Photo: Nicolae Stoian

Editor's note: At the end of the 2010 season, we posted a series of season reviews of every Philadelphia Union player. Over the next several weeks PSP continues with a review of the 2011 season.

Scouts spend all year watching college players on the field, then they show up at the January combine and throw it all out the window.

Mais um jogo das eliminatórias da Copa do Mundo, Brazil 2014, foi realizado no dia 06/09/2011, na cidade de Georgetown-GUY, onde jogaram as seleções da Guiana (114º no ranking da FIFA) e a seleção de Bermudas (185º no ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções nunca haviam jogado
O árbitro desse jogo, foi: Mark Geiger-USA
O primeiro gol foi de Vurlon Mills, aos 5 minutos do segundo tempo.

Union

Ahead of last week's end of the season press conference, we posted a piece that looked at all of the different midfield lineups the Union fielded in 2011 (there were 26 of them). MLSsoccer.com published a piece yesterday with quotes from Nowak defending his use of so many different lineups and formations.

Don Garber spoke to reporters today to announce the league's best XI and talk a bit about the 2012 season. The only Seattle Sounder named to the Best XI was goal-keeper Kasey Keller. Keller, in his final professional season, anchored one of the league's top defenses. He led all league goalkeepers with 18 wins and made a career-high 110 saves.

The ballots have been tallied and we now know the finalists for the various end-of-season awards for Major League Soccer.

Last year it was easy to find some fault in the various finalists but this year, every award was fairly open enough.

2011 Major League Soccer Awards Finalists (Listed in alphabetical order by last name within each award category) Rookie of the Year Finalists – Winner to be announced Nov.

Brad Davis, Dwayne DeRosario and Brek Shea were named finalists for the MLS MVP Award on Monday as the league announced the finalists for all the season-ending awards.

Here are all the finalists for the awards, with winners set to be announced over the course of the next two weeks, starting with MLS Rookie of the Year on Tuesday:

2011 MLS AWARD FINALISTS (announcement date in parentheses)

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR (Tuesday)

Michael Farfan (Philadelphia Union)

Perry Kitchen (D.

The Houston Dynamo won a see-saw match against Sporting Kansas City, while the Los Angeles Galaxy demonstrated their dominance in the league with a convincing victory over Real Salt Lake. Galaxy will now have the good fortune of hosting the MLS Cup Final against the Dynamo on Sunday, November 20.

Sporting 0:2 Dynamo First Half

Two of MLS' most physical teams duked it out on the rough pitch at Livestrong Sporting Park.

Houston Dynamo vs. Sporting Kansas City LIVESTRONG Sporting Park - Kansas City, KS - 4:30pm CT 2011 MLS Playoffs - Eastern Conference Final

BROADCAST INFORMATION:

FOX Soccer (ENG TV) FOX Deportes (SPN TV) KPRC 950 (ENG Radio) La Ranchera 850 (SPN Radio)
PREVIEW: The Houston Dynamo will try to win their third conference championship in six seasons on Sunday afternoon when they take on Sporting Kansas City in the Eastern Conference final.

Gillette Stadium Before The Gates Opened

New England Revolution and the Columbus Crew met in the Revs last home game of what has been a miserable season. New England comes into this match with a record of 5-15-12 while Columbus is 12-12-8.

While the Revs are playing for pride, a win for Columbus puts them in the playoffs.

Houston Dynamo (8-8-11, 35 pts.) vs. Sporting Kansas City (9-8-10, 37 pts.) LIVEStrong Park - Kansas City, KS - 3:00pm
BROADCAST: TeleFutura (SPN TV) KPRC 950 (ENG Radio) La Ranchera (SPN Radio)
REFEREE: Mark Geiger. MLS Career: 84 games; FC/gm: 26.5; Y/gm: 3.

Mais um jogo do Mundial Sub-20, foi realizado no dia 01/08/2011, na cidade de Barranquila-COL, onde jogaram as seleções do Brasil (6º no ranking da FIFA) e a seleção da Áustria (61º no ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções jogaram:
Copa do Mundo
1978Mar Del Plata 11/06/1978 BRA1:0 (1:0)AUT Group matches1958Udevalla 08/06/1958 BRA3:0 (1:0)AUT Group matches
Amistosos
1987Vienna 03/08/1988 AUT0:2 (0:0)BRA 1974Sao Paulo 01/05/1974 BRA0:0AUT 1973Vienna 13/06/1973 AUT1:1 (1:0)BRA 1971Sao Paulo 11/07/1971 BRA1:1 (1:0)AUT 1970Rio De Janeiro 29/04/1970 BRA1:0 (0:0)AUT 1956Vienna 15/04/1956 AUT2:3 (1:0)BRA
Mundial Sub-17
1997Alexandria 06/09/1997 AUT0:7 (0:5)BRA First stage
O árbitro desse jogo, foi: Mark Geiger-USA
O primeiro assistente do jogo, foi: Mark Hurd-USA
O segundo assistente do jogo, foi: Joe Fletcher-CAN
O quarto árbitro do jogo, foi: Mark Clattenburg-ENG
O primeiro gol do Brasil, foi de Henrique, aos 37 minutos do primeiro tempo.

Photo by ISIPhotos.com

The second week of the English Premier League kicks off this weekend, but it is MLS with the quality match-ups that headline today's soccer on TV.

First-place Columbus takes on second-place Philadelphia in a vital Eastern Conference clash, while FC Dallas battles Seattle in a match-up of top Western Conference foes.

U.S. Soccer referee Mark Geiger and assistant referee Sean Hurd have been selected to officiate the final of the FIFA Under-20 World Cup between Brazil and Portugal in Bogota, Colombia.
The match will be broadcast live on ESPNU and ESPN3.com on Saturday, August 20, at 7 p.m. ET.
The American referees, along with Canada's Joe Fletcher, have also been on the referee crew for a Group E match between Brazil and Austria, a Group B match featuring Uruguay and Cameroon and a Round of 16 game between Spain and Korea Republic.

U.S. Soccer referee are continuing to get top assigments at the FIFA U-20 World Cup. It was just announced that Mark Geiger will be serving as the fourth official for this weekend's quarterfinal between Brazil and Spain - Needless to say, it is one of the most highly-anticipated matches of the tournament.

Mais um jogo do Mundial Sub-20, foi realizado no dia 30/07/2011, na cidade de Bogota-COL, no Estádio El Campin, onde jogaram as seleções da Colômbia (50º no ranking da FIFA) e a seleção da França (19º no ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções jogaram:
Copa das Confederações
2003Lyon 18/06/2003 FRA1:0 (1:0)COL Group matches
Amistosos
2008Saint-Denis 03/06/2008 FRA1:0 (1:0)COL 1972Salvador 18/06/1972 FRA3:2COL First stage
´Jogos Olímpicos
1968Puebla 17/10/1968 COL2:1 (2:0)FRA First stage
O árbitro desse jogo, foi: Peter O´Leary-NZL
O primeiro assistente do jogo, foi: Ravinesh Kumar-FIJ
O segundo assistente do jogo, foi: Jackson Noma-SOL
O quarto árbitro do jogo, foi: Mark Geiger-USA
O primeiro gol foi de Sunu, aos 21 minutos do primeiro tempo, para a França.

Mais um jogo do Mundial Sub-20, foi realizado no dia 30/07/2011, na cidade de Bogota-COL, no Estádio El Campin, onde jogaram o Mali (70º no ranking da FIFA) e a seleção da Coréia do Sul (31º no ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções jogaram:
Olímpiadas
2004Thessaloniki 17/08/2004 KOR3:3 (0:2)MLI Primeira Fase
O árbitro desse jogo, foi: Mark Clattenburg-ENG
O primeiro assistente do jogo, foi: Simon Beck-ENG
O segundo assistente do jogo, foi: Stephen Child-ENG
O quarto árbitro do jogo, foi: Mark Geiger-USA
O primeiro gol do jogo, foi de Kyungjung, aos 10 minutos do segundo tempo.

U.S. Soccer referee Mark Geiger and and assistant referee Sean Hurd are currently representing the U.S. at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia.
Geiger served as the fourth official for the first two Group A games - Korea Republic vs. Mali and host Colombia vs. France.
Geiger and Hurd were assigned to the match between Brazil and Austria, working alongside Canadian assistant referee Joe Fletcher and England's Mark Clattenburg, who served as the fourth official.

Mais um jogo amistoso, foi realizado no dia 07/06/2011, na cidade de Nova York-USA, no Citi Field, onde jogaram as seleções do Equador (64º no ranking da FIFA) e a seleção da Grécia (12º no ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções nunca haviam jogado.
O árbitro desse jogo, foi: Mark Geiger-USA.

Photo: Paul Rudderow

Union

RSL coach Jason Kreis said after Saturday's the 1—1 draw, "We were stretched out. We weren't keeping the ball at all and we were allowing them to play in our half of the field. When we got down, our backs didn't come forward and we left way too much space for our midfield to cover.

Seattle may have just found itself on the outside looking in concerning the Cascadia Cup (which honestly is only the 4th most important trophy this year). That draw last night was particularly painful because the Sounders rallied from behind and put themselves up late after goals by Mauro Rosales and Osvaldo Alonso.

U.S. Soccer referee Mark Geiger and assistant referee Mark Hurd were invited by FIFA to participate as match officials at the 2011 FIFA Under-20 World Cup from July 29 until Aug. 20 in Colombia. Geiger and Hurd will join 15 other referees and 31 other ...

Camden soccer club offers kids recreation, purpose | Courier-Post | courierpostonline.com

From a distance, Camden's Pyne Poynt Park could be like any other in South Jersey.

Union defense will be shorthanded against Timbers (With Video) - delcotimes.com

Delaware County Pennsylvania daily newspaper covering local, regional, and national news including local sports, video and multimedia coverage, and classified advertising.

A reader with officiating experience defends Mark Geiger's controversial calls, in response to Union fans outrage. Devil, meet your advocate.

Mark Geiger has been much maligned for his refereeing decisions during the Philadelphia Union's game against the San Jose Earthquakes last Saturday, but there was one important call he got completely correct. Geiger's handball call on Earthquakes defender Jason Hernandez was absolutely legitimate, despite the fact that almost anyone watching the game couldn't tell if it was or not.

The Union overcome familiar adversity in ten man win over San Jose | American Soccer News
Early afternoon Flyers and Phillies games didn't dampen the support for the Union as PPL Park was rattling in anticipation of a showdown with a San Jose squad that was deep in the Western Conference doldrums.

Mark Geiger managed 80 games, handing out 13 red cards and 26 penalty kicks prior to yesterday's Philadelphia Union and San Jose Earthquakes game. By the time he whistled for the end of the match, one of each was added to his career tallies.

In a league where referees have been the focal point of criticism since its inception, and the majority of this season, it seems almost idiotic that the level of officiating is left to rot at such a low standard.

The Philly Soccer Page " Match Report: Union 1-0 Earthquakes
After a tight and fairly chance-less forty minutes, referee Mark Geiger made sure that the critics of MLS refereeing have all the video evidence they need to strengthen their case. Sebastien Le Toux's 76th minute penalty kick winner was the icing on the cake for a team that continued to take the game to San Jose after losing Jordan Harvey to a straight red card.

Despite a bizarre series of decisions by referee Mark Geiger which led to the Philadelphia Union going down to ten men, they were still able to collect a win over the San Jose Earthquakes Saturday afternoon at PPL Park by the familiar scoreline of 1-0.

It was the Union's fourth win of the season, which all have finished at 1-0.

Sebastien Le Toux scored his first goal of the season, doing so from the penalty spot, and the 10-man Philadelphia Union held off the San Jose Earthquakes for a 1-0 result at PPL Park Saturday afternoon.

Philadelphia was gifted the penalty when Earthquakes centerback Jason Hernandez went to ground to block an Amobi Okugo cross by the end-line, and referee Mark Geiger deemed that Hernandez handled the cross.

American referee Mark Geiger was the man in the middle as Mexico claimed its 11th CONCACAF U-20 Championship on Sunday evening in Guatemala City.
Costa Rica got on the board first from a Joseph Mora goal in the 16th minute, but Mexico answered back just two minutes later. Carlos Orrantia regained the one-goal lead for the Mexicans just before halftime and Ulises Davila added an insurance goal in the 51st minute.

Photo by Jose L. Argueta/ISIPhotos.com

By THOMAS FLOYD

WASHINGTON - After 17 months of anticipation, Charlie Davies' return to top-flight action was, in one way, anticlimactic.

Having not played a first-team minute since suffering life-threatening injuries in a horrific October 2009 car accident near Washington, Davies pulled off his warm ups and prepared to enter D.