may think that the offseason is too long, but it was 6 weeks shorter for New England and Los Angeles.

  3. Leo Fernandes Day in NY. Nice for him. I’m all for a Leo Fernandes Day in Philly someday when he spends the next 6 years killing it for the Union. The last pass. The last pass. The last pass. I wonder if he figures in to JC plans at all. Flashes of quality from him. Flashes. Maybe a taper of flame in there somewhere to carry forward in his career if given a legitimate chance. This is a hope I have.

  4. Carroll has just opted out of the draft. Please tell me this means retirement and not resigning with the U.

    • Could a player opt out if they have a deal in place with a new team?

      • I think the only “free agency” like mechanism to sign with a new team is the re-entry draft. So he must have something in the works to come back to the Union.

    • What harm would Brian Carroll re-signing really bring to the Union? He’s not re-signing to be a 90-minute player every game, but he adds some depth and veteran presence. He is certainly past his prime, and may not be a very outspoken leader, but before he came to the Union he did a lot of winning, so he knows how to get it done. And if the argument against his return is that we haven’t won WITH him, I would counter with the fact that we haven’t won WITHOUT him either. And he was here when we made the playoffs. Good person to have around, even if the player isn’t as good anymore.

      • I agree. I really don’t want to see him as a starter, but as a late-game substitute when the team is protecting a lead…could do worse.

      • Spot on.

      • He was once a solid defender and I mean during his Union tenure but he has become a turn over machine. I understand how veteran presence can be valuable in the locker room and as long as the locker room is where he is asked to contribute, I’m fine with him. What I don’t want is to watch the U try and hold on to a 2-1 lead late in the game with Carroll giving the ball away constantly.

      • Jimmy Trojan says:

        +1, shoot the ailing horse!

      • I have no problemw tih him be a “locker room” guy. I agree that he cannot contribute at the level he is needed anymore, and there is NO way he’s playing over Edu, Nogueira or even Lahoud at this point. I just don’t get the general hatred or dislike towards him. He’s not a high-level player anymore, but the team still has Fabinho and there are times BC was better than him.

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