Photo: Nicolae Stoian
Philadelphia Union got the MLS All-Star game for PPL Park.
So why aren't you excited?
Why was there a collective yawn in response to Tuesday's announcement when there could have been
rapturous joy?
Was it because word had leaked out early and killed the surprise factor?
Less than a year after hosting it's first playoff game, PPL Park will be showcased on July 25th as
the venue for the 2012 MLS All Star Game. Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber officially
announced the event at City ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.
It has been a crazy day for me here. Busy at work. Busy at life. But I wanted to get to this bit
of news before the day really gets away from me.
The Union and MLS have scheduled a press conference in Philadelphia for Tuesday, where
Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter and MLS commissioner are expected to announce that PPL Park will
be host this summer's 2012 MLS All-Star Game.
The Philadelphia Union has released its schedule for 2012. A downloadable file containing the
entire schedule can be found here. With the addition of the Montreal Impact to the Eastern
Conference this year, MLS has moved to a conference based schedule. Each team will play 34 games,
but instead of the balance schedule we enjoyed last year, we will be seeing the following:
Due to the higher number of clubs in the Eastern Conference, each club will play a total of 25
conference matches.
The Philadelphia Union announced on Tuesday that its home opener will take place at PPL Park on
Sunday, March 18.
The time and opponent will be announced at a later date.
The 2012 MLS season will officially commence on the weekend of March 10. Six games will take
place on Saturday, March 10 at Colorado Rapids, D.
Union supporter Tim Carr sent us this story about how his trip to PPL Park before the
Toronto game, where he was volunteering in support of Breast Cancer and Ovarian Cancer Awareness
Day as well as to see the game, took an unexpected turn. Along the way, he was helped by some great
Philly sports fans.
Some photos from my first trip to Philadelphia's PPL Park. We played the Union last season in
the club's inaugural MLS match, but that contest was hosted at Lincoln Financial Field. PPL Park
was a much more intimate environment, and like its European predecessors, the venue rises out of a
working class neighborhood (Chester, Pa.
Photo: Paul Rudderow
I might have the longest drive to PPL Park of any Philadelphia Union season ticket holder.
It's about a 280-mile round trip from Alexandria, Va., to PPL Park in Chester. On the way, I
drive past RFK Stadium, home of D.C. United, and three baseball stadiums two Major League, one
minor (Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, Md.
Philadelphia Union's development system took a giant leap forward Saturday night.
Saturday night's appearances by midfielders Zach Pfeffer and Morgan Langley marked the first
time a true local product has played in a regular season game for the Union.
Until now, Philly-area players haven't been represented at PPL Park in a game that mattered.
Photo: Paul Rudderow
As far as first starts go it was not what Zac MacMath would have wanted, but it was certainly
not a contest he will forget anytime soon. The rookie goalkeeper will fondly remember the night the
Union stormed back from 4-1 down in the second half to earn a gritty point.
(Photos: Paul Rudderow)
With PPL Park playing host to it's first playoff game this Saturday, August 20 at 4:00pm
when the second-seeded Philadelphia Independence host the WPS Super Semifinal, the PSP caught up
with Independence and US National Team goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart. A former WPS champion with FC
Gold Pride who has earned 39 caps for the USA, Barnhart discusses the recent Women's World Cup,
the Philadelphia Independence, PPL Park and WPS.
Photo: Mike Long
Vero Boquete scored the only goal in the Philadelphia Independence 1–0 win over Atlanta on
Sunday night. It was her third game winning goal in the last four games, and with it the
Independence secured at least a second place finish in WPS. A season high, 4,000 people were on
hand as Philadelphia welcomed the bottom team in WPS to Widener University
The match was the first at home for the Independence's USWNT players Lori Lindsey, Amy Rodriguez
and Nicole Barnhart since the end of the Women's World Cup.
Photo: Earl Gardner
The Philadelphia Independence announced today that they may soon play at PPL Park.
The catch? Qualifying for the WPS playoffs.
According to today's press release, "The Independence can secure the right to host at least the
WPS SuperSemifinal on Saturday, August 20 at 4:00 p.
Union
In this week's power ranking roundup, some say up, some say down, another says no change. The
Union stay at no. 4 at MLSsoccer.com while at SBI and Goal.com, the Union move up one spot to no.
5. At Soccer America, the Union drop one spot to no. 4. At ESPN they drop one spot to no. 5.
Veljko Paunovic makes Goal.
Union
Is Carlos Ruiz heading back to his former club Puebla FC? Two articles on the the Spanish
language website periodicodigital.com found by the Brotherly Game say he is. The first article,
published on June 1, says "it is known from a good source that Carlos 'El Pescadito' Ruiz will
return to play with La Franja [Puebla].
Union
Dave Zeitlin tweets "Justin Mapp's groin injury is pretty minor. He might not play Saturday vs
RSL but only as a precautionary measure".
If you haven't done so already, vote Mwanga for Goal of the Week. If you have already, vote
again—you're allowed.
It's power rankings time!
I love it when MLS teams are aggressive with their plans. The Philadelphia Union are indeed one
of those clubs. Philly.com is reporting that the club wants to make their home field even
bigger.
Union officials are developing long-term plans to expand the stadium, contemplating a
three-phase process, the first to increase seating from 18,500 to 20,000.
I love it when MLS teams are aggressive with their plans. The Philadelphia Union are indeed one
of those clubs. Philly.com is reporting that the club wants to make their home field even
bigger.
Union officials are developing long-term plans to expand the stadium, contemplating a
three-phase process, the first to increase seating from 18,500 to 20,000.
Continuing coverage of CandyGate (which conveniently involves both candy and an airport gate)!
It appears that the candy was king size and that the Union players used them to trap Conor Casey in
an airport supply closet. Then Pablo Mastroeni tweeted a picture of the candy, but took it down and
claimed that Danny Califf hacked into his twitter account (although he later admitted this and
Saturday's penalty were both terrible deceptions).
PPL Park was host to the USA Sevens Rugby Championship over the weekend. On Saturday, Army
defeated Penn State 14-5 for the women's championship. Dartmouth was the men's champion, defeating
Army 32-10 on Sunday. PSP photographer Nicolae Stoian was on hand to catch the weekend's
action.
PSP photographer Daniel Gajdamowicz was on the sidelines for Saturday match between the
Philadelphia Union and the Chicago Fire.
Photos by Daniel Gajdamowicz
My fellow bloggers over at http://unholyunion.wordpress.com recently posted some interesting
information about a closed Septa train station at Lamokin, about a fifteen minute walk from PPL
Park.
It found it interesting in that it was posted on the same day that I had my own first
experience, albeit indirectly, with public transportation to PPL Park.
I had some time off this week, so I decided to check out some of the local eateries in Chester
along Route 291 (2nd Street) on the way to PPL Park from the Ridley Park exit. I had often drive by
these places and wondered what they were like or if they offered alternatives to what was available
at PPL Park for game day snacks or meals.
Previously in our series on the other supporters groups we talked two groups immediately
located on either side of the River End and one within the River End. Today we talk to Benjamin
Bedard of the Bridge Crew, a group located in the opposite end of PPL Park in sections 120 and 121.
Location is everything when it comes to what is or is not generally acceptable in how fans can
demonstrate their support for the Union.
Our series on alternative Union supporters groups begins with the Tammany Saints. Members of
the Tammany Saints are mainly located in section 101 in the southeast corner of PPL Park. The
Tammany Saints were founded in late 2009 by Armando Rios—"I guess you could say founder,
but I don't want to sound too formal"— founded the Tammany Saints in late 2009.
It's a new year, so it's time to look ahead. What can you expect from PSP in 2011? Well, we
don't know. 2010 was our first full year. We were new to this. But what we did last year might give
you a clue for this year.
So take a look at the best of our stuff from 2010.If you're new to this site, this is basically
an intro to what we can do, posts that stand the test of time.
