Daily news roundups

Newsie news bits? We have a few

All of us at PSP hope you and yours had a safe and happy holiday.

Philadelphia Union

Vavel reviews the 2014 Union season.

Local

Big Apple Soccer reprints a 1984 article from Soccer America commemorating former Philadelphia Spartan player Peter Short.

MLS

It’s official: Vancouver have signed striker Octavio Rivero as a Young Designated Player. The 22-year-old from Uruguay joins the Whitecaps from Chilean first division side O’Higgins. Who doesn’t like a signing announcement on Christmas Day?

Have Portland re-signed forward Gaston Fernandez?

Looks like RSL central defender Carlos Salcedo is headed to Chivas De Guadalajara.

New England Soccer Today wonders which holiday MLS can call its own.

At MLSsoccer.com, a look at Toronto’s embrace of sports science and analytics. A key role in the club’s efforts is played by analytics consultant Bret Myers, “Formerly with the Philadelphia Union”.

Pioneer Press on the competing stadium plans in Minneapolis.

US

At Soccer Wire, a very good read on why Abby Wambach should be on the bench when the US plays in the Women’s World Cup.

The reason is simple: Wambach, who turned 34 six months ago, simply isn’t up to playing as a central, focal-point striker in a possession-oriented side. Whether or not she has the tactical IQ to do it, her legs have gone. She doesn’t have the mobility to stretch defenses or pull them out of their shape, to drop deep to help circulate the ball and maintain possession, or to run onto balls from midfield…As a result, the tendency with her in the lineup is simply to play the ball wide and cross it in. Static, predictable, ineffective.

And these antiquated tactics make things worse on the defensive side, as well. Wambach stays high, of necessity, but she doesn’t have the ability any more to press the ball and defend from the front. Add to that Carli Lloyd’s preference for getting forward at any opportunity (and also Megan Rapinoe’s tendency to pull wide), and the USWNT are frequently left with a gaping hole in the center of its midfield, facing opponents with time on the ball. The results are not pretty.

I couldn’t agree more.

SI on the World Cup and Julian Green, DeAndre Yedlin and John Brooks.

Top moments of 2014? Here are selections from SI, Goal.com, Bleacher Report, and San Francisco Chronicle. Here’s a look ahead to storylines for 2015.

Fox Sports reviews the USMNT’s 2014.

The Guardian looks at how soccer.com has become an integral part of Christmas for many US soccer fans.

The Latin Post on how video games help grow interest in soccer.

Elsewhere

Checkout the latest Footy on the Telly for listings of the slew of Premier League games that will be taking place today, Sunday, and New Year’s Day.

The Guardian reports, “Nepalese migrants building the infrastructure to host the 2022 World Cup have died at a rate of one every two days in 2014 – despite Qatar’s promises to improve their working conditions…The figure excludes deaths of Indian, Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi workers, raising fears that if fatalities among all migrants were taken into account the toll would almost certainly be more than one a day.”

The Guardian says that by guaranteeing that there will be no re-vote on Qatar hosting the 2022 World Cup, Sepp Blatter has “surrendered one of the last levers world football had left to force meaningful change for migrant workers in Qatar.”

The New York Times looks at how soccer is poised to boom in Cuba: “Baseball is the sport of Cuba’s revolution, but soccer is the sport of the arriving world.”

This:

Is it Blazer’s actual Twitter account? Does anyone care?

One Comment

  1. Cool article on TFC and Bret Myers. Played at my Alma mater a few years after I graduated, then ran into him again when he was my business statistics professor in grad school. I remember when he started doing some analytics work for the U – sadly, a luxury that we probably weren’t quite ready to fully commit to…

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