As Friday beckons, the Philadelphia Union and the Sons of Ben continue to promote their charity match at PPL Park. The two sides held a press conference to bring more attention to the first annual River Cup, which will help provide funding for local youth club Chester City United.

Union CEO Nick Sakiewicz and Sons of Ben President Matt Ansbro sat at a table and went over the details of the game, before delving into some light hearted back-and-forth smack talk. The video of the press conference, edited down to its current length by the Union, is below.

Notes:

• Sakiewicz specified that "100% of the $10" tickets that are being sold as the admission fee for the River Cup will go to Chester City United.
• Tickets can be purchased at the ticket window of PPL Park on gameday.
• The Union's website has this nice little tidbit included in the info section on the River Cup: *Ticket includes $5 off one ticket to a game in August."
• Gates open at 6 pm and the game kickoff is set for 6:30 pm.
• Parking is free in Lot B 
• For more information on the River Cup, please click the linked text here.

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. 

As the July 15th River Cup gets closer, the Sons of Ben team is gaining confidence. A match versus the Philadelphia Union front office will be the first time the two sides face on another on the pitch.

The idea was innocuous enough; the Union front office team playing a friendly match versus the official supporters group team to raise money for the local youth soccer club, Chester City United Soccer Club. 

"After the match," said Luigi Corrado, Sons of Ben Treasurer and member of the SoB team, "I hope they still want us as fans."

Because the Sons of Ben take soccer so seriously, and maybe the recent tensions around the league between supporters groups and front offices - along with the thrill of playing on an MLS pitch - the Sons of Ben team has declared "war" on the front office team. 

"We will beat the Union so badly," Corrado said, " [that] Chester City United will make a donation to them."

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