Jonathan Tannenwald

2 weeks ago | inquirer.com | Jonathan Tannenwald

Mauricio Pochettino has gotten his point across over the last few months. Whatever the talents of the players he calls in to the U.S. men’s soccer team, the manager wants them to match the intensity he brings from his native Argentina. “If we want to be good in one year’s time, we need to think that today is the important day,” he said when he unveiled his roster for this summer’s Gold Cup and two friendlies before it. “Because we need to build, from today, our way.

2 weeks ago | inquirer.com | Jonathan Tannenwald

The U.S. men’s soccer team’s latest roster has a lot of Philly flavor, but also a lot of big names missing. Medford’s Brenden Aaronson is back after not making the squad for March’s Nations League Final Four, and he’ll have a shot at playing time. Weston McKennie and Gio Reyna will be at the Club World Cup, leaving not just open roster spots but a chance to play better than they have.

2 weeks ago | inquirer.com | Jonathan Tannenwald

If you follow English soccer but not the Union, which is true for plenty of people, you might have heard about Crystal Palace winning the FA Cup last weekend. You might have heard that it was the London club’s first major title in its 120-year history. You might have heard that Rebecca Lowe, the longtime host of NBC’s Premier League coverage — which receives more national TV in a week than the Union sometimes gets in a year — is one of Palace’s most famous fans.

2 weeks ago | inquirer.com | Jonathan Tannenwald

The Union cruised past the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, 4-1, in the U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday at a rain-lashed Subaru Park. Bruno Damiani opened the scoring with a penalty kick in the 14th minute, Indiana Vassilev doubled the lead in first-half stoppage time, and Danley Jean Jacques extended it in the 54th. Jorge Garcia, a Villanova product, scored Pittsburgh’s consolation goal in the 63rd, and Jovan Lukić capped things off in the 87th.

2 weeks ago | inquirer.com | Jonathan Tannenwald

There’s no rivalry between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in soccer like there is in hockey, football, baseball, and above all Wawa vs. Sheetz. But that’s mainly because there haven’t been many games in the first place. That will change on Wednesday, when the Union host the Pittsburgh Riverhounds of the second-tier USL Championship in the U.S. Open Cup (7:30 p.m., Paramount+). It will be the first time these teams meet in American soccer’s national championship, after 16 years of waiting.