Home Opener Pics

ASN Philly put up  a bunch of pictures from last years home-opener  against DC United. First it’s crazy to think that we’ve only had this team for a year and that it has built up such an intense following (of course a bit of the following came before the team). Pictures of Joe Biden, Mayor Nutter are over there. Moreover guys like Moreno, Seitz and Fred are naturally all over those pictures but its still surprising to see exactly how much the team has turned over since last year. We keep hearing that the team should be better because they know each other better since they’ve got a year under their belts together, but really a lot of these players have still never played a league game together, Valdes, Ruiz, Mondragon and Caroll are all expected to contribute significantly to the team, but none of them were  a part of last years team. It’ll be interesting to see if it still takes some time for the Union to gel together this year.

Of course after looking at last years home-opener, we can start to look forward to this years season opener. The Sons of Ben will be hosting a match-watching event at PJ Whelihan’s Cherry Hill on March 19th so prepare yourselves.

http://union.american-soccer-news.com/?p=1424

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=192187850806880

Thorne Holder Signs

Trinidad and Tobago Goalkeeper and former Adelphia University student, Thorne Holder signed with the Union yesterday. He was on trial with the team for the preseason, but his trial was set to run through Friday. Holder is officially part of the 2011 Philadelphia Union, making him the fifth player in MLS from Trinidad and Tobago. As Fayrd Mondragon will presumably start the season in net, and it seems that Zac MacMath is set up to follow behind him Holder is probably going to end up pretty deep down the bench. Although considering Mondragon’s age the Union could be looking at Holder as a long term back-up, or competition for MacMath.

Mondragon Discusses Colombia; Escobar

Image via Wikipedia

I grew up watching soccer, playing soccer and learning to love the game, but I was a few years too late to really pay attention to the 1994 World Cup. I imagine it  was beautiful, the denim kit, the prospect of attending a World Cup game as real as it could ever be, and of course the height of the Colombian national team. This team is most remembered for its tight connection with the Colombian drug cartels and Pablo Escobar. This is exactly what Faryd Mondragon, a young 23 year old playing in Argentina at the time, spoke about in a recent piece with Philly.com. Mondragon backed up the great Oscar Cordoba who backed up the legendary Rene Higuita.

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http://m.philly.com/phillycom/db_/contentdetail.htm;jsessionid=27872734061022AA45B7C12B69504390?contentguid=RH2guRNq&full=true#display

Look For More Union Changes

As Christian Arrieta was recently released, we should continue watching for more Union roster moves according to team sources.

Expect more Union roster moves

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/soccer/20110210_Expect_more_Union_roster_moves.html

Philadelphia Union continue defensive makeover

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/philadelphia-union-continue-defensive-makeover

Nowak says more roster changes possible

http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2011/02/09/sports/doc4d5373982ae95650185850.txt

UPDATE: First Scrimmage: Adding Up A Few Union Tweets

UPDATE: According to reader Scott Kessler from the Brotherly Game, “Chris Agorsor was the first half sub. Levi was drafted in the SuperDraft. It was Keon Daniel and Gabriel Farfan (Michael’s twin brother) in the second.”

UPDATE:Based off this picture posted on the Union Facebook page it seems that Keon Daniel, and Levi Houapeu were the two second half trialists, although we still haven’t figured out who the first half trialist was.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6224571&id=89209317187&fbid=10150103513177188

1. “Union starting XI: Mondragon, Harvey, Valdes, Califf, Williams, Mapp, Carroll, Nakazawa, Le Toux, trialist, Mwanga”

So this basically looks like a starting lineup for a real game next season. The biggest question this raises who’s the trialist?

Here’s a chance to look at the formation and try to figure it out. It seems like they listed them in line with position as well to make things even easier. As we know Nowak has always been a fan of a 4-4-2 and that is unlikely to change.

 

Mondragon

Harvey Valdes Califf Williams

Mapp Carroll Nakazawa Le Toux

Trialist Mwanga

Obviously none of this should come as a huge surprise, but I’m putting it more out of interest in who the trialist is than interest in the formation Nowak will be playing this season. Obviously this narrows it down to a striker. That leaves Aaron Wheeler, Ryan Richter, or Chris Agorsor. Of course we’ll get back into this later

2.Sebastien Le Toux puts the Union up 1-0 early, assisted by Justin Mapp. #MLS#DOOP

2a.Le Toux headed home what seemed like a second goal, but he was whistled offside. Still 1-0 Union. #MLS #DOOP

I’ve also heard reports that Mwanga may have been in on the first goal, but we’re trusting Union sources here and reporting it as Le Toux’s. Again no huge surprise here as Le Toux comes into the season with MVP level expectations. A goal and a no-goal in the first pre-season game doesn’t really mean anything but two significant plays on goal in the first 16 minutes of any game is nothing to spit it.

3.Second half lineup: MacMath, trialist, Orozco Fiscal, Arrieta, Noone, trialist, Miglioranzi, Okugo, Jacobson, Richter, McInerney – Still 1-0

Again, let’s look at the formation and see what it means.

MacMath

Trialist Orozco Fiscal Arrieta Noone

Trialist Migliaronzi Okugo Jacobson

Richter McInerney

The first thing it means is that Richter was not in the starting lineup, the second is that Richter is no longer considered a trialist. Does that mean he has a contract? I honestly don’t know, if anybody could give me an answer on that it’d be great.

Second two more trialists come in, one at fullback and one in the midfield. That means that there are at least three of the six trialists who are getting serious consideration.

4.80′: Muyl equalizes for the U-17′s, assisted by Mion. 1-1. #MLD

The only thing this really means is that whoever runs the Union twitter account, either has big thumbs or just forgot how to spell MLS. Other than that we didn’t see the goal so can’t tell you exactly what it means for the backline and MacMath.

5.The final whistle has blown, with the club’s first preseason match ending in a 1-1 draw. Quotes and recap to come on philadelphiaunion.com.

I’ll try to get that link up as soon as I find it.

Preseason MLS Rankings

MLSsoccer.com put out a preseason power ranking this year, and to no-ones surprise we are moving up the charts. As of now they have us ranked at 10 behind the crew, and in front of the Dynamo; in a larger sense behind the Red Bull, and in front of United. It really should be a much improved team on the field this year.

“The Sebastien Le Toux-Danny Mwanga combination could blossom into something even bigger this year, but this is still a young team that lacks an identity. Carroll was a solid pickup, and all eyes will be on veteran Colombian goalkeeper Mondragón.”

Knighton Cut; Entirely New Keepers Next Season

As The Brotherly Game has reported every keeper from last years squad is now gone, as Brad Knighton has been cut by the Philadelphia Union. This seemingly means that Mondragon will start as expected and MacMath will be the back-up and hopefully get some time this year. So the Union have literally done everything possible to solve the problems in net last season.

In other Union news, all of the single game tickets available for the home opener against Vancouver have sold out. There are still tickets available through either season ticket plans, or partial ticket plans.

Union Training Starts Today

First off anyone interested in attending a Philadelphia Union training session should follow this link. Second we’ve had a very promising off-season thus far, with our biggest problems last season being on defense and inconsistency in net, we seem to have solved both of them well enough to put us very much within reach of the playoffs. Bringing in Mondragon was of course the most obvious solution, but also bringing in Zac MacMath to play behind him and even Trinidad and Tobago youth international keeper Thorne Holder on trial ensures that this team is taking protecting the net very seriously. If everyone proceeds as expected and stays with this team, we shouldn’t have troubles anywhere near what we did last year for quite some time. Also taking into account that this was an expansion team last year, and many of the players had never played together before. Simply a season together under their belt should do a lot for the team, especially when you add Mondragon behind them. I can’t quite say I expect this team to win the MLS Cup this season, but they should definitely be more than capable of making a run at the playoffs, and nobody can guess what happens from there. The second season officially begins today in Wayne, and theres just as good a shot we end it with a crown as anyone else.

“I Don’t Think We’re Done”-Peter Nowak

In an interview today at the announcement for the signing of goalkeeper Faryd Mondragón and central defender Carlos Valdés, Peter Nowak slipped a small simple quote in saying that “it seems like we’ve been making announcements every day for the last seven or eight days, I don’t think we’re done” and that the roster will probably be finalized within the next few weeks. Another quote from the same press conference had Mondragón saying that “no one has to tell me about the atmosphere at PPL Park or the supporters, the Sons of Ben, because I lived it.” The warm welcome American fans gave to the Colombian national team apparently had a lasting effect on him.

Also for anyone trying to guess at who the next signing might be, Nordbayern.de a respected news source in germany from what I’ve heard has said that Marek Mintal will not be joining the Union as it seems he is no longer interested in playing in MLS or the United States. So who else is out there to be signed? I’ll try to give you answers as I find them.

Valdes, Mondragon Officially To Join Union

Two Colombian internationals signed with the Union today, which we again must assume is due to Diego Guitierrez’ spectacular connections in the country.