”You just ripped the heart out of your squad. And your fan base.” 

– Martin Longman, Union fan, on the Union web site

“Horrible day, horrible decision. All the guy did was give his heart, soul and sweat to this team for two years and this is how you repay him. Good luck Seba, I hope you have a career season this year and show these fools what they’ve given up.”

– Dan Coleman, Union fan, on the Union web site

““I wanted to stay in Philly. I didn’t care about the money.”

– Sebastien Le Toux, to the Delaware County Times in a must-read interview

This should have been unthinkable.

This should have been where common sense kicked in.

It should have been where the regard for Philadelphia Union fans and players kicked in.

But it didn’t. After all, Peter Nowak was involved.

“Feelings are not really included in my job description,” the Union manager said today during a press conference.

So Sebastien Le Toux is gone.

Sport is a business, as we all know. Union fans and players saw that play out during the Michael Orozco-Fiscal fiasco last year. And we knew, to a degree, that could impact the Le Toux situation. I even wrote about it last week in a post titled “Buy low, sell high: The Sebastien Le Toux story“, in which I explained the merits of a Le Toux sale. But we all thought it was Bolton and the dream of top-flight European soccer.

Little did we know.

Union fans are furious, and rightly so. A Le Toux move to Bolton was one thing: A chance for a player to ascend to a higher level after giving so much to fans for two years. People understood the business side, but it’s clear most felt the move was only justifiable if Le Toux wanted to go. Le Toux went on trial but left Bolton early, choosing to stay in Philadelphia.

Instead, he’s off to Vancouver of all places, sold for an undisclosed fee kept secret due to a dubious league policy, obscuring the deal’s true value. Don’t buy the spin that Le Toux’s sale financed the Roger Torres transfer. It might be more accurate to say it financed the acquisition of Le Toux’s replacement, Josue Martinez (and possibly Lionard Pajoy), filling the budget hole the Martinez purchase left. Le Toux was never meant to return.

Le Toux: “Peter Nowak doesn’t really want me in his team”

Nowak rightly points out the need to avoid losing Le Toux on free transfer after Le Toux’s contract expires in December. MLS has had that happen too often, with players like Stuart Holden, Ricardo Clark, Jonathan Bornstein and others moving abroad for no transfer fees. The Union needed to get something for him or keep him.

But was it really all that implausible that the Union could resign him? Le Toux makes $179,000 a year. The Designated Player rule would have allowed the Union to resign him, but the league would have picked up a sizable chunk of the approximately $400,000 salary Le Toux proposed.

Le Toux said Nowak simply didn’t want him on the team, and when Le Toux learned of the trade, it hit him hard.

“I was sad in the beginning,” Le Toux told Whitecaps FC Daily, a radio show on 1410 AM in Vancouver.* “I got two good years here. But after the fact that, you know, the coach of Philadelphia, Peter Nowak, doesn’t really want me in his team, and the Whitecaps, you know, want me more and really believe in me and want me — want me there — is great.”

Le Toux said he first heard of the possible trade the same way most people did: He read it on Twitter. “A lot of people were talking and just asking questions that I have no clue (about). So I just found out this morning when I was on my way to practice.”

The person to tell him wasn’t his manager. Nowak’s No. 2 man picked up the dirty work, as usual. “Coach John Hackworth just called me in, told me that, you know, I was traded to Vancouver,” Le Toux said.

(*Ed. note: Le Toux’s radio interview begins at the 30-minute mark.) 

Le Toux’s value to fans

Philadelphia’s a tough town. Its fans are notoriously brutal. And Le Toux is French. Americans love to hate the French.

Le Toux took Philadelphia like perhaps no other athlete in recent history. He was the face, engine, heart and soul of the Union. He was responsible for most of the goals, and he is almost universally loved by Union fans. In just two years, he became the Union’s version of Rocky, a guy who achieved far beyond his natural talents due to hard work, hustle, and never giving up. He symbolized everything Philadelphia fans wanted a team to be, in any sport. If he wasn’t a Philly sports icon yet, he was well on his way.

For a two-year-old franchise trying to crack into a saturated pro sports market, that matters. The new car smell doesn’t last forever. A club needs popular players fans can relate to and, quite frankly, love the way they love Le Toux. They also need players who love this area back the way Le Toux does.

Sure, some fans root for the team and say they will follow the team regardless of who wears the jersey. But is that all spectator sports are, simply rooting for a shirt? Or do you care about who’s actually wearing it? Do you celebrate with the shirt, or do you celebrate with the player? Is the player just an automaton who maneuvers the uniform across a pitch for your enjoyment, or is he a human being?

In MLS, where guys like Sheanon Williams and Kyle Nakazawa barely make enough money to raise a family if they choose to, fans build ties with players like in no other sport — or at least they do in Philadelphia. There’s a connection between Union players and fans that is rare and organic, spawned by creative, passionate outreach by the Sons of Ben and other fans and the presence of good, personable guys on the team. Le Toux was known for staying late after games to sign autographs and generally being an eminently approachable, normal, nice guy who played his heart out every game, whether he was marginalized positionally by the misguided Carlos Ruiz signing or scoring goals by the boatload.

Now Nowak has callously discarded him like trash tossed to the curb, without even the decency to man up and tell him face to face. (Sounds a lot like how Danny Califf learned he lost the captain’s armband, doesn’t it?) It’s an insult of massive proportions both to Union fans and players.

Yes, that’s how big-time professional sports sometimes work, but MLS isn’t big-time yet. Around the league, clubs like Seattle and Portland have shown it’s not only possible but also a successful business practice to be open and respectful to your fans and players while still recognizing that, yes, sometimes players need to move on. On the flip side, clubs like Toronto FC have shown that, even if you have a waiting list for season tickets, you can still find yourself with empty seats once the new car smell wears off and the fans decide they hate management more than they love the players.

Nowak may say he’s building a Union roster for the future. Union management should ask themselves whether it’s worth the good will he’s destroying in the process.

NOTE: If you haven’t read Le Toux’s interview with the Delco Times’ Chris Vito, then you should. It’s an absolute must-read.

But if you see me walking by,
And the tears are in my eyes,
Look away, baby, look away.
If we meet on the streets someday,
And I don’t know what to say,
Look away, baby, look away.
Don’t look at me;
I don’t want you to see me this way.

CHICAGO, “LOOK AWAY”

“Tim, you just got Sebastien Le Toux, lucky b@stard”

That quote is from a text I got the day before Thanksgiving in 2009 after the expansion Philadelphia Union grabbed a Seattle Sounders player Sebastien Le Toux in the expansion draft. That text was from my friend Seattle Keith, a Sounders fan.

I never forgot the text because, when it got closer and closer to the Union beginning their existence, where players were in and out, where there were rumors all over the place (remember the Clarence Seedorf rumor? The RAUL rumor? You won’t forget that Raul rumor because it lasted for 15 seconds and here we are three years later and I still havent shut up about it), the SuperDraft—all along I said,“You know, this Le Toux seems like a lot of fun, Sounders fans are angry to lose him, this could be fun.”

Needless to say, from that first Union season on, Seattle Keith was right. Sebastien le Toux put his (purple clad) foot on the gas, and never lifted it. Not only did he have the instinct to score goals, what made him an absolute BLAST to watch was that he just never stopped moving. He never stopped running, and at the end of his 90 minutes (because he played every minute) all you could say was “WHAT A WARRIOR.” We all even watched that French documentary about him in Philadelphia. (Thank you Madam Beachey from 9th Grade French class, I could understand about every 15th word.)

Just for the record. I’m grateful to Seattle for four things:

1. Jimi Hendrix
2. FRASIER
3. Nirvana
4. Sebastien Le Toux

The Union and Le Toux were dynamic enough to make my brother Bryan a HUGE Union fan. My brother Bryan is a bit of a warrior himself. Long story short, he works excecutive security for a very important national landmark. It’s a landmark that bad guys may someday wish to attack, so as a result, my brother and his fellow warrior friends are highly trained guys and their days are their nights, their nights are their days. So for these guys, following sports isn’t easy because they never get to watch them during their 12-16 hour days. That changed when we were watching the Union do their thing in Year One. Sebastien Le Toux converted a mighty penalty kick, and my brother has been hooked ever since.

Last summer, I took my brother and some kind folks to see the UNION vs the Galaxy. It was a PACKED house with many new fans. Maybe they were there to see David Beckham, but he skipped that game. I think he had to clip his toenails or catch up on reruns of “DALLAS” on his DVR so he didn’t make the trip with the team. He wasn’t missed, because I had the joy of watching so many fans enjoying the LIVE Le Toux experience for the first time. On TV he’s great. But live, it’s so much more fun, because you can see whenever you want that he really doesn’t stop—he runs the entire time, looking to make a play happen. I’m not sure what I enjoyed more, the usual live Le Toux experience or watching the Union fans, who, like my brother Bryan, were enjoying their first LIVE Le Toux experience. This is how everyone looked who’d watched him for the first time: both palms up, shoulders shrugged, eyebrows arched and goofy grin. This Le Toux guy was something special, and we were ALL apart of it.

It doesn’t end there. After Le Toux would leave it all out there on the field, HE would be the one who was grateful. He would stay after the game walking around the field countless times and applaud the fans for being there for him. I took a snap shot, courtesy of my crappy Blackberry. The stands are practically empty and he’s still out there applauding every last fan. It’s the type of guy he is.

Now, this morning I heard the insane news that Sebastien Le Toux is leaving town to go to Vancouver. I don’t know why, but at this stage in the game, I treat Union head honcho Peter Nowak’s decisions the same way I treat Radiohead songs, LOST episodes or the ZELDA videogames when I was a kid: I don’t understand them, but I’ll go with it.

So with that said, I can only wish Sebastien Le Toux the best and hope that, here in Philadelphia, his Union jersey will get the same “immediate classic throwback” status that Allen Iverson, Mike Schmidt, Brian Dawkins shirts get around town. We’ll miss his fire, his easter egg colored boots and his flash mob commercial goal scoring dance. Vancouver Whitecaps fans? I’m passing along the same message I received when we got Sebastien Le Toux: ”You just got Sebastien Le Toux, lucky b@stards”

Please feel free to share your favorite Le Toux moments below.

 If you’ve made plans for Thursday, February 2, cancel them. Because that evening marks the Philadelphia premier of LADUMA at 7:30pm at the Ritz East. Made by two local filmmakers, Ashwin Chaudhary and Jon Korn, Laduma is “the story of how soccer united the South African people against Apartheid, and how the sport brought Americans together in the magical summer of 2010.” PSP talked to Ashwin Chaudhary about the making of the film, the trailer for which can be viewed at the bottom of the interview.

Philly Soccer Page: First off, what does the word “laduma” mean and how does its meaning inform your film?

Ashwin Chaudhary: “Laduma” is the Zulu word for “Goal!”, and it’s a phrase South African soccer commentators say with flair. The connotation is that something immense has happened—it literally translates as “it thunders.”

PSP: What then is the goal of LADUMA?

AC: The goal of LADUMA is to show how the sport of soccer has an unrivaled power to bring people and cultures together. It’s our hope that seeing this film will inspire more Americans to get out to matches in support of our national teams, so that one day we can fill large stadiums with U.S. Soccer fans cheering on the Stars and Stripes.

PSP: You made the excellent “Road to South Africa” films before Laduma. How did that project get started? 

AC: RTSA pretty much got started when I took a camera to the Azteca in Mexico City for that crazy 2009 WC Qualifier. Seeing that incomparable supporter experience captured on video was more than enough to convince my longtime friend Jon Korn to jump aboard and bring his skills to the project. I wrote to US Soccer about the documentary idea, and they agreed to let us film the supporters in the stadium for the 2009 World Cup Qualifying run.

PSP: Was it that a full time project or were you working “real jobs” while making “Road to South Africa” on the side?

AC: Both Jon and I were juggling real jobs in addition shooting and editing Road to South Africa. We were both freelancing for production companies during the day, and editing RTSA at night. It was a pretty grueling run, but the amazing feedback RTSA has gotten from the soccer community has made all the work worth it.

PSP: You traveled with US supporters in Mexico and in Honduras. That must have been an incredible experience?

AC: I can’t even describe it. It’s like nothing else you can experience as a fan in sports, supporting your nation’s team on a world stage. Mexico was nuts just because of the intense hatred they have for Americans (in a soccer sense, at least). We had a security escort into and out of the stadium and were surrounded by fully armed guards during the match. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop the 100,000+ people from throwing plastic bottles filled with urine at us. Honduras was so intense just because that country was right in the middle of a political crisis, so we didn’t even know if the match would be played at first. There were only about 40 American supporters down there, and we stayed at the same hotel as the U.S. team in San Pedro Sula. Everybody was high-fiving Jozy in the hallway, hanging out with Bob Bradley in the pool, etc. The Honduran people were incredible—so gracious and hospitable.

PSP: How hard was it to stay focused on filming when you are a USA supporter in Honduras and the US comes from behind for a clutch win?

AC: The stadium in San Pedro Sula is pretty old school. Our U.S. Supporter section had a sweet crime scene tape barrier, and the beers cost about 10 cents. Someone would just come back with a tray of large foam cups which would spill all over everybody, which was pretty refreshing on a sultry Honduran night. Korn and I split up during the match, with him sitting in the supporter section and me a couple sections in front, so I could get the wide shot of our American contingent. I’m a pretty big guy, so I wasn’t sure how people would react to some dude in a USA jersey blocking their view AND sticking a camera in their faces.  It’s amazing I didn’t fall and crush a small Honduran child as I was angling for better shots. But everyone loved it!  You could tell soccer truly was the one thing that brought these people together during a time of uncertainty in their nation. When Honduras scored that first goal, I was just sucked up into this mass of humanity, with beer and confetti flying everywhere. When the U.S. scored 3 goals after that, it was tough to see the disappointment on all the Hondurans’ faces, who just wanted to see their country make the World Cup for the first time since 1982. When Carlos Pavón missed that penalty kick that would’ve tied the game, you could just feel everyone’s heart break all at once. The USA qualified for the 2010 World Cup that night, and I’ll never forget it. But as we all know, the story ended up having a happy ending for Honduras thanks to Mr. Bornstein’s heroics in D.C. in the next match.

PSP: How much of an inspiration did the spirit of USA supporters you met while filming “Road to South Africa” prove to be an inspiration to make LADUMA?

AC: The supporters we met along the Road to South Africa truly WERE the inspiration for traveling to the World Cup. We went to Johannesburg with a lot of the same guys I met on the hotel rooftop in Mexico City where the journey all began. We were with people who had been supporting the U.S. since the 1990 World Cup, and we wanted to hopefully experience something historic through their eyes.

PSP: How did making “Road to South Africa” help to prepare you for making LADUMA?

AC: The tragic flaw in Road to South Africa was that we didn’t have enough money to pay for all broadcast game footage in the film, and that’s why RTSA will only ever live on YouTube. For LADUMA, we wanted the focus to be more on what’s happening OFF the pitch at the World Cup. But we still needed to include images from the matches to bring it all together, and luckily our good friend and photographer Doug Zimmerman (http://douglaszimmerman.blogspot.com/) was shooting stills for ISI photos at the tournament. Using Doug and ISI’s amazing photo library, along with audio commentary from SABC and ESPN, we tried to create a unique World Cup feel for the match scenes.

PSP: Am I right that Sons of Ben capo and VP Corey Furlan is interviewed in part 6 of the Road to South Africa, which features the US against Costa Rica at RFK? I’m assuming his not mentioning the Philadelphia Union when he talks about supporters of MLS teams coming together for the US team was an editing thing – bad audio or something? (This is meant as a joke.)

AC: Ha! Actually, I think this one is on Corey. Maybe he was just being diplomatic, being the leader that he is. Actually, he definitely did talk about the Union in one of his other answers. I need to check the vault and see if there’s more from that interview we can upload! Corey is the man, and that interview is actually what introduced Jon and I to the SoBs.

PSP: The description of the LADUMA trailer describes the film as being an “experimental” film. What do you mean by that?

AC: LADUMA is an “experiential” film because we’re trying to recreate our own World Cup “experience”. (As opposed to a traditional documentary about one person or one story). Other people who traveled to South Africa may have had different experiences, but this was OUR experience, this was what WE saw as American soccer fans and filmmakers.

PSP: You and Jon quit your jobs and left for South Africa just before the start of the World Cup. You’ve said elsewhere that you had no budget and no script. That must have been kind of scary?

AC: It was definitely a leap of faith. I also shaved my head, which was pretty scary because I looked like an alien. But Korn and I were able to shoot videos for Budweiser and Sports Illustrated while over there in South Africa, so it almost covered our travel costs. Our videos with SI were based around our interviews with Grant Wahl, who gave us some great on-the-ground commentary during the tournament. As for a script, the crazy logistics of the South African World Cup made it almost impossible to focus on one character or one group, and the unpredictable nature of the World Cup itself meant that we couldn’t have a fixed story beforehand. Our second night in the country, we met a couple South African guys who took us in, and introduced us to what soccer means to the people of  Jo-burg. Without Leeroy and Zem, LADUMA really wouldn’t have been possible.

PSP: Did you have any local contacts before you left or were you relying on fate?

AC: Neither of us had ever been to a World Cup or the continent of Africa, so we left everything up to the futbol gods. We stayed at a guest house with a bunch of U.S. Supporters in the outskirts of Jo-burg, but the place was nothing like it looked like on the website. We were crammed into tiny rooms with bunkbeds and no heating. I think I slept with my jeans and sweatshirt on for the first three weeks until I was able to find a better/warmer place to stay.

PSP: In the Road to South Africa film you do a great job of showing what World Cup qualification meant to people you met in Honduras. What it meant to South Africans to host the World Cup must have been incredibly moving to witness?

AC: It was. Even though Bafana Bafana didn’t do much in the tournament, every game was a celebration for those people. South Africans know how to party unlike any culture on the planet. Just the fact that the World Cup came to the continent of Africa was in itself historic, and the citizens of South Africa finally felt like their nation had “arrived” in the global community.

PSP: Were you able to get your cameras inside any of the stadiums for any of the USA games?

AC: We had our cameras in the stadiums and got some great stuff. The best of which was probably the audio of me shrieking like a 10-year-old girl when Donovan scored against Algeria. But none of this footage can be legally used in the documentary. The eyes of FIFA are everywhere!

PSP: How hard was it traveling around South Africa following the US support?

AC: Logistically it was extremely difficult. We didn’t have a big studio to back us or other camera crews to get out to Cape Town and other cities. We rented a car to get around, and were shooting around the clock and editing on our laptops.

PSP: At what point did you and Jon realize, “We’ve got the makings of a full length movie here!” Was it in that you realized you wanted to tell both the story of US supporters at the World Cup and South Africa’s path to hosting it?

AC: The American story was self-evident, since the dramatic run to the top of the group was already such a big story in the sports media back home. But we knew there was more to our film than that. Jon took it upon himself to research the long, turbulent history of South Africa, and our interviews with Tony Karon (Senior Editor for TIME) and Sean Jacobs (Professor at the New School) really tied together all the beautiful South African characters and imagery we captured during our time in Jo-burg.

PSP: You have some big names in the film, people like Alexi Lalas, Grant Wahl, and Bob Ley. How did you secure their participation?

AC: I reached out to Bob Ley at ESPN and he was all about it. He even invited us to Bristol to do the interview. He’s pretty much been at ESPN since it started, so the guy knows what he’s talking about when it comes to the world of sports. His commentary on both the American and South African sides of our story was priceless. The American Outlaws guys introduced us to Alexi Lalas, who gave us an absolutely epic interview. We were amazed to learn that back in 1990, Alexi was just another kid “bumming around Europe, watching the U.S. team play” at the World Cup. Four years later, he’s on the pitch at the ’94 World Cup in the United States, representing our nation. Grant Wahl was extremely helpful not only with his great insights on the tournament, but also his deep knowledge of South Africa, having previously lived there.

PSP: Social media has not only helped you in making the film, it’s also helping you promote the film.

AC: Social media is incredible. We all saw what happened with the Jay DeMerit Story, and how the support of the soccer community helped make that film a reality. That was truly groundbreaking for an independent documentary. Jon and I were able to raise $5,000 on Kickstarter, which helped us pay for some of the radio calls and still images in the film that we couldn’t afford. We truly appreciate our family, friends, and the US Soccer community for giving us that lift to get our film off the ground. Now, our social media presence on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/OneGoalUSA) and Twitter really helps us connect with the film’s backers, and spread the word to the rest of the soccer galaxy. Twitter, in particular, is great for sort of connecting all the tentacles of the soccer world (players, ex-players, journalists, blogs, clubs, supporters). We’re still trying to get that retweet from Landon Donovan or Deuece about the film. One of these days! (It’s @onegoalusa, guys).

PSP: Being a soccer fan in the US for a long time meant that one had to be very inventive—how to meet other fans, how to see games, how to find news soccer about, and so on, which lends itself to a spirit of generosity and cooperation, a willingness to help fellow fans support the game. As the profile of soccer continues to grow in the US, that spirit still seems to be very important. Do you agree? If so, how has that spirit helped you in making your films?

AC: I think the very fact that you’re doing this interview with us proves your point. You watched our videos and connected with our message, and are now trying to help us spread the word. One Goal is all about spreading the love of soccer in America through the visual medium, and the supporters and the people we interact with are very in tune with that spirit. We have such a great vault of inspiring interviews with American soccer supporters from all over the country, explaining why they believe in this sport and why it’s important for the overall culture of the United States.

PSP: Digital camera technology must be a huge cost saver when you’re doing the shooting, but post production – editing, sound mixing – has got to be expensive. How did you finance that part of the film making process?

AC: The best part of about making LADUMA is we did everything ourselves. From producing, directing in the field, shooting, editing & graphics, and now marketing, Jon and I handled every aspect of the production and post-production process. My friend Dean Parham brought his skills to the project and helped us with the effects in the match scenes. For the soundtrack, we used songs from our friends’ bands—The Biltmores (@thebiltmores), and Guarco (@GUARCO). They are incredibly talented musicians, and their songs truly bring the imagery in LADUMA to life. The grassroots approach wasn’t easy, and it took us over a year, but in the end we knew this was the only way to make the film we always dreamed of making.

PSP: Has the film been shown elsewhere already? What has the response been like?

AC: We screened the movie for friends and family at a small theater in New York back in December. We were nervous about the crowd’s reaction, but the standing ovation and applause when the end credits started rolling was truly heartwarming. (Maybe they were just being nice?) Probably the coolest thing about the initial feedback was reading a blog post written by a South African in attendance, who said the film truly connected with him and what it meant for his country to host that tournament. We felt that American fans would love reliving the glory of the World Cup, but to hear that our film was appreciated by a South African as well was truly gratifying.

PSP: You and your co-director Jon Korn are local. What was your experience with soccer growing up in the area?

AC: Like most American kids, Jon and I both played youth soccer, but didn’t really compete beyond that. We played pickup soccer in the park with our friends from time to time, but it wasn’t until watching the 2002 World Cup on TV together that we truly connected on our shared interests of soccer, film, and travel. Since MLS was still growing and Philly didn’t have a team, I became an Arsenal supporter and avid soccer jersey collector. We also played a lot of 2002 FIFA World Cup on PlayStation, which took our World Cup obsession to another level.

PSP: I know you are both Union supporters. What’s your take on the recent Sebastien Le Toux news?

AC: It’s pretty tough to see Seba go, but it’s the reality of soccer economics. The two years couldn’t have worked out better for both the Union and Le Toux. He now gets his shot in the big leagues, and the Union are left with a successful franchise that he helped establish. I will always, always remember seeing that lanky Frenchman score a hat trick against D.C. in the Union’s franchise opener at the Linc. Absolutely legendary. Such a classy guy… he’ll be tough to replace. But, in Nowak we trust.

LADUMA, Thursday, February 2 at 7:30pm at the Ritz East. To reserve a ticket, send an email to info@onegoalusa.com or send a message through the One Goal USA Facebook page. Donations of $15 will be accepted at the door to help cover the costs of the screening with $3 going toward the Sons of Ben Help Kick Hunger campaign. You can check out some of Ashwin and Jon’s other fine work on the One Goal USA YouTube channel.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Kerith Gabriel of the Philadelphia Daily News is reporting that only a contract issue is preventing Colombian striker Lionard Pajoy from completing a transfer to the Philadelphia Union. Pajoy, 30, leads the Colombian first division with 10 goals in 18 games for Itagui Ditaires.

Pajoy’s profligacy in front of goal is a new development, however, with his career numbers hardly indicative of a dominant striker. At 6’1″ he would add height to the front line.

Gabriel’s unnamed source believes the deal will be completed in the “next couple of days.”

While news of an imminent striker signing will add fuel to the Le-Toux-to-Bolton fire, the Union’s all-time leading scorer remains on trial, with a deal yet to be tabled by the EPL side.

Pauno is gone. That much we know. Le Toux’s status? Training with Bolton with the potential of a deal. Basically, completely up in the air. That makes this as good a time as any to look at the four strikers who will be battling to win playing time throughout 2012. All are excellent prospects, but who can be the breakout star to lead the Union line this year?

While I have my own opinions on these players, I will do my best to leave those out until the “Subjective Conclusion.” This is a discussion that ends in a question mark. Why? Because all of the sudden the Union’s offseason activity appears to be far from over…

Danny Mwanga

The Numbers

6-2, 175 lbs, 20 years old

Through injury, dipping form, and the arrival of veteran strikers like Ruiz and Paunovic around him, Mwanga was unable to match his rookie year totals from 2010 when he netted 7 times to go along with 4 assists over 1,461 minutes. That rookie year saw him start 17 matches and appear as a substitute 7 times. In 2011, his overall minutes rose to 1,535, though most came as a substitute. Mwanga only started 13 times this past season, while coming off the bench in 15 different occasions.

Pros

Mwanga is at his best when he is confident enough to drop into the midfield to receive passes, allowing him space to run at defenders. His elite speed and strength make him a constant danger man for the Union because he can either run past a defense or, starting level, can dash in behind to finish a goal-scoring opportunity. Additionally, Mwanga shows veteran composure inside the box and, while he did not finished as many chances as Union fans would hope, it is not for a lack of composure. He worked hard after his rookie campaign to improve his hold up play, and with another offseason under his belt, he will continue to improve with his back to goal.

Cons

Confidence, work rate, finishing, and staying healthy. The first three are common concerns among young strikers, but after an appetite-whetting rookie campaign, his sophomore slump was troubling for many who expected the No. 1 pick in the 2010 MLS SuperDraft to be the Union’s breakout star in 2011. While all concerns can be addressed with time and experience, the fourth issue is the most troubling: The Union need Mwanga to be available 100 percent of the time in order for him to become the star that so many expect him to be.

Subjective Conclusion

Assuming a clean bill of health—and with Mwanga’s history, that is an assumption—2012 can be an excellent year for the third year player. Strikers that rely on strength rather than pure speed generally take more time to develop because their bodies are constantly changing and maturing. A 20-year-old Mwanga is by no means a finished product, but he has shown sparks of becoming a stud in MLS. As the most physical of the Union forwards, Mwanga is the natural choice to pair with any of the other three players on this list, and he will need to prove his durability in order to build chemistry, no matter with whom he is matched.

Jack McInerney

The Numbers

5-10, 151 lbs, 19 years old

Entering 2012, McInerney has still yet to break 1,000 minutes for the Union over his first two seasons. Like Mwanga, McInerney played more minutes in 2011, 558 compared to 350 in his rookie year, but scored fewer goals, with just 1 goal in 2011 compared to 3 the year prior. He has yet to record an assist in his Union career. With the near certainty that his Generation adidas status will expire this season, there should be no financially imposed minute restrictions on the Union’s young attacker.

Pros

Running without the ball, getting behind defenses and communication. When McInerney gets himself on the field, one thing is certain: He is going to cause trouble for the opposition wherever he goes. Despite being the youngest of the Union’s crop of forward, he is mature well beyond his years when it comes to ghosting in behind defenses. And that is not to say that he is sneaky. Quite the contrary, unlike many of his teammates, McInerney is demonstrative and deliberate about demanding the ball, pointing to the spot where he wants service and using his excellent acceleration and smart lines of running to burst into the opponent’s box.

Cons

Finishing. Poachers score goals. Jack will be a poacher, but not until he begins to finish the large number of chances he creates for himself. And that, as with all young strikers, comes with time and minutes played.

Subjective Conclusion

Jack deserves a chance. No GA status worries, another year older and an extremely exciting U-23 camp, all lead to the expectation that McInerney will get more opportunities to showcase himself in 2012. Perfectly suited to partner with a bigger, stronger forward like Mwanga who can occupy the central defense’s attention, McInerney’s slicing, dynamic runs will put him into the space he needs to capitalize on the service of distributors like Michael Farfan, Roger Torres, Freddy Adu and Amobi Okugo.

And for the record, McInerney is NOT a midfielder. The few instances where he has been dumped out on the right side of midfield, he has looked lost and devoid of ideas. He needs to live life higher up the field, constantly pushing the offside line.

Josue Martinez

The Numbers

5-10, 159 lbs, 21 years old

Martinez joins the Union after coming through the C.D. Saprissa youth system and spending over two seasons with the first team of Costa Rica’s top club side. Martinez scored in his debut, Nov. 15, 2009, and went on to appear 25 times for Saprissa, logging 1,602 minutes and scoring 8 goals. In 2010, his minutes and production decreased, with 23 appearances yielding 1,092 and 5 goals. This past campaign, his appearances again decreased, this time to 18, though he found the net 6 times over 1,393 minutes.

Pros

Experience, speed and versatility. The young Costa Rican arrives in Philadelphia having logged over 4,000 minutes in the professional ranks with C.D. Saprissa. Not only has he featured in the Costa Rican domestic league, he has had the opportunity to test himself in the CONCACAF Champions League. Additionally, after starring in the 2009 U-20 World Cup, in which Costa Rice claimed fourth place, Martinez has gone on to earn 16 senior caps, with 2 international goals to his name. Similar in stature to McInerney, Martinez uses excellent pace to get in behind defenders, though he is more likely than his Union counterpart to attack the defense with the ball at his feet. Scouting on Martinez suggests that he can operate as a central striker, in a withdrawn role, or even as a winger. This versatility will have certainly pleased Peter Nowak, who no doubt will be looking to Martinez to be a spark in 2012.

Cons

Finishing. The curse of the young striker. Yet, one of the knocks on Martinez is that Saprissa allowed him to leave based on an inability to convert goal-scoring chances. Statistically, he scored once every 3.5 appearances, which on Costa Rica’s elite club side means he more than likely spurned a great number of chances.

Subjective Conclusion

The Union faithful will have to wait to see how his skill set translates to MLS and whether another year of maturation will lead to a more polished finisher. It is hard to project exactly how he will cope with the rough and tumble soccer that is MLS, but his versatility should suit him nicely in Nowak’s flowing, rotating system, allowing him to pop up wherever he chooses to make an impact.

Chandler Hoffman

The Numbers

6-0, 160 lbs, 21 years old

Hoffman arrives in Philadelphia as a Generation adidas member for the class of 2012 after falling to the Union as the thirteenth pick overall in this year’s draft. In Hoffman’s final collegiate season at UCLA, he led the Pac-12 with 18 goals, which was also good for fourth in the country, making him a MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist. In his three-year career with the Bruins, he finished with 29 goals and 9 assists in 54 games.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Pros

Finishing. College is an entirely different ballgame than the pros, but while plenty of highly rated draft picks earned their selections through potential, Hoffman finishes his chances. Whether he can translate that production into MLS is the big question, but his goal tally from this fall is nothing to scoff at.

Cons

Lack of pro experience. All three of the Union’s other young stars have two or more years of professional experience under their belts. Obviously, this is not a knock on Hoffman’s ability, but it will factor in personnel decisions as Peter Nowak will handle the rookie with more care than his other strikers, regardless of age.

Subjective Conclusion

While Hoffman projects as a potentially dynamic contributor to the Union offense, he will likely be last on the depth chart in 2012. The retention of his GA status for another year will be important to the Union and Peter Nowak is always slow to break in young players. Hoffman will get his shots, but is unlikely to feature as a consistent starter.

In Summary

Speed, check.

Ability to run in behind defenses, check.

Strength in the air, negatory.

Hold up play? Mwanga, but that’s about it.

This is a foursome with a great number of similarities. They all prefer to face goal, either with the ball at their feet or running into space to receive it. Chandler Hoffman has shown an exceptional ability to do the dirty work around the opponents six yard box to create goals, but he, like Martinez, will have to prove they can adjust to the speed and physicality of MLS. Danny Mwanga and Jack McInerney, on the other hand, must prove that despite disappointing sophomore seasons, they can hold up while playing increased minutes and continuing to improve. That means converting chances and becoming double-digit goal scorers.

Glass Half-Empty Scenario

Who is going to be the leader up front? Mondragon, Califf and Valdes have the back sewn up tight, but what about in attack?

Paunovic proved an excellent veteran presence as a mentor both on and off the field for younger players, while Le Toux was the consummate leader by example. If neither is to return, the Union attack is simply too young, and the pressure to succeed is too great. If we are to assume the Union play a two-striker set formation, that means there are over 6,000 minutes of playing time to be divided. Mwanga has yet to prove that he can stay healthy, Martinez has never hit the 2,000 mark, Jack hasn’t even hit 1,000 and Hoffman’s minutes will be tightly monitored from a GA status perspective. Besides, none of the four players mentioned above has shown adequate ability or desire in the air. Thus, the Union needs to go out and acquire a veteran target striker, whether from within the league, Central or South America, or even Europe. Finding a player to help the Union develop both on and off the field is critical to the team’s continued development and success.

Glass Half-Full Scenario

Let’s go for it! The Union have never been a team that plays with natural width anyway. So why not stretch the full length of the field and kill them with speed? Playing narrow and clogging the center of the pitch with dangerous attackers and playmakers will provide ample chances for our young striker core to torture the larger, more stationary defenses of MLS. Besides, a tandem of Mwanga and McInerney (or Martinez) is exactly what the fans have been clamoring for and, while it may take some time for the two to start producing at full speed, once they do, look out! Additionally, should he return, Freddy Adu can slot in as a withdrawn striker to further augment the attack.

It took three years, but let’s give the young kids the keys to club.

So? How full is your glass?

Saturday, January 14
10am – Aston Villa vs Everton – foxsoccer.tv
10am – Blackburn Rovers vs Fulham – foxoccer.tv
10am – Chelsea vs Sunderland – Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Deportes
10am – Liverpool vs Stoke City – Fox Soccer Plus, foxsoccer.tv
10am – Manchester United vs Bolton – ESPN3
10am – Tottenham Hotspur vs Wolverhampton Wanderers – foxsoccer.tv
10am – West Bromwich Albion vs Norwich City – foxsoccer.tv
10am – Nottingham Forest vs Southampton – foxsoccer.tv
12pm – Sevilla vs Espanyol – GolTV
12pm – Real Zaragoza vs Getafe -DirecTV
12pm – Aston Villa vs Everton – Fox Soccer Channel (delayed)
12pm – Tottenham Hotspur vs Wolverhampton Wanderers – Fox Deportes (delayed)
12:20pm – Watford vs Reading – Fox Soccer Plus, foxsoccer.tv
2pm – Mallorca vs Real Madrid – ESPN Deportes, ESPN3
2:45pm – Catania vs Roma – Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Deportes, ESPN3
3pm – Ajaccio vs Auxerre – foxsoccer.tv
3pm – Bordeaux vs Valenciennes – foxsoccer.tv
3pm – Brest vs Nice – foxsoccer.tv
3pm – Caen vs Stade Rennes – foxsoccer.tv
3pm – Dijon vs Evian TG – foxsoccer.tv
3pm – Montpellier vs Olympique Lyon – foxsoccer.tv
3pm – Nancy vs Lorient – foxsoccer.tv
3pm – PSG vs Toulouse – foxsoccer.tv
3pm – Saint-Étienne vs Sochaux – foxsoccer.tv
3:30pm – FC Porto vs Rio Ave – ESPN3
4pm – Valencia vs Real Sociedad – ESPN Deportes, ESPN3
6pm – Jaguares vs Guadalajara – Fox Deportes, Azteca America
8pm – Tigres UANL vs Querétaro – Telefutura
8pm – Pachuca vs Puebla – Galavision
9pm – Tijuana vs Monterrey – ESPN Deportes, Azteca America
9:45pm – Atlas vs Cruz Azul – Galavision
10pm – Atlante vs Santos Laguna – Telefutura

Sunday, January 15
12am – Melbourne Heart vs Perth Glory – Fox Soccer Channel
6am – Atlético Madrid vs Villarreal – ESPN Deportes, ESPN3 USA
6:30am – Lazio vs Atalanta – Fox Soccer Plus, foxsoccer.tv
8:30am – Newcastle United vs Queens Park Rangers – Fox Soccer Plus, foxsoccer.tv
9am – Juventus vs Cagliari – FOx Soccer Channel, Fox Deportes, ESPN3
10am – Osasuna vs Racing Santander – DirecTV
11am – Swansea City vs Arsenal – Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Deportes
12pm – Athletic Bilbao vs Levante – GolTV
1pm – Pumas UNAM vs Morelia – Univision
1:45pm – Sporting Gijón vs Málaga – DirecTV
2:45pm – Milan vs Internazionale – Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Deportes
3pm – Olympique Marseille vs Lille – Fox Soccer Plus, foxsoccer.tv
3:30pm – Barcelona vs Real Betis -GolTV
5pm – América vs Toluca – Univision

Monday, January 16
2:45pm – Napoli vs Bologna – Fox Soccer Plus, Fox Deportes, foxsoccer.tv
3pm – Wigan Athletic vs Manchester City – ESPN Deportes, ESPN3

El Classico – Real Madrid v Barcelona – Wednesday, January 18 at 4pm

Icing on the cake?

When Major League Soccer teams make their draft picks in Thursday’s amateur draft, several players with local ties are sure to go off the board. You may not have three former Reading United players go off the board in the first round, as happened last year when that burgeoning soccer factory churned out C.J. Sapong, Zarek Valentin and Corey Hertzog, but the Philly area will definitely be represented.

With that in mind, here’s a look at some of those who are in play for the draft. (Sure enough, most have played for Reading United.)

Andrew Wenger, defender, Duke

The Hermann Trophy winner and 1st team All-American is projected as a top-five pick, with most predicting him to go in the top three. Wenger hails from Lilitz, Pa., which is out near Lancaster, and has played for nearby Reading United in the USL PDL. He has played forward, midfield and defense for Duke, and he’s played well at each. Many are projecting him as a defensive midfielder or center back, but honestly, we won’t know where he plays until we know what team he’s on.

Matt Hedges, defender, North Carolina

At 6-4, Hedges is a near-prototypical center back, and some project the Reading United product as a top 10 pick. His aerial game helped produce six goals as a senior. Hedges spent his first three years at Butler in his hometown after being largely overlooked coming out of high school. He transferred to North Carolina for his senior year and earned 1st team All-American honors for the national champs in 2011.  After he played 10 games for Reading United in 2011, Philadelphia Union should be quite familiar with him, and the Union’s lack of depth at center back and ties to Reading make Hedges a popular projected draft pick for the Union.

Evans Frimpong (Courtesy of University of Delaware)

Evans Frimpong, midfielder, Delaware

Frimpong scored 12 goals and handed out 5 assists to become the Colonial Athletic Association’s player of the year in 2011. The 2nd team All-American hails from Accra, Ghana, and, much like Hedges, he came out of nowhere, impressing at an NAIA school in Texas before transferring to Delaware, where he was the first Blue Hen in 27 years to be named an All-American. He appeared in four games for Reading United in 2011 as well. Some mock drafts have him as a borderline draft prospect, but he’s at the MLS Combine and getting a legitimate chance to show scouts there what he can do.

Christian Barreiro, midfielder, Penn

Another Reading United product, this two-time first-team All-Ivy Leaguer led Reading United in 2011 with 7 assists and added 4 goals, playing more minutes than any other Reading outfield player. He followed it up by leading Penn in goals (7) and assists (7) his senior year. As a youth player, he passed on youth squad offers from English club Middlesbrough and Scottish giants Celtic. Barreiro was also academic all-conference, which is saying something when your conference is the Ivy League. At just 5-7, he likely projects as a midfielder at the next level, but he’ll have to impress at the MLS Combine to show a team he’s worth drafting. Unfortunately, the Ivy League doesn’t have the rep of the ACC when it comes to college soccer.

Brian Ownby, forward, Virginia

Ownby has been a top player for four years at Virginia, but injuries have slowed him down along the way. His local ties are, once again, Reading United, for whom he scored 4 goals and handed out 3 assists in just 4 games in 2011. He scored five times for Virginia in 19 games and netted 20 times over four years.

Brian Holt, goalkeeper, Creighton

Holt set an NCAA record with a miniscule 0.207 goals against average in 2011, and he was one of just six USL PDL players to play every minute for his team in 2011. Still, the Reading United alum wasn’t invited to the MLS Combine and probably won’t get a sniff in the draft due to his height, or lack thereof: At just 5-8, he’s considered far too small to play goalkeeper professionally. Nonetheless, don’t be surprised if someone like Harrisburg takes a flyer on him. Whatever his size, he can play the game.

Antoine Hoppenot, forward, Princeton

Hoppenot was Ivy League Player of the Year and second-team All-American in 2010, but his goal tally dropped from 9 and 10 the previous two years to just 4 in 2011. Still, he made all-conference and earned an invitation to the MLS Combine. At 5-8, he may project as a midfielder if he makes it to the pros, but most mock drafts don’t include him. This week is a chance to impress.

Eric Schoenle (Courtesy of The Daily Athenium)

Eric Schoenle, defender, West Virginia

The Yardley, Pa. native was a third-team All-American in 2011, and this fall, he was a popular projected first round MLS pick because of his excellent technical ability. Then apparently someone soured on his string bean physique (listed at 6-2, 147), and he began to drop off the radar. He isn’t at the MLS Combine now, and he doesn’t appear on most mock draft lists. If he goes undrafted, don’t be surprised if the Union become a possible landing spot, with his ties to the region and his time spent playing for Reading United in 2010. He played for Reading in their friendly against the Union that year, but unfortunately, he landed on the score sheet with an own goal. Still, he didn’t make All-American for nothing, and professional sports are full of players who may not have the measurables on paper but perform on the field when it matters.

Billy Schuler, forward, North Carolina

The Allentown, N.J., native and Hermann Trophy finalist has already signed with Norwegian club Hammarby, where he’ll play for American coach Gregg Berhalter, but an MLS club could still draft him to obtain his domestic rights if he ever heads stateside. Don’t expect it, but don’t be surprised if it happens either. Like many others on this list, he’s also played for Reading United, which means the Union should be a bit familiar with him.

With the release of the Union’s 2012 regular season schedule, I, along with my colleagues at the PSP, am buzzing about the prospects of the new season. Just 66 more days (stupid leap year) until the Union take the pitch in Portland to get Year Three underway. In the meantime, now that MLS has thrown out last year’s balanced schedule (take that purists) we have plenty to talk about with respect to the construction of the 2012 Union schedule.

Two Home Red Bulls Matches

Assuming Tim Ream does not run off to England to hide from this well publicized gaffe at PPL Park, he will get not one, but TWO chances to make another one. With the new weighted schedule, the Union will face the Red Bulls twice at home in 2012. Sunday, May 13, the rivalry will be renewed, on ESPN2, and will serve to whet the appetites of Union fans who can’t wait until the final match of the season to see our boys dish it out to New York. Additionally, Union fans will have the opportunity to storm Red Bull Arena on Saturday, July 21.

Home Rivalries, Longer Road Trips

While two home matches against regional rivals New York, DC, Columbus and New England are great for the home supporters, it means that two trips each must be made to the Eastern Conference’s more remote outposts in Toronto, Chicago and Houston. Ultimately, the extra travel amounts to only a few more hours on the plane, but over the course of a long season, those miles can add up.

Friendly Break?

With no fixtures on either of the first two weekends of June, the Union’s front office will likely look to plug in friendlies during that twenty-day hiatus. Regardless of whether they are able to schedule one or two high profile matches during that period, it is extremely confusing that MLS would give three weeks off to a team that will later be forced to endure more than one three game week…

Oh What a Week – Part 1

Good lord. Somehow MLS has concocted not one, but two sets of three matches in eights days for the Union.

The first is an absolute nightmare with respect to travel (something that I was led to believe this whole weighted schedule was meant to avoid). On Saturday, June 30, the Union travel to Livestrong Park to battle last year’s top Eastern Conference point leaders, Sporting KC. Four days later the Union face the reigning champion Galaxy in Carson, CA on Wednesday, July 4 before hustling back across the country for a home fixture with Toronto FC on Sunday. Yuck.

No David Beckham

Sorry, Pam (and everyone else who gets their jollies seeing Golden Balls in person). With only one match against the Western Conference foes, sadly, assuming he re-signs, the Los Angeles Beckhams will not be making a trip to PPL Park in 2012. Yes, he’s a big draw, but to be honest, watching LA’s cohort of diving, complaining prima donnas is best done through the safety of your television set.

That said, the timing of the Union’s one fixture against LA is indeed peculiar, 10:30pm the night of July 4th. Assuming you manage to stay awake following a day of celebrating our great country’s independence, keep that barbecue buzz going through the night with the Union. Though, as mentioned above, the Union will be playing on less than four days rest.

A rest from the West

If the only downside of playing teams from the Western Conference once is that we miss out on a visit from Beckham, that is a beautiful thing. While the East looks set to have a much better season this year than last, there cannot be too many complaints about squaring off with the likes of Seattle, Dallas, RSL and Colorado only once during the 2012 campaign.

Minimal Impact

Circle Saturday July 14 on your calendars as the first time the Montreal Impact bring their new club smell and one man goon squad, aka Brian Ching, to town. Let’s hope Jesse Marsch brings more to the table than the soon to be 34-year-old Hawaiian that he kidnapped from Houston. If not, it could be a stroll in the park for the Union, not that an easy three points would be a bad thing. And Justin Mapp will be back in town… Moving on. Depending on Caleb Porter’ plans for the Olympic team, this could also be the final pre-London match for any Union participants and will therefore be a great chance to give our boys a rousing send off.

Mind the Gap (The London Olympics 2012)

The tournament itself runs from July 25 until August 11, and with at least a week of camp prior, it is likely that any Union members of the 2012 Olympic squad will miss home matches against New England and Chicago, and away fixtures at New York and Montreal. If the team gathers earlier, Montreal’s visit to PPL Park could also be a miss for our boys in red, white and blue.

Oh What a Week – Part 2

The final week of the season is an absolute disaster. Especially considering how MLS tends towards the absurd and usually schedules the first round of the playoffs less than a week after the season’s conclusion. If the Union are to make the postseason, and they should, we will all hope they can wrap it up before that final week of death. Otherwise they will have to fight it out with arguably the top three Eastern Conference teams outside of Philadelphia. Trips to Houston on Saturday, October 20 and Kansas City four days later will be followed by the season finale at home against the Red Bulls on October 28. Seeing as the world is not perfect and no one is expecting the Union to wrap up the top spot in the Eastern Conference with three games to go, this amounts to essentially three extra playoff games. It will be interesting to see whether the Union can maintain momentum throughout.

Nationally Televised Soccer? Yes! We Approve!

The 2012 calendar features 14 nationally televised matches between NBC, NBC Sports, ESPN, ESPN2 and Galavision. Two of those games, both against the Red Bulls, will be on network TV, the July 21 away fixture will air on ESPN, while the season finale will air on NBC.

The 2012 season is nearly upon us! How does this schedule strike you? Which matches have you circled on your calendar?

Editor’s note: At the end of the 2010 season, we posted a series of season reviews of every Philadelphia Union player. Over the next several weeks PSP continues with a review of the 2011 season.

I saved Migs for my last player review of the season because really, what else is there to say? When Brian Carroll was signed before the beginning of last season, many of us thought we had seen the last of Migs in the holding midfield role. But the Brazilian still found himself in the starting line up for 11 games and appeared in 17 matches overall in 2011.

While he did turn in a few decent performances as a makeshift center back, we often saw Miglioranzi slotted next to Carroll in away fixtures in which Peter Nowak looked to bolster his team’s midfield presence. This often led to both players sitting in the same space behind the two wider midfielders and so leaving plenty of gaps for opposition attackers to find.

Migs was probably a part of the biggest WTF lineup of the season in the first leg of the playoff series against Houston. Brought on for his aerial abilities, he slotted into center back along with Danny Califf and Carlos Valdes. The move had the entire Union back line out of sync for the 62 minutes that Migs was on the pitch.

High Point

Even though he didn’t put in particularly strong performances in any of the matches, he started and played 90 minutes in the wins over New York, Vancouver and Houston. Let’s just go with one of those.

Low Point

Insert your own joke here. He played in the opening 45 minutes in the 4–4 draw against New England, and we all know how the first half of that one went. Of the 12 games he started this season (including the first play-off game) the Union only won three, and all of those wins came before April 9.

Strengths

Strong in the air. If nothing else, the guy is tall. He is a solid locker room guy as well. A veteran of English soccer and a number of MLS teams, his experience served a young Union squad well in his tenure.

Weaknesses

A frustrating figure as a defensive midfielder. Not a great tackler or one-on-one defender. At age 34, has definitely lost a step (or two) and does not close space with much pace or malice. Even as one of the taller players on the team, he does not defend set pieces well and has been guilty of losing his mark on a few occasions. Offers very little to the attack in terms of being a good possession player, passer of the ball or long distance shooter.

Outlook

It looks like we have seen the last of Migs, as he is out of contract with Philadelphia. With Brian Carroll showing he can run the show by himself in the defensive midfield and the emergence of Amobi Okugo, there aren’t too many Union fans that will miss him.

*Stat chart legend:
POS: Position; GP: Games Played; GS: Games Started; MINS: Minutes; PA: Passes Attempted; PC: Passes Completed; P%: Passing Accuracy Percentage; SHTS: Shots Faced; SV: Saves; GA: Goals Allowed; GAA: Goals Allowed Average; PKG/A: Penalty Goals/Attempted; W; Wins; L: Losses; T: Ties; ShO: Shutouts; W%: Win Percentage; SV%: Save Percentage; FC: Fouls Committed; FS: Fouls Suffered; YC: Yellow Cards; RC: Red Cards