Daily news roundups

“We weren’t good enough”: reaction to loss to Fire, Pfeffer scores in HCI’s season opening loss, more

Philadelphia Union

“We weren’t good enough.”

That’s from a longer quote from Jim Curtin after Sunday’s dreary loss to Chicago (postgame quote sheet here at PSP). He also said, “we aren’t creating enough offensively,” and “Defensively, we’ve come up short now on free kicks,” and “We should have played a better game today. I was disappointed on how we came out.” Echoing the incredulous sentiments of fans back in Philadelphia, he also said “we actually had a breakaway where we didn’t put in shot on goal.”

Curtin said of the Chicago goal, “We gave up a silly foul. We actually clear the ball and Ethan [White] gets into a pushing match with the guy. The ball is already gone. The play could have been over. Instead we foul and now we’re giving up a free kick in a dangerous spot. And then Shipp puts in a good ball and they got on the end of it. Too loose of a mark, obviously. I’ll have to look at the tape. Watching it live, it was very lax defending on our part.” Yep.

Maurice Edu said the team needs to be sharper in the final third:

I think we’ve been putting ourselves in decent positions, but that final ball, whether it’s a cross or it’s a decision to beat a guy one versus one and take a shot for yourself, or create a play for someone else, that final decision, that final ball, has to be better for us. I thought we did well to put ourselves in dangerous situations, but today we weren’t sharp enough. We weren’t clinical enough to get the goal we needed.

Andrew Wenger said, “We just need to go back and do the simple things. Really, I am talking about myself right now. Just kind of simplify it and get the season going our way. We have to remember we still have good players on our team. Guys that need to find a way to simplify things and get back to what we are good at.”

Asked about the play when he was in on goal and but then unaccountably decided to pass instead, Wenger said, “I should have shot it.”

Going into the game, we all knew, given the long list of injuries and Pfeffer’s suspension, things were going to be ugly. Nevertheless, it’s only four games into the season but the Union are doing little to provide encouragement to fans. “We weren’t good enough” accurately describes the Union in Chicago. If things don’t improve, and improve quickly, it will also be the description of the Union’s 2015 season.

Recaps and reports from PSP (recap), PSP (postgame quotes), Philly.com, Philly Soccer News, Brotherly Game (recap), Brotherly Game (analysis), Vavel, MLSsoccer.comChicago Fire, Chicago Sun Times, Chicago TribuneDaily HeraldCSN ChicagoChicagoland Soccer News, Chicago Fire ConfidentialHot Time in Old Town, ProSoccerTalk, SBIGoal.com, The GuardianSports Mole, The Sports Quotient, The Sports Network, and the AP. At USA Today, a photo gallery from the game.

Armchair Analyst Matthew Doyle on how the Chicago midfield pairing of rookie Matt Polster and Michael Stephens “completely outgunned” Maurice Edu and Vincent Nogueira.

Power Rankings. ESPN drops the Union two spots to No. 20: “The Union is stuck in the most miserable of infinite loops, be it red cards, missed chances, suspect goalkeeping and poor defending in critical moments. The season is already in danger of slipping away from Philadelphia.” MLSGB also has the Union at No. 20.

You will recall that CSN Philly wrote before Sunday’s game about concerns over the lack of impact from Rais Mbolhi. The Inquirer did the same before the game.

Brotherly Game looks back over the first four games for standouts and let downs.

Make it that 11 clubs in 11 years. Former Union man Freddy Adu has signed with Finnish first division side Kuopion Palloseura.

Union Academy

The Union Academy U-16s opened group play in the Champions Division of the Generation adidas Cup on Sunday with a 4-0 loss to Brazilian side Palmeiras. The team faces German side Eintracht Frankfurt, who defeated San Jose Earthquakes 3-0 in their opener, today at 3 pm.

Local

Harrisburg City Islanders began their 2015 season on the road against Pittsburgh Riverhounds. With them on loan for the game from the Union were Dzenan Catic, Jimmy McLaughlin, and Zach Pfeffer. Down 2-0 after 11 minutes, Pfeffer, assisted by McLaughlin, scored for Harrisburg in the 22nd minute, but Pittsburgh would go on to win 5-2. Recaps from Penn Live, Pittsburgh RiverhoundsPittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Pittsburgh Sporting News, Reckless Challenge, and City of Champions.

Former Ocean City Nor’easters goalkeeper Tyler Miller is with the US U-23 squad in Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Five incoming freshmen for the Saint Joes’ men’s team. Six incoming freshmen for the Drexel women’s team.

MLS

In Eastern Conference play, fist place New York Red Bulls (7 points) defeat sixth place Columbus (3 points), 2-1, on the road. Second place DC United (6 points) defeated LA, 1-0, at home with a stoppage time goal. Third place NYCFC (5 points), without an injured David Villa and with Frank Lampard watching on, had their first loss of the season, going down 1-0 at home to Kansas City. Fourth place Orlando ( five points) drew 2-2 with ninth place Montreal (2 points) in a game that featured five former Union players, two of whom — Jack McInerney and Pedro Ribeiro — scored, with Ribeiro also assisting Kaka’s equalizer. Fifth place New England (4 points) defeated San Jose, 2-1, for their first win of the season. Seventh place Toronto (3 points) lost 2-1 at Salt Lake. Eighth place Chicago (3 points) picked up their first win of the season, defeating last place Philadelphia, 1-0.

In Western Conference play, first place Dallas (10 points) remains undefeated after a 0-0 draw with eighth place Seattle (4 points). Second place Vancouver (9 points) defeated tenth place Portland (3 points), 2-1. Third place San Jose (6 points) fell 2-1 to New England. Fourth place LA (5 points), fell 1-0 to DC. Fifth place Real Salt Lake (5 points) defeated Toronto, 2-1. Sixth place Houston (5 points) drew 0-0 with ninth place Colorado (3 points). Seventh place Kansas City (5 points) defeated NYCFC, 1-0.

Chicago have signed midfielder Víctor Pérez via loan from Spanish second division side Real Valladolid.

New York Red Bulls have signed defender Anthony Wallace, who had been trialing with the club after playing for NASL side Tampa Bay Rowdies last season.

Toronto have signed defender Clément Simonin, a 2015 SuperDraft pick who signed with Toronto FC II early this month.

Former Union man Brian Berk, who has been with LA Galaxy since his release from the Union after the 2010 season, is out for the rest of the 2015 season after surgery for a dislocated and broken left ankle. LA have signed Trey Mitchell to replace him.

Did Jurgen Klinsmann tell Jermaine Jones to delay surgery for a sports hernia so he could attend the January camp — rather than after the MLS Cup, so missing the start of the MLS season? Jones says he did. US Soccer says he did not.

Speaking at the Business of Sports Summit organized by Atlanta Business Chronicle and the Atlanta Sports Council, MLS Atlanta president Darren Eales says of the team’s plans,

What we want is pioneers. We want that type of player who is looking for a challenge, who’s going to embrace playing in America, knows it’s a growing league and it’s not quite there yet but it’s getting there. We want those sorts of engaged players who are in effect pioneers, wanting to come to this city to make a mark.

Eales said a priority for the club in recruiting top talent is building a top training facility.

The league announced on Friday a four-year deal Globosat, “Latin America’s biggest pay-TV operator,” to televise games live in Brazil.

US

Aron Johannsson is out of the US squad for Tuesday’s friendly against Switzerland with a toe infection. Replacing him is Stanford forward Jordan Morris, who had been training with the US U-23s, scoring the opening goal in the team’s 5-2 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina U-21s on Friday. US Soccer has a Q&A with Klinsmann about Tuesday’s game.

By the way, Honduras defeated French Guiana 3-0 in the second leg of their Gold Cup playoff series on Sunday, winning the series 4-3 on aggregate, which means Honduras is in Group A for this summer’s tournament along with the US, Haiti, and Panama.

The U-23s will play Mexico on Wednesday, April 22 at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.

The U-20 MNT lost 2-1 to England on Sunday.

This just in from From the Department of Tell Us What You Really Think, the headline at World Soccer Talk reads, “Jurgen Klinsmann should be sacked if USMNT fail to win Gold Cup.”

The US Paralympic team defeated host country Portugal 5-3 in its final game at the FOOTIE 7-Povoa 2015 tournament.

The USWNT is within 10 points of first place Germany in the latest FIFA rankings.

Abby Wambach talks to the BBC about her desire to win the World Cup.

Elsewhere

The AP reports, “Organizers of a soccer match in the U.S. capital apologized to El Salvador on Sunday for playing the wrong national anthem before an exhibition game against Argentina.”

Also from the AP, “Russia has demanded to be awarded a victory after its European championship qualifier against Montenegro was abandoned due to attacks on Russian players.”

70 Comments

  1. We weren’t good enough.

    It’s one thing Jimmy, when you’re rolling against LA and say you’re not. It is a wholly other thing when you measure yourself against a dumpster fire of a team like Chicago and are found wanting.

    We weren’t good enough.

    Indeed.

  2. We should replace the whole team with the coach and players of the Pittsburg team and will probably get better results.

  3. The Black Hand says:

    “We weren’t good enough”? No Jim…We AREN”T good enough!!!!

  4. neck label says:

    where can i find the SOB’s “open letter” to the front office?

  5. This entire organization from top to bottom ISN’T good enough to represent the best fan base in MLS or this market! Tell us something we don’t know “COACH!”

    We need new financially competitive ownership…NOW!

  6. Congratulations to Pedro for his goal, and assist . . . and shot on goal yesterday. All 3 things we failed to accomplish. It must be so nice to be free from the shackles of a team that would likely have had you starting in Harrisburg again this year. But hey we still have Fabinho and Fred at 4 times the cost. Yay us! Everybody give a nice warm golf clap for our FO “brain”trust.

  7. The Black Hand says:

    ‘Last place Union’…

  8. Atomic Spartan says:

    The only possible rationale for putting Mbohli in a Union kit was to channel Faryd Mondragon, to organize and stabilize the back line. So when looking for such a character, naturally Sak fell in love with a guy who played out of his mind for a National team with a porous defense, overlooking the fact that this same character couldn’t find a single club in Europe that he could stick with.
    .
    We now pay the price, a bloated salary, a poorly organized back line, and a keeper so sullen that he refuses comment. Brilliant!

    • Think Matt Geiger.

    • Atomic, are you saying that the goal was MBohlis fault? Bc the way I see it is that wenger didn’t pick up the player who scored who in fact came rushing in from midfield. I was afraid that since we kept a lot of our defenders from last year and years before that things night not change and they havent. Now, I’m not speaking about talent, I’m speaking of players who have not and will not change their ways in defending. I think this has a lot to do with coaching , I’d say at least 90% bc I believe that we do have a team with talent and who can possess discipline in the back and in the offense. We need an experienced coach with a record.

  9. ‘Power rankings drop Union 2 spots.’
    .
    Wow that reads familiarly.

  10. we will have, at most, 5 points by mid-May…………Dallas will have more points out of the first three matches OF THE SEASON…..than we will, BY JUNE!

  11. Hey can we all agree Fred’s beard looked cool.

  12. Wow this team looked bad. Really bad. Calling it a ‘team’ seems to be a stretch. Seems like a mid-season firing of Curtain should happen sooner rather than later. Fred in for Nogs. Seriously? LeToux still on the field for 90 mins. Why? We are short midfielders and Jimmy is playing for HCI. What happened to our youth Movement? Why is Ayuk not starting over LeToux? Why is LeToux still taking corners? Ethan White is still on the team, why? Maurice Edu couldn’t be more of a waste of money. Mbolhi, why oh why. He’s decided to not play in friendlies for his national team. No, please go play for your national team as much as you can. Matter of fact, don’t come back. Sickening performance by the Onion. Season is over already. Only hope is for Sack and Sugar to get the hell out of the soccer business. Or to take their business to Miami.

    • OneManWolfpack says:

      The consistent non-subbing of LeToux, and the continuing to allow him to take free and corner kicks, despite the fact that he can’t put the ball past the first guy or even remotely into a dangerous area… tells me all I need to know about the management and cohesiveness of this “team”.

      • Wait, there’s management of this team? I must have missed something. Oh, as in, managed to run this team into last place. Or managed to get the worst out of the players.

        I totally agree Wolfie!

      • The Black Hand says:

        Wait…there are managers???

    • I have not been impressed with Mbolhi this season, especially not as an upgrade to MacMath, but in his defense, the goal Chicago scored was bad marking – replays showed he was following the course of the ball and it was tipped off course. I’m not defending him, just saying that one goal wasn’t his fault.

      We were bad for 3/4 of that game. However, we are also missing a ton of starters due to suspension or injury, and a few backups as well. Maidana’s effect on the Union’s game is huge. Being able to sub in Casey and Sapong will also help, and I can barely imagine my (relative) glee when Williams is back on and Fabinho is off. I’ll say it now – we won’t make the playoffs, but we won’t finish dead last either.

      That being said, another year of barely tolerable mediocrity isn’t all that exciting either.

      • The Black Hand says:

        M’Bohli needs a break

      • Break, as in broken bone, so he won’t see the field? I totally agree.

      • The Black Hand says:

        Ha…I’m not there…yet. M’Bohli hasn’t been stellar, but he hasn’t been awful, either. Our set-piece coverage (and he rest of the play in front of him) has been terrible. M’Bohli has been playing a lot of football. His form has taken a dip. He needs a rest.

      • OneManWolfpack says:

        He never had form. At least for the Union. I defended the signing of this guy, but like Twellman said – he is being paid to steal points – and he is just not doing it.

      • Atomic Spartan says:

        He is doing nothing to improve the play of the men in front of him, and I thought that was the sole purpose of favoring him over Macmath. Zachary, please come home.

      • The Black Hand says:

        I don’t know, Atomic. I think that a lot of Zach’s numerous gaffes are being overlooked. Remember when he was scored on…from 40 yds…and he didn’t move off his line? Remember when it happened again?? Or the countless hesitations to challenge, which led to goals? Zach wasn’t great. He stopped some penalties and put in a fine US Open Cup. Aside from that, he wasn’t great.
        .
        Rais’ form is poor, at the moment. He has made some very strong saves, as well as his mistakes. I think that it would be a mistake to make him the scapegoat. He’s a good keeper. I’m not saying that I think that we should have signed him. I don’t. I think that Andre Blake should be the Union goalkeeper, with MacMath as a backup. But, Rais is a good goalie and he would be a strong guy for Blake to study, which I thought was the plan.

      • Problem is what you are getting (or not getting) for you money. Yes, MacMath was frustrating and made some bad mistakes. So if you have decided you want to move on until Blake is ready, sign one of the veteran MLS keepers who are available every off season – Jon Busch. Trade up in the Chivas draft to get Dan Kennedy.

        But how does a team playing Moneyball justify having the highest paid GK in MLS? Wouldn’t the 100k difference in salary between Mbolhi & vet MLS keeper have been better spent on roster depth?

        Is the back line a shambles? Yes. Is this all Mbolhi’s fault. No. But 4 games, 8 saves, 6 goals allowed. And those goals allowed haven’t exactly been lasers off the foot of Ronaldo.

      • The Black Hand says:

        Can’t disagree nagjs.

      • I completely agree we won’t make the playoffs. As to not finishing last…Chivas isn’t a team anymore. We will be last.

      • The Black Hand says:

        I can’t disagree with this.

  13. Man! It is crowded here. Have you guys seen my ledge yet? It’s a beautiful view. At the bottom, you can see other MLS failed concepts, like Chivas USA, the Tampa Bay mutiny, and Freddy Adu!

    C’mon who is going to be the first to jump off? I’ve been seeing new people here each day, but none of you are taking the leap. I think that Mr. Sakiewicz could be the man to do the honors? Or perhaps he should be forcibly thrown off?

    • The Black Hand says:

      Gold… Well played!

    • Darth Harvey says:

      What do you think their last words would be as they were in free-fall off the cliff?

      Sakiewicz – Please, one of 476 goalies save meeeeeee!

      Sugarman – This cliff looks like a good piece of real estaaaaaattte!

      Curtin- this won’t hurt when I hit the bottom because I’m Philly tuuuuuuuufffff!

      Albright – I still don’t know what I’m doing heeeeeerrreee!

      Nogueria – this beats playing attacking midfieeeeeelllld!

    • When you gaze long enough into the abyss, the Union front office gazes back at you.

  14. How long do we think Curtin has to turn this around? I think he gets extra time because of the injuries. It’s at least a good excuse. Having three key starters injured is not easy for any team to deal with.

    But I think it’s really easy for us to get no more than 1 point in the next two weeks. If May rolls around and this team is dead last with 6 or 7 points… Will the ax fall?

    I’m betting it won’t. I’ll be ready to replace Curtin with anyone, but I’m still more worried about ownership than coaching. Is it capable of making good decisions on coaching? On anything? Ugh. This just sucks.

    • Agreed as what would give you any indication the ownership group can higher a proper coach. So far- 0.5 out of 3. Assuming, of course, this little experiment does not work.

    • I really don’t see ownership as being capable of anything but losing money. As for how long Curtain has, the longer they wait for a switch, the deeper the hole gets. Then the question becomes how much bigger the hole will get with the new ‘interim’ coach. Where’s that confounded bridge?

      • I’m just trying to find the bridge.

      • Great, now we need more cookies for the bridge people. And how is The Hand going to get his fire going in the right hand lane?

        Make up your minds, people!

    • Regardless of results, they need to give him a pretty long leash. The only thing worse than hiring bad coaches is constantly firing them mid season. Its a bad look in trying to attract any competent replacement and the U is already viewed as the Oakland Raiders of MLS.

  15. I mean, yeah, it’s ugly..atrocious actually. But the pieces are there to turn it around. I think Curtin is actually a good coach when he doesn’t have the pressure to make the right decisions. Right now he needs balls. 3 changes to make to fix it:
    1. sit Ethan White. There is no way to get positive possession if at least one of your CBs can’t play out of the back. Vitoria hasn’t been much better, but I need to see more. EW is what he is. So either Marquez comes in or Mo goes to the back (I’ve said before Mo should only ever be a CB).
    2. Only Seba or Wenger can start. They both play the same high-flank style and it kills any creativity to the attack. Personally I sit Wenger to send a message. Pfeffer/Sapong should replace one of them when available (anybody this week).
    3. Don’t ever, ever, eva, eva, eva play Nogs at CAM. It doesn’t work. Play empty-bucket 442 if we have no one to play CAM.
    … And 4. I’d have a tough time not putting Blake in net right now. But really, his service can’t be worse than Mbohli and he’s def more athletic. A GK won’t fix our backline org.

    • Ugh. Slim pickins this wk though if Chaco/SW/CJ are all out. So here’s my wild lineup featuring players I never liked, but hoping for an ugly point or win:
      *
      Gaddis—Mo–Vitoria—Fab
      ——Nogs—-Carroll—–
      LeToux————Wenger
      —–Hop—-Nando——
      *
      Playing long ball and high pressure.
      If we were home I’d consider Wenger at RB.

      • Please tell me you didn’t just say Carroll

      • Great One, I believe everyone here has seen my distaste over the years for BC, Fabinho, and Hop as players…
        But who else can we play??

    • Old Soccer Coach says:

      D, the only problem in your thinking is that you ignore the medical facts of recovery time. Sapong has a fracture, occurring three weeks ago with subsequent surgery. The stitches are out, but has the bone set enough around the plate to sustain a blow to the cheek? It’s only been three weeks. Blake is recovering from cartilage surgery in preseason, he’s closer than Sapong to returning but has to recover physical capability and endurance. Hamstrings are very tricky, Williams.

      • I have actually had personal experience with the same exact injury as Sapong in college.
        Blowout fracture of my Zygomatic, Orbit, and Maxilla. 3 plates. 6 screws.
        I understand entirely. He will be healed perfect enough after 4 weeks to play w/ out a mask. They wanted me to play w/ a mask after 2.
        It’s still very difficult to come back from that as it changed the way I played the game for at least a full year.

        But this was just a hypothetical.

  16. 250+ comments on the state of the club since Sunday, and we haven’t even gotten to the Player Ratings yet.

    (grabs popcorn)

  17. The Little Fish says:

    I think Edu has to replace White at CB. Edu has not, and will not make enough impact on the game in the center of the pitch. As a CB he can be a nice stopper for us which WILL make a major impact. If Edu was positioned in front of Rais I’d feel a whole lot better about our team. Right now we pretty much suck in the back….but it’s fixable. If your going to play Fabinho it’s got to be on the wing not on defense. YOU’D THINK JIM CURTAIN WOULD RECOGNIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF STABILIZING THE BACK LINE. Fabinho? White? Shame on Jim for repeatedly trotting them out as starters. We all saw how good Edu looked at CB last year. What the hell man?

  18. Jim Curtin will be gone by June 1st. I do not see how the Union can win any of the next 10 games, after what I have seen from the last 4 games. I am not giving Jim a pass on injuries because he still cannot coach a practice let a lone manage a team of professionals. He managed CHILDREN as a former Professional. This team is a disgrace, I think Jim has been found out by the players, and if the locker room isn’t lost already, it will be soon. The Union get blown out against SKC and then back to back losses to NYCFC, the Union need to pull the plug on Curtin experiment. Hire Rene and see what he can implement, use the summer transfer window to do some housekeeping, and if there is a vast overall improvement of product, a pure footballing philosophy, and the team just misses the final playoff spot…Then maybe, just maybe you have found the correct manager of this team and F$CKING Pay the Man!

    If this club doesn’t fire Curtin after the next 3-4 loses, then this club is truly lost and any season ticket holder that is willing to continue to back this club is just as guilty.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*