JAGS is back!

It's that time of year: Jersey Area Girls Soccer (JAGS) Tournament. This year is the 30th annual.

As I detailed last year, it is amazing how well the tournament committee operates. The main reason is a hard core group of people, including directors Tom Bayless and Rick Firth, who have been around forever, know what they're doing and do it well.

I just sent out our 2nd e-mail blast to 277 college coaches and am looking forward to seeing 50 or so of them June 19 and 20 at Mercer County Park.

Washed up at 20?

Good article in the Sports Illustrated that arrived today about the kid who was the future of MLS and perhaps US Soccer six years ago. Except it didn't turn out that way.

Freddy Adu signed with DC United at age 14, projected as the American Pele. But six years lateer, he is warmin g the bench for Aris FC in Greece, his sixth professional team. And he almost certainly will not be on the United States roster for the World Cup.

"What happened?" asks SI's Grant Wahl, one of the nation's top soccer writers, who has written another masterpiece. What happened is summed up by Jerome De Bontin, an American who is president of Monaco in the French league. De Bontin is quoted as saying, "Everybody has the same analysis. He had incredible talent, yet he was lacking standard tactical knowledge that most players his age had. It was tied to the fact he became professional at 14 and in some ways stopped learning at 15."

Somethin g to think about the next time MLS looks for a teenage saviour.

Union Home Opener: LeToux 3, United 2

Good game tonight as 34,870 at Lincoln Field watched the Union down winless DC United, 3-2 behind a hat trick from Sebastien LeToux. It was the first men's pro soccer league game in Philadelphia in some 30 years.

Unfortunately, one of the fans attending happened to be the Vice President of the United States and this caused chaos in entering the stadium, resulting in some very angry fans.

The weather was good and there was a festive atmosphere around the stadium as fans tailgated, cooking, drinking beer and kicking soccer balls around. We made our way to the stadium about 35 minutes before kick-off and when we saw the long lines to get in my wife jumped in line while I went to pick up the tickets at Will Call. We made it through Secret Service security and their metal detectors by about 5:45 and had to time to find our overpriced seats in the Club Level.

But I learned later that the gates were closed when Vice President Biden entered and quite a few fans missed the kick-off and as much as 20 minutes of the first half. It's not clear why they had to shut down the gates as opposed to driving Mr. Biden in an armored car through one of the private tunnels leading into the stadium and simply securing just that one area.

After the Vice President's granddaughter did the honors for the ceremonial first tap play got underway at 6:10,meaning it was not quite a quarter past 6 when LeToux scored the first goal in team history, a nice header into the right corner off a cross by Roger Torres. The play had started with a free kick by Torres after Alejandro Moreno was fouled. DC keeper Troy Perkins deflected the ball to Moreno, who passed out to Torres on the right. Torres made a perfect pass in the air to LeToux at the 6 and he buried it in the net.

Union CEO Nick Sakiewicz, speaking to a group of lawyers a few weeks earlier, had promised that the team would play an "attractive, fun-to-watch attacking style. It did not take long to see what he meant.

After the early goal, the blue and gold continued to press forward and dominate play. In the 39th minute Moreno on the left found LeToux in the middle of the field and fed a lead pass. LeToux ran onto the ball, with a defender in hot pursuit, carried, then at just the right moment calmly shot into the lower left corner for a 2-0 lead.

I though the Union should have been awarded a penalty kick in the 60th minute when the referee called a trip (and issued a caution) which appeared to be in the box but then placed the ball a yard outside the 18. The free kick sailed over the crossbar.

United drew within one in the 63rd minute when Santino Quaranta beat a defender and then shot past keeper Chris Seitz to make it 2-1. Seitz preserved the lead two minutes later when he made a nice save on a corner from the left. But in the 69th minute his costly mistake led to the equalizer. While attempting to punt Seitz dropped the ball outside the box in the vicinity of Jaime Moreno, who had an easy pass into an open net. Suddenly it was 2-2.

LeToux to the rescue. After The visitors' Dejean Jakovic was sent off for a hard foul in the 77th minute, Letoux drilled the resulting free kick into the net for the lead that stood up.

SOME THOUGHTS:

-- I would have liked to have bought a program of the historic home opener, but none was to be found.
-- Despite the price of tickets at the Club level, the concession stands were bargain basement in their menus, if not the prices. Hot dogs, pizza, beer and soda was about all that was available, unless you wanted to take the time to go to another level.
-- The team made a nice gesture by asking for a moment of silence before the game in memory of those from the Polish government killed in the plane crash in Russia the day before.
-- Someone needs to clue the P.A. announcer on redundancy. For example, is it necessary to say, "The referee has issued a yellow card to ...?" Who else would issue a yellow card? The vice president, maybe? Or, "The 4th official on the sideline has indicated there will be two minutes of stoppage time." Who cares that the 4th official holds up the sign? And where else would he be but on the sideline? The amount of time is in the referee's discretion anyway.
-- The video replay did not show either DC goal or the foul that earned Jakovic the red card.
-- Nice to hear some singing from the fans. It is common at European and South American soccer matches, but not seen in other sports in the United States. The Union's fan club, "Sons of Ben," sang somewhat sporadically in the north stands, while another group was more or less continuous with the vocals at the opposite end.
-- All in all a good game worth seeing. I'll be back and I expect many others will as well.

Big Pro Soccer Weekend

Pro soccer retruns to Philadelphia with a vengeance this weekend as both new teams play their home opener.

The men's Union, which opened in Seattle last weekend, will face DC United Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Linc, while the women's Independence opens the season Sunday at 6 p.m. at West Chester University against the Atlanta Beat featuring #1 WPS draft pick, Tobin Heath. Both should be good games and I'm hoping for good crowds.

Coach P plans to be at both games and looks forward to the return of pro soccer to the City. Has it really been seven years since the Charge last played at Villanova? And 30 years after the last Fury game at the Vet? Where have you gone, Jenny Benson?