Hey, look at that, Hack must be reading my scouting reports! Think I can get a finder's fee? It's interesting to look back at this now because Lucky went on a goal-scoring tear late in the season while Touray struggled with injuries down the stretch. The two ended up tied with points on the season. Either way, my ranking of Ekra ahead of each seems somewhat validated now. No worries, I will continue my self-congratulating elsewhere...
new Coach named in Reading... http://www.readingunitedac.com/david-castellanos-unveiled-reading-united-head-coach.html Former Reading United Head Coach, Brendan Burke, will see his Philadelphia Union coaching duties expanded this season...
Vartughian seems to be preparing to be the team's full-time GM/Technical Director (then need to find a goalie coach unless they want to try to get Oka Nikolov to do it) with Burke becoming the top assistant coach.
The future of top MLS teams seems to be going into the direction of not just having a good academy systemd but also a good minor league Affiliate system starting with Reading as mentioned in the article as their PDL affiliate already producing several Union players. Were among the first clubs to have a USL Ppr minor league affiliate. As well as a soccer specific HS affiliate in Wayne PA. Reading has a big time College goalie as we all saw. Still one of the newest franchises in the league and although some others may have had a bit more success lets see how these home grown and draft picks with the ability to come through an affiliate minor pro club. Academy players going to the NCAA and able to play in the PDL for Reading in the summer alongside a group of coaches who are moving up with the system themselves.
Even though Clesio was not signed by the Union during his trial, he'll be in Harrisburg with draft pick Robbie Derschang, so perhaps both could be in the club's long term plans? Regardless, Clesio is an intriguing prospect for Harrisburg and continues the team's tradition of African footballers. I wrote a quick post on this legacy and where Clesio fits into the team, link below. This was before the Hernandez and McLaughlin loans were officially announced, but I'd expect Edinho Junior up top with Clesio and Morgan Langley or McLaughlin as the wings, Ekra tucked beneath Junior, Hernandez the playmaker, etc. By the way, Clesio and Junior both scored in the Isles' 3-1 win at Penn State yesterday. http://thesportsburger.com/2014/03/20/city-islanders-african-pipeline-continues.aspx
According to this article in the Harrisburg Patriot-News http://www.pennlive.com/sports/index.ssf/2014/03/post_453.html, Richie Marquez and Pablo Ribeiro played for the City Islanders in their 3-1 pre-season win over Penn State in State College Saturday. The City Islanders play today (Sunday) at 3:00 pm versus Navy at Cumberland Valley Eagle View Middle School.
the stadium developments are exciting... hopefully it gets done! http://www.pennlive.com/sports/index.ss ... m_pro.html
Harrisburg opened the USL-PRO season with a 0-0 draw at Wilmington. All four of the Union loanees played, with McLaughlin a second half sub and Hernandez, Marquez and Ribeiro starting. Ribeiro and Marquez started as the center backs and did pretty well all things considered. Ribeiro is a physical specimen, skillful out of the back, and has a huge throw-in. Ribeiro looked more comfortable at center back than Wheeler did in Harrisburg last year. Marquez was solid, positionally sound. Hernandez controlled the midfield with his possession, but the team squandered lots of chances, especially in the first half when they dominated. Clesio should've scored a couple, he has incredible pace but needs to improve his finishing (perhaps why the Union passed on him), Raphael Cox had a very strong game at left back. Nick Noble made some unreal saves but his distribution can be improved. City Islanders have their home opener in two weeks, hopefully Jose Barril (another Union trialist) gets his visa by then.
A bit delayed in posting this but here's my recap of the season opener. Observations not too different from what I posted above, just a bit more in-depth including the team's formation and strong play from non-Union players like. Nick Noble in goal and Raphael Cox at left back. http://thesportsburger.com/2014/04/11/city-islanders-kickoff-season-with-scoreless-draw.aspx He only tried a couple and those few were not too great. A few of the new players could've shared the ball a bit more when close to goal, but it was the first game and they hadn't had a lot of time together so I'll give them a pass. Should be interesting to see how they play next week in the home opener with two weeks off in between matches.
Ethan White looked at fault for both Charleston goals in the first half tonight. Bad marking and positioning.
White fully at fault on the 1st and having a bad night overall. White partially at fault on 2nd but I put most of it on Zizzi (who is absolutely terrible every game). Cox is a poor man's Fabinho.....can go fwd a little but can't defend at all and that's not helping White. Marquez continues to look surprisingly good considering the rest of the d is awful. Midfield can't maintain any real threat without Hernandez in the game and that is putting a lot of pressure on the d too.
Interesting Halftime interview with one of the HCI owners (skip to 1:01:00) growth and development of USL pro development of HCI hopes for a stadium partnership with the union
Basically that it's cool HCI and other teams in USL Pro are grooming future MLS and national team stars. Nothing really substantial.
Just a reminder that today is the last day to get in on the Islanders / Union friendly and get a free scarf thrown in for $15 GA: https://cityislanders.wufoo.com/forms/hci-deal-hci-vs-philadelphia-union/ Game info: http://cityislanders.com/club-news/city-islanders-announce-august-28-friendly-vs-philadelphia-union/
A no name midget (my favorite name someone gave to him back in 2012) scored a pretty big goal from Harrisburg tonight