Basically that line uttered by Kanye summed up both last weeks Union game and the US-Guadeloupe game. Both the Union and the Nats could have scored almost 5 goals if they put away the chances they should’ve. Each team scored only one and the Union managed only a tie. Of course for the US a win is a win and pushes them on the face Jamaica tomorrow, but for the Union they only got a tie out of what looked like an easy win in the first half. A very arguable foul on the goal by Espindola of Salt Lake is what brought the game back even, but the Union were the better team by far. Very disappointing considering the performance but as many have told me, if you offered me a 1-1 tie with Salt Lake before the game I would’ve taken it. I think everyone is really starting to believe this team will do more than back into the playoffs.
Whether Carlos Ruiz stays or not I think is really insignificant for this team. Ruiz has been the lead scorer for this team, but Mwanga is stepping into that role quite comfortably while Jack is stepping right up behind him and Seba (who has been playing great) will surely put a few in between now and the end of the season. Really it would only be putting Jack back into the first-choice sub role he played last year. He’s been a step deeper on the chart as Mwanga has been seen starting many more games from the bench. Ruiz stepped in front of everyone at the start of the season, but I can’t wholeheartedly say hes played all that much better than Mwanga. The drop-off if Ruiz does end up in Mexico is not as great as some might fear. All it means is Jack is back.
The US played terribly against Panama so it was nice to at least see them look like they had touched a ball before against Guadeloupe, obviously Ream and Agudelo didn’t start. It made sense to put in Lichaj and he showed us just why. Putting in Wondolowski is a different thing entirely. My vote for last weeks formation is what I expect to come out this week.
Howard
Dolo-Goodson-Bocanegra-Lichaj
Jones-Bradley
Donovan—————Bedoya
Dempsey
Altidore
Altidore hasn’t been the best in this formation, he’s not the greatest as a lone striker, but I think its more valuable to get Bedoya in and take Wondolowski off. Bedoya probably comes out for Klejstan later in the game and Edu comes on for either Jones or Bradley hopefully. I have always thought that the best idea is to put the team in this kind of formation. Dempsey is great from outside but neither Dempsey or Donovan provides real width on either side. I know its been used before and didn’t work out too well for us. Optimally I would have Stu Holden in Dempseys spot and Dempsey in Altidores with Timmy Chandler(pending that he stays at his current level) on replacing Bedoya. I really think this is the formation we end up with for ’14 so I’m just hoping for an early adoption.
Tonight is Vancouver which is hopefully much easier than Colorado or Salt Lake and turns up a W. Then comes Jamaica tomorrow which I see being a very good game. The US needs to turn things around and start finishing. Putting Lichaj in takes away worries about Bocanegras speed on the wings which would’ve been a real problem against a very fast Jamaica team. Hopefully two W’s this weekend.
Before last week Justin Mapp had never impressed me; I had always considered him one of the most disappointing players on the roster and was really hoping somebody would come and take his spot. I heard a lot of talk about how last weeks game showed what Mapp can really do and I still figured it was just Toronto. They’re defense was so terrible that anyone could have done what he did. I gave him the two great shots he got on, but the rest of his play was just picking apart a very bad defense. Nothing to get too excited about. Then we lost Ruiz and Nowak decided to sit Mwanga (more on that later.) To put it simply I was concerned about what our offense could do with Le Toux not scoring all that much and McInerney starting beside him, which is exactly where my change of heart for Justin Mapp came in. For the first 20 minutes he played spectacularly and absolutely tore Colorado’s defense’s apart. He was the reason McInerney started off as well as he did. Of course then Mapp got hurt and McInerney slowed down a little. McInerney kept playing well after Mapp left, he just wasn’t getting the same quality chances.
Of course after all that was done Jack Mac eventually came out and Danny Mwanga came in and had a few great chances finishing one from way out. For what it’s worth Mwanga looks very confident out there and seems to have really found the groove that he was in last year. With the offensive struggles we’ve had this year and the fact that the defense has carried us does anyone even remember that we expected the exact opposite? Everyone expected Danny Mwanga, Carlos Ruiz and Sebastian Le Toux to really carry this team. They haven’t done it yet but Carlos was starting to find his place before he left and Mwanga is starting to get things together now. When you combine that with the impressive play of Justin Mapp over the past two games (not the biggest of sample sizes, but a very good streak nonetheless) who hopefully doesn’t miss much time with a groin injury, the Union attack really starts to look pretty formidable. Of course until he puts a few in the net there will still be the fact that Seba hasn’t scored. Ignore that. He’s still one of the best players on the team. He’s put balls on the frame, just off the frame and made great runs where poor passes kept him from easy goals. He’s taking good shots, they’re just not going in. It’s nothing to get upset about. Seba is still involved with nearly every threatening attack the team puts together. He has twice as many assists as anyone else on the team. He’s not playing poorly he just hasn’t been scoring. Then again if all the balls he shot that deserved to go in the net went in the net he might have 8 or 9 goals by now. He’s been unlucky, and I honestly believe that once he gets two or three in and people get off his back about it he will light the net up as much as he did last year.
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I’ve read a lot of talk about how disappointed people were when the Union signed Carlos Ruiz. I for one decided that I had read enough about the legendary and nickname-worthy diving of El Pescadito. I thought I might as well wait until the first game of the season and see what happens. I figured everybody deserves that opportunity before we tear them apart.
I loved what I saw from Carlos Ruiz. I saw many people complaining about his play in the game (The Brotherly Game backed down a bit on their statement later) and in particular the play where he was carded for a careless elbow to the face of Andrew Hainult in the first half of Saturday’s game. The incident is about 2:20 in to this highlight video.
Ruiz went up hard and won the ball. If you want anything less from any player, I can’t imagine why. There may have been a time or two that Ruiz went to the ground with a bit less than a foul but is there any player who has never done that and made it to play professionally? More often than not Ruiz went to the ground on legitimately hard tackles only to garner harsh looks from the referee and diving chatter from the announcers and fans alike. It seems like El Pescadito got to town long before Carlos Ruiz even had a chance to touch the ball.
His reputation came before his actual play and counteracted much of the good he did. Ruiz played well. He may not exactly be in the best shape, but he started the game very well and will surely be better conditioned as the season rolls on.
The only problem I saw with Ruiz, other than his conditioning, was with the formation. Although the Union reported that Ruiz and Le Toux were both playing striker that was far from how it worked out in reality. Le Toux was roaming into a more trequartista like position, leaving Ruiz alone up top. Ruiz is not the force he once was and should not be alone up top, especially if that means excluding Mwanga from the game. Mwanga will do more in a Union jersey than Ruiz over the long term and his growth should not be stunted for a player of Ruiz’s age. If Le Toux will be playing as deep as he did against Houston then Mwanga should join Ruiz up top.
This isn’t gonna be a regular feature like Friday Football Links, but seeing as I have more allegiance to alliteration than to the term football or soccer and I had a pile of articles i read last night, I figured I could find a way to get some of them off my hands. I don’t plan on doing this every week, but when theres enough new information coming out on a Friday and I have enough time to throw the links up for you I will do so.
Taylor Twellman, often noted as the best US soccer player on Twitter, has joined the Union booth. He’ll be doing color-commentary. He’ll be alongside Dellacamera and will have former NASL GK Bob Rigby on the sidelines.
http://www.brotherlygame.com/2011/3/4/2030873/taylor-twellman-is-the-unions-new-color-commentator
19 games will be broadcast by Comcast. Another 7 will be broadcast by ABC. Also Bob Rigby will be a main guest on a new half hour Union-centric show on Comcast.
http://www.brotherlygame.com/2011/3/4/2030954/2011-philadelphia-union-comcast-sports-net-tv
The full Union broadcast schedule
http://www.brotherlygame.com/2011/3/4/2030941/2011-union-local-broadcast-schedule-6abc-csn
Carlos Ruiz is not Alejandro Moreno
http://www.philadelphiaunion.com/news/2011/03/ambitious-ruiz-already-fitting-union
Can Cann be the Man?
http://phillysportsdaily.com/union/2011/03/04/could-adrian-cann-be-the-man-for-union/
Le Toux in Red,White and Blue. Apparently it’s a more legitimate thing than the last time I discussed it.
http://phillysportsdaily.com/union/2011/03/03/could-le-toux-represent-the-red-white-and-blue/
The importance of FC Delco
http://www.philadelphiaunion.com/news/2011/03/fc-delco-key-part-union-player-development-structure
Union Summer Camp!
http://www.phillysoccernews.com/teams/union2.php?article_id=6370
The mess that Nowak and the Union make by not letting any information out and getting mad at us for it
http://www.phillysoccerpage.net/2011/03/04/can-we-just-get-to-the-soccer-already/
Jermaine Jones fitting in at Blackburn as easy as we expected Michael Bradley to fit in at Aston Villa
http://www.yanks-abroad.com/get.php?mode=content&id=7452
Giusseppi Rossi says Italian football has some catching up to do. If you really wanted to do some impressive forward moving you could’ve stayed right here and been a God in the US
http://thesoccerroom.com/?p=23669
USMNT Alum are getting into coaching
http://www.ussoccerplayers.com/ussoccerplayers/2011/03/national-team-alums-in-mls.html
Mo Edu speaks
http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Mens-National-Team/2011/03/QA-with-Edu.aspx
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5-0. Two from newcomer Chris Agorsor, two from young Jack McInerney and one from Danny Mwanga. We officially have our first rout, and for the first time in two consecutive games we have had players other than Danny Mwanga and Sebastien Le Toux score. Hopefully the addition of Carlos Ruiz has opened things up a bit on the offensive side and allowed for more players to have goal scoring opportunities. Also as much as you can say that preseason games are meaningless and that the outcome doesn’t matter nearly as much as the play on the field, a 5-0 outcome is never a bad thing. It’s also an especially good outcome considering that the high point of their preseason action came int he very last game. Hopefully some of that momentum can carry over into the tough opening part of their schedule that I wrote about earlier today.
http://www.phillysoccernews.com/teams/union2.php?article_id=6358
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Like many before him (Michael Orzco Fiscal, Cliff Lee) and presumably many after him Carlos Ruiz loves Philadelphia. In his talks to return to MLS he says that he “never spoke with any other team and was always in talks with Philadelphia Union.” The former Aris forward, and MLS MVP scored in his first appearance for the Union. It was also his first game back in Greece, when he scored against Ergotelis F.C; the only Union goal scored in the 1-1 tie.
Ruiz also talked a little bit about his nickname in an article on the Union website.
“I understand when people talk about me falling so easily, but you (play) soccer how you want to,” Ruiz said. “And even though I’m not saying that what I do is a positive thing, in soccer you have to use all the weapons you can use to win.
“I do hope the league doesn’t have that image of me (as a flopper). Still, if it’s a foul, you are probably going to see me on the ground.”
“My nickname comes from Guatemala, where the fans from Municipal create songs based on the players’ nicknames,” he explained on Tiro Libre. “I was lucky to get El Pescadito because there are others that are named La Rana (The Toad), El Sapo (The Frog) or La Culebra (The Snake). I wouldn’t have liked any of those.”
Don’t look at his diving as faking, look at it like Chase Utley leaning into a pitch, or Desean Jackson scooping an incomplete pass up of the ground. It’s a great thing unless its the other team, and if it goes for the other team congratulations to them for getting away with it. Lying to referees is nothing new to American Sport, diving just isn’t something we seem to allow for.
http://www.philadelphiaunion.com/news/2011/03/ruiz-excited-play-city-appreciates-our-sport
A sure sign that any professional sports training camp is going on is in the half-baked half-related articles that turn up in the Sports section of newspapers and blogs. Phillies Spring Training is full of stories about Chooch donating ice cream to the local grade-school. Eagles mini-camps are full of tales of how many farm animals Mike Patterson can eat in one sitting. This is that story for the Union. Jeff Gammage at Philly.com wrote an entire article on the marketing strategy behind the word doop, how the song became a part of Union games, how the word became a part of Sons Of Ben culture in a single year, and why it is now the center of the Union marketing strategy. People are excited for this team to get on the field and writers are noticing that.There may not be much of a supply but there is definitely a demand to read something with the Union name on it. That is this article. I’m by no means saying its a bad article; it’s a well-researched, interesting look at something that is barely related to the play on the field. Of course there is a demand for soccer in this city now and thats starting to be filled.
The Union made a bunch of roster changes this weekend.
First Chris Agorsor never imagined being anywhere but Philadelphia
http://phillysportsdaily.com/union/2011/02/18/when-union-came-knocking-agorsor-couldnt-say-no/
Carlos Ruiz has signed with the Union.
To quote Zoo with Roy
“For the bell never rings without making me sing
Of the awesome-ful Carlos Ruiz;”
http://worldsoccerreader.com/2011/02/philadelphia-union-to-announce-signing-of-carlos-ruiz/
Fred, after his rights moved from the Union to the Revolution, was traded by the Revolution back to DC United where he played before joining the Union
http://nesoccertoday.com/?p=3320
The Union traded Andrew Jacobson to Dallas for a 2013 2nd Round pick,
http://www.soccer365.com/mls/story_18211225507.php
And while we’re on the topic of former players the Brotherly Game is doing an interview with Andrew Jacobson and Shea Salinas
bpmangan
mattsant16
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