Few things are better than a Monday after a win.
Water cooler conversations around here become all Union all the time.
Meetings that drone on aren’t as much of a nuisance and even the wafting smell of burnt popcorn throughout the office are surprisingly bearable.
Overall, the mood is jovial; when life is made easy by virtue of another performance that finds the club now second place in MLS’ Eastern Conference.
Just in time for a week break from league action.
The team enjoyed a day off from training today, but many of the guys took part in a voluntary weightlifting session with strength and conditioning coach Kevin Miller. The players resume training tomorrow ahead of a Saturday evening friendly against Mexican League club Pumas UNAM (5 p.m., purchase tickets).
As far as training goes this week, manager John Hackworth offered these words following Saturday’s win:
“I think we try to keep our rhythm going. It’s a really good time to push these guys so we’ll have some really hard training sessions [this week]. We have a friendly [coming up] here so guys who haven’t played will get an opportunity to show everyone how much true competition we had in preseason.”
Before we forget, quick message for season ticket holders…this game is Bonus Game No. 1 in your season parking passes.
Moving on…
Many of you have expressed concern for midfielder Danny Cruz, who was taken out in the seventh minute of Saturday’s match. Cruz suffered the blow to the head after blocking Lee Nyugen’s free kick. He is scheduled to undergo further evaluation by the Union's training staff this week.
Also, regarding reports that a possible move looks imminent for midfielder Freddy Adu, manager Hackworth reiterated to philadelphiaunion.com today that he will discuss the situation during his Wednesday afternoon press conference, scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Watch streaming coverage of Hack’s presser via philadelphiaunion.com/live in addition to the replay of on our YouTube account youtube.com/philadelphiaunion.
Could this be the second week in a row that a Union player gets named to the top of MLS’ Top 3 Performers of the Week list? This week, Jack McInerney is in the running and needs your help to be voted the winner. There is some tough competition out there, but we think this will help in a decision to make Jack Mac the obvious choice:
Got to love what Union television color analyst Alejandro Moreno says just before the goal:
“There’s momentum building and now is the time as a team to take advantage of it and put a goal on the board.”
Talk about foreshadowing…
The picture to our right is the winner of our #GotLucky contest, Union fan Karen Whisman, who snapped this photo with our very own Lucky the Leprechaun on Irish Night. Congrats, Karen!...The picture above is of the awesome seventh grade English students on team 7C at Dowiningtown Middle School. On Friday, those kids got a chance to learn the ins and outs of philadelphiaunion.com. It was a great day with some awesome kids and we think we may have just converted many of them into Union fans....Amobi Okugo is tomorrow’s featured guest on “The 90th Minute” radio show. The one hour (6:00-7:00 p.m.) program sponsored by Farmers Insurance is once again live from Chickies and Pete’s in Northeast Philadelphia (11000 Roosevelt Blvd.) and features hosts Carl Cherkin, special guest host Chris Albright and yours truly.
Hope to see you all out. Can’t make it? Listen live on CBS SportsRadio WIP (610-AM) or through the radio.com app.
That’s all for now, catch you tomorrow…
Contact Union writer Kerith Gabriel at kgabriel@philadelphiaunion.com
