With the signing of Lionard Pajoy, the Union may just be nearing the end of their offseason transactions (at least for outfield players). In a set of three installments, PSP’s Eli Pearlman-Storch outlines the most likely formations for the Union in 2012 and how the roster, as currently composed, is suited to play in each.

Following the 2010 campaign in which the Union never struggled for possession but often lacked the creative and forward thrust to convert the final ball, I proposed a 4-3-3 as the Union’s potential formation for 2011. Getting more bodies forward into the attack was a must, yet although the Union at times operated with all three of Sebastien Le Toux, Danny Mwanga and Carlos Ruiz on the pitch, it was in a more defensive 4-4-2 alignment, favoring the long ball option over the strong build up play that had defined the team in its rookie season.

With another year on the books and the Union still in need of a consistent system, I believe that the 4-3-3 is still the correct setup for the Union. Let’s explore.

4-3-3 for 2012

Union Starting Lineup 2012

Cupboard full of young strikers, check.

Defensive midfielders with passing range, check.

Rock solid defense with aggressive outside backs, check.

With a roster including equal numbers of strikers and defenders and an attacking force that can count only Freddy Adu with more than two years MLS experience, utilizing a three striker set will go a long way in keeping too much pressure from falling on the shoulders of any one player. It will also fulfill Peter Nowak’s desire for fluidity with all attacking players having the freedom to pop up all over the field and back into the midfield, looking for work.

The Union’s SIX strikers

With Wednesday’s addition of Colombian striker, Lionard Pajoy, the Union are now essentially capable of rotating two full lines of strikers. Every Union supporter awaits 2012 with an eagerness to see Danny Mwanga ascend into the role of a dominant center forward in MLS and should he get out of the blocks quickly, Pajoy will likely be relegated to the substitutes bench. While Mwanga and Pajoy will be expected to hold up play and win the ball, both on the deck and in the air, they will have the option of four different speedy wingers around them, all of whom will require the constant attention of any MLS defense. New additions Josue Martinez and Chandler Hoffman, along with Jack McInerney and Freddy Adu, are all ideally suited to open up MLS defenses if given an inch of space.

Freddy Adu, a striker? Yes. The beauty of playing one of the wing forward positions in a 4-3-3 is the ability to roam freely in search of the ball. In 2011, Adu showed his desire to pop up on both wings in an effort to free himself and, without the center-of-the-pitch shackles of the CAM (center attacking midfield) role, Adu would be free to not only exploit wide space put to also drop deeper or even sit behind the central striker to find the ball and create chances.

This sort of free-flowing motion among forwards has been a hallmark of the Union under Peter Nowak. With all three forwards constantly on the move, looking to find the ball, and each other, the Union can finally use their motion to expose slower MLS defenders, rather than simply confuse themselves.

The CAM

Second half punch, just add flair, speed and a finisher

Michael Farfan. Having turned his disappointment at dropping into the second round of the 2011 MLS Draft to becoming a solid Rookie of the Year candidate, Farfan’s entire skill set should have the PPL faithful very excited for 2012. Look for him to assume more of a leadership role in the offense, having forced his way into the starting lineup late in 2011 with hard work and tremendous quality. He just noses out Roger Torres, in my opinion, because he is a bigger, stronger option than the diminutive Colombian. While Farfan lacks the elite speed of a true winger, the 4-3-3 allows others to do that work. A move inside suits him perfectly because it would allow him to pull the strings and set the table with his smart passing and guileful trickery on the ball, rather than race up and down the touchline, serving in teasing crosses that were rarely met by a teammate last season.

As for Torres, he still has a major part to play in 2012. From 2010 to 2011, Torres showed massive improvement in terms of his maturity on the ball. He was far more clever with his passing arsenal and showed a vastly better work rate when it came to attending to his defensive responsibilities. Should the Union be in need of more offensive punch, the removal of a holding player and the introduction of Torres would give the Union No. 8 the freedom to take over a game while Michael Farfan would fall in as a more box-to-box type player role, maintaining the strong possessing abilities in the heart of the Union midfield.

The Holding Duo

Union Goon Squad. Only the fullbacks are under 6'

While new Union signing Gabriel Gomez has shown excellent leadership and strong ball distribution as the captain of Panama, Brian Carroll and Amobi Okugo are still the right guys for the job of filling out the defensive responsibilities in the midfield of a 4-3-3. The reason is simple: range. While Gomez is an excellent provider for the attack, he tends to hover around the center circle, directing traffic and dictating play. In a system where the Union allow four players to loot and plunder high up the pitch at any—and hopefully every, moment—the two players left to hold down the fort must be those who can cover the greatest amount of terrain and serve as the team’s primary ball winners. Simply put, this is what Brian Carroll does. Create pressure and win the ball back for the Union. He would also provide defensive cover when outside backs Sheanon Williams and new arrival Porfirio Lopez go tearing down the field to join in the attack.

The ever-improving Okugo appears set to shed his GA status and feature heavily for the Union in 2012. Offseason training stints with Bundesliga club Freiburg, a GA tour of the Netherlands, and strong camps with the US U-23 squad all yielded positive results for a player looking to have a breakout season for both club and country. Where Carroll acts as a more purely defensive force, Okugo will be called on to advance play with his excellent vision and passing range. The higher both he and Carroll can hold their line, the easier it will be for Michael Farfan and/or Roger Torres to drive the attack forward.

Second round draft pick Greg Jordan provides additional depth at the DM position, as does Keon Daniel, whose experience a central midfielder for Trinidad & Tobago could mean he will vie for time with Gomez for the box-to-box job when Okugo departs to join the 2012 US Olympic team.

The D

More of the same please. The addition of Porfirio Lopez to an already stout defensive backline means that the Union can now threaten from either wing with an explosive counterattacking burst. But the defensive notes here are not for the back four, but for the front four. In a highly aggressive formation like a 4-3-3, you MUST have the ball. That means that relying on your defense and holding midfielders to do 100 percent of the defensive work and ball-winning is simply not in the cards, despite how good both of those units are for the Union. Cranking up the defensive pressure once the ball has been lost begins with the forwards and, if they show the tenacity to put high pressure on in the midfield and in the attacking third, opponents will always struggle to build from the back, as their defenders and distributing midfielders will be constantly under threat from the Union’s hard-running strike force.

Substitutions

Potential lineup during London '12

The 2012 Philadelphia Union are deeper than ever in their history. With a bench that could include Pajoy, McInerney, Gomez, Torres, Daniel, either Gabe Farfan or Ray Gaddis for defensive cover, and a backup goalkeeper, the Union will have solid options to change their approach mid-match that they have not had before.

Need more speed in attack? Jack McInerney can add the second half surge of energy if the Union need to find a winner or equalizer. Lionard Pajoy can bring aerial presence and veteran goal-scoring experience into a match that requires a late goal to tilt the tie back towards the Union. Physical match in need of bigger bodies to see out a result? Gomez and Daniel fit that bill. Roger Torres is a game changer whose late introduction always speeds up the game for the Union, as he tirelessly looks to create chances in the final third.

That is not even to mention rookie hitman Chandler Hoffman, speedy winger Nizar Khalfan, and Philly’s own homegrown prodigies Zach Pfeffer and Jimmy McLaughlin, all of whom will get a look in 2012, especially once potentially five of their teammates, Okugo, McInerney, Adu, Williams and Zac MacMath pack their bags first for Olympic qualifying and then, hopefully, London 2012.

The Goalkeeper has a transcript of Wednesday’s press conference with Peter Nowak. Among the highlights:

On Pajoy: “He’s a guy who brings not only character but also a mentality to the game. He’s very physical, and very fast as well. He can change the game, because he’s a different option. He’s not just a pure box player, he’s not just a poacher. He’s all over the place. He’s very mobile, and he can always create something for whoever he’s going to play with up top.“

On Martinez: “He can play there, but in all the games we’ve played in training he’s been up front. He’s a guy who can change a system to 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1. He can come from the second line because of his speed. We can use him in different fashions.“

On Daniel: “He’s in great physical condition, and is pushing even harder, doing extra work after training…I think he recognized that he was an important piece of our team last season, and he will be even more important this season.“

On the draft picks: “I must say I’ve been very impressed with them. Greg Jordan and Chandler Hoffman, Krystian Witkowski and also Antoine Hoppenot are doing very well.“

On the scoring burden be more spread around the Union’s current group of forwards: “The more, the better. I always express that we need to have options, we need to have competition. So we mix it up.“

On experience and past performance: “But people are going on too many times about statistics. It’s not about statistics, it’s about how they will come together as a tandem. Whether it’s Josué with Lionard, or Lionard with Danny Mwanga, or Josué with Jack McInerney, I cannot say that. But what I can say is that we have a very strong group…Even the youngsters, they already have experience. They’ve already scored goals in Major League Soccer, and they’ve presented themselves as the future of this team. We want to add some experience, but also give them the opportunity to learn as well.”

Kerith Gabriel describes the efforts the Union went through to sign Lionard Pajoy. In the article, Union head of scouting and player development Diego Gutierrez disputes a recent report that suggested Pajoy had an illegal drug problem.

“‘It’s character defamation plain and simple,’ said Gutierrez. ‘You have people who read something, don’t gather any of their own facts, speak to anyone regarding the situation and put something out there to have people look at a player in a negative way even before he touches a ball with the team. How that’s allowed to happen is beyond me but that’s the world we live in, I suppose.

“‘This was an over-the-counter topical drug administered by his training staff (Gutierrez likened it to applying Ben-Gay) that was banned by [CONMEBOL]. He had to serve a suspension, he went through the right channels, in our eyes it’s a non-issue.’”

Gutierrez also makes clear that Pajoy should not be viewed as a replacement for Sebastien Le Toux.

“Sebastien Le Toux scored what? Eleven goals last season? You don’t think Pajoy, Martinez, Mac and Mwanga, all that talent can’t score 11 or more goals this season? Again, we are stressing a team concept here and I feel we have in Pajoy a player like Carlos Ruiz. A player with a nose for the goal but will be a good addition to our team. It took a while, but we are glad to have him join our family.”

Perhaps someone at the Union who has a better sense of fan opinion should tell the coaching staff to use an example other than Ruiz when they want to say a player is a natural finisher with a poacher’s instinct for goal.

Soccer America says the the Pajoy signing “another indication Nowak wants a more fluid, quicker attack,” which is all well and good. Unfortunately, they also think that Carlos Ruiz and Freddy Adu were on the team together.

More on the competition among the front line here.

In case you missed it, Jack McInerney will be wearing the No. 9, Le Toux’s old number. He tweeted on Tuesday, “for the ’12 season I will no longer be wearing number 19 for philly, 9 it is!!!”, following that tweet up with, “if you already have a #19 ’12 season jersey, dont worry, i will let you know how it can be taken care of soon”. (If you are wondering, Le Toux will wear the No. 7 in Vancouver. “It’s just a number. I like single-digit numbers, so I will wear it with pride. My girlfriend used to wear number 7 when she played field hockey.”)

Philly Soccer News notes that the three goalkeepers in camp—Zac MacMath, Chase Harrison, and Chris Konopka—have a total of nine games of MLS experience between them. Asked if the Union needed to bring in a veteran goalkeeper during Wednesday’s press conference, Nowak replied, “Why do I need to bring in a veteran? I don’t think it’s necessary right now to think about that.”

Local

Mayor Michael Nutter is expected to announce later today that a deal has been reached to keep Philadelphia School District facilities open on weeknights and weekends through the spring. Indoor soccer programs around the city would be among those affected by an earlier plan to close facilities on weeknights and weekends.

Local lad Corey Hertzog scored in the New York Red Bulls 2–0 win over FC Dallas in a preseason scrimmage.

MLS

Eric Wynalda tells The Sporting News, “Our league is a joke. I want soccer to continue to flourish in this country, but there’s a whole other level we’re just excluding ourselves from. We’ve cheated the American public out of a better product.”

Sebastien Le Toux seems to be settling in nicely with Vancouver. Talking Tactics looks at how their offense is shaping up.

Is Raul headed to the Red Bulls?

LA Galaxy will not extend Robbie Keane’s loan to Aston Villa.

Speaking of LA, Juninho and Leonardo are back with the team.

Dwayne “You Put Your Left Foot In, You Put Left Foot Out, You Do The Hokey Pokey Then You Turn Yourself Around” De Rosario is hopeful for a new deal with DC United.

WPS

Beau Dure looks at the underlying problem of the WPS business model and wonders if Abby Wambach is dreaming with recent comments.

US

Harry Keough, a member of the US team that defeated England in the 1950 World Cup, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 84. Read about this US soccer legend here, here and here. You can read about what happened to the other members of the 1950 US team here.

The US U-23 team will play Mexico on Feb. 29 at FC Dallas Stadium with the team being called-up to camp on Feb. 19.

U-23 coach Caleb Porter sees strong progress in the team.

Gale Agbossoumonde talks about his soccer odyssey.

Elsewhere

Plans are in the works to drop the 2016 Gold Cup tournament in favor of a Copa America tournament to take place in the US with 10 CONMEBOL teams and 8 CONCACAF teams. I’m for it.

Fabio Capello resigned as manager of England on Wednesday.

Police in Trinidad & Tobago have raided the headquarters of the T & T Football Federation to seize assets in an attempt to pay members of the 2006 World Cup team. Former CONCACAF President, FIFA executive committee member, and well know crook Jack Warner had promised the team half of all revenue related to the tournament but never paid up.

Real Madrid tops the list of the world’s richest clubs for the seventh year in a row.

That cat that invaded the pitch during Monday’s Liverpool v Tottenham snoozefest now has nearly 50,000 followers on Twitter.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Monday, March 12: at Portland Timbers, 9:30pm (ESPN2)
Sunday, March 18: vs. Colorado Rapids, 4:00pm (NBCSN)
Saturday, March 24: at Chicago Fire, 8:30pm (The Comcast Network)
Saturday, March 31: vs. Vancouver Whitecaps, 4:00pm (WPVI-6)

Saturday, April 14: vs. Columbus Crew, 3:30pm (NBC Sports Network)
Saturday, April 21: at Chivas USA, 10:30pm (The Comcast Network)
Saturday, April 28: vs. San Jose Earthquakes, 7:00pm (Comcast SportsNet)

Saturday, May 5: at Seattle, 4:00pm (NBC Sports Network)
Sunday, May 13: vs. New York Red Bulls, 1:30pm (ESPN2)
Saturday, May 19: at FC Dallas, 8:30 pm (The Comcast Network)
Saturday, May 26: at Toronto FC, 4:30pm (The Comcast Network)

Saturday, June 16: vs. D.C. United, 7:00pm (Galavisión/Comcast SportsNet)
Saturday, June 23: vs. Sporting Kansas City, 7:00pm (Comcast SportsNet)
Saturday, June 30: at Houston Dynamo, 8:30pm (The Comcast Network)

Wednesday, July 4: at Los Angeles Galaxy, 11:00pm (Comcast SportsNet)
Sunday, July 8: vs. Toronto FC, 4:00pm (WPVI-6)
Saturday, July 14: vs. Montréal Impact, 7:00pm (Comcast SportsNet)
Saturday, July 21: at New York Red Bulls, 2:30pm (ESPN)
Sunday, July 29: vs. New England Revolution, 7:00pm (NBC Sports Network)

Saturday, August 4: at Montréal Impact, 7:30pm (The Comcast Network)
Sunday, August 12: vs. Chicago Fire, 7:00pm (Galavisión/Comcast SportsNet)
Sunday, August 19: at D.C. United, 5:00pm (NBC Sports Network)
Friday, August 24: vs. Real Salt Lake, 7:30pm (NBC Sports Network)
Wednesday, August 29: vs. Columbus Crew, 8:00pm (The Comcast Network)

Saturday, September 1: at New England Revolution, 7:30pm (Comcast SportsNet)
Saturday, September 15: at Toronto FC, 1:00pm (Comcast SportsNet)
Thursday, September 20: vs. D.C. United, 8:00pm (ESPN2)
Sunday, September 23: vs. Houston Dynamo, 4:00pm (WPVI-6)
Saturday, September 29: at Columbus Crew, 7:30pm (The Comcast Network)

Wednesday, October 3: at Chicago Fire, 8:30pm (The Comcast Network)
Saturday, October 6: vs. New England Revolution, 7:00pm (Comcast SportsNet)
Saturday, October 20: at Houston Dynamo, 7:30pm (NBC Sports Network)
Wednesday, October 24: at Sporting Kansas City, 8:30pm (The Comcast Network)
Saturday, October 27: vs. New York Red Bulls, 1:30pm (NBC)

The announcement notes that the kickoff times for the home matches against the Vancouver Whitecaps (March 31), Toronto FC  (July 8), and the Houston Dynamo (September 23) have been moved to 4:00pm. Additionally, the match against LA Galaxy on July 4 has been moved from 10:30pm EST to 11:00pm EST.

Also in the announcement is news that the “State of the Union” weekly magazine show will return with hosts Amy Fadool and Bob Rigby. The show will air on Friday’s at 7:00pm on The Comcast Network and 11:30pm on Comcast SportsNet.

No information is available yet about the radio broadcast schedule.

We have Zac MacMath, Chase Harrison and Chris Konopka. So we’re looking to evaluate the situation, and we’ll see if Chris will make it at the end or not. He’s another goalkeeper who was already with MLS teams a couple of times, but also was in Europe. So he has enough experience to be the second or third keeper.

The situation right now is that he’s training with us. He’s a very good guy. We’ll see where he is at the end of this camp...

He looks very well. He’s been in Europe, he has a good pedigree in Major League Soccer. So we’re looking to see where we are with him. Right now he’s with us, but I believe that at the end of this camp we’ll have to make a decision because of the roster compliance deadline on March 1. We’ve got to make sure that we have a good corps of goalkeepers.]

The Union confirmed on Wednesday through the team’s Twitter account that Zac MacMath is joined in preseason training by Chase Harrison, who had temporarily joined the club late last season when Faryd Mondragon and Thorne Holder were both out with injuries before the club declined the option to sign him in November to make him available for the Re-Entry Draft. The tweet also said Chris Konopka was in camp.

You wouldn’t be alone if you wondered, “Chris Konopka, who’s he?”

Peter Nowak knows. He selected him for the US U-23 player pool in 2007.

While the Union tweet describes Konopka as a former New York Red Bulls player, he made just one start for the club after signing with them as an emergency loan from the league’s Goalkeeper Pool. Against Chicago Fire on August 13, he allowed two first half goals in a 2–2 draw.

A native of Toms River, NJ who grew up watching the Metro Stars and keepers Tony Meola and Tim Howard, Konopka called the start a “dream” to be able to play in front of friends and family.

“I did OK. I let in two goals,” Konopka said. “It is what it is.”

After that single appearance he returned to the league’s Goalkeeper Pool.

Previously in 2011 he had trained with the Columbus Crew in the preseason. With the Crew in 2011 he made an appearance in the US Open Cup match against Richmond Kickers on June 28 and in the friendly against Newcastle United on July 26, in which he allowed two goals in a 3–0 loss. He was called up again by Columbus soon after his time with New York and was on the team’s 18-player roster for the Crew’s matches against Toronto, Houston and Philadelphia.

Beginnings

Konopka was a third round draft pick (29th overall) in the 2007 Supplemental draft, joining Kansas City Wizards from Providence. It appears that he made 18 appearances with the club, all in the reserve league. Coming out of training camp, he also won “Best Ponytail.”

After Kansas City elected not to exercise his contract option, Konopka turned abroad for new opportunities. Following trials with Cardiff City and Charlton Athletic, former Providence assistant coach and Dublin native Kempes Corbally helped Konopka get a trial with Bohemian FC in the Irish Premier Division. He soon joined the club as its second keeper, making his first team debut in League Cup play on July 1. He went on to help the team win the League of Ireland championship and the FAI Cup, becoming the first American to do so.

In 2009, Konopka joined Sporting Fingal, making four first team appearances and helping that club win the FAI Cup as well as promotion to the Premier Division.

In 2010, Konopka joined Waterford United in the Irish First Division.

Following his time there, Konopka, who holds a US and a Polish passport, trialed with Polish club Jagiellonia Bialystok before returning to MLS to sign as a pool goalkeeper.

Whether Konopka will prove himself worthy of signing with the Union during the preseason or return to the goalkeeper pool remains to be seen.

While those reports made clear that any settlement was contingent upon the approval of US Soccer, it appears now that US Soccer and FIFA rules would have prohibited any exhibition games involving non-league magicJack playing WPS teams.

Never a deal

Atlanta Beat owner Fitz Johnson said last week that a “settlement” was never approved.”It was a confidential deal that had some hurdles to be achieved prior to it being approved, and it wasn’t, so the deal was off. It was never approved. If the deal was approved, then the deal would have been settled. There were several folks that needed to put their stamp of approval on it—the court, Mr. Borislow, the owners—everybody would have to agree.”

Borislow disagrees and said last week, “I have a deal with the WPS and I expect for both sides to follow through on it.”

Borislow’s expectations aside, Halstead said there were never anything more than discussions about possible exhibition games.

“Over the past several months, there have been a lot of prospective and potential arrangements and discussions and settlements and deals between the League and magicJack,” said Halstead. “When I read them in the news, some of them were accurate from what we were hearing at the Board level and some of them were very inaccurate. A deal where there’s exhibition games against magicJack, I don’t know much about a deal like that.”

Halstead detailed a number of considerations—among them game location, insurance and travel cost considerations, concession splits, marketing costs—that would make exhibition games not cost-effective or feasible.

“I was never faced with those questions,” Halstead said, “because there’s nothing like that that ever materialized from a standpoint of something we needed to analyze as a real settlement option.”

League says US Soccer does not approve

In a request for a status conference filed last week in a Florida circuit court, the league argued, “The record clearly establishes that the proposed settlement agreement was contingent upon approval by USSF.” The request continues, “USSF has refused to approve the proposed settlement agreement, and, therefore, there is no enforceable settlement agreement.”

“It was not contingent on the USSF,” countered Borislow, “but we did ask them about having more than four [women's national team] players on our team without being in a USSF league.”

“They said you can use more than four if we were an unaffiliated member of the WPS or played on one of the other three other leagues. There were no impediments. More important than that, four or less WNT players and we didn’t need permission of the USSF at all for anything.”

“I was going to have a team anyway you looked at it,” Borislow continued. “This deal was never contingent on the USSF. The transcripts don’t lie. We will effectively also attest under oath in a filing today that there was no contingency.”

Reports suggest, however, that the problem may not be US Soccer rules but FIFA rules which state “teams unaffiliated with any FIFA sanctioned league cannot play against other FIFA members.”

Precedence?

If Borislow can prove that a deal was in fact in place that involved a commitment to play exhibition games against magicJack, might there be a way around US Soccer and FIFA statutes?

There is recent precedence for a non-league affiliated team playing against FIFA affiliated teams. In December, the LA Vikings played both the the US and Canadian women’s national teams.

Team president and coach Robert Kleinberger describes the team as an “offseason professional team and not affiliated with any league.”

So, how could a team “not affiliated with any league” play national teams if it is accurate that unaffiliated magicJack cannot play WPS teams?

As Kleinberger explains, the description of the LA Vikings being non-affiliated is not strictly true. “Viking (Athletic Club) has a relationship with U.S. Club Soccer, and WPSL has an affiliation with USSF. We were able to register the LA Vikings through WPSL with USSF. The players had to sign USSF paperwork. Free agents who were not registered had to be assigned to teams. If you were already under contract, they become courtesy loan players.” While the Vikings may be “not affiliated with any league” in the offseason, they are nevertheless a WPSL team during the regular season.

WPSL—or the Women’s Premier Soccer League, the second division of the US women’s soccer pyramid and the largest national women’s soccer league in the world—has expressed its support of WPS. Said WPSL president Jerry Zanelli, “The WPSL is committed to doing everything possible to help the WPS make it through these trying times.”

Already the home of former WPS club Chicago Red Stars, Zanelli has extended an offer to all five remaining WPS teams to join an “elite division” in WPSL for the 2012 season. “We want to give them a landing place for a year, but we also have [existing] teams that want to play in that elite league…We’re only thinking about 2012 right now. I think they have to play somewhere, in an established league, and if they don’t, it will be hard to pick things back up again.”

So, could magicJack, which has contacted WPSL about fielding a team, gain sanctioning through that league?

According to Zanelli, “If the other five accept, we won’t take magicJack.”

The team announced the signing of Pajoy (pronounced “Pa-hoy”) from Colombian first division side Itagui Ditaires today. Pajoy had 13 goals and 3 assists this year prior to his move. He has 47 goals in over 200 appearances since 2004.

Head of scouting and player development Diego Gutierrez said of Pajoy: “He’s a very physical player. He’s a guy that’s 6-1, a wide body, and a guy that’s got a lot of speed. He’s not your typical target player, though he does play with his back to the goal quite well. He also has a lot of skill on the ball, so he’s able to do a lot of things.”

Kerith Gabriel of the Philadelphia Daily News was the first to report the team was close to signing Pajoy in late January.

That’s right. Today, we’re not going to talk about how secretive the Philadelphia Union regime is, what the real numbers are on the books against the salary budget, how the club is going to score goals without Sebastien Le Toux, or the various things in life that the ever nebulous allocation money cannot buy you. We won’t propose that Edward Scissorhands become Dan Borislow’s surprise new proctologist, and we won’t mourn the loss of a season’s worth of Tasha Kai appearances. (OK, we will, but it’ll be quiet.) To take it further, we won’t even ponder who the unnamed Union trialists are (because we have the great new drinking game known as “Name That Trialist!” which comes complete with camera, Internet, and two shot glasses as you try to identify the Union trialist who might some day get deported to Siberia or Trinidad).

Nope! We’re going to change the subject to something happier, more inane, but equally interesting. And that’s this:

No, this logo does not represent the Electricians Union.

Why hasn’t the nickname “Snakes” caught on for the Union? 

Come on. It never struck you that the Union logo was designed in part with that in mind?

Sure, I get where “Philadelphia Union” comes from, the union of the states.

Admittedly, when I first heard the name, my reaction was, “You’re naming the team after Philadelphia’s unions? Great, they’re going to be a bunch of thugs at political rallies, their coach will have a colorful nickname like ‘Johnny Doc,’ and the stadium construction crews will strike on a regular basis, resulting in PPL Park never getting built.”

Eventually, the name grew on me, and me and my history degree had to like the reference back to that classic 1754 Ben Franklin cartoon from the Pennsylvania Gazette. These days, many would agree that Philadelphia Union is one of the best team names in the league, even if most people don’t know whether to call them “Philadelphia Union” or “the Philadelphia Union.”

How do Delawareans feel about Ben Franklin's classic cartoon omitting Delaware (and Georgia)?

But putting the snake into the Union logo? A clear stroke of marketing and artistic genius. Perfect symbolism, and a built-in nickname waiting to happen.

And … still waiting.

Why?

Could it be that Philadelphia Union translated to “the Union,” so they didn’t need another nickname?

Would it have caught on more if there was no “the Union” and the team had no shorthand name, like Toronto FC?

Did it seem so obvious that the contrarians otherwise known as American soccer fans actively chose not to go for it?

Beats me.

So I’m asking you: Why not?

Why not the Snakes?

(You have to admit: This is better than dwelling on last week’s absolute train wreck. I’m trying to distract you and make you think happy thoughts. So … think happy thoughts.)

Philadelphia Union

What a difference a week makes. The headline for last Tuesday’s news roundup? “Saddest day for me:” Sebastien Le Toux confirmed he had been traded to Vancouver a day after Faryd Mondragon’s return to Colombia was confirmed and WPS announced that it had cancelled the 2012 season.

Today’s leading items?

• Danny Mwanga and Keon Daniel have joined the Union in Orlando!
• Freddy Adu is “healthy and happy”!
• New striker Josue Martinez is “very happy”!
• Given last week’s events, the team is happy to get the heck out of Dodge and head to Florida!
• Sebastien Le Toux says, “I’m always happy”!

The very welcome news of Mwanga’s return from Aston Villa and Daniel’s return from the administrative hell that is US Immigration was tempered by the news that 2012 Supplemental Draft picks Tom Brandt and Brandon Zimmerman “have not been invited to remain” with the Union, which means the remaining Supplemental Draft picks midfielder Antoine Hoppenot and midfielder/forward Krystian Witkowski are still with the team in Orlando. Hoppenot will hope to avoid joining Brandt and Josh Walburn on the list of local Ivy League draft picks that never made it out of camp.

For those who are wondering if Daniel faces the prospect of an international call-up any time soon, Trinidad and Tobago did not advance out of the second round of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup so you won’t have to worry about that. T & T U-23s face Mexico’s U-23s on March 23, Panama’s U-23s on March 25, and Honduras’ U-23s on March 27. Daniel, as far as I know, is not one of the senior members on the squad (yes!) and, anyway, the qualification tournament is in the US (yes!).

Freddy Adu says, “I’m 100 percent healthy and 100 percent in with everything here…I haven’t felt this good since I joined Philadelphia. I wasn’t 100 percent since Day One. On top of that ankle, I was having little problems that not a lot of people knew about.”

Peter Nowak says of Adu’s form when he joined the team in 2011, “He didn’t play as expected. Some people drew their own conclusions and thought maybe he didn’t care.” Nowak says of how Adu is looking in camp, “He looks very good. I was very impressed with his work ethic. He’s sliding, tackling people. He’s not afraid out there.”

Most of us have seen no more of Josue Martinez than highlight reels. Martinez says of himself, “I’m fast, I’m always trying to get inside the box, I can move with the ball really well, and I’m trying to support the team constantly. Mainly, [my goal during preseason is] to adapt to the team and get along with my teammates.”

US Soccer Players has a thoughtful look at the Union’s recent moves that suggests the club is deploying a new model of team development in which “MLS teams can turn their developmental model into a profit center.” The author concludes,

“However that pans out, the task at hand in Peter Nowak’s hands is a major fundamental change in how we view an MLS soccer team. If Nowak succeeds, Philadelphia will be more the richer down the road while maintaining a squad that gets better with each successive year.

“If he fails, it will be an exercise and cautionary tale on how not to dismantle a team for the sake of a youth movement. With that in mind, in less than a week Philadelphia has become the club risking the most in 2012.”

The Union join the Flyers and the 76ers in becoming the first teams to implement Paciolan’s new Uptix ticketing platform. “The solution will enable Paciolan-powered venues to pre-sell merchandise and concessions value loaded on bar-coded event tickets. This creates a “cashless” and improved in-venue experience for fans, and increases game-day revenues for venues.” Paciolan “is the leader in venue enablement, powering ticketing, fundraising and marketing technology solutions for leading organizations across North America” and “is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast-Spectacor.” Oh, corporate babble.

Local

Budget cuts resulting in the Philadelphia School District decision to shut buildings on weekends and close earlier on weeknights will affect youth indoor soccer organizations such as Fairmount Soccer.

FC Delco and Haverford School, and former Union trialist, Jeremiah White is no longer trialing with New England. Villanova’s Kevin Garcia, a 2012 Supplemental Draft pick, is also no longer on New England’s preseason roster due to an already planned return to the university. New England, like DC, has a preseason roster that it releases to the press? What a novel idea.

Taylor Racioppi (PDA Clash; Ocean Township., N.J.) has been called up for the US U-15 Girls’ mega camp.

MLS

Sebastien Le Toux started and played 45 minutes in Vancouver’s 1–1 draw with Seattle in a scrimmage on Monday. Le Toux said after the game, “It’s always great to be a part of a new team. So far, it’s been great. My new teammates welcomed me very well and I feel comfortable to play here and the new coaching staff is great, too…I’m glad another team like the Whitecaps really wanted me.”

Apparently the scrimmage was quite nasty with ten cards, including a straight red, and a punctured leg.

“Doing the math in MLS is like running blindfolded down a dead-end alley,” says Soccer America as it tries to unravel the mysteries of everyone’s favorite player in the transfer market, Allocation Money.

With Fox no longer involved with MLS thanks to the league’s move to NBC, how does MLS take advantage of the national broadcasts of Premiership games to promote American professional soccer. If you are DC United, you buy ad time during the Premiership broadcasts.

In more DC United news, with only five weeks remaining until first kick, the club appears close to reaching a deal to play another season at RFK Stadium. Hooray!

In the long term, the move could be good for Baltimore.

So, you get the chance to interview the guy in charge of the league schedule. In this the first season of the new unbalanced schedule, why would you then throw a bunch of softballs and produce this disappointing piece of fluff?

WPS

Former Washington Freedom president and GM Mark Washo says internal strife has also played a factor in WPS’ woes. “When I was involved,” Washo says, “in terms of the decision making, a lot of times when there were differences of opinion, they were left to linger and fester, which made it even more challenging.” An inability to reach common ground on such fundamental issues as player salaries, sponsorships, front-office staff and travel expenses prevented WPS from growing its product. As a result, the league was never able to organize a long-term business plan.

US

What do you think of the way Fox has been handling the national live broadcasts of Premiership games? This author argues they are not good enough for a variety of reasons: “What’s needed is a break. A new coverage model that doesn’t have to deal in difference or unnecessary comparisons, but instead does the hard work of moving the Premier League into mainstream sports discussion in the United States.”

Elsewhere

Oh, the woes of being a ref.

Believe it or not, Barcelona was hesitant to sign Lionel Messi.

The 1913-14 season saw the launch of the National Challenge Cup, the competition now known as the US Open Cup, by the recently founded United States Football Association. While the National Challenge Cup would quickly become the singular competition for the title of Champion of the United States, the American Cup tournament had been founded in 1885 by the American Football Association, the first soccer governing body in America. The winner’s list of the American Cup was dominated by teams from New England, New York and northern New Jersey and much of the impetus behind the founding of the National Challenge Cup stemmed from the desire for a more nationally representative competition that would involve teams from as far west as Chicago, Detroit and St. Louis. Nevertheless, in 1913-14, the American Cup remained in the minds of many—at least on the East Coast—the competition for determining a national champion.

Tacony v Paterson for the 1913 American Cup

Philly in the American Cup

Tournament records are incomplete for much of the twenty years following the inaugural American Cup tournament in 1885 and it is unclear when Philadelphia teams first entered the competition. An article on the American Soccer History Archives website suggests that Philadelphia Hibernian, Philadelphia Wanderers and West Philadelphia FC competed for the Cup “in the early years of the competition” but no dates are given. What is certain is that, in 1896, the John A. Manz team became the first team from Philadelphia to win the American Cup. The first area team to enter the American Cup was the Trenton team in the second American Cup tournament in 1886 which lost in the first round. Trenton FBC made it as far as the semifinals in 1887 before being crushed by Clark ONT 5–0. A Trenton team entered the tournament in 1888 but forfeited before their first game. Trenton lost in the first round in 1889. That same year, Trenton Rovers played a scoreless draw with ONT but forfeited the replay. In the 1890 tournament, Trenton advanced as far as the semifinals where they were defeated 5–1 by Kearney Rovers.

Economic hard times played a role in the suspension of the tournament from 1899 through 1905, but local teams, such as Philadelphia Thistle in 1908, entered the tournament when it began again. The 1909-10 competition saw a record 29 teams enter the tournament with Philadelphia Corinthians, Philadelphia Hibernians, Philadelphia Thistle, Tacony FC and Camden FC all making it to the second round. Tacony would go on to win the Cup in 1910. Philadelphia Hibernian made it to what became a two-legged final in 1911 only to lose to Rhode Island’s Howard & Bullough. Four area teams made it to the second round in 1912-13 with Tacony appearing in a final that would be played over three games before Paterson True Blues emerged the winner. The 1913-14 tournament saw four area teams in the second round, Tacony FC, Philadelphia Hibernian, Victor FC of the Pennsylvania League and Bethlehem FC of the Allied American League. (A team called Victor Athletic also played in Philadelphia’s United League.) Three area teams were still alive in the semifinals.

The 1913-14 tournament would be plagued with poor weather and an astounding number of near epic replays. In the end, it would be Tacony facing Bethlehem in the final.

The soccer scene in 1913-14 Philly

The strength of the Philadelphia soccer scene was growing in the 1913-14 season with at least six leagues in operation. These included the Pennsylvania League, the Allied American League, the United League, the Cricket Club League, the Northeast League and the Junior League. Notices from unaffiliated teams in search of opponents for games regularly appeared in contemporary editions of the Philadelphia Inquirer as did announcements of exhibition games and inter-city match-ups such as the game between Philadelphia Hibernian and the then current American Cup holders Paterson True Blues on November 27, 1913. Hibs crushed the visitors, 5–1.

Philadelphia Hibernian in 1914

The season results for the Allied American League show three divisions containing 24 clubs. The Cricket Club League was strong enough to have two divisions. The reach of the first division of the Allied League extended outside of Philadelphia to include Bethlehem FC and Reading FC. The city’s Allied American Football Association had 35 member clubs that season and the association’s Allied Amateur Cup tournament drew 18 entrants. AAFA official Oliver Hemingway wrote in the 1914-15 Spalding Guide to Soccer Football, “The Allied American Foot Ball Association of Philadelphia again proved during the season of 1913-1914 that amateur soccer can be run and played better than by professionals in and around Philadelphia.”

While the standard of play varied among the city’s teams, the level of competition was fierce. Fights between players during games were not uncommon and referees often found themselves in difficult situations. Conflicts did not not stop with players on the pitch during game time. On October 26, 1913 the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that a match at Starr Garden Park between Glenwood Rovers and the Starr Garden team ended in a 1–0 win to the Rovers, “the spectators interfering at every stage of the game.” The report continued, “After the game was over 300 spectators started fighting with the Rovers and a riot call was sent in.” Such disturbances were apparently persistent enough for the Inquirer to suggest on March 30, 1914, “It would be a good idea for those who take an interest in the game in future to assist the referees as much as possible and at the same time protect the visiting players when leaving the grounds.”

While area soccer supporters were justifiably excited as the final rounds of the American Cup competition drew the eyes of the country’s soccer community to Philadelphia, that enthusiasm was not shared by local fans of other sports as match cancellations caused by poor weather, scheduling conflicts and cup replays caused the soccer season to stretch on into the spring. After wet weather caused the cancellation of a National League meeting between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Boston Braves, a comment on the editorial page of the May 7, 1914 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer read, “No matter how bright the morning after a day of continuous rain, there always seems to be a hopeless void when we turn to the sporting page and have to read about soccer and other near-sports instead of a full account of the game that should have been played yesterday.”

While the backing of some Philadelphia newspaper writers may have been lacking, boosters in Bethlehem signaled their support of Bethlehem FC when they formed the Bethlehem Athletic Association soon after the start of the 1913-14 season. The Inquirer reported on November 27, 1913 that “local businessmen and Bethlehem Steel Works officials have undertaken to finance the trips that the club will be compelled to take out of town when drawn to play with other teams anywhere in this country.” Bethlehem was serious about their national aspirations.

Path to the Semifinals

Boys' Club in 1914

American Cup play began easily enough for Tacony, who easily defeated Trenton Hibernians 3–1. That Tacony forfeited their opening round National Challenge Cup match against Kensington FC scheduled for the same day indicates the higher value some clubs placed on winning the American Cup title at that time. Higher value or not, the Inquirer noted on November 3, 1913, “There is something radically wrong in the arrangements when a team is scheduled to play two important cup games in one afternoon.”

First-time entrant Bethlehem trounced Wissinoming FC 5–1 in the preliminary round and advanced again after that when Trenton Caledonian forfeited their first round Cup tie with the Steelworkers. In other first round action for Pennsylvania District clubs, Philadelphia Hibernian crushed Smith FC 8–0, and Philadelphia’s Victor FC emerged the 3–2 winner over fellow Philadelphia side Boys’ Club, a team that would be better known as Lighthouse Boys’ Club.

In the second round of the Cup, Tacony continued their dominating form, dropping General Electric FC 4–1. Philadelphia Hibernian destroyed eventual finalists in the inaugural National Challenge Cup, Brooklyn Celtic, 7–1 and Victor steamed past Locomotive FC 4–1. Bethlehem traveled to Holyoke, MA to face the textile mill-sponsored Farr Alpaca FC team and returned to Pennsylvania the 3–1 winner.

Four Philadelphia-area teams were in the field of eight teams in the next round, the quarterfinals of the competition. Tacony brushed aside Brooklyn Field Club, eventual winners of the National Association Football League title, with a 3–2 win while Philadelphia Hibernian edged past the current American Cup holders Patterson True Blues with a 2–1 win. But for Victor FC and Bethlehem, it would take seven games to determine who would advance to the semifinals.

Patterson True Blues in 1914

Victor had drawn Jersey City’s Jersey AC for the quarterfinals, playing them at Philadelphia Hibernian’s grounds at Third and Lehigh on December 27, 1913. After a scoreless first half dominated by Victors, the home team took a 1–0 lead 22 minutes into the second half. Soon after, Jersey tied and the match ended in a 1–1 draw. The replay in Jersey City on January 11, 1914 was scoreless after regulation time and remained so after extra time and so the series stayed tied at 1–1. The January 12 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Jersey was close to scoring what would have been the winning tally three minutes into extra time with a one-on-one breakaway when the attacker to “fell down ignominiously” five yards from goal. The teams met again in Newark at the West Hudson Oval on January 25, 1914 and at the half Victor was leading 3–0. But a furious comeback was launched by Jersey and the score was tied at 3–3 with two minutes remaining in the match when Jersey scored to finish the game as 4–3 winners.

Bethlehem faced an even more difficult path to the semifinals against West Hudson AA, a three-time American Cup winner who had last won in 1912. Playing in Bethlehem on December 27, 1913 in front of 2,000 spectators on a field “covered with ice and snow,” the Inquirer reported on December 28 that the first half was “played at a terrific pace” but ended scoreless. Bethlehem took the lead 20 minutes into the second half when a corner kick glanced off of a West Hudson defender and into goal. Soon after, the Bethlehem goalkeeper made a stop on a shot from a breakaway but the visitors were able to convert the rebound and the game ended as a 1–1 draw.

Bethlehem battles West Hudson at Tacony Ballpark

A replay was scheduled for January 4 at the Harrison Oval in what the January 5 match report in the Inquirer described as “a storm of sleet, wind and rain and on a field heavy with mud and water.” Nevertheless, some 500 spectators were present. Bethlehem scored first six minutes into the first half but West Hudson equalized before the break. Twenty minutes into the second half, the referee called the game as the already unplayable conditions became even worse to force another replay. The two teams met again on the same grounds a week later and this time the weather was ideal. In front of 2,500 spectators, Bethlehem opened the scoring after 30 minutes of play only to concede the equalizer soon after. At the conclusion of regulation time the scoreline stood at 1–1 and remained so after extra time.

The fourth and final game of the series was held on neutral ground at Tacony Ballpark on February 1, 1914. The match was practically decided before the opening whistle when two West Hudson players missed the train to Philadelphia. With only one substitute on hand, the West Hudson goalkeeper was moved up front into the forward line, and the substitute placed between the posts, and the visitors played the entire match with ten men. The game started an hour late in a heavy downpour and the February 1 match report in the Inquirer reported, “As was to be expected, there was a great deal of roughness infused into the game and in consequence fouls were very frequent.” Before the end of the game, a Bethlehem player “received marching orders from the referee” after he kicked a West Hudson player “in a delicate place.” Bethlehem opened the scoring 12 minutes into the first half but West Hudson managed an equalizer 28 minutes later to send the teams into halftime level. In the second half, Bethlehem soon asserted themselves to finish the game 4–1 winners, 7–4 on aggregate, to advance to the semifinals.

The Semifinals

In the semifinals, Tacony drew Philadelphia Hibernian and Bethlehem drew Jersey AC.

Tacony hosted the Hibs at the Tacony Ballpark on March 21, 1914 in front of some 3,000 spectators. Hibs opened the scoring after a series of corner kicks finally resulted in a goal from eventual Hall of Famer Tommy Swords. Tacony equalized 18 minutes later and the score was tied at the half. In the second half, the Tacony offense proceeded to demolish the Hibs defense, taking the lead eight minutes after the resumption of play. Tacony soon added another goal from a penalty kick after a Hibs player handled the ball in the box. Not long after, Tacony made it 4–1. The Inquirer reported on March 22, “Never before in the history of the Hibernians have they been so completely outclassed as what took place in the second half of yesterday’s match,” adding “it is a question if any defense in the country could have successfully withstood the onslaught of the Tacony frontliners in the second half.”

Following the game, a report in the March 23 edition noted of Tacony’s honorable history in the American Cup tournament since winning the Cup in 1910, “those who are not well versed with their record during the five years will be surprised to know that every team which has eliminated the Taconys has won the Cup.” Bethlehem would have to get past Jersey AC in order to have the chance of keeping that particular record intact.

Bethlehem traveled to Jersey City to face Jersey AC on March 29 in their semifinal match and after going down two goals in the first half, Bethlehem battled back to to draw even at 2–2 before the final whistle for yet another a draw. By now, Philadelphia soccer fans were pulling for Bethlehem to emerge the winners “so that they will see them get a chance to tackle Tacony” and the Inquirer reported on April 2 “there is not the least doubt but that a large crowd from this city will journey to Bethlehem to witness the Bethlehemites in action.” Temporary stands were installed at Bethlehem’s grounds for the expected large crowd.

Jersey AC in 1914

In the replay on April 4, Jersey took the lead after 27 minutes to take a 1–0 into the half. Bethlehem came out kicking in the second half and eventual Hall of Famer Whitey Fleming equalized in the 58th minute. Some 17 minutes later, Fleming put Bethlehem ahead with a long distance effort the Inquirer match report of April 5 described as “a magnificent goal with a long, hard shot.” Jersey kept battling, however and in the closing seconds of the game delivered a stinging effort that beat Bethlehem’s keeper “and only the post saved the game from going into extra periods in case of another tie.”

It would be Tacony against Bethlehem in the final of the 1913-14 American Cup.

The Final

The much anticipated final commenced on April 19 at Olympic Park in Patterson, NJ. It wasn’t much of a battle and ended in a 0–0 draw after regulation and extra time. The Inquirer match report on April 20 was scathing in its assessment of the game, describing “exceptionally weak” shooting,

The contest, which lasted exactly two hours, did not produce the class of football that one expected with such noted exponents of the game participating, and those who made the journey especially to witness the game were disappointed, for there was hardly five minutes’ good football during the whole game, Tacony being the team that showed the best combination, what little there was.

In a match with “too much fouling by both teams,” The Inquirer went on to criticize the referee, who “did not help matters any by pulling up for accidental fouls and allowing the ones that should have come under his optics to go by unnoticed,” including when the Bethlehem captain punched a Tacony player “on the jaw because the later had charged him with greater force than what suited the Bethlehem captain.” While noting that “a couple of schoolboy teams could have displayed better football,” the report continues,

Despite the fact that Bethlehem had made special preparations for this match by sojourning up in the Pocono Mountains since last Wednesday, they did not last as long as their opponents, though almost any untrained bunch of athletes could have gone today’s pace without in the least showing any signs of wear. The ground was lumpy nearly all over the field, which would have handicapped teamwork if either team had been guilty in that respect, while the seating facilities were inadequate for an important game…If time had been taken out every occasion that the ball went out of bounds, the referee would had to have taken off about one hour and a half of actual time for the ball was outside of the line more than it was in the field.

The need for yet another replay led to further grumblings on the Inquirer sports pages about the intrusion of the soccer season into the baseball season. On April 20, the Inquirer wrote, “as another game must be played the soccermen will still further invade upon the season belonging to the knights of the diamond.” Ahead of the replay on May 3, the Inquirer wrote on April 27, “If Tacony and Bethlehem repeat the same kind of football as was witnessed at Patterson when they battle again for the A.F.A. Cup next Sunday, it will be the death knell of soccer football for a while.” Not that Bethlehem was paying attention to such concerns; on April 25 they clinched the Allied American League title by defeating Smith FC 6-0.

The win seemed to concentrate the efforts of Bethlehem, which included securing a special train so that some 500 supporters could travel to the replay in Newark. After 15 minutes of play, Bethlehem scored the game’s solitary goal to win their first American Cup championship. The Inquirer match report on May 4 concluded that Bethlehem deserved the win “for they infused more ‘pep’ into their game and made the most of their opportunities while the Taconyites did not take their chances,” but it was another ugly game. After 22 minutes of play, one Tacony player was deliberately kicked after winning the ball, falling heavily onto his left arm, “which hung limp at his side all through the game, though he was absent for about ten minutes after the injury,” this in the days before substitutions were allowed. The Inquirer match report continues, “While the game was better played then when the teams met two weeks ago, still it was such a rank exhibition of soccer on that occasion that it could have easily been improved, today’s game not being anything above the ordinary, as the players, at least some of them on both teams generally tried to get the man instead of the ball.”

The league and American Cup championship now theirs, a headline in the May 4 edition of the Inquirer read, “Bethlehem Fans Going Dippy Over Winning Championships.” May 3 had also been the day that the Allied Amateur Cup final was to have been played between Bethlehem and West Philadelphia FC. When the game was rescheduled because of the American Cup final replay, West Philadelphia refused to play, claiming the match should have been held on the originally scheduled date, giving Bethlehem their third championship of the 1913-14 season. Bethlehem finished the season with only one loss out of 31 games played, that coming in the third round of the National Challenge Cup in a 1–0 loss to eventual Cup winners Brooklyn Field Club. With cup replays and poor weather causing postponements throughout the season, Bethlehem was at one point required to play three games in two days, winning all of them. Thirteen of the the games Bethlehem played in 1913-14 were shutouts and they outscored their opponents by the almost ridiculous total of 125 to 19.

The next season, Tacony would be taken over by the Disston Saw Company and would then play as the Disston FC. Bethlehem would leave the Allied American League to join the Philadelphia’s new American League where it would play the likes of Disston, Philadelphia Hibernian, Victor and West Philadelphia. While they would be knocked out of the American Cup with a semifinal loss to Brooklyn Celtic in 1915, Bethlehem would have their revenge a month-and-a-half later when they defeated Celtic in the 1914-15 National Challenge Cup final. Following that victory, Bethlehem would become officially backed by the Bethlehem Steel Company and would play as Bethlehem Steel.

Philadelphia Union

Several Union players talk about preseason training at YSC SPorts last week. The team landed in Orlando on Sunday.

Danny Califf, acknowledging that only he and Brian Carroll are the only players remaining on the Union who are older than 27, tells MLSsoccer.com that he hopes the club signs a few more veterans before the start of the season. “In any sport, there’s always a period of the season when things hit the skids a little bit. It’s those times when you need guys who don’t get all panicked and that know you’ll be able to right the ship at some point. That’s gonna fall a lot on Brian and I, but hopefully in the near future we can add a couple of guys who will make it a little bit easier on us.” Only Califf, Carroll and Freddy Adu have played more than two seasons in MLS.

Regarding the article quoted above, on the MLS site, the article is titled, “Califf to don Philadelphia armband, but wants backup.” The same article on the Union website has tilted, “Califf hopes leadership burden will be shared in 2012.” One article, but the title on the league website suggests one message, the title on the Union website suggests another.

MLSsoccer.com wonders if Peter Nowak has a “fan insurrection on his hands” after the Sebastien Le Toux trade. “Le Toux’s frustration with the situation has helped prompt a wave of venomous fan dissent, which could increase the pressure on Freddy Adu and the team’s other talented youngsters.”

JP Dellacamera’s otherwise laughable piece of propagandanstic puffery on the departures of Faryd Mondragon and Le Toux—regarding the overwhelmingly negative reaction to the Le Toux trade, Dellacamera helpfully writes, “All of this talk is healthy”—contains two piece of useful commentary. First, that the union need to sign a veteran goalkeeper. Second, that “end of the season is a better barometer in terms of knowing how the transactions of this past week worked out.” We shall see.

In a post at Major League Soccer Talk.com that wonders who is the best coach in MLS, Peter Nowak comes in at No. 5. The author offers such insightful analysis as, “Maybe the restructuring going on in Philadelphia is Nowak’s way to challenge himself” (You’re joking, right?), and “Building the team around a stout defense and the timely scoring of his offense, Nowak has made the club in his image and, even with the departures, Philadelphia is now a team to watch every year” (the Union, given their very existence, are indeed a team to watch every year), as well as, “Although he does not have the large number of trophies some of the others on this list have, he is undoubtedly established himself as one of the best head coaches in the league,” (This may—or may not—be true, but simply asserting so with an “undoubtedly” is laughably lame).

More than 600 job seekers showed up for Saturday’s Job Fair at PPL Park.

Le Toux

An article at sportsnet.ca praising Vancouver coach Martin Rennie on the transfer “savvy” he demonstrated by pulling off the Sebastien Le Toux deal says “Vancouver has brought in or kept strikers as if they’re going out of style this off-season, but Le Toux is the first with a track record of excellence in MLS.” The article continues, “While allocation money is one of those mysteries of MLS (the league never discloses how much allocation money is exchanged during transactions), it seems like a lopsided move in Vancouver’s favour assuming Le Toux can replicate his Union form with the Whitecaps,” before concluding, “Perhaps the anger of the Philadelphia fans upon hearing of the deal should be the greatest encouragement for Whitecaps supporters.”

Vancouver will play Seattle today in a scrimmage. You can follow the action to see what Le Toux does on Twitter at @WhitecapsFC.

Here’s footage of Le Toux after landing to join his new team in Arizona.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Local

The US Soccer Foundation, the charitable arm of US Soccer, has announced the recipients of some $2.4 million in grants. Among the local recipients are Helping Hand Rescue Mission, Kensington Soccer Club, Soccer Sisters United, Starfinder Foundation The JT Dorsey Foundation, and William Trippley Youth Development. Lehigh Valley United FC is a recipient of a Synthetic Field Building Grant.

WPS

On Friday, the league filed a motion saying that US Soccer will not approve league team’s playing magicJack in exhibition games. Borislow—surprise!—disagrees. “I was going to have a team anyway you looked at it. This deal was never contingent on the USSF. The transcripts don’t lie.”

Philadelphia Independence owner David Halstead says the league never agreed to play exhibition games. “A deal where there’s exhibition games against magicJack, I don’t know much about a deal like that.” Halstead describes a series of concerns that would need to be addressed for exhibition games of any sort to happen—venue costs, concession splits, insurance concerns, transportation costs, etc.—and says, “I was never faced with those questions because there’s nothing like that that ever materialized from a standpoint of something we needed to analyze as a real settlement option.”

The Equalizer tries to explain some of the current mess, which appears to lie not with US Soccer rules but with FIFA rules.

Jerry Zanelli, commissioner of the Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL), the second tier of the American women’s soccer pyramid, has expressed his support of WPS. “Our country and our top female players deserve the WPS and need a high quality professional league to support our U.S. Women’s National Team. It is important that our professional level players have games to play and maintain their skills…We are reaching out to WPS to see what we can do to help…The WPSL is committed to doing everything possible to help the WPS make it through these trying times.”

Abby Wambach continues to support Dan Borislow, painted by many (PSP among them) as a prime villain in the cancellation of the 2012 season.

“I’ve always been a proponent of Dan because he and [Western New York Flash owner] Joe Sahlen stepped in at a time when we needed them. People are quick to point fingers and blame. Dan is considered the villain in this, with all the media attention it’s gotten. The truth is that the responsibility is all of ours. Nothing rises or fails with one person. We all need to step back, look at ourselves, and take responsibility for all of the things. Nobody is talking about the amazing things Dan did and how he treated his players. Everybody focuses all the attention on the negative. And that’s not how we’re going to get the WPS back and running. You can’t build something great on negativity. It has to be in a positive manner.”

Independence captain Nikki Krzysik was very surprised by the season cancellation and is still unsure what she will do in 2012. “We were getting e-mails for our preseason, and our conditioning packets. I still can’t get my head around it. I figure I’d give myself a week to wrap my head around it.”

Atlanta Beat midfielder Yael Averbuch, who was training with Krzysik when she received news of the cancellation, remains optimistic. “Maybe this year is a blessing in disguise — a time to step back, gather our resources, and realize just how important W.P.S. is to a lot of us. Let’s start preparing for the 2013 season now!”

Penn State alumni and Boston Breaker Katie Schoepfer is another player surprised by the cancellation and uncertain about what the future holds.

The Shin Guardian weighs in on the WPS situation.

MLS

The first MLS SuperDraft was held on this day in 2000. Among those picked in the first round were Danny Califf (6th), Carlos Bocanegra (4th) and Bobby Convey (12th).

Kyle McCarthy has a thought-provoking piece titled, “Generation adidas players bring short-term benefits and long-term budget concerns.”

Portland Timbers, the Union’s first opponent of the season, have moved their preseason to LA. There they will play four games over the next 10-days against the Galaxy, Montreal, Houston and Chicago. During the same period, the Union will play Florida Gulf Coast University, University of Central Florida and Orlando City.

Arsenal may try to extend Thierry Henry’s loan. Bet you didn’t see that coming.

Speaking of the Red Bulls, an Essex County judge has ruled that the team must pay the city of Harrison $3.7 million in back taxes and interest. The Red Bulls say they will appeal.

David Beckham admitted on British TV that he recently received a red card for arguing a ref’s decision—at a youth game. “I was watching the kids play the other day, it was the game just before they were playing. It was the younger kids of Romeo’s club, and they’re playing in the game and there was a penalty given. And the kids are 7 years old and he sent the kid off.’ And I was like, ‘Come on, he’s 7 years old, Referee, you can’t send him off.’ And he looked at me and was like, ‘Yes, I can.’ And I was like, ‘O.K., well, you can’t, he’s 7 years old.’ And he came over and gave me a red card. He told me to get out of the park. For real. The gate was only 20 yards away and I waited and went back in when my son’s game was on.”

The Impact may set a new record for attendance at a soccer game in Montreal with their home opener against Chicago Fire on March 17. The previous record of 58,542 was set in 1981 by the NASL’s Montreal Manic. The Impact sold more than 25,000 tickets in less than 48 hours after individual tickets went on sale this week.

On Friday it was announced that the Quebec Labour Federation Solidarity Fund has invested $7.5 million into the Impact. The investment includes ”part of the ownership as well as some visibility” as a sponsor.

US

Roger Allaway takes a brief look at some of the oldest soccer specific stadiums in the US.

Elsewhere

Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand thanks Chelsea supporters via Twitter for booing him during Sunday’s comeback draw, tweeting, “I got booed by the CFC fans today — well done guys. Thanks for inspiring me & the lads! That’s like fuel to me! TeamSpirit.”

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas says it was wrong for fans to boo Ferdinand.

Between the ongoing racism scandals in England and the riot in Egypt, Steven Cohen wonders if soccer has lost its human decency.

Sepp Blatter will seek to reinstate Egyptian football officials dismissed by the Egyptian government after last week’s football riot, calling the dismissals “direct interference” in football matters.