The preseason tournament is scheduled to go from February 9th to the 24 at Disney Wide World of Sports Center. I have rented a 2 bedroom suite (4 beds, 2 pullouts) at the Bonnet Creek Resort, which is almost in walking distance from the Center, from February the 10th to the 25th. At the moment it is just myself using the place. If anyone is interested in staying there at a reasonable rate please pm me.
With First Kick being announced as March 2nd, do you think we'll finally get a Home game to open the season?
I thought they always had us playing away from home for the first week because of how cold it usually is here, so they try to wait as long as they can.
This is probably true for most cold weather locales. Chicago has opened on the road for the past five seasons, New England for the past four. Of course, there are a few exceptions: Toronto opened at home last year, New York opened at home in 2011. With the season starting even earlier in 2013, I'm not expecting a home opener this year for Philadelphia.
Jim Curtin named assistant coach: http://www.philadelphiaunion.com/news/2012/11/jim-curtin-signed-clubs-third-assistant-coach
Phew. For a second there, I thought the Union hired this lady: Wouldn't put it past them, though.
If Albright retires as expected, it would no be a surprise to see him take Curtin's old position as Director of the Union Academy, given that the two former holders of that position were ex-MLS players (Curtin & Eskandarian) with limited to no coaching experience like Albright.
They predicted Albright would retire and become the new assistant manager. I can't see the Union adding a fourth assistant.
All I saw was the retirement prediction, nothing about becoming the new assistant. Kerith Gabriel - using his twitter account, not the Union's - tried to debunk it saying Albright wants to - and will - keep playing for the team.
Of course, that depends on what your definition of "playing for the team" is. If by "playing for the team" he means "will be on the roster, but will probably play one or two games, coming on in the 89th minute", then I would think he would be playing for the Union next year.
Maybe he's going to take on a role similar to what Josh Wolfe had with DCU this year? A player/coach position? That would allow him to be available to play if needed, and also work on his coaching skills to have a smooth transition once he decides his playing days are done.
Pat Onstad did something similar with DCU. He spent his last year playing as a backup/3rd string keeper, but spent his time learning coaching, and is now an assistant to Olsen. This very well could be the direction that he goes in. If he's on the roster, he's still earning a paycheck, but he's also learning coaching, so I guess it works out for him.
Hernandez was a player assistant, and there was some rule stipulating that if was going to be in that role that he couldn't be the captain of the team or wear the armband. He just retired officially last week to be an assistant with FCD.
If Albright is a "player", MLS pays his salary and the amount that the Union can spend on other players decreases in that amount. If Albright is a "coach", then the Union pays his salary which increases the salary cap. It seems like a simple cost-benefit analysis where the team is coming down on the side of saving money at the expense of lowering its salary cap.
Hmm. Just received this email.... Maybe this suggests that we WILL get a home game on March 2 and be Away on the second weekend?
It's possible. Other possibilities are that we don't get a home game for the first two weeks because we play on the road twice, or have a bye week one of the first two weeks. I'm hoping that you're right about them starting at home. I start going through PPL Park withdrawal around the start of the new year.