Actually Chicago's long-ball game needn't be too affected by the loss of a midfielder. If they hold their nerve they could extend their lead.
God, they looked terrible. Giving the ball away. Passes to no one except Chicago players. Even up a man they nearly gave Chicago a goal. They literally just attempted to pass the ball into the freaking net.
Not bad in the sense that we want the best position. Certainly bad in the sense that it gives the team further fuel to use to spin that we’re better than we really are.
Certain members of this fan base are insufferable. This team could win a trophy and people would bitch that the team was undeserving or didn't play pretty enough, etc..
I have always felt the fanbase is stuck in this weird position where they want the best for the players, and would love them to experience a Championship, but hate the idea of Sugarman, and others in the FO, getting to taste it as well.
Which is utterly ridiculous because without Sugarman and the other investors there wouldn't be an MLS team in the Philly Area. Not to mention that most, if not all of the people that the fans wanted to string up on the flag poles in TRE are all gone now. Look I completely get that fans rightly feel that the Philly market is being wasted in MLS. At the same time, would Philly even have a MLS team if not for the current investors? I'm not convinced that a local owner would pony up the current expansion fee, stadium fee (is there anywhere in the City to build a stadium?), Academy expenses, and the cost to build a training facility is out there. I also doubt that MLS would allow a Jeffrey Lurie owned team to play at the Linc long term or short term for that matter. We all might as well jump ship and support the Fury at Franklin Field at this point.
Honestly, we would have a better owner and a stadium in the city if the Union had come in two or three years later.
Because the Union are not a good soccer team. This is just a year in which the East is fairly weak and we are competitive because of it, but I don't see their level of play and think that its either any more consistent than it has been, or that their position on the table is sustainable next year at this level of play either. We're like the 2010 Colorado Rapids, falling upwards.
Neither can I. But it supports the idea that the crowd (subconsciously, I suppose) influences the referee, and the closer they are, the more they do.
I doubt it. There is pretty much nowhere in the city that has an area big enough for a stadium that would be in a better location than Chester. It wasn't going to go in the stadium complex because it would be useless there (already have a stadium there that fills that need). Delaware Ave? Only spot that might be big enough is near where the Walmart is and there is no mass transit and nowhere to add parking. Near Temple? Even they haven't been able to get a stadium built on land they own. The only viable situation would have been if Lurie wanted to own a team like Blank did (or the Carolina Panthers owner does now). The current stadium at least has adequate parking and decent ability to be accessed by car. Mass transit is a little worse but unless a stadium is built at the stadium complex (again, not happening) or near center city (really not happening) then it won't be near a transit line either.
Sugarman and Co. were literally offered a spot close to where Sugarhouse sits now. They turned it down and went cheap.
Many, many, moons ago there was mention of an MLS team taking up residence where the Plymouth Metroplex shopping areas are today. I still wish that would have come to fruition. Could have plopped a SEPTA station between Norristown & Conshy on the Manayunk line for people coming out of the City. Proximity to Blue Route would have been easy for vehicle travel, and it would have been right in the heart of Soccer Mom country (since MLS courts that demographic with vigor). Unfortunately that land is all scooped up now and developed.
The traffic in that location is a pain in the a$$ without a stadium, and it would be even worse on game days. It is nowhere near mass transit...as we've learned from Chester, plopping down a new SEPTA station on an existing regional rail line is no easy task, and even then the Norristown regional track is still 1.5 miles through an industrial area from the Metroplex at it's closest point, which nobody will be willing to walk (as we've learned from Chester...it's just a mile walk to TES from the Highland Ave SEPTA station). The only benefit to that area is that it's immediately proximal to a more affluent demographic than Chester, but it would be equally less convenient for all the folks in Delco and Delaware. I think at one point there was talk of Fishtown or Northern Liberties, and also Rowan Univ. over in NJ, but not sure how legit either of those were, especially once the state and county agreed to subsidize the Chester site.