Photo: Nick Waters

Philadelphia Union

Porfirio Lopez describes what he will bring to the Union: "Having a winning mentality is the most important thing in soccer. I'm going to try to bring my experiences and positive attitude into the group. Without a doubt, winning championships is the priority.

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Le Talk

While posing a hypothetical question to the Union Twitterati whether they would accept $2.75 million for Sebastien Le Toux, Jonathan "The Goalkeeper" Tannenwald mentions, "I've been told there has been no offer yet."

Meanwhile, Daily News reporter Kerith Gabriel writes, "It's likely the Union will start the 2012 campaign without Frenchman Sebastien Le Toux.

Happy Wednesday to you. Several things on the docket today. The first thing that caught my eye was this week was Vancouver's acquiring of Etienne Barbara's rights. Barbara was a fantastic player for much of the 2011 NASL season. His 20 goals and many assists earned him Golden Boot honors for North America's second tier.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

Philadelphia Union

Jack McInerney scored in the US U-23 team's 1–1 draw with the USMNT. McInerney, Amobi Okugo, and Freddy Adu started the first half. Zac MacMath and Sheanon Williams started the second half.

John Hackworth says of Tom Brandt, the Union's first pick in the Supplemental Draft, "We wanted to get a quality player in the back and we feel like we did that with Tom Brandt.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC coach Martin Rennie has acquired the MLS discovery rights to Carolina star striker Etienne Barbara, who blossomed during Rennie's tenure with the RailHawks in D2. The Whitecaps acquired the rights to sign Barbara from the Montreal Impact Tuesday in a trade that sent defender Glenir Garcia to Montreal.

Ever read those posts on SI.com, Fox Soccer, or ESPN.com with the "five thoughts about ..." and then, well, lo and behold, they offer you five random thoughts about a topic?

Yeah, I always thought they were mailing it in too, too rushed or whatever to come up with a lede, coherent structure for the column, etc.

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Union

Faryd Mondragon said, "If we play the way we know how to play, we can beat anyone."

Sebastien Le Toux on Houston: "We know we can beat them."

And, as Marc Narducci reports, Danny Califf knows it can be done. Califf was on the LA Galaxy team that, in the 2003, beat San Jose 2–0 in the first leg, was up 2–0 in the second half, and lost 2–5 in extra time.

Rob Kinnan Photography
After a disappointing 1-1 mid-week draw to Minnesota, the Carolina Railhawks were looking to come out strong against Ft.Lauderdale. In there last match, the Railhawks were able to snap a two game losing skid, but the win eluded them. However, Carolina turned things around, made changes and put Ft.

Union

Who will soon be leaving the Union? In a story that is otherwise a yawner—now that he's actually gone, the Philadelphia Inquirer's Marc Narducci offers some criticism of Carlos Ruiz and says the Union are better off without him—is included a piece of very big news for Union fans. Describing the efforts the Union have underway to acquire a "young international striker" in the summer transfer window, a source tells Narducci that the Union "will make another move with one of their own players.

Pablo Compos
Rob Kinnan PhotographyThe NASL leading Carolina Railhawks returned to action after a 10 game break. It was their first game in three weeks back in Cary and the road trip saw them go winless. The Railhawks were looking to get back on track and return to their winning ways that saw them go 12-2-2 in the first half of the season.

Perseverance is perhaps the best word to describe Brad Knighton. Everywhere he's been Brad has had to contend for a starting spot and despite performing well, circumstances have sent him elsewhere. He's played in for the New England Revolution, Philadelphia Union and now Knighton plays for the NASL leading Carolina Railhawks and is proving day in and day out that he is a top notch goalkeeper.

Black and Red United give DC winger Andy Najar five-stars for his performance on Saturday. Hard to argue.

MLSTalk praises Peter Nowak as the Arsene Wenger of MLS. I am totally confused about the comparison. Both successful yet flawed coaches? Both European?

Former Union netminder Brad Knighton helped his Carolina Railhawks to their 10th straight win, earning his 5th shutout of the year in the process.

Fireworks in Cary as the Railhawks win again.
Rob Kinnan PhotographyThe Montreal Impact made the trip down to Cary to take on the Carolina Railhawks. The Railhawks were coming off a 5-1 shellacking of Atlanta while the Impact were coming off a 0-0 draw with Puerto Rico. The game promised fireworks, both because of the two teams and of course for the 4th of July holiday show afterwards.

On Tuesday, the Union announced that Brad Knighton, the presumptive second string goalkeeper behind new signing Faryd Mondragon, had been waived.

The announcement was met with shock in some quarters. After all, that leaves the Union with, at present, only two keepers: Mondragon and first round SuperDraft pick Zac MacMath.

Photo: Nicolae Stoian

Union

Congratulations to the Sons of Ben, who have been featured in the current UK edition of GQ magazine, which just happens to be the "GQ Annual Victoria's Secret Collector's Edition." Sales of the issue are, no doubt rather brisk. Unfortunately, an online version of the article is not available.

Photos: Nicolae Stoian

In 2010, we embarked on a new journey. Our league debut was nationally televised. Our home opener drew nearly 35,000 fans. Then, while we waited for the opening of our new stadium we began an extended string of away games that demonstrated what can only be described as the season-long woeful state of our away form.

The Union announced tonight that they have waived goalkeeper Brad Knighton, who did not practice with the team when they opened training camp yesterday. Knighton started eight games last year, stealing the starting role from Chris Seitz for the last two months of the season. He posted a 1.10 GAA and was on the field for the Union's first clean sheet ever.