VS. DATE / TIME: Tuesday, June 9, 2015 7:00 PM EDT MATCH PREVIEW: Preview VENUE: Don Thomas Stadium Exeter, PA Tickets GAMETIME FORECAST: Partly Cloudy Temp: 71 Feels Like: 69 TELEVISION BROADCAST: No Stream Available CURRENT MLS STANDINGS MLS INJURY REPORT MLS DISCIPLINE REPORT LAST MEETING: Tuesday, June 24, 2014 Gurski Stadium / West Lawn, PA Reading United 2 – Philadelphia Union 3 Game Recap
Really disappointed with this game. Last year I was able to walk to it. Now they moved the game and I have to drive 10 minutes
This game is actually worth going to unlike the HCI friendly. There are generally several future MLS 1st round picks playing for Reading. Players like CJ, Ribeiro, Neumann, etc have all played in this game. We are also now at the point the Union could eventually sign some of the Reading players as home-growns. Brett Campbell is having a really good PDL year. He was trapped behind older, bigger names at G-town last year but it would be interesting to see how much he is improving. IMO, the Union absolutely should sign Rosenberry in the winter. The kid can play solidly at RB, LB and as a #6. Shane Campbell also seems to be developing at LB. OTOH, Madison has done nothing so far.
Does anyone know how long these players have been in our academy? B. Campbell, Rosenberry, S. Campbell and Madison? Beyond that, does anyone know how the training volume that they have received compares to players from youth academies abroad? I know it's an odd question, I am just curious if these guys have been given full development opportunity or if this is something that we will have to see in the next crop of homegrowns.
It's hard to tell about training. Rosenberry and Madison both played multiple times with the Union reserve team when MLS still had a reserve league. Brett Campbell is part of that first batch of college players that went through the "real" Union Academy. The Reading team next year could be very interesting if it includes players like Elney, Wilson, Hackworth, etc. Is this supposed to be funny or just stupid? The Union does a lot of things wrong but the Reading PDL relationship is not one of them. Reading produces more MLS first round draft picks than any other PDL club and #2 is not even close. If the Academy is going to pay off, Reading has to be a core step in their post-academy development. This is actually important.
608400207257194496 is not a valid tweet id Reserves: Ayuk, Gaddis, Lee, McLaughlin, Pfeffer, Fred, Hoppenot #PHIvRU— Philadelphia Union (@PhilaUnion) June 9, 2015
You did see it was in red, right? Thanks for the snark, though. World class! But if you want me to be serious about it, then my counter would be that I couldn't care less about Reading producing "MLS" talent if that talent isn't making its way to the Union. I want the relationship to benefit the Union, not the whole league. And, beyond that, the Union tried to sell everyone on the idea of building through youth, and they have systematically let the youth rot away, or head to greener pastures. So, while my comment was in jest, there is an argument to be made that the youth at Reading have very little chance to see any time in a Union uniform the way the team is currently run. But, again, I'm glad to see you think I'm stupid.
Reading United is about the Union's speed. Maybe we can get relegated to the PDL? Will make for some more entertaining matches and we'll at least have a shot at finishing in the top half of the league.
Jimmy Mac had a great little run where channeled his inner Messi and left 5 Reading players in his wake...Wenger scored, proving that he does, in fact, know that the object of the game is to put the ball into the net...Vitoria played and looks good to go. Other than that...meh. Turf soccer is weird.
I will never understand the point of the affiliate program thing. That these players can go to any MLS team or drafted by any MLS team. Whats the point of saying, "hey, we are buddies" if buddies don't share.
My understanding is that unlike HCI, there is already some level of co-ownership between Reading and the Union. That said, the PDL is mostly a place for college players to play in the off-season/summer to aid in their development. The relatively new Union Academy has not yet produced enough college players to fill a PDL team. So....is Reading not supposed to field a team because there are not enough U Academy grads yet? By next summer that is going to really start changing. The summer after that Reading could probably go all U Academy. That said, there are already four Reading grads contributing to the Union this year. If the FO weren't completely incompetent in handling the expansion draft, it would be five. That is not insignificant number of players in the Reading to Union pipeline considering the academy impact has not yet kicked in. Also......the fact that the Union did not eventually get Brown, Hedges, Neumann or Mulholland does not mean they weren't worth watching while at Reading.
Don't you see? Youth playing professionally in Thailand are superior than the homegrowns. That's the baffling thing, to me. While there is nothing false about this statement per se, it's not like all these guys were pulled into the Union directly. Gaddis was the only one drafted by the Union, and McCarthy was signed from Rochester as a feel-good local product story. While we're at it, we should pour one out for the RUAC alum that are no longer "contributing" to the Union ... Fernandes, Houapeu, Okai, Ribeiro, and Wheeler.