Phinally Philly

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.

* Seaport Drive is slated to start vertical steel construction in July  CEO Nick Sakiewicz told the Delco Times Tuesday. Foundation pouring and setting will be completed in June.  The stadium is still set to open in March/April of 2010.  

* Michael Barkann hinted once again at a Union partnership with Comcast when Piotr Nowak was on with him briefly. Saying we’ll be doing this show live from the stadium. He also gave multiple shout outs to the Sons of Ben.

* Those hoping to be rocking a Union kit this summer may have to wait until the holiday season. If The Onion Bag is to be believed the shirts are Navy, Khaki, Process Blue, and White AND due in stores at the end of November.  My bet is that process blue is a sneaky way to say Philadelphia City Flag color. If so will the tops look like Ajax, Barcelona, Bristol?  Or plain like Chelsea or Man Utd?  Either way it seems like the Zolos are going to blow the doors off in sales. I see Union gear in the City and ‘burbs.

* Explaining Zolo – The legend started at an event the Sons of Ben held two nights before Philly was announced as the 16thteam. Apparently in the aftermath of Nick’s unofficial announcement that fans wouldn’t be wasting their time if the came to a press conference, some fans quickly wrote the anticipated start year of the team on name tags.  Everyone understood what the tags said, except Nick who asked “what the heck is a Zolo (2010)?”. And a nickname was born.

* Phinally, I wanted to pass along this piece of info. If you are going to the Gold Cup at the Linc this summer or want to, and want to stand and sing with supporters like the Sons of Ben, the code for the game is sob2010. That gets you into their section.

* Welcome to Philadelphia Piotr (Peter to the papers here) Nowak. He said all the right things at his introductory press conference on Friday, even mentioning the Sons of Ben and their President, Bryan James, by name.  

Nowak, as speculated, is not a “head coach”, but a manager.  Not only will he be responsible for the fitness and playing style of the team, he will also be responsible for identifying talent and bringing it into the club at the Senior and Junior levels (more on the Union Academy and kids playing for the club starting in their early teens in a future column).

Nowak will meet the fans at Tir Na Nog in Center City on Wednesday night. All are welcome and you can be safe assuming that there will be a lot of light blue there. The team set up the event from 8 to 10 which perfectly leads into the US World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica.

* Speaking of the SoB’s, and heck Comcast SportsNet does all the time, Bryan James did a 25 minute interview with Denver sports radio this past week. Former National Team star Marcelo Balboa hosts the weekly From the Pitch show. Listen here starting at the 28th minute.

* The US Men have two important qualifiers this week. They face Costa Rica in Saprissa Stadium in San Jose, CR on Wednesday, then return home for a Saturday clash in Chicago v Honduras.  The team had been training in Miami to acclimate to the tropical weather before heading out.

* Barcelona withstood 9 minutes of pressure from Manchester United, counter punched with a goal and then played attractive and effective football for the remaining 80 minutes.

* Finally, for those learning the game, there are set periods across the world in which players can be bought, sold, or, very rarely, traded. These are called transfer windows. The European summer transfer window opens July 1 and closes at the end of August and their winter transfer window only lasts one month, January.   The MLS transfer windows are January 15th to April 15th and June 15th to August 15th.

Think of transfers like this, remember a couple of years ago when the Sox and Yanks were hot after a Japanese prospect and they had to pay an astronomical fee to the team that had him under contract to let him break that contract?  That’s the transfer fee. Then the team has to negotiate a new contract with the player.  

Then there are the words that make everyone happy “on a free”. Basically being available on a free means that the player is a free agent and it won’t cost the team negotiating for his services a dime beyond the actual contract.

Several sources, including Soccer by Ives and MLS-Rumors.net, are reporting that current US assistant coach Piotr Nowak will be named as Manager of the Philadelphia Union.  We have learned that there is a presser at 2:00 3:00 tomorrow in Chester.

Nowak who has won titles as a player and a coach brings a hard nosed but attacking style of soccer with him and a candor with the media that should be well received.

Union Notes

• Piles, concrete, and marking flags are the still the only signs of vertical progress along Seaport Drive.
• There are more whispers that Nowak is headed to Philly.  Including message board banter on bigsoccer.com.  If you are a soccer fan, bigsoccer and the Philadelphia forum specifically are a great place to “Share the Passion”
• The technology revoloution continues to bypass the Navy and Gold, still no twitter or facebook presence by the team.

Is it safe?

• WIP host Paul Jolovitz talked soccer and not to bash it.  He encouraged his audience to watch the Champions’ League final on Wednesday and to call his show Friday night to discuss.  I wonder how many people will call in.

Champions of Europe

• There aren’t two better known or followed teams than Barcelona and Manchester United and they face each Wednesday, both having already wrapped up titles in their home country (assuring their slot in next year’s Champions League) despite resting many top stars this weekend in advance of tomorrow’s showdown.  Both teams like to play attacking football but it is a championship game and just like in American sports, everything tightens up a little with a title on the line.

Down Toon

• Newcastle United headlines a group of three teams being relegated this year from the Premiership.  Each year the teams with the three worst records are demoted, and the top two teams from the league below it are promoted along with the winner of a playoff between teams finishing 3rd through 6th.  Newcastle had averaged between 33,000 and 51,000 fans during it’s 15 year stay in the English Premier League.  This is a tough blow for some of the most loyal fans in football.  Just imagine the Eagles being sent to the WFL after the 3-13 1998 season, and having to win the league just to make it back to the NFL.

This Week’s Rule – Offside

• The offside rule in soccer is a moving imaginary line that, in most cases, the last defender back drags with him.  Players can be in an offside position as long as they don’t receive the ball.  More ins and outs here

MLS Rumors broke this story earlier today about someone turning the Philly Union logo into a pile of poo.

Somehow, WorldSoccerShop is showing a Philly Union shirt with the modified logo. I’ve got to admit, while pretty funny, it’s not very creative. This was bound to happen the minute the team name was announced. Just too obvious, kind of like when the Wachovia Center was known as the First Union Center.

The MLS has many supporters groups, so this was most likely one of them. Could it be any of them or was it just someone random?

I like how this team is already attracting attention, even if it’s just stupid shit like this. (See what I did there?) It just shows that the MLS is definitely ready for a team from Philly. The beginnings of a rivalry are already starting to form. Now, the question is: Who is this rivalry going to be against? DC United? RBNY? Maybe even the entire MLS? I can’t wait to find out.

-KK

The Union is apparently in the last round of decision making regarding who will lead the club onto the pitch at Seaport Drive.  Nick Sakiewicz indicated on last week on Monday’s Glenn Davis Show and Wednesday’s Fox Soccer Report that the process was only a couple of weeks from being over.  This is an important step because it means that the incoming gaffer/manager/coach will have a long time to search for his style of player leading up to the 2010 season.

Like many Philadelphia fans, I am dreaming big.  Here’s a quick overview of some reasonable and unreasonable choices. 

1. Are you wondering what former Chicago Fire GM Peter Wilt’s tweet about Nick picking a good coach has to do with anything?  The first thought is that if Wilt’s happy, it might be Piotr Nowak, an original member of the Fire, a MLS Cup winning coach with DC United, and current United States Assistant Coach.  Nowak’s no-nonsense approach to handling Freddy Adu when the media was ready to crown him Jesus or Pele, showed that he has the smarts and steel necessary to be a manager at this level or higher.  He played internationally for Poland, and first played professionally at age 15.

2. Recent poor results doomed It to lose his job as Mexico’s top man, but with manager experience with the English and Mexican National teams, and managing clubs like Roma, Benfica, Sampdoria, Lazio, and Manchester City, Sven Goran Eriksson would be a monumental signing for the team and the league.  Does he have any gas left in the tank?  This move is somewhat risky because of declining results, but 30 years as a head coach with a 66% winning percentage is impressive.

3. Jurgen Klinsmann is out of work and presumably headed back to the States.  He enjoys the Left Coast, so I don’t know how realistic it is to even throw a name like this out there. However, his experience is tough to beat.  108 caps (national team appearances) for his native Germany, as well as playing for clubs like Inter Milan, Tottenham, and Bayern Munich, would not only give us a coach with a 56% winning percentage in stays with Bayern and the German NT, but a coach whom players look up to for his skill on the pitch.  Maybe we could sell him on a nice Ocean City or Cape May home.

4. The Special One, in Philadelphia?  Fantastic!  Seriously, there is a million to one shot of this happening, but Jose Mourinho did say earlier this year that he would like manage in MLS some day (you know, like 20 years from now).  Like him or hate him, he is a champion and would be the talk of the town and a head coach who doesn’t bury pressers in home spun wisdom or dilute them with bland responses.

5. Finally, we will hit you with an improbable switcheroo.  Before Bob Bradley took over the US National Team, he was a successful MLS coach, even upsetting DC with his 1998 Chicago Fire expansion team.  Chicago Fire, there’s that name, and that tweet again, but would Bob leave the US sidelines before the 2010 World Cup?  The team is hitting all the right notes so far and it would seem unfair to the entire country.  Unless, Jurgen is coming to take the US job (as rumored in 2006/07).  The bonus with Bob is that he is a relatively local guy and knows the league and national team pool very well.  

There are also numerous talented coaches in the college and professional ranks. John Harkes, Richie Williams, and others who were in the first group of MLS players could form a nice story for the league.  Colin Clarke who managed in MLS and has led USL side Puerto Rico Islanders to unexpected Champions League success should be under consideration.  College coaches like Sasho Cirovski or Jay Vidovich would also be strong choices.

This is a big decision for a brand new club and an expectant fan base.

Philadelphia was awarded a MLS franchise a year ago and are scheduled to begin play in 2010. Voting on the new team’s name closed a few weeks ago and the results were scheduled to be revealed May 11th at City Hall.

Welp, someone spilled the beans. MLS Rumors has the scoop.

The team will be known as the Philadelphia Union and will feature the colors of their fan club, the Sons of Ben, which was started back in January of 2007, over a year before the team was even announced. The colors are also a take off of the city of Philadelphia’s traditional light blue and yellow.

The team’s motto will be “Invgite aut Perite” which is Latin and I think translates roughtly to “Join or Die,” obviously a take off of the snake that Ben Franklin put in the first political cartoon.

Be sure to hit the jump to see pictures of the “Join or Die” cartoon, scarf and t-shirt. Read the rest of this entry »