Amobi Okugo could be a big time player for the Union. (Kevin Kinkead for WVHooligan)

In this expansion era in Major League Soccer we’ve seen the good and the bad on how to bring a new club into the league. The bad is obviously just about everyone but Seattle. Most clubs stumbled in their first year due to either poor management from the start or bad player choices.

With a new kid on the block it is worth looking into see how the Philadelphia Union are looking right now as they head into their first season. Coming in a year after the Seattle Sounders FC set the MLS world on fire, Piotr Nowak and company have a lot of work to do but so far their efforts have been pretty good.

The Union hasn’t dipping into any big foreign signings just yet but with the transfer window still open there is still time for a couple big signings. Also, don’t be shocked if they do end up with one of those Americans that are rumored to return to the States this winter too.

For this look at the Union I’ll go position by position to see where they need some help before the season starts. (note, I am aware there are other reports like this out there, I’ve had this one in the icebox for a week now. I was merely waiting for a rainy day to release it!) Continue Reading…

Nothing like living as a soccer player, or at least one that gets paid about the same as the guy behind the counter at your local Burger King. A good little video put together by the New York Red Bulls with rookies Jeremy Hall and Nick Zimmerman.

You think they get free Red Bull?

New York Red Bulls: Rookie Cribs - Part 1 from Red Bulls Reader on Vimeo.

I blame the holiday weekend for getting me off to a late start here this week. Plus throw in the fact that I am a homeowner now all the trips to Home Depot and places like that are easily killing off any spare second over the weekend. Oh well, no time to bitch and moan about that but time to get down to business once again this week.

I felt looking at the results and each game this past week that week 16 was really predictable. I know I missed a couple games in my score predictions but aside from the RSL-San Jose game this week lacked a lot of surprise or anything worth getting overly excited about. Maybe that is the dog-days of summer kicking in here for the league but each result was as predictable as the next on Saturday.Which can be a good thing but can also be a bad thing. Continue Reading…