John Hackworth had plenty to talk about today at his weekly press address, more than I have space to cover in print today. Some of the highlights:

On facing Jack McInerney: It’s going to be interesting. I know personally I’ll look forward to seeing him. There’s no ill will between us. In this game in particular, our whole goal will be to deny not only Jack but (Marco) Di Vaio and the rest of their attacking players the time and space they need to do what they do best, and he’s an opponent right now. But I’m sure after the game we’ll have a word and wish him well until we see him next time when he’s the enemy again."

On fixing wastefulness in front of goal:
All we can do is continue to train and do a lot of reps and train on those specific areas, both in how we attack the goal area and execute in front of it. There’s different aspects where we feel we did a good job in past games, and clearly if we look back to Saturday, we didn’t execute those moments. Some of them, we didn’t even get opportunities in terms of shots or shots on goal, but had some relay good plays there. We’re trying to make sure our guys know we want them to take those opportunities, then it comes down to execution. We’re trying to put numbers in dangerous spots and have good reactions to anything that happens in the box. When you look back at the game Saturday, we were really unlucky not to have scored a goal or two.

On the Union's point accumulation through the early season:
Obviously, we are not happy with where we are in the standings right now. We legitimately feel as though we should’ve won five of our eight games for sure at a minimum. However, you can’t take away your opponents and the game of soccer itself is just not that predictable in terms of where you play well and you get opportunities. That’s why it’s sometimes so amazing and frustrating and why people are so passionate about it. What I will say though is that within our team, we’re very confident about what we’re doing and how we’re doing it. And my experiences as a coach is that the more you continue to play that way, the chances will turn. The tide will turn and we will see the results start to come our way. We’ve been doing a lot as a staff trying to analyze where we were successful and where we weren’t, where our opponents have gotten the better of us. The metrics that we look at, it’s pretty astounding the way we’ve played these eight games in terms of just putting the ball in a dangerous area. I think there’s a stat out there that a lot of people look at in soccer, and I don’t think it’s a good win. It’s shots, or shots on goal. It’s a terrible stat in soccer. I think the more important stat is how many penalty-area entries you get or how many final-third entries you have, how many successful passes you have, how many of those are forward. When you break down those metrics, we’ve been a really, really good team. Our thought is that we just need to continue to do that, and at the end of the day, at the end of the season, we’re going to be on the good side of that and it’s going to come out in our favor.
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Philadelphia Union (4-3-3)

MacMath

Fabinho-Wheeler-Okugo-Gaddis

Edu-Carroll-Nogueira

Maidana-McInerney-Le Toux

Bench: Blake, White, Lahoud, Bone, Fernandes, Hoppenot, Casey.

Montreal Impact (4-2-3-1)

Perkins

Pearce-Camara-Ferrari-Miller

Bernardello-Warner

Romero-Felipe-Mapp

Di Vaio

Bench: Bush, Bernier, Brovsky, Gonzalez, Ouimette, Smith, Wenger.

- If there was any question about the health of Austin Berry and Sheanon Williams, the sloppy conditions at PPL Park likely were the tiebreaker in manager John Hackworth’s decision to hold them out another week. He’s certainly been happy with Ray Gaddis at right back (and today, he’ll be severely tested by Justin Mapp down the wing). And Aaron Wheeler has deputized ably in the center. Few defenders have what you would call “favorable” matchups against someone as prolific as Montreal’s Marco Di Vaio, but he was just as disadvantaged on paper last week against Jairo Arrieta and Dominic Oduro and still managed to turn in a great performance.

- The rest of the Union midfield is as it has been most of the season. Conor Casey is either not yet fit or not the right fit (I suspect it’s a bit of both) to start, but he certainly could play a role off the bench. Danny Cruz is an omission from the bench this week.

- For the Impact, a little surprise at seeing Patrice Bernier to make way to the bench this week. The Impact made three changes from last week, with Frank Klopas wasting no time reintroducing Di Vaio and Andres Romero after three-game suspensions to start the season. Andrew Wenger makes way, while Heath Pearce and rookie Eric Miller provide a threat going forward on the wings at the expense of Jeb Brovsky and Karl Ouimette, the goalscorer of the back-breaker last fall.

- In pondering which team, if either, the wet conditions favor, consider this: On paper, you’d think the Union’s ability to play on the ground would withstand the weather, while Montreal’s hope of lumping long crosses toward the head of Di Vaio would be dented. But keep in mind that this weather is reminiscent to the conditions in the 5-3 drubbing Montreal delivered at the Saputo Stadium last year.

With eight games left in the MLS season, it might be a bit premature to say that the Philadelphia Union’s playoff chances withered and died in New England during a 5-1 thrashing at the hands of the Revolution Sunday night. But then again, it might not. And with the myriad problems exposed by the Revs in running absolutely rampant on the Union, there’s reason to think that this has the makings of a turning point for the worse in the Union’s season. A few reasons why:

- Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way: Yes, the Union should’ve been up 2-1 when Conor Casey had the ball in the back of the net only to be wrongly called for a foul on goalkeeper Matt Reis. But the fact that they rolled up and died in the face of that adversity and capitulated four more times in quick succession after that is a major problem that goes beyond officiating. And let’s be clear: The Revs scored five times only with so-so finished. They had another five or so golden chances where the proper final pass wasn’t picked out.

- In a match like this, the best the Union can do is quarantine the problem. They didn’t. Amobi Okugo’s pair of late yellow cards means he’s suspended for next week’s visit by Montreal (and maybe the week after for accumulation; I'd have to check on that). That’s Eastern Conference-leading MLS, fresh off a 5-0 shellacking of Houston, with MLS leading scorer Marco Di Vaio in form. The options to replace him include Sheanon Williams, who was absolutely terrible Sunday, both with turnovers and this recurring delusion with charging into the box like he’s a forward that leaves the defense exposed and outnumbered. And if Ray Gaddis isn’t healthy, then Matt Kassel plays defense? Or Aaron Wheeler? For a team challenging for a playoff spot, that’s sad. Read more »

Nobody asked me for my input on the MLS All-Star voting. The league seems to be pretty pleased with its ways, between fan voting slightly slanted toward the host team and the proclivities of online gamers and a bit of input from the All-Star coach. That’s how they arrived at the 18-man roster that was announced Monday, including some fairly obvious selections and some noteworthy exclusions (especially to fans of a Philadelphia bent).

Brazilian Camilo Sanvezzo of Vancouver is a deserving
MLS All-Star selection. But several snubs stand out
among the 18-man roster announced Monday.
(Associated Press)

In the off chance those methods don’t exactly meet your standards – and the Twitter reaction to today’s unveiling of the full matchday roster for the July 30 game against Italian side A.S. Roma indicates that’s the case – here would be my 18-man roster for the event.

Goalkeepers: Raul Fernandez (FC Dallas), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake).

Defenders: Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City), Omar Gonzalez (Los Angeles), Tony Beltran (Real Salt Lake), Chris Klute (Colorado), Jose Goncalves (New England), Jamison Olave (New York).

Midfielders: Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Will Johnson (Portland), Graham Zusi (Sporting Kansas City), Javier Morales (Real Salt Lake), Patrice Bernier (Montreal), Mike Magee (Chicago).

Forwards: Camilo Sanvezzo (Vancouver), Robbie Keane (Los Angeles), Marco Di Vaio (Montreal), Jack McInerney (Philadelphia).

I’ll start on a positive note: I can’t see many problems with the goalkeepers. Fernandez has been sensational at times for Dallas, and Rimando is as good as it gets perennially in this league. I’d love to see a place for the Revs’ Bobby Shuttleworth on the team, but that’s not really in the cards.
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I’ve got a feeling that there’s a bit to discuss after the Union’s 5-3 loss to the Montreal Impact Saturday, certainly at least as many discussion points as goals posted. So here are eight points I saw from the game.

Union defender Jeff Parke and company had problems all day
with Andrew Wenger and company as Montreal claimed a 5-3 win
over the Union (AP).

 

1. The Union defense simply was not up to the task. They struggle a lot against physical central forwards (see Thierry Henry, Lio Pajoy, Robbie Keane, to name a few), but Marco Di Vaio’s dominance Saturday was still remarkable. He scored three goals in 30 minutes in the first half, then missed a great chance later in the half that could easily have been four. He outmuscled the central defenders and got lost by the fullbacks, so there wasn’t anything that really worked against them.

2. There’s not a lot good on that back four. Ray Gaddis got sucked into the middle, Sheanon Williams struggled to pick up runners and all four got caught ball-watching far too often. The midfield coverage wasn’t much better. The Union scored three goals in hostile territory – one of only three teams to do that in the year-plus the Impact have been in MLS – yet they couldn't get a win. They’ve got some serious issues to fix.
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Union manager John Hackworth was unavailable for his weekly press conference Wednesday, so assistant coach/technical director Rob Vartughian stepped in. Here's what Rob had to say.

On the challenge on heading to Montreal:
They’re obviously a good team. They’ve ahead of us in the table. They’re sitting on 20 points through 10 games, and they’ve got some really good pieces and they’re dangerous. We’re pretty familiar with them. We’ve watched a ton of film on them. They’ve got a guy in (Marco) Di Vaio who’s got six goals who’s up top and they have experience all through the field, whether that’s (Alessandro) Nesta. They’ve got Felipe, who’s a very good player, Justin Mapp, who we’re all familiar with, who’s a very good player. They’ve got some really good pieces, so we obviously started that preparation right after Chicago, and I’ll think we’ll be ready to go once Saturday rolls around.

On where the trip to Montreal ranks:
I think they’re all tough. It’s tough to go into anyone else’s park and play. And this is a good team, it’s an experience team. In terms of where it ranks, I don’t know if I could put a ranking on it so to speak, but our approach has been the same for all the road games, so we’re not going to waver or do anything different than we have in the past and treat it like all the other ones.

On Kleberson's continued place in the starting XI:
We felt good about it. Kleberson was going into his second game, second start, and played a good game. Same for Michael (Farfan). But I would say that about generally all the guys that have been given the opportunity in the midfield. We’re happy for Kleberson and what he’s been able to bring in the two games that he’s played. He’s given us good minutes and he’s given us a little something different than maybe what we weren’t getting, but I think the players around him complement him well, whether that’s Michael, whether that’s Keon (Daniel), whether that’s Brian (Carroll), Danny (Cruz), you name it. That’s been good, and we’ve liked what we’ve seen.
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