With their bye week behind them, the Philadelphia Union return to PPL Park to face the Columbus Crew on Saturday at 3:3o (NBC Sports Network, dawg). All rise. The Columbus Poo The dingleberry of the Crew, Robert Warzycha has been stuck in Columbus since 1996. After seven years as a player, Warzycha worked as an assistant coach for six more years  before finally assuming the head coaching role in 2009. Tough life, kid. Under Warzycha,…
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Jon Marks wrote a great piece earlier this week on Philly Union Talk exploring his thoughts on the Union’s slow start, the team’s relation to the city, and the role of fans.  This is my respectful rebuttal. The emergence of soccer into the national sporting consciousness of the United States over the last two decades has had an interesting effect on the way we as fans define and experience fandom.  Lacking, for the most part,…
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Some things are clear.  Some are not.   0-3-1 speaks for itself. How close the Union are to getting this season Rolling On is unclear; the results starting with Columbus at home will begin to resolve that.  But the fact that there even exists a doubt about supporting the Union, Peter Nowak, or any of the players amazes me.  The excitement over the return of former players was unnecessary in light of the tough moment…
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As listless as the Union attack has been in their first three matches of the year, their youth served up four goals against the New England reserves Monday morning in the first match of the MLS Reserve season.  The children of the Revolution managed to put two past a jury-rigged backline and backup keeper Chase Harrison. The Union came out in something approximating a 3-5-2, with Ray Gaddis & Cristhian Hernandez on the outside of…
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The Blue and Gold faced no one whatsoever this weekend, in a clash that was widely hailed as being no worse for the team than the last several games.  The bye week saw the 0-3-1 Union continue their struggle to find winning form, as head coach Peter Nowak resumed his characteristic tinkering with the lineup and formations. In a typical display of dogged perseverance rendered moot by reticence in the final third, the Union managed…
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When the Union acquired Porfirio Lopez from China-via-Costa Rica, the immediate assumption was that it was a great idea. The left back position was the only real question mark in what was shaping up to be an impressive if ultimately controversial lineup.  With two fantastic true centerbacks in Califf and Valdes, and a revelation in Sheanon Williams, a serious bulwark on the left was exactly what the Blue and Gold needed to add to one…
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  Nothing happened. For all the attempts of journalists and bloggers alike to extract a narrative from the day’s cagey and inconsequential action, the clash produced nothing that would inspire a Union fan, or disappoint one.  The restored back line, topped off by MacMath’s continued competence, revived faith in a defense that never should have faltered in the first place.  The offense was as impotent as we’ve grown used to this season.  No surprise there,…
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Alright, loyal readers.  Purely as a matter of sociological curiosity, we want to know. How much (if any) love will you be offering up to our icon-turned-outcast, our ultimate ex, the man who took our innocence on prom night before his parents shipped him off to military school, the one that got away…Brad Knighton. Kidding.  Seriously, though, the question of Sebastien Le Toux’s reception has been hanging over this thing like a guillotine for weeks…
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So apparently even if you don’t get any points in the first three games, you still get to play the rest of the games. Time to repay MLS’s faith and grab some points! Danny’s back! Seba’s back! One of them is playing for us! This is the one, people! The Whitecraps So the Vancouver Birdshits roll into town as some sort of freewheeling, Euro-magic, offensive creativity factory. Unfortunately for them, they’ll be a bit shorthanded….
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Okay, people.  I’ve had enough.  If one more fan compares Zac MacMath to Chris Seitz in any way other than to point out the fact that they were both relatively inexperienced goalkeepers offered starting jobs with the Union, I will be forced to start punching kittens. Must we be subjected to the same lazy, oversimplified conclusion that’s been reached over and over, each and every time the ball gets past him?  Can’t we do better?  Yes, MacMath played for the…
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