Alex Seldin

Inside Ballers, Philly's Epic New Sports and Social Club Ballers has it all: courts for pickleball, padel, and squash, golf simulators, a full-service restaurant and bar, a gym, a recovery lounge, and events.

Ballers has it all: courts for pickleball, padel, and squash, golf simulators, a full-service restaurant and bar, a gym, a recovery lounge, and events.

There’s a reason knowledgeable Union fans weren’t too fussed about Gazdag’s departure. We were much more bothered by losing Jack and Jack.

Great analysis of a phenomenal @philadelphiaunion.com season. Kudos to @empiregass.bsky.social and @tombogert.bsky.social

Union absolutely earned this Shield. Almost never dropped their level all year long no matter who they were playing, and clinched it with one of the two or three best wins of the season.

Other contenders couldn't match the week-to-week focus Philly had. Top team.

Iloski is total class on the ball for @philadelphiaunion.com

For no particular reason a note from my newsletter this week.

open.substack.com/pub/tacticsf...

The Union hadn't allowed in a hat trick in nearly 3 years.
They've allowed 2 in 4 days

Since nothing will stop the trend of more and more competitions and games, more substitutes should be allowed in order to protect the players.

Pochettino says his wife told him the U.S. press corps are nicer than ones he faced in England and France and that he shouldn’t have cursed at them (re: the “bullshit” quote that made the rounds yesterday).

Expected a lot of Korean fans at this USMNT but this turnout is next level.

Were those out for the Club World Cup? Didn’t seem like it.

U.S. Soccer has a new vision for youth development. Implementing it is ‘an astronomical ask’ The "U.S. Way" is meant to kick development into high gear, but the American soccer landscape presents a series of challenges

I chatted with U.S. Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker about his grand plan for player development.

(and with him + others about why implementing it is so dang difficult.)

Feature @theathleticfc.bsky.social:

FC Cincinnati: 0 (1.18 xG)
vs
Philadelphia Union: 1 (2.38 xG)

#CINvPHI | #AllforCincy | #DOOP | #MLS | 🤖⚽

That was one almighty win by the Union. My goodness.

Andrew Rick is already so much better than young Klinsmann could dream of being.

So much of this seems like Infantino’s vision of what he thinks American fans require in order to be entertained.

Yes - AppleTV’s low subscriber numbers haven’t been a big problem for Apple but they’ve been a. Huge problem for MLS.

NYC such an under-performer in this regard.

This is the real truth. It’s not that US fans don’t care. It’s just that fans of other teams care more.
In Hartford, Turkish fans made up at least half of the attendance. Doesn’t matter if ticket prices are high or low.

We can argue about Pat or Arf all we want but if Tyler Adams is broken that’s a WC26 problem that no coach can fix.

Should have declined the red card. Once Nashville bunkered we were toothless.

The Club World Cup is only slightly less decadent and depraved now than when it kicked off.

But there can be no doubt that Philadelphia did a terrific job as a host with its eight games, perhaps the best of any city in the tournament.

Rave reviews from visiting teams, media, and FIFA officials.

At this point you’d have to be insane to buy dynamically priced tickets in advance of a concert or sporting event. Prices will either stay the same or go down.

Explains a lot about the @philadelphiaunion.com season so far too.

I also wonder what prices foreign tour groups are paying.

But I was told people wouldn’t pay such high ticket prices for soccer games.

Like they did in World Cup 1994?

Applies to supporters too. Fans of the South American teams seem to be legit hardcore fans who have travelled in or are first or second gen immigrants in the US. Most Chelsea “supporters” are Eurosnob Men in Blazers fans cosplaying for a day.

Has Infantino’s fingers all over it.

Markus Anderson, 2-1 at the death.

How about that.