Midfielder Roland Alberg will earn $377,250 this season
with the Union, per MLS Players Union filings,
just under the designated player thresshold.
(Digital First Media/Pete Bannan)

The MLS Players Union released its salary figures Thursday morning (pdf), its first such release this season following the closure of MLS’s transfer window last week. It’s the first look we get at the price the Union paid to significantly overhaul the team last season, bringing in essentially half a squad.

Below are the numbers, broken up by on-budget and off-budget, listed alphabetically in groups of five. (A reminder of the guidelines is here, and you can find other league-wide ramifications of the numbers here.)

On-budget

Roland Alberg $328,000/$377,250#
Fabinho $142,000/$142,000
Tranquillo Barnetta $650,000/$687,500#
Brian Carroll $120,000/$120,000
Anderson $150,000/$165,833#

Warren Creavalle $118,000/$125,666
Maurice Edu $725,000/$793,750*
Leo Fernandes $63,000/$63,000
Ray Gaddis $150,000/$152,500
Ilsinho $430,000/$478,333#

Matt Jones $75,000/$80,625
Sebastien Le Toux $300,000/$310,228
Richie Marquez $63,000/$63,000
John McCarthy $79,000/$85,250
Vincent Nogueira $400,000/$400,000

Chris Pontius $380,000/$411,000
Walter Restrepo $125,000/$139,500
CJ Sapong $225,000/$225,000
-- budget space empty --
-- budget space empty --

Off Budget

Andre Blake $100,000/$138,000**
Fabian Herbers $100,000/$125,500**#
Josh Yaro $130,000/$194,000**#
Eric Ayuk $62,500/$62,500#
Cole Missimo $51,500/$51,500

Keegan Rosenberry $62,500/$63,750
Ken Tribbett $51,500/$51,500
Taylor Washington $51,500/$51,500

Exempt

Michael Lahoud $110,00/$115,637 (season-long lone to New York Cosmos)

* designated player; ** Generation Adidas; # international

Totals

Salary Budget (Players 1-20): $4,523,000/$4,820,435
Full Budget (Players 1-28): $5,132,500/$5,674,322
All salary expenses (inc. loans): $5,242,500/$5,674,322

Some observations on the numbers:

- The big numbers we all wanted to see pertained to what the Union paid for their newest players, knowing none of their offseason acquisitions were designated players and leaving Maurice Edu as still the only Union player in that category. Ilsinho is above the designated player threshold ($457,500) in his guaranteed compensation of $478,333, but his base salary budget charge is paid down to under the threshold at $430,000. Roland Alberg is just under the $400k mark. Anderson is making just over $150,000, while Walter Restrepo is under that figure.

- The big dollar figure change compared to last season is CJ Sapong, who signed a new three-year deal in February. His old deal paid him $140,000. He’s up to $225,000 this season. Vincent Nogueira is another big mover, having made $330,000 last year, $70,000 less than this season.

- Chris Pontius made a hair under $400k last season with D.C. This year, he’s up to over $411,000 in compensation, an increase of $15k. That’s a fairly standard increase, echoing the elevators in the deals of Tranquillo Barnetta, Andre Blake, Warren Creavalle and Edu. Ray Gaddis’ salary increased by $20k.

- For the veterans, Sebastien Le Toux penned a new deal that sees his salary increase $25,000 to a $300k base. Fabinho enjoyed a significant increase in his new deal, going from $118,500 in guaranteed compensation to $142,000. Brian Carroll, however, took a paycut from $150,000 to $120,000

- It’s fairly clear the emphasis the Union have put on the midfield. Their top seven earners (Alberg, Barnetta, Edu, Ilsinho, Le Toux, Nogueira, Pontius) are all in the center of the pitch. Barring a change in philosophy that reallocates Edu to central defense when he returns AND an injury to Sapong pushing Le Toux or Pontius up top, it’s difficult to conceive of all those guys being on the field simultaneously.

- By contrast, the defense is a relative area of thriftiness. Anderson has the highest budget charge of the entire backline contingent, all eight of them. Ken Tribbett is a low minimum earner at $51,500, while Richie Marquez and Keegan Rosenberry are high minimums at $63,000. Josh Yaro outearns Rosenberry and Marquez together at $194,000 ($130,000 budget charge), though that’s subsidized through the Generation Adidas program that he, Blake and Fabian Herbers are in.

By the doctrine of lowered expectations, the Philadelphia Union’s 2-0 loss to FC Dallas contained positives. I mean, what did you expect from a team that had turned over half its roster, handed MLS debuts to six players (Union debuts to seven) and had just two holdovers from last year’s opening-game starting lineup traveling to the team that finished atop the Western Conference in 2015?

That the Union failed to embarrass itself should ring as hollow consolation. But adding to those hope dampeners the absence of the last two players to wear the captain’s armband, and maybe survival without humiliation is a moral victory of sorts. Put another way, at least the Union can still proudly trumpet that they are not the Chicago Fire.

First the positives, even if most reek of damning with faint praise. Andre Blake’s outing was an unqualified success. He was hung out to dry twice, but it would’ve been a four-goal game had the Union had an average keeper in net. He’s been a very busy man for the Union:

With 8 saves today, Andre Blake has made 41 saves in 8 MLS starts. For comparison, Rais Mbolhi made 17 saves in 9 games.

— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) March 6, 2016

Now the qualifiers. Ken Tribbett didn’t look completely out of place of MLS. Ditto Anderson. Keegan Rosenberry decisively passed the Raymond Lee Rookie Right Back Test (patent pending). Ilsinho looked willing and able to contribute in MLS. You can only be so sanguine watching Fabian Castillo do this:

#SpeedKills #FCDvPHI pic.twitter.com/7mUuvXb576

— Ben Jata (@Ben_Jata) March 6, 2016

Even the numbers are better. The Union actually won the possession battle with 50.9 percent of the ball, something that occurred just seven times in MLS last year. (The Union were 2-4-1 in those games, the last occurring July 18 at Toronto FC.) Two shots on target – one a sharp-angle header by Anderson off an overcooked corner – aren’t enough of a payoff, but a passing percentage of 69 is passable if not ideal given the circumstances. Consider that last year’s 2-0 loss to FC Dallas at PPL Park, marred by Zach Pfeffer’s red card, afforded the Union 46 percent possession.

Every part of Sunday’s affair comes with this push and pull, and nowhere is it more profound than in what could broadly be called the Union’s “style.” It may be too much to expect an injury-diminished team to internalize and acclimate to a drastically novel way of playing in game No. 1. But so much of Sunday felt regressive.

The Union still deployed Brian Carroll as a holding midfielder, essentially a deep-lying double pivot with the ghostly Vincent Nogueira. They still turned to Sebastien Le Toux for a late-game spark and their best goalscoring chance. They still “went with the big ball a little too much today, which is not what we did in the preseason,” according to Chris Pontius, too often bypassing midfield to feed an under-pressure and isolated CJ Sapong too high up the pitch.

Some of those concepts will take time to implement. Take Jim Curtin discussing the fullbacks. While Rosenberry showed some glimmers of attacking promise, Fabinho struggled mightily, a product of Dallas’s attacking pressure wearing out the defense and pinning them back.

“(Our outside back) are good on the ball. They’re comfortable. They can make passes. I think it’s important spacing-wise that they’re in an area of the field that’s a little higher up then they receive it, so Castillo or (Michael) Barrios isn’t the one running at them. They’re ahead of that so they can create man-more situations, 2-vs.1. So being as a starting point a little higher. Part of it also is our center back shaving the confidence to hit the little clipped ball over the wingers.”

Those are issues that may take months to acquire fluency in.

At the end of the day, the pressures seem to be in opposition. It’s a results-oriented business, and Curtin needs to get results, particularly if his seat is as hot as many league-wide pundits believe. But let’s be clear: The Union were highly unlikely to get a result in Dallas, much the same way that they’re very unlikely to return from Columbus with points next week.

This early in the season, in such early days of a comprehensive rebuild, the process warrants attention. The Union want to operate differently than the club’s past milquetoast iterations. Curtin reflected that in his selections Sunday – Leo Fernandes over Le Toux, Rosenberry over Ray Gaddis, Anderson over Richie Marquez.

But on the basis of one game – and it is only one game against one of the MLS’s most daunting opponents – not much beyond the customary carousel of names has changed.

The Philadelphia Union returned to Chester Tuesday to begin the final preparation for their season opener in Dallas next Sunday at 3 p.m. The club has been in Florida for the better part of the last month, taking part in six official preseason games to go with a pair of scrimmages. A few notes from practice.

The Philadelphia Union returned to training in Chester Tuesday
ahead of Sunday's season opener.

- The two notable absences from the group Tuesday were also the last two to wear the captain’s armband in MLS action: Maurice Edu and Tranquillo Barnetta. Edu has what manager Jim Curtin termed “a stress reaction in his leg” that is unrelated to his offseason sports hernia surgery. You'll remember that this entire affair began last July with a partially torn groin that has morphed into much more. Edu has yet to train with the Union this preseason, still working off to the side. Curtin labeled him as “doubtful” for Sunday’s trip to Dallas. Here’s the full quote:

“Mo still hasn’t trained with us at all. Obviously a big piece of our team, a captain, a leader, a guy we always expect big things from. To not have him is a detriment, but everybody has picked up the slack, and has played well. He’s looking doubtful to be honest for Dallas, but the players in his spot have competed well. Obviously we’re a better team with Mo on the field, but the reality is the game doesn’t wait for anybody and we have to move on. It’s not likely he’ll be part of the Dallas game.”

- Barnetta’s absence, Curtin said, stems from tendinitis in his knee. Recall that Barnetta had several major knee injuries in his time at Schalke in Germany. Barnetta did, however, log 60 minutes last Saturday in a scrimmage with Montreal (prior to the game against Toronto).

- The other injuries were minor. Cole Missimo left training a little early, though Curtin didn’t list an ailment. Josh Yaro was somewhat limited due to groin soreness. Ray Gaddis has largely shaken off his knee soreness and appeared to train fully.

- On Ilsinho, Curtin had some good things to say: “We knew probably two games into the preseason that he participated in that it was something we wanted to get done. … A guy that has come in, came from a big club in Europe, the situation there wasn’t ideal for him, so he came with us, turned our heads immediately.”

- Caught the end of some tactical drills at training, where it looked like the “first” team featured Richie Marquez and Anderson as the center back pairing. Brian Carroll was the holding midfielder with Roland Alberg and Leo Fernandes in the central attacking midfielder spots. Not sure if that’s a hint for this weekend, but there are a lot of pieces to still fall into place with this lineup in the coming days.

The Philadelphia Union have added three players in the last two days, Tuesday inking deals with Ken Tribbett and Cole Missimo and Wednesday finalizing the long-anticipated capture of Ilsinho.

And with that, I present the 2016 Philadelphia Union…

OK, maybe there’s no need for that level of drama. But in practice, this roster is essentially finished for the winter window, it would seem. The Union avowed in the offseason not to make hefty changes to the roster. Sporting Director Earnie Stewart has made it clear that the aim is not to fill every spot just to fill them. Jim Curtin has said – and other MLS clubs operating “II” USL franchises have illustrated – that a spot or two of roster flexibility is preferable to accommodate high achievers in the minors (which the Union have preemptively done with Tribbett).

This is not to say that the Union will absolutely, 100 percent enter the FC Dallas game March with this exact roster. The conclusion of camps often brings a flurry of trades and transactions as positional battles are settled, players are deemed expendable, strengths and weaknesses are weighed and injury subtractions are compensated for. If a low-cost, MLS-experienced, American forward were to become available, then maybe the Union could be enticed into an addition. (Please, no Amobi Okugo questions here.)

But barring that possibility, the Union’s roster stands at a healthy, albeit midfield-heavy, 26 players:

Goalies (3): Andre Blake, Matt Jones, John McCarthy

Defenders (8): Fabinho, Anderson, Ray Gaddis, Richie Marquez, Keegan Rosenberry, Ken Tribbett, Taylor Washington, Joshua Yaro

Midfielders (13): Roland Alberg, Eric Ayuk, Tranquillo Barnetta, Brian Carroll, Warren Creavalle, Maurice Edu, Leo Fernandes, Ilsinho, Sebastien Le Toux, Cole Missimo, Vincent Nogueira, Chris Pontius, Walter Restrepo

Forwards (2): Fabian Herbers, CJ Sapong

On the face of it, there’s a fair amount of balance. The goalkeeping situation has been ironed out. The eight-strong defensive contingent involves four center backs, two right backs and two left backs, with Ray Gaddis and Anderson Conceicao adding left-back flexibility, plus Warren Creavalle. The search to be two-deep at every position is taken literally for the center-forward pairing.

In the midfield, there are four players that can play at either the No. 6, No. 8 or No. 10 positions. One area of redundancy is the wings of the 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 or whatever we’re calling it. Normally, that would be fertile grounds for a swap for a forward. But considering that the Union 1) just added Chris Pontius, Walter Restrepo and Ilsinho; 2) wrangled for the return of Leo Fernandes; 3) rightly see Sebastien Le Toux as the backup center forward; and 4) view Eric Ayuk's age and talent as an asset for the future on the field and for his sell-on value, a trade for a short-term forward stopgap seems unlikely.

The second real installment of the Philadelphia Union’s preseason comes Thursday when they meet the Chicago Fire at 4 p.m. in Clearwater, Fla. (Livestream below and available on Union’s YouTube channel.)

As manager Jim Curtin mentioned in a conference call Wednesday, the preseason opener in the rain against Jacksonville Armada last Saturday, a 1-0 loss, turned out to be a glorified training exercise. With trialists new to camp and Roland Alberg having just touched down in the States, the performance was understandably disjointed, not helped by 30-minute shifts of players that prevented anyone getting much of a rhythm.



With a thinner roster this time around, the Union should deploy more cohesive units. So what to look for? Here are five things:

- What does midfield look like sans Alberg? Curtin confirmed that Alberg is unavailable, having returned to the Netherlands to sort out paperwork. Against the Armada, he started in central midfield next to Tranquillo Barnetta in front of Vincent Nogueira. What will that look like today? Does Nogueira slide up with Warren Creavalle or Brian Carroll holding? Or does Leo Fernandes get a chance?

- Another dose of Ilsinho. Even in limited time, the Brazilian proved he can do special things with a soccer ball. An extended runout with the first team or something closer to regulars should bolster the amount of info the club can collect to arrive at a decision.

- In the defense. Curtin Wednesday declared that the battle involves four guys. Having either Anderson Conceicao or Josh Yaro take steps toward developing a rapport with Richie Marquez would be beneficial, but seeing either play alongside Ken Tribbett isn’t damning.

- Separation on the wings. Curtin spoke highly of Chris Pontius Wednesday. We all know what Sebastien Le Toux can do, and then there’s sorting out the contributions of Walter Restrepo and Eric Ayuk before determining if Alberg or Fernandes would be required on the wing.

- A goal against grown-ups. A 5-0 training win over the United States Under-17s was nice this week (and symbolic for spanking the team coached by John Hackwor…I should stop there). But a goal against adults would be nice, and that focuses not just on CJ Sapong but the other attackers. Presuming Curtin rotates in 45-minute shifts (as he progressed in last year’s preseason), the onus is on whomever starts as a forward in the second half, probably Fabian Herbers, unless another trialist emerges.

The first game of preseason may mean little in the grand scheme of a lengthy soccer season. But the Philadelphia Union’s inauspicious exhibition start last year ushered in an equally underwhelming campaign.

There’s no causality between the 3-1 loss to Jacksonville Armada 364 days ago and the sluggish start to the MLS season or the disappointing exclusion from the postseason for a fifth time in six seasons. But that doesn’t completely strip Saturday’s return voyage to Jacksonville of meaning. (Livestream is available on the Union's website, and embedded below.)

Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream


Last year’s meeting was more pertinent for the hosts, playing the first competitive match in franchise history and jumping out to an early lead before 13,000 spectators. It also featured an Andrew Wenger goal, a rare sight that wouldn’t manifest itself in a meaningful game for another five months. Seven of the starters in last year’s game are no longer with the Union (though one never was, to be fair).

So what’s in store this time around? Here are five things to watch for:

Formation. Jim Curtin and his staff have played it coy on committing to a formation. We’re left to speculate that it’ll be a 4-3-3, which seems to fit the personnel, but what will that look like in practice? How will (presumably) Tranquillo Barnetta and Vincent Nogueira space themselves in central midfield? What balances will be struck by wingers like Sebastien Le Toux and Chris Pontius cutting inside? Will the professed desire for fullbacks to get higher up the pitch result in concrete changes? Where does Roland Alberg fit?

Changes in concepts. Earnie Stewart wants the Union to change the way they play in some fundamental ways. Even accounting for lack of sharpness, fitness and familiarity with each other, glimmers of that should shine through. We can get certain indications about certain precepts – ideas like short passing, playing out of the back, schemes for pressuring the ball – are sinking in.

The defensive hierarchy. The draft process likely leaves Joshua Yaro a little more fit than Anderson Conceicao, so no grand declarations if he gets the nod to start the game at center back. But seeing both of those guys play alongside Richie Marquez could give indications as to Curtin’s thinking on pairings.

Trialists? The Union have been uncharacteristically mum about who’s in camp. Last year, their openness on that matter still resulted in the brief dawn and eclipse of the Pape Gassama era. If the Union repeat last season’s tack of utilizing three waves of outfield players in 30-minute shifts, we’ll be exposed to plenty of the candidates.

A little patience. The Union are playing six preseason matches, the other five against MLS opposition. The hefty workload differs from previous years’ sketches, which certainly stems from Stewart’s influence. Last year’s Armada loss was followed by winning the Suncoast Invitational, which led to the disastrous start to the season. Those are the perils of ascribing too much meaning to any result before the games that matter start.

At his first Union media day, Sporting Director Earnie Stewart
had plenty to say. (Times File)

As far as I can recall, Thursday marked the first Philadelphia Union media day (at least in the three-plus seasons I’ve been covering the team), which gave reporters an opportunity to sit down with players and get some info ahead of the season.

Among the headlines were Maurice Edu’s position and national team prospects, plus a lot of the usual status talk from Jim Curtin and Earnie Stewart. All that and more will produce hours of sound, video and reading for the coming days (keep an eye out for some rookie profiles and more next week).

But the couple of hours’ worth of conversations yielded a few gem quotes, so let’s throw a few of the best out there.

Let’s start with Sporting Director Earnie Stewart, who had a couple of provocative responses. The first, about off days which I thought was worthy of tweeting, may be a little splashy in the message that can be distilled from it, but it’s a thoughtful response that warrants some real consideration and discussion. This came from a question of roadblocks that Stewart has encountered in MLS that maybe surprised him. It also, for what it’s worth, echoes many of the criticisms of college soccer and its efficacy as a player development tool:

There’s rules that you have to abide by that I’m not used to, when it comes to days off in a week that are mandatory from a players’ union perspective or mandatory vacation days that there are. I’m not used to that. It’s a short period of time. I feel in the United States, we’re working very hard to create players that are world class players. And on the other hand, we have a lot of days off, and the combination of those two, I don’t get. So those are things that I have to get used to, and hopefully towards the future, we can tweak those because I think for every sport, no matter if it’s soccer or if you look at swimmers or what they do every single day getting up at 5 o’clock in the morning and then practicing in the afternoon. If they want to be Olympians and they want to get a gold medal, they have to work hard. And vacation will come someday. But not when you’re in the prime of your life. So those are things that you have to get used to, but they are what they are.

Stewart also had an interesting response (at least to me) to Kevin Kinkead’s question about the difference between American soccer media and its European counterpart:

There’s not too much. They ask questions, you guys ask questions, it’s all about soccer. I’d say if there’s a difference, it’s the questions asked. I do have to say that in the last two years, and you see that a lot in Europe, it’s usually about the negative things in what’s happening and hardly every reflect on the positive things. And now in my experience with your guys has been that you get both sides of it. When it’s bad, it’s bad, it’s simple as that. But when it’s good, it’s also good. Maybe there’s a small difference there, but nothing major.

Read more »

There wasn't a whole lot going on at the first day
of Union training camp at the Bubble at Penn Monday.

As first days go for the Philadelphia Union, Monday’s practice at Dunning-Cohen Field on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania was stunningly uneventful. To the media throng (ahem) in attendance, there was little of the drama of past years. No established star was told they didn’t have a place on the team, no one walked out, and there wasn’t much in the way of mystery trialists.

Instead, the Union’s lively session consisted mostly of new, unfamiliar faces. With many veteran mainstays cleaned out by the offseason roster cull, there were frankly a bunch of guys no one recognized and whose identities may not be very important unless you’re a devoted follower of USL. Here are a few observations:

- Two important takeaways: Much of the field was populated by current or prospective Bethlehem Steel players. That includes all six signed players signed – Boluwatife Akinyode, Michael Daly (pretty sure on this one, but not 100 percent), Gabe Gissie, Ryan Richter, Derrick Jones and goalkeeper Samir Badr. Many of the other players in attendance are likely vying for USL deals more so than realistically threatening for MLS positions. (Former Harrisburg and Rochester defender Ken Tribbett is an example.) There were also several Academy players training – Andrew Verdi in goal, I believe Auston Trusty was there before he departs for the U.S. U-19 camp later this week. Remember, when the Union are in Florida, there are dozens of players doing the camp-to-camp hop, so trialists are more abundant.

- The second interesting observation: Everyone, save for Maurice Edu, who is recovering from sports hernia surgery, was a full go. The Union rotated three teams of nine players in the 40 minutes we watched. Two played full-field games, while the other ran. Veterans like Vincent Nogueira, Tranquillo Barnetta, Sebastien Le Toux and Chris Pontius all hit the ground running. The days of Conor Casey sitting on a training table or working the bike for an hour are gone, literally and symbolically. Here’s Jim Curtin on the matter:

“We wanted to set the tone that there’s no pro days or off days for the older guys. We didn’t ease them into it. They were up to the task and were pushed hard. We’re going to be a team that is going to be at the top fitness-wise. We want to be a team that outruns the competition.”

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The Philadelphia Union’s first international acquisition of January was sealed Wednesday.

The club acquired 26-year-old Brazilian defender Anderson Conceicao on loan from Brazilian third-division club Tombense FC for the 2016 season.

Conceicao is a left-footer who can play left back and center back with good size at 6-foot-2. The native of Caravelas has spent most of his career in Brazil, primarily in the second division, Campeonato Brasileiro Serie B. He also spent a season on loan with Spanish club Mallorca, appearing 16 times in La Liga and 19 times in all competitions in a season where Los Bermellones were relegated.

Last season, Conceicao helped America Mineiro achieve promotion to Serie A, playing 30 matches for the club as it finished fourth in Serie B. Looks like he also played for 2014 champions Joinville.

“Anderson’s natural athletic ability and winning pedigree was really something we zeroed in on during our offseason assessment,” Union Sporting Director Earnie Stewart said in a team statement. “He’s the type of defender who really addresses some of our technical needs and we strongly believe we’re getting someone who is committed to helping build the next chapter of our club.”

Conceicao is only the fourth defender under contract for the Union in 2015, joining Maurice Edu, Ray Gaddis and Richie Marquez. He’s the 16th player on the Union roster overall, joining Tuesday’s acquisition, winger Walter Restrepo.
Below are a few videos of his highlights. First from Mallorca:



The others are older. He spent 2012 at Figueirense:



And then 2011-12 at Criciuma: