Phinally Philly

The MLS finally announced the schedule for the 2010 season, and the first half is going to be a beast for the Union.

As was previously announced, the Union will have their inaugural match against Seattle on March 25h. They’ll then have their home debut, at Lincoln Financial Field, on April 10th against D.C. United.

After that home match, 7 of the next 8 matches will be on the road, with a match up against F.C. Dallas on May 15th at the Linc sprinkled in there.

The team won’t play it’s first match in his new stadium until June 27th, against Seattle. The stadium just won’t be ready in time, forcing the Union to be a team without a home for the first half of the season.

You can view the entire schedule on the Union’s website here.

In a somewhat surprising move, 17 of the Union’s games will be nationally televised. Five of those will be on a Spanish language network, but they will also be shown on local television, which is WPVI here in the Philadelphia area. It’s odd to see an expansion team get so much national exposure, but with all the noise the fans in Philly have been making, it would be crazy for television networks to ignore this marke.

As Union President Tom Veit said, “June 27th isn’t my birthday, but it’s going to feel like it.” I’ll be right there in Section 137 with the Sons of Ben in the inaugural match at the Union’s home field. I can’t wait.

(Guest post brought to you by Shane Evans)

When asked to write a guest post for Phinally Philly, I jumped at the chance. An associate editor at Goal.com by day and a Philadelphia sports fanatic by night (actually, that’s more of a 24-hour obsession), I am as ingrained in the sports community in this town as the next guy.

The latest team to hit the scene in Philly has been the Union, Major League Soccer’s 16^th franchise. Slowly building their team over the last few months, they went from creating an identity in their name and logo, then to the expansion draft and to currently Thursday’s MLS SuperDraft.

I was in attendance for the draft at the Convention Center and was lucky enough to snag myself a press credential to get full access to the players, coaches and poorly-made complimentary ham sandwiches. Part of the job, you see.

Given that I was pretty close to the action and got to speak with a few of the Union’s selections, the Phinally crew thought a guest post would be appropriate so I could drop some knowledge on how everything went down.

So here’s my first ever post for Phinally, which comes in the form of a rundown of Philly’s first ever draft selections. For those of you who counted, we had six through four rounds. That’s Andy Reid-esque.

Danny Mwanga, Oregon State (1^st Round, 1^st overall): The best pure striker in the draft, Mwanga deserved to get selected first overall. A dominating force at Oregon State, Mwanga is big, hardworking and lethal. He didn’t get the recognition he deserved as his school didn’t make a run in the NCAA tournament, but don’t let that fool you, this kid is a beast.

In 18 games last season, the Republic of Congo native netted an impressive 14 goals and chipped in two assists. He’s strong on the ball and surprisingly quick for a guy of his size (6’ 2”, 175 lbs). He’ll fit right in with team manager Peter Nowak’s aggressive style and should be effecting working off of strikers Alejandro Moreno and Sebastien LeToux.

Amobi Okugo, UCLA (1^st Round, 6^th overall): A commanding midfielder with a fiery personality, Okugo expects a lot of his teammates. The classic ‘high-motor’ guy, Okugo will be all over the pitch making things happen. He may unsettle some of the established veterans in the squad with his forceful attitude, but he’s joining a newly-forged team and there isn’t really any chemistry to upset. Will work nicely and has ‘Nowak’ written all over him.

Jack McInerney, USMNT U-17 (1^st round, 7^th overall): In a move that some people are calling a reach given his age, 17, and his disappointing performance in the 2009 U-17 World Cup back in October, the Union grabbed a tricky forward to mix with Mwanga and co. He is young and he is small, but has a huge upside and will give the Nowak an intriguing project to work on as the Union move forward. Personally, I think it’s a solid pick-up and he could blossom into one of the league’s best a few years from now.

Toni Stahl, UConn (2^nd round, 17^th overall): The oldest player the Union selected at 24, Stahl should jump right in and compete for a starting spot in midfield. A native of Tuusula, Finland, the lanky Stahl (no relation to hockey family, thankfully) could have been a first round pick but slipped a bit and was snatched up with the second round’s first selection. Could turn out to be the steal of the draft.

Kyle Nakazawa, UCLA (3^rd round, 33^rd overall): Another player from out west, Nakazawa may be fighting for a roster spot by the time the season rolls around. One of his biggest positives is his versatility as he can score from the midfield. 12 goals last season for the Bruins, Nakazawa can certainly drop in a few from deep and is great on set pieces, two qualities coaches relish in their midfielders.

Brian Perk, UCLA (4^th round, 49^th overall): The first goalie taken, nearly 50 picks in, Perk definitely dropped down the list as he was a standout in each of his four seasons with the Bruins. The third player selected from UCLA, Perk finds himself buried on the depth chart behind former first-rounder Chris Seitz and expansion draft selection Brad Knighton. Could be trade bait for a team in need of a keeper.

And there you have it folks, the Union’s six selections in this year’s MLS SuperDraft. In the last two days the size of the squad has been nearly doubled giving Nowak and the rest of the technical staff something to mold before the season starts in just over two months.

I can honestly say, looking back at the draft class, the club has done as well as any team in recent MLS draft history. They picked up a solid group of young, unique players that can be molded under the tutelage of one of the league’s best managers. It hardly feels like it’s real, but the Union are here, and with every passing day they become more of a complete team ready to do battle in MLS this season.

For more of Shane’s work, head over to Goal.com and check out his two weekly columns on the English Premier League, “The Full English” and “Fish & Chip Shots.” He can also be reached at shane.evans@goal.com or on Twitter @shanevans.

BREAKING: Union receive #6 overall pick in today’s draft: http://philadelphiaunion.com/Content1.aspx?cid=2.1 Now with picks 1, 6, 7, 17, 33, 49.

The Philadelphia Union are set to take part in their first MLS SuperDraft today, which takes place at the Philadelphia Convention Center. The Sons of Ben are sure to be out in full force, and they’re getting the party started early at McGillins’ Ale House in the morning. I would be there if not for a stupid thing called “work.”

Even with the 1st pick in the draft tomorrow, the Union aren’t sitting back and waiting. On the verge of the draft, the Union swapped places in the allocation order with D.C. United (so they could acquire GK Troy Perkins) in exchange for midfielder Fred, allocation money, and the #7 overall pick in the draft today. That’s a hell of a trade for Philly. Having two of the top 7 picks will enable the Union to continue building a strong young core of players. Some of the prospects being mentioned for that top spot are Ike Opara from Wake Forest, Tony Tchani from Virginia, and Danny Mwanga from Oregon State. The Union could take any of those three, or even someone entirely different. It’s going to be an important draft for the U, so I’m excited to see where they go with their picks.

In other news, Philadelphia has been named as one of the 18 host cities for a potential U.S. World Cup in 2018 or 2022. You can read more about the host cities here. While this is big news for soccer in Philly, it’s only a first step. Once the bidding process goes forward, it will most likely be narrowed down to a smaller list of cities at a future date. Since Philly hosted the USMNT earlier this summer at Lincoln Financial Field, I’m sure that bodes well for Philly’s chances to continue on in a further U.S. bid for a World Cup.

This past week has seen a lot of good news for soccer in Philadelphia, and there is going to be a lot more news after tomorrow.

2010 is here and the Philadelphia Union are finally embarking on their inaugural season. I’ll leave you with a video of what can be expected from the SOBs tomorrow.

During the Expansion draft last week, the Union added GK Brad Knighton, who’s on Twitter at @BBKnighton. He was only the first GK the Union had their eyes on however.

In what was rumored since right before the draft, the Union also acquired GK Chris Seitz from MLS Cup Champions Real Salt Lake yesterday in exchange for allocation money, which can be used by RSL to get under the salary cap for next season.

In getting Seitz, it appears as if Piotr Nowak has gotten his GK of the future. Seiz has been tabbed as a future star in MLS for the past few years.  He’s only 22, but he’s got a lot of potential. He was on the roster for the 2008 Summer Olympics, so he has national team experience as well.

Adding Seitz to the roster along with Knighton gives the Union two young GK who will battle for the starting spot. Knighton started 6 games last year for the New England Revolution, so he’s got some MLS starting experience under his belt.

There has been talk that RSL would trade Seitz in exchange for the Union not selecting anyone off of their roster in the Expansion Draft. That could be true, but either way, the Union have nice depth at the GK position before even playing a game. Having a GK with experience along with a very good young prospect is going to help the Union in many ways. With two solid defensive starters picked up in the expansion draft, Shavar Thomas and Jordan Harvey, the Union look to be focusing on defense to start.

News like this will become more frequent as the season gets closer. As I stated before, the next MLS match to be played will feature the Philadelphia Union against last season’s expansion success Seattle Sounders in a nationally televised game. Not a bad way to make their debut, right?

It’s been five months since the first Philadelphia Union post went up here at Phinally Philly.  A lot has happened since then.

Piotr Nowak has been named manager of the club. He not only will be responsible for the on the field product, but also will be overseeing the Junior and Senior clubs in the Union Academy. This club is being set up for the long term and will be very successful because of the groundwork being done early.

Now, the Expansion Draft was held today. This means that the first players in Union history have been name.

Those 10 are:

Brad Knighton, NE

David Myrie, CHI

Shavar Thomas, Chivas

Jordan Harvey, COL

Shea Salinas, SJ

Stefani Migliioranzi, LA

Andrew Jacobson, DC

Nick Zimmerman, NY

Alejandro Moreno, CLB

Sebastian Le Toux, SEA

I was hoping for local boy Bobby Convey, but no luck.

Now, I don’t know much about most of them, as I’m just getting into this whole soccer thing, but I’m sure there will be plenty of information out there as time goes by.

As has been mentioned before, with the MLS Cup closing out the 2009 season, the next MLS match to be played will feature the Philadelphia Union in their inaugural match against last year’s expansion upstart Seattle Sounders FC.

Philadelphia has waited a long time for this, and it’s finally here. March 25, 2010 will be here before you Zolos know it.

You can help bring the World Cup to Philadelphia by signing the petition at http://www.gousabid.com/city/local/philadelphia-pa/ This is host city specific and this is our opportunity to bring the world’s biggest and most watched event to The City of Brotherly Love.

Voting for Philadelphia is like voting for the All Star Game.  Do it as often as you can.

Union Warm Up

Chester PA – Big news and some rumblings out of the Union home today.  No, not the TWU, the Philadelphia Union.  The club announced two pieces of news through separate releases.  First,  longtime US Youth National coach John Hackworth will be joining the club as Peter Nowak’s #1 Assistant. 

Hackworth was instrumental in developing an Academy program for the National level youth players, served as head coach for the US Under 17 team that qualified for the the Youth World Cup, and, like his new boss Nowak, recently was one of Bob Bradley’s assistant coaches for Men’s National Team.

Hackworth also shares previous employers, though briefly, with Union President Tom Veit.  Veit was Associate Athletic Director at his Alma Mater, University of South Florida, from 2002-2007.  Hackworth led South Florida to their best season ever in 2001, as the team climbed to No. 8 in the rankings, won a school-best 15 games and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.  Shortly after Veit came on board, Hackworth accepted a position with US Soccer.

The team also announced that fans could now pre-order gear that will be introduced soon by visiting www.philadelphiaunionstore.com/launch.  Intrepid fans found that The Union had unintentionally left some clues as to what fans might see before Thanksgiving and it looks like not only will the Zolos don a primary and secondary (home and away) kit, but a third kit as well.  Based on the away kit of gold(khaki) and navy, we’ll bet that navy and gold is the home kit, and that Philadelphia (signal) blue will be the third kit. 

Authentic:

SS Home (Dark Navy/Natural Khaki)
LS Home (Signal Blue)

Replica:

SS Home (Signal Blue)
SS Away (Natural Khaki/Signal Blue)

SS Youth Home (Dark Navy/Natural Khaki)
SS Youth Away (Natural Khaki/Dark Navy)

Finally, the Expansion Draft is approaching quickly.  The non-live draft results are announced on Wednesday, November 25th.  As teams release their unprotected list, we will work on a mock draft.

Ok, ok, I know what you’re thinking. The Phillies are about ready to open the World Series. The Eagles are smack in the middle of their season. The Flyers and Sixers just opened their seasons.

What the hell am I doing writing about the Philly Union?

Well, to be honest, even though the Union is months away from opening up their inaugural season, a lot has been happening in recent months.

Major League Soccer finalized their schedule for the 2010 season a little over a month ago. This might have slipped under all the MLB and NFL news, but the Union will play their inaugural game at Qwest Field in Seattle against the Seattle Sounders, a very successful team in their debut season. This game will also be shown on national television on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes. The MLS obviously wants to showcase their newest franchise in prime time.

In somewhat disappointing news, it was announced in late September that the Union’s new stadium in Chester wasn’t going to be ready for the home opener. That forced the team to strike a deal in which they will play their inaugural home game at Lincoln Financial Field. Not a bad spot for a debut, huh? The match will take place April 10th against DC United, a likely candidate for a rival.

Even though the team’s stadium is a bit behind schedule, you can keep track if the building’s progress by watching the Construction Cam on the team’s website. There has been a lot of vertical progress recently and it’s interesting to see the future home of the Union come together.

In the first step towards player development, the Union have announced open tryouts for the team, which will take place in a few weeks, on November 14th. I myself won’t be going out for the team, as I’ve never played organized soccer, but I’m sure there are a few of you out there who will be taking part.

In another bit of news towards actually adding players to the roster, Bryan James, the Sons Of Ben President and Co-Founder, points out the Expansion Draft will take place in late November. That will most likely be the first time a player is added to the Union roster.

As you can tell, there has been a lot happening under the radar with the Philadelphia Union. Much more will be happening in the upcoming months. Be sure to follow us on Twitter for all the latest news, as well as following the Union on Twitter. News breaks on Twitter these days, so be sure to stay up to date by following those two accounts.

The Union is coming. Slowly but surely, the Union will get to Philadelphia. I can’t wait.

The most satisfying wins occur in the fiercest of rivalries.  Go back to the late 70’s, it was the Phillies never quite being able to knock off the Dodgers.  In the early 80’s it was the Sixers and Lakers.  And since forever it has been anytime we (the collective we, the Philadelphia Sports Fan) cheer on our hometown team as it plays a team from New York or the Cowboys.  Let me introduce a rivalry that crosses generations, land grabs, wars, and a massive inferiority complex – USA v Mexico.

Until the US ran out their JV in last month’s Gold Cup, they hadn’t lost to Mexico on US soil in over 10 years.  As a matter of fact, the US hadn’t lost to Mexico anywhere except the Azteca since 1999, including a memorable win at the 2002 World Cup.  The score that day? 2-0, what else?

So it comes to this.  Will the US finally be able to break the curse and win in Mexico City?  Talk about home field advantage.  Azteca is 7,250 feet above sea level in one of the most polluted cities in the world.    Mile High is 5,280 feet above sea level and the Broncos have had the best home record in pro football over the past 34 years (1974–2008, 200–72–1) while going 122-144-1 on the road.  In four decades, Mexico has lost only one World Cup qualifying match at Azteca — to Costa Rica in 2001.  Mexican officials scheduled today’s kickoff for 4 Eastern (3 Local) to take advantage of the expected summer heat and smog.  To their dismay, weather forecasts call for 77 and rain at kickoff.

Now that the US is playing their varsity team, fresh off a comprehensive upset of world #1 Spain, do they have the heart, lungs, and feet to beat El Tri amid 105,000 American hating, green clad zealots?  It feels like it.  But the beginning of each half has been trouble recently for Bob Bradley’s squad and playing from behind in Mexico City is not someplace the Yanks want to be.  The pressure is clearly on the Mexicans – a National newspaper ran the headline DON’T FAIL over a picture of the National Team Coach.  That kind of headline puts even the most negative of Negadelphians to shame.

Watch the match today at 4 on Telemundo or mun2.  Or even better, pop into your local bar and watch it with the mixed masses.  There will be well attended viewings at the Dark Horse and Fado for certain.  Hopefully at the end of 90 minutes El Tri will be El Cry.

The United States Men’s National team will be playing a meaningful match in Philadelphia for the first time since 1968 this Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field.  They will be taking on a Panama team that finished third in Group C.
 

The main focus has to be consistency for the US.  They have often lacked shape and substance against lesser opposition.  Yes, Coach Bob Bradley wanted to give some guys a run out, but he has consistently waited too long to react to  a situation or mismatch.  This tournament alone has seen the US scuffle against Honduras and Haiti before late subs turned our B team into a B+ or A- level team. 

 
This tournament doesn’t have the importance of the Confederations Cup or World Cup Qualifying, so while to the fans every game is a must win, Bradley also needs to bleed new players into the National Team pool.  One hold over from our A team to our B team is Charlie Davies.  A revelation in South Africa, Davies is now the player to watch on this team.  He has become everything that Freddy Adu was supposed to be.  He can change a game with his pace and skill.
 

If you haven’t been to a live game before, make it down to the stadium on Saturday.  The supporters section is expected to have at least 1,000 fans already and they will be wearing red, part of a long standing, well ok since Sam’s Army was created, tradition.  We will have articles all week as part of soccer’s return to Philadelphia.