US Open Cup 4th Round Draw Predictions

Fourth Round draw of the US Open Cup will be tomorrow. I'm extremely bored at work, so I'll try and play bracketology and see how many I can get right.


Third Round Matchup                                   Fourth Round MLS Opponent
                                      
Rochester Rhinos / Reading United                    New England

New York Cosmos / Brooklyn                            New York Red Bulls

Richmond Strikers / Greek American AA           DC United

Baltimore (PDL) / Harrisburg                          Philadelphia Union

Pittsburgh / RWB Adria                                    Columbus Crew

Indy Eleven / Dayton                                        Chicago Fire

Carolina / Charlotte                                         Colorado Rapids

Chattanooga / Atlanta                                       Real Salt Lake

Charleston / Orlando U-23                               Portland Timbers

Orlando City / Tampa Bay                                Seattle Sounders

Ft. Lauderdale / Laredo                                    Los Angeles Galaxy

San Antonio / NTX Reyados                              Houston Dynamo

Oklahoma / Arizona                                          FC Dallas

Sacramento / Fresno                                         San Jose Earthquakes

Des Moines / Minnesota                                   Sporting Kansas City

Galaxy II / PSA                                                Chivas USA

Califf-gate Day 3

So here we are 3 days into this thing, and do we know where our captain is? No. I can only imagine one of the two following scenarios has occurred here.

First, this so called deal involves either allocation money, or an International roster spot, which the Union may be in the process of using for a signing. They may not want to announce or finalize things before the second part of the move is completed. That's thinking on the bright side.

Now to the worse case, more likely scenario.

Nowak showed his hand too early, let it slip that there was talk of Califf being traded before anything was done, and the other team, presumably Chivas nixed the offer and moved on. Now you have you captain, and fan favorite, emotionally checked out of town, and there is no possible way of bringing him back at this point.  You have the fans pissed off that another player is out the door, with nothing to show for it. And Nowak and the front office desperate to find a buyer for Califf, when the whole league knows your hand.

I put my money on the latter.

Philadelphia Union Season Preview Part 1

Today we'll take a look at the key departures from last season.

First and foremost Sebastian Le Toux. The clubs all time leading goal scorer, fan favorite, face of the franchise, and MLS All-Star was traded to Vancouver in the offseason for an undisclosed amount allocation money. After a mysterious trial with Bolton in England, Sebastian Le Toux returned and not a week later his was dealt to second year side Vancouver. Fans were shocked to say the least as numerous complaints and criticisms flooded twitter, Facebook, and other forums. Fans certainly had reason to be angry, 25 goals and 20 assists in two seasons certainly is a huge loss for a club who have had trouble scoring at times. The departure certainly puts a lot of pressure on Danny Mwanga. The number one overall pick in the 2010 MLS Superdraft, Mwanga has all eyes watching him to live up to expectations of his number one selection.

Next we look at another key veteran departing, Faryd Mondragon. Mondragon, a veteran goalkeeper who's presence last season was a huge part of the defensive success of the Union, leaves to return to his native Colombia to play for Deportivo Cali. Mondragon's veteran leadership sparked the defense and accounted for eight clean sheets, after the team notched only two in the 2010 season. Mondragon's departure paves the way for young Zac MacMath. The Union's first pick in the 2011 MLS Superdraft, MacMath was forced into the spotlight during his rookie season in 2011 due to a Mondragon injury. In 7 starts last season, MacMath notched an undefeated record with three wins, four draws and three clean sheets. MacMath looks poised to step into the spotlight once again this season, but the lack of an experienced backup could hinder the Union if injury strikes or a possible Olympic call up.

Other key losses for the Union include Justin Mapp, who was selected by the Montreal Impact in the Expansion draft, and Veljko Paunovic who retired.

Sorry Charlie

Charlie Davies' recovery process from the horrific car accident in October of 2009 fell short of his goal of making the World Cup roster when Bob Bradley left him off of the initial 30 man roster on Tuesday. While many fans are angry at Bob Bradley for leaving him off the roster, it was beyond his control. Sochaux, Davies club team in France, didn't clear him to participate in the camp. If he had received medical clearance from the medical staff at Sochaux, there is a good chance Davies would have been on the initial 30 man roster competing for a spot in the final 23. If the news was most disappointing to Davies, the second most disappointed person would have to be Bob Bradley. Obviously if Davies is 100% or even 85-90% of his form before the accident, he is an obvious selection over forwards Connor Casey and Robbie Findlay. While the feel good, "Disney sports movie ending" is what everyone wants to see, Bradley has to consider what is best for his team.

Anyone familiar with the incident has seen the pictures from the crash, and Davies is lucky to be alive. With the injuries he sustained, an 8 month recovery is damn near impossible. It would have been nothing short of a miracle for Davies to return to form in time for the World Cup. The fact that he will be able to return to professional level soccer is impressive enough. Sure, we were all rooting him on like the main character in a Disney sports film, but reality sets in and the fairy tale ending just isn't going to happen. It's not the end of the world for Charlie Davies. He is only 23, and if he can return to form he has a brilliant career ahead of him. Come 2014, he would be 27 and essentially in the prime of his career if all goes right and certainly a spot on the 2014 World Cup Roster is likely. It's tough news for Charlie, but if he uses this as motivation to work towards 2014, and he continues the effort he made throughout this comeback try, Lord help goalkeepers and defenders in Ligue 1 or wherever his career takes him.

To Strike or Not to Strike?

So with a MLS strike looking more and more evident, I figured I would get on here and post my thoughts on the matter. First of all I would like to say that I am on the players side on the issue, but I think a risk/reward of a strike has far too much risk and not a whole lot of reward. I agree, a fair amount of players in the MLS get paid like shit, and the owners have too much control of the league. With that being said, a strike would not be the answer for many reasons.

First of all it would certainly lose the momentum that the league has been gaining over the last few years with successful expansion. Season Ticket sales in all markets would certainly go down. Markets such as Seattle and Toronto who have joined the league over the last few seasons, and where tickets to home matches have been hard to find because of the demand. If the loyal supporters of the clubs feel betrayed, they may think of other ways to spend their hard earned money.

What would hurt the league the most would be the loss of many of the casual soccer fans. The same fans who the league has worked so hard to gain attention from over the past 5 years or so, would most certainly be turned away from the sport. The fans that aren't able to afford full season tickets, but attend 3 or 4 games out of the year. The families looking for entertainment on a Saturday night. In tough economic times, it won't take much for the casual soccer fans to spend their money elsewhere. When work stoppages happened in Major League Baseball and the NHL, those leagues were hurt. Fortunately for them, the fan base was large enough that they could make due with the loss of some of their fans in hopes of eventually bringing them back. Major League Soccer is not on the level of the four major sports, nor are they close.

Shall we look at what happened to the WUSA, ceasing operations after only three seasons because of severe financial difficulties. Now the league has reformed as the WPS with different financial strategies, but after only one season, a team has already folded.

It wasn't that long ago that the MLS was in the same situation, maybe not as severe, but having 2 of its teams cease operations in 2001 certainly shows the league was in trouble. The league has done well with slow but steady growth since then with the addition of six franchises since then (including Philadelphia this year). A strike would certainly halt that progress and have a negative effect on not only the league, but soccer in America as a whole. Personally I don't think the players will strike and an agreement will be reached. I think both the owners and players know what this would do to the league as a whole, or at least I hope they realize this.

What are your thoughts on the situation? Feel free to post comments below.

Philadelphia Union Preseason Report

Less than two weeks away from their first ever MLS game in franchise history, the Philadelphia Union have been in training camp for a little over a month now. Peter Nowak started the first official training camp for his expansion side in North Carolina in early February. The two week long first leg of the camp included scrimmages against High Point University, UNC-Wilmington, and Wake Forest University, all of which were closed to the public.

The Union did take part in an exhibition match against The University of North Carolina in Greensboro on February 13th. The first half of the match saw forward Sebastian Le Toux record a hat trick and put the expansion side up 3-0 at the half. Shea Salinas opened the scoring in the second half with a goal in the 54th minute. The goal of the night came from 17 year old Jack McInerney, who had an impressive strike from just over the midfield line, catching the North Carolina keeper off guard. McInerney's goal in the 89th minute of the match capped off an impressive 5-0 victory for the expansion side.

The second leg of Nowak's preseason camp took the expansion side south of the border to Guadalajara, Mexico. While the first leg of the camp was mainly focused on physical conditioning, the second leg was more tactical and also saw the club face professional competition for the first time. Scrimmages against Mexican Second Division side Universidad de Guadalajara, and Mexican First Division powerhouse Chivas De Guadalajara gave the expansion side their first taste of what was to come during the upcoming season. Nowak chose Guadalajara not only for the opportunity to face quality professional clubs, but to challenge his players at tough altitude conditions as well.

Nowak and his club are currently in Tampa, Florida for the third and final leg of the preseason camp. The third leg of the camp will focus on putting the final touches on both the tactical and fitness sides before the start of the season. The Union will also face their first test against MLS competition on March 14, when they meet FC Dallas in their final exhibition match before first kick in Seattle on March 25th (assuming there is no work stoppage by either the players or the owners).

There have been some surprises during the camp thus far. Jack McInerney, 7th overall pick in the 2010 Superdraft, has impressed many including Peter Nowak during camp. McInerney, who is only 17, not only scored a brilliant goal in the match against North Carolina, but also managed to score in the scrimmage against Chivas De Guadalajara as well. There were questions as to whether he would start the season being loaned out to the Union's USL affiliate Harrisburg City Islanders due to his young age, but his performance has definitely earned him a shot with the big club.

Trialist and former Temple University star J.T. Noone has also turned some heads during camp. Noone has performed well thus far, scoring a goal in the Chivas De Guadalajara scrimmage and also tallying two assists through 5 preseason matches/scrimmages. He remains one of only two trialists still with the club, the other being Roger Torres who was recently signed to the club on loan. Noone has definitely made his case to be offered a spot on the roster.

Friendly Lessons?

So a day after the United States 3-1 loss to Honduras, I've come up with a few lessons that can be learned from this game. The first one being this team can not afford any more injuries, because I didn't see anyone out there (with the exception of maybe Jonathan Bornstein) who I would feel comfortable stepping up in South Africa. I know that this wasn't the team that will be on the field in 5 months time, and Thank God it wasn't.

With that being said there was some importance to this friendly for some players. With the injuries of Charlie Davies and Oguchi Onyewu still leaving their status up in the air, there were some possible spots on the bench up for grabs for some of these players. Jeff Cunningham, leading scorer this past season in the MLS, was one of those players who could have possibly secured a spot on the bench if Davies can't go. I thought Cunningham's performance last night was not good whatsoever. Although he may have only had 4-5 touches, what I saw was a player wasn't aggressive at all and was very hesitant. At times he looked lost out there. He could have done more if they were able to get him more touches, but when push comes to shove, I think he will be staying in Dallas come June.

We also saw the last International appearance from Jimmy Conrad. The early yellow card was unfortunate, but as a veteran Conrad has to understand how to play with a yellow. While the second yellow was questionable, there's no excuse for Conrad to even put himself in that position already holding a yellow, especially off the ball. Jimmy will have to settle watching the World Cup from Kansas City, and posting humorous comments via his Twitter page which we've all come to love.

Another player who had an absolutely horrible game was Marvell Wynne. At times it didn't feel like a soccer match at all, just a montage of Honduran players getting past Wynne with ease down the sidelines.

As we look forward to the next match against El Salvador, I would hope to see more of Alejandro Bedoya. I felt he played well after coming on in the second half. Had some nice services in the box that just weren't able to be finished. This was the opportunity for the "B Squad" to show their stuff against a World Cup participant in Honduras, who had about half of their lineup that will be there in June. I don't know how much we can learn from El Salvador in about a months time. With that said, I understand that this was a "B squad" that was just thrown together with a couple weeks of training and that is why I'm not worried about the loss so much. I'll just be holding my breath no one comes back from Europe in a cast, sling, or whatever. Just send them back home covered in bubble wrap just to be safe.