Legends of Soccer at the Union

 

        Great night at the Philadelphia Union Foundation's "Legends of Soccer" benefit at the elegant Wanamaker's Crystal Tea Room in Center City.  I was fortunate to be invited by my friend, Jim Stavros, whose partner is on the Foundation's Board and whose firm sponsored a table.

        Got to see my former player, Carli (Lloyd) Hollins, who was honored along with Mayor Jim Kenney and Bimbo Bakeries USA president Fred Penny.  That along with good food and a lot of good soccer talk made it a fun evening.

        The Union's website has a story and a photo of the party.  It was obviously a big success, raising more than $250,000.

Union Busting

 The Supporters Shield will have to do for the Philadelphia Union tis year as they were ousted in the opening game of the play-offs last night by the New England Revolution, 2-0.  The Inquirer's Jonathan Tannenwald does his usual excellent job in describing the game.  

How The Union Got Where They Are

The Philadelphia Union, winners of the Supporters Shield, begin their play-off run Tuesday at 8 p.m. at home against the New England Revolution.  The Inquirer's Jonathan Tannenwald, has a story in today's editions about how the team's academy helped them to the top.  Well-done piece worth a read.

Catching up

Since my last post, Hamburger S.V. was relegated to the 2md Division of the Bundesliga for the first time in history, the World Cup started, FIFA announced the 2026 Cup will be held in North America, the Union advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup, and Germany lost the Cup opener to Mexico today, 1-0.

Sports Illustrated  and ESPN: The Magazine both had World Cup issues, with SI doing stories about why U,S, fans should root for each of the countries that (unlike us) are playing in Russia.  First choice: Iceland, which has a population for less than Philadelphia.  How can you not like a national team coached by a dentist?

Iceland lived up to its billing as a team that can play rather than a novelty when it tied Argentina, 1-1 yesterday as the keeper saved a penalty kick by Lionel Messi.  Speaking of billing, Cristiano Ronaldo lived up to his as the greatest player in the world by registering a hat trick in Portugal's opener against Spain.

When the World Cup reaches North America there will be 48 teams - an increase over the current 32.  Most of the games will be in the United States with some in Canada and Mexico.  We'll have to wait and see if Philadelphia gets may games.  Surely New York (Met Life Stadium is actually in New Jersey) will but Boston and Atlanta are East Coast candidates with many other cities competing.

The last time the men's Cup was here was 1994.  I was lucky enough to score tickets to the quarterfinal and Scott and I watched Germany lose to Bulgaria at what then the Meadowlands and is now MetLife.

And speaking of Germany losing . . . it's not like they didn't have their chances.  But they let Mexico come down the left side once too many times and Hernandez passed the ball out to Hirving Lozano who beat Mesut Özil and fired it inside the near post.  Four minutes later Toni Kroos hit the crossbar with a free kick and in the closing minutes Germany had several good shots.

Next up for Germany is Sweden on the 23rd in Sochi . followed by South Korea on the 27th in Kazan.  Those two teams play each other tomorrow.

From The Pitch To The Court House: U.S. Women and Former Union Coach

Good thing Coach P is a lawyer in his day job because there's more soccer news coming from the court house than the soccer pitch these days.

The big story is the complaint filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) by five members of the World Cup champion U.S. Women's team, including Carli Lloyd, accusing U.S. Soccer of wage discrimination.  This is only two months after U.S. Soccer sued the women's team asking a court to declare that the collective bargaining agreement did not expire until 2016.  This story was in Coach P'S Soccer Blog on February 5.

Not surprisingly, according Michael Powell's column in the New York Times, U.S. Soccer said it was disappointed in the action by Lloyd, Hope Solo, Alex Morgan, Becky Sauerbrunn and Alex Morgan.  (You won't find the news release or anything else about the EEOC complaint on the U.S. Soccer home page.)   In the main Times article on the complaint, Andrew Das quotes U.S. Soccer flack Neil Buethe, as calling some of the revenue figures in the players’ complaint “inaccurate, misleading or both.”  But Das reports Solo saying the men’s players “get paid more to just show up than we get paid to win major championships.”

The Boston Globe printed a copy of the complaint itself.  Shirley Leung's column in the Globe takes a look at the numbers cited and also contains a chart showing a state-by-state comparison of male versus female compensation. 

While we're talking about legal matters, let's not forget the lawsuit by former Philadelphia Union coach Piotr Nowak, who claimed the team breached his contract when it fired him back in June 2012.  Based on the arbitration clause in the contract, the dispute was submitted to an arbitrator who ruled in favor of the team in April 2015.  A final award entered in November 2015 order Nowak to pay the Union's legal expenses and costs.  The former coach moved to vacate the award.  As reported by Tim McCarthy in the Philadelphia Bar Association publication Upon Further Review, the federal district court in Philadelphia recently upheld the arbitrator's decision.

Union Begins Turnaround Effort in Earnest

As part of its effort to turn reverse its fortunes on the field, the Union today announced the hiring of former U.S. National Team player Earnie Stewart as Sporting Director, effective January 1.  According to the announcement, in that role Stewart will  "oversee and guide all Union technical and soccer-related decisions working closely with the Union First Team, USL team and Youth Academy."

The Union needs to do something.  The team just finished a dismal 10-17-7, 9th out of 10 teams in the MLS Eastern Conference, and out a play-off spot for the fourth consecutive season.  In six years of play the Union has a total record of 61-82-57.  It has yet to have a winning season and is on its third head coach.  The CEO was recently fired.

Stewart earned 101 caps for the United States through 2005, played for an MLS champion at DC United and currently serves as Director of Football Affairs at AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands, where he played professionally.  In that role he has guided the club to Europa League qualification for six consecutive seasons.

It looks like Stewart has a lot of work to do, but he also appears to have the experience and ability to get the job done.  Check back in a year when the MLS playoffs are getting underway.

Union Locks Out Sakiewicz

Nick Sakiewicz made saves as a former goalkeeper but on Friday he could not save his job as the only CEO the Philadelphia Union has known in its six years of existence in Major League Soccer.  As Marc Narducci reported in yesterday;s Inquirer, he and chairman/owner Jay Sugarman apparently had different ideas on the future direction of the team.

The Union fell to 9-16-7 with last night's 3-1 loss in Toronto and was eliminated from contention for a play-off spot.

Sugarman sensed the unrest of the fans this season. "It is never good when fans aren't happy and I do take that as one of the signals we have to do better," he told Narducci.

Daily news sports columnist, John Smallwood, did a piece on the fans' role in ousting Sakiewicz.

"Winning has a way of solving a lot of issues," Smallwood quotes Sugarman as saying.

 Here's the e-mail the club sent Friday to its mailing list regarding the move:

I want to share some news with you directly.  We are making a change in the front office and parting ways with Nick Sakiewicz.  In the interim, Dave Rowan, current Chief Revenue Officer, will oversee day to day business operations.  Nick was instrumental in helping bring a team to Philadelphia and building our organization from the ground up, and we thank him for the dedication and perseverance he showed in those efforts and his passion for the club. 

Now it’s time for a new era of progress to begin.

Last year it was apparent our organizational structure needed to change in order to provide a stronger and more focused sporting direction for the Union.  Our plan was to bring aboard a Sporting Director with significant experience to add to the MLS knowledge of Jim Curtin and Chris Albright and help us materially improve our player acquisition processes, player evaluation methods and player development capabilities.  In addition, we wanted clear lines of responsibility throughout the organization, with our Youth Academy, USL team, and First Team all reporting up to a strong Sporting Director with a clear plan and a defined competitive strategy to guide recruitment, training, and teaching at all levels.

Unfortunately, we have not been able to fill this role yet.  We are committed to finding the right person for the Sporting Director position, and we want this person in place as soon as possible, to impact the upcoming player decisions needed to strengthen our roster and to oversee increased integration of all soccer operations. We are working to have this role filled by the end of the year.

In the meantime we have continued to invest in the foundation of the Club.  Over the past two years, Ownership has committed over $15 million in capital to areas that we believe are critical to building long-term success.  The new training fields, new First Team Training Center, new USL team, and increased Academy commitments are all part of a plan to put in place the infrastructure necessary for success, and set the table for better performance on the field.  Now we need to attract a leader and an architect on the sporting side who can build on these investments and develop a strategy that will give us an edge in the league going forward.

One last, important, thing:  I and the other owners want to assure you that we are committed to winning.  We can also assure you that we will make mistakes - but we will acknowledge them, learn from them, and correct them until we succeed.  Your loyal support as we enter this new era is critical, and we remain deeply grateful for your continued commitment as we make the Philadelphia Union a team we are all proud of.

My sincere thanks,

Jay Sugarman
Chairman 

Union makes an Impact on Montreal

Union mascot outside PPL Park

Went Saturday night with Debbie, Sarah, Adam and Zachary to see the Union beat the Montreal Impact, 2-1 to move into the fifth and final play-off spot.  Allison  was there with some friends, one of whose fathers had a post-game field level pass allowing them to stand down by the tunnel leading to the lockerrooms.

The game itself was interesting, and a win is a win, but it was sure sloppy at times.  Even interim manager Jim Curtin  called it, "not a great performance."

The Union scored first in the 12th minute when Sebastien LeToux controlled a long punt from his keeper,Zac MacMath, and got through two defenders before beating goalie Troy Perkins.  It looked like there was some miscommunication between Perkins and one of his backs.

In the 63rd minute LeToux took a pass from Andrew Wenger, who had just come on, and found the corner for a two goal advantage.

The Impact made it interesting with 11 minutes left when Maxim Tissot scored.

Overall both teams showed lackluster play and made mistakes.  The tempo was sluggish, but maybe we still haven't gotten over the quality of a month's worth of world Cup games.

This was our second trip to PPL Park - a beautiful  facility by the Delaware River, but not easy to get to after leaving the Barry Bridge.  Some better signs in and out of the place would sure help.  Like most other sporting venues, parking and food are overpriced for the captive audience.

The Union play FC Dallas tomorrow in an Open Cup semi-final followed by a league match at Houston Friday.

First Trip to PPL Park

   Finally made it to PPL Park Saturday night to see the Union play for the first time since their inaugural match back on April 10, 2010 at the Linc.  Despite the oppressive humidity and the electrical storm that delayed the second half and caused us to leave before the half began, it was a fun time as the Union played to a scoreless tie with the Portland Timbers.

   Just as the teams left the field for intermission, the lightning bolts from the dark storm clouds across the Delaware River coupled with a downpour forced an extended halftime of nearly 40 minutes,  Between the humidity, the later hour and the prospect of wet seats and possibly more rain, Debbie and I left just as play resumed.

   The 45 minutes we watched were entertaining, albeit somewhat slow-paced, but the it was about 90 degrees at the opening whistle.  Although the Inquirer reported a sell-out of 18,740, we saw quite a few empty seats at the opening whistle.  I thought the Timbers generally had the better of the play in the first half, although the Union certainly had some chances.  But according to the Inquirer, the home team stepped it up in the second half and Portland needed some great saves from Donovan Ricketts to salvage the draw.

   We sat on the southwest corner, 19 rows from the field, inside the 18-yard line, and not far from the boisterous Sons of Ben fan club's area on the south end.  It was very cool when the Sons unfurled a large American flag as the crowd joined in to sing the Star Spangled Banner.  The Sons kept up the noise level, and drum beats, throughout the half.  There was a lame attempt by the team to have everyone sing I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover at the 20:10 mark of the game to commemorate the team's founding in 2010.  I get the 20:10 but no one explained the significance of the song and it doesn't matter because very few sang it.

   The stadium itself is everything positive I'd read about it: clean, soccer-specific, good seating, plenty or rest rooms and uncrowded (but typically over-priced) concessions stands.  Definitely a good place to watch a game, and far more convenient to South Jersey fans than Villanova Stadium where the Philadelphia Charge (R.I.P.) of the W.U.S.A. played.  The parking is likewise overpriced at $20, but the lots are well lit and managed by the team,  They could use some numbering of areas to make it easier to find your car afterwards, and the signage leading out of Lot C where we parked is confusing or non-existent, as are the signs directing traffic to and from the Commodore Barry Bridge.

  

Albright Unionizes

Philadelphia native Chris Albright, a veteran of the U.S. National Team and a graduate of my of my old high school, Penn Charter, has joined the Philadelphia Union, as reported in today's Daily News and Inquirer.

I played against Chris's uncle Bill, when I was in college and he played for Temple; and against his father, John, in the South Jersey (old) men's league.

When my daughter, Kirsten, went to Penn Charter, she played on the boys teams and was leading scorer in 6th and 7th grades. In 8th grade the gender difference was beginning to concern me as the boys were getting bigger and Kirsten is small to begin with. When she came home after the first workout of the new school year, I asked her how the first day of soccer practice was.

Well, she told me, there was this boy in her class who played football last year but this year he came out for soccer and he's really good and, "I'm not the best player on the team any more."

Yep. It was Chris Albright.

Can't wait to see him play at PPL Park this season.