Results tagged “mls”

In the first really big piece of news for the Philadelphia Union since the team got a name (and a badass logo), it was announced today that Peter Nowak will be the manager when the team takes the field next spring. Nowak has two MLS titles under his belt—one as a player, and one as manager of D.C. United—so he brings more-or-less instant credibility to the Union franchise. He'll be officially introduced as manager at a press conference tomorrow afternoon.

It's never too early to indoctrinate your children...

After word leaked late last Thursday night that the Philadelphia MLS franchise would be called the Union, this morning's "official" announcement was nothing if not anticlimactic. But those who attended the official announcement did get the first crack at buying official Union merchandise—which the rest of us can now get at the team's official website.

Isn't it annoying when people say, "Can I ask you a question?" "Umm, well, you just did." Yeah, maybe it's just us. We generally kind of have the same reaction to when we get press releases about upcoming announcements, meta-announcements if you will. But this Phillyist got one today, and being a soccer fan with season tickets for Philadelphia's MLS team already reserved, I'm actually pretty happy about it. The Philadelphia MLS team name, colors, logo, and ticket pricing will be announced on Monday, May 11, at 11:30 a.m. The honors will be done at City Hall by Mayor Nutter. (Buzz on the Internets is that the team name will likely be AC Philadelphia, with Union Philadelphia still as a possibility. But given that's what we've read on message boards and the like, take it with a bag grain of salt.)

Though MLS hopes to create a revolution in American sports with the signing of David Beckham to the L.A. Galaxy, it's more likely the move will have much more modest results. Über-celebrity that he is, one has to keep in mind that Beckham’s best playing days are behind him. As of today, it seems doubtful he’ll see any playing time with Real Madrid’s first team during the remaining 6 months of his contract with the Spanish side. Though it was growing ever more unlikely that he could ever play for England again, this move finalizes his international career with absolute certainty. A veritable elephant graveyard for former world superstars, the US is where great soccer players come to die. Though this was done before, one has to remember that it was with far greater footballers than Becks. All time greats Pelè and Franz Beckenbauer played on the all-star studded New York Cosmos in the 70s and despite their ability, stardom, and combined World Cup wins, soccer never quite took off here.

Happy Holidays!

Phillyist is, of course, just as patriotic as all of our other Ist brethren out there. And while we might not go crazy flouting it the way we suspect our friends at Londonist will over the next few weeks, we'll still be rooting hard for the good ol' U-S-of-A. Specifically, we'll be rooting for two players on the U.S. roster who hail from Philadelphia: Bobby Convey and Chris Albright.