Photo: Earl Gardner

Philadelphia Union

That Allen Chapman call has been named ASN’s Terrible Call of the Week: “The Philadelphia Union were minutes away from securing three points at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday when referee Allen Chapman whistled Maurice Edu for…something.”

Noting Chapman’s awarding of “a baffling penalty kick” was one of four “Match-deciding mistakes” across the league over the weekend, SBI says its time for the league to adopt video replays.

SI referred to Chapman’s call as a “phantom foul.” World Soccer Talk called it “a laugher” and “bogus.”

Cristian Maidana was named to SI’s Team of the Week. Once a Metro’s did the same: “The Union almost won this week — arguably should have, since RSL’s late, equalizing penalty was a soft call — and it was largely thanks to Maidana’s ability to bring the worst out of some of RSL’s more reliable players.”

ASN included Fernando Aristeguieta among its Highlights of the week for serving notice that “his is a name MLS fans will have to learn to pronounce (Are-ees-tay-gee-tuh) with a brace in the Philadelphia Union’s entertaining 3-3 draw with Real Salt Lake.”

Aristeguieta got an honorable mention in MLSsoccer.com’s Team of the Week.

More power rankings! SI keeps the Union at No. 13: “A soft penalty against Maurice Edu might have robbed Philadelphia of its first win of the season, but a draw in Salt Lake is much better than the season-opening draw at home against the Rapids.”

Using a “network passing graph” as illustration, Matthew Doyle writes at MLSsoccer.com, “Forget the refs for a second, though, and try to focus on the disconnect between Philly’s central defense and central midfield. Maurice Edu and Vincent Nogueira are playing as a double pivot, which ended up leaving way, way too much space between the lines and forced a ton of emergency defense.”

Looking ahead to Friday’s home game against Dallas, Dave Zeitlin notes in the latest Inside Doop, given the series of controversial calls that have cost the Union four points over the first two games, “you can sense the coaches, players and fans are angry.” He then wonders, “But will that turn into a healthy kind of motivation as the team looks to win its first game of the season? Or will they play like a black cloud is hovering over them and expect things to go wrong?”

Friday’s game against Dallas will be broadcast nationally on UniMás, the Spanish language channel. At the Union website, instructions on how to watch the game in English on a variety of providers.

The Union returned to practice on Monday after returning from Salt Lake on the redeye early Sunday morning and they did so on on the club’s new practice field next to PPL Park. The club released a video with reactions to the team training on the field for the first time ever from John McCarthy, Antoine Hoppenot, and Michael Lahoud.

Local

Former Swarthmore, Union, and City Islander Morgan Langley, who recently joined League of Ireland side St. Patrick’s Athletics, gives the Irish Mirror a geography lesson on Pennsylvania: “On the east side of Pennsylvania there’s Philadelphia, on the west side there’s Pittsburg – Harrisburg is the capital and it’s right in the middle. It’s not a place you want to go. We play on an island in the middle of the river and that’s why it’s the ‘City Islanders’.”

Langley also said of his former team, “They’ve to change their stadium otherwise they’ll get kicked out of the league.”

Is former Reading United man Deshorn Brown, currently with Colorado Rapids, on his way to Norwegian side Vålerenga?

MLS

The league and NASL side Minnesota United have confirmed they are in “advanced discussions” about awarding the team the next expansion franchise.

Minnesota Vikings owner/president Mark Wilf acknowledged in a statement that his rival bid group has “been informed by Major League Soccer of its plans to pursue an outdoor stadium in Minneapolis,” rather than the $1 billion enclosed stadium currently under construction for the Vikings.

MLS commissioner Don Garber also said in a statement, “Over the course of 2015, we plan to evaluate potential expansion beyond 24 clubs.” ProSoccerTalk has an interesting consideration of a three conference, 30 team MLS.

Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk says the Minnesota United bid should not expect state funding of the proposed $150 million stadium. “The league ran into this problem in Miami. They gave a franchise out two years ago, and they don’t have a field to play on. So I don’t know if they’re going to make that mistake twice or if this group of owners is going to figure out how to finance a $150 million soccer stadium or not.” More Bakk’s comments at InForum.

MPR notes Bakk’s comments don’t rule out the possibility of county and city funding for the proposed stadium.

More at Minneapolis Star Tribune, ESPN,  Goal.com, Reuters, and the AP.

San Antonio Business Journal notes Garber’s announcement that the league is considering expanding beyond 24 teams. Sacramento Bee says Sacramento Republic’s bid backers will be encouraged by the ongoing uncertainty of David Beckham’s Miami expansion franchise, as well as Garber’s comments that the league is considering expanding beyond 24 teams. More on Sacramento’s MLS hopes at SBI.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch on how that city’s hopes for a MLS franchise are a longshot.

Seattle have announced a new ten-year deal to remain at CenturyLink Field.

Here’s an update on the ongoing construction to expand the capacity of Toronto’s BMO Field.

A SWOT analysis of NYCFC playing at Yankee Stadium? Business of Soccer has one.

New York Red Bulls have signed Jamaican international defender Kemar Lawrence from Jamaican side Harbour View FC, former Union man Brian Brown’s old club.

Columbus have waived rookie forward Sagi Lev-Ari, a 2015 SuperDraft selection.

In other Crew news, well-traveled Columbus Crew defender and Austrian international Emanuel Pogatetz believes, “Within the next probably five years I am convinced MLS will be among the best leagues in the world.”

CNBC reports on comments from Robb Heineman, Merritt Paulson, and Adrian Hanauer from South By Southwest on how the league is using technology to gain new fans.

New York Cosmos held a press conference on Monday to officially announce their plans to play in Cuba in June. More from New York Times, New York Daily News, Wall Street Journal, NJ.com, Inside World Football, Agencia EFE, Reuters, and the AP.

US

In a Q&A at the FIFA website, Abby Wambach talks about the upcoming World Cup.

Hope Solo’s husband Jerramy Stevens has been charged with DUI following his arrest in January while driving a US Soccer van in Los Angeles with Solo as the passenger, the incident that resulted in Solo’s month suspension from the USWNT. Stevens is facing a possible year in jail.

Elsewhere

FIFA has announced the venues for the men and women’s tournaments at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil. Yes, the jungle stadium in Manaus is included.

Reuters reports, “Russia will stage the 2018 soccer World Cup and will host it well, the Russian Football Union’s honorary president told Reuters on Monday, dismissing calls by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for his country’s allies to boycott the event.”

The AP reports, “FIFA has postponed Pakistan’s World Cup qualifier against Yemen that was scheduled for Tuesday in Lahore because of ‘safety and security reasons.'” 15 people were killed in suicide bomb attacks on two churches in Lahore on Sunday, which resulted in a “Christian mob [burning] two people to death who were suspected of being involved” in the bombings. FIFA says it will announce a rescheduled date for the match to be held at a neutral venue.

The Press Association reports, “The UEFA president Michel Platini has defended a proposed ban on third-party ownership of footballers – labelling the practice ‘shameful’ and a form of ‘slavery.'”

Reuters reports, “A car used by the Cypriot referee Leontios Trattos was set on fire early on Tuesday, the second time he has been targeted in just over a year.”

At the Guardian, Sid Lowe reports on efforts to combat match-fixing in Spain.

Inside World Football reports, “The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has reported a number of players to law enforcement agencies over allegations they bet on their own team to lose.”