Union Roster For The River Cup Released, Shows Team Is Serious

Philadelphia Union head coach Piotr Nowak and assistant coach John Hackworth head a team of front office staff members that looks to defeat a Sons of Ben team for charity.

The Union released the bigger names on their River Cup team, with Nowak and Hackworth the most notable names on the list. The following are the other names that the Union have announced:

Jay Sugarman (Chairman), Nick Sakiewicz (CEO & Operating Partner) and Rob Buccini (investor) as well as executives and technical staff including Peter Nowak (Team Manager/Executive Vice President of Soccer Operations), John Hackworth (Coach), Rob Vartughian (Assistant Coach/Goalkeeper Coordinator) and Brendan Burke (Reserve Team Head Coach and Assistant Youth Director).

Nowak was a top player in both MLS and the German Bundesliga during his player career and Hackworth made it onto the reserves for the Dynamo in the mid-90s. Burke played in the Irish Premier League, Vartughian played for the Charleston Battery and Philadelphia Kixx, while Sakiewicz was in France and Portugal as part of FC Nantes and Belenenses' development systems. 

Also announced were names on the Sons of Ben side. 

In all, six of the nine SoB elders will play in the match, as Matt Ansbro (President) and Corey Furlan (Vice President) will suit up alongside fellow elders Mark Dunfee, Brad Youtz and Mike Naioti. Two more notable inclusions to the roster are Dave Flagler, an Elder Emeritus who is one of the three Co-Founders of the Sons of Ben, and Kerith Gabriel, a journalist for the Philadelphia Daily News.

This proclamation of the team's roster, along with the Sons of Ben's line up, comes after the Sons of Ben lobbed the first words of "war" with an article posted on the Brotherly Game yesterday.