Brotherly Game Daily Links: Union look for consistency in crucial stretch

Philadelphia Union News

Know Your Enemy: DC stocked with attacking talent, but Union a better team
On talent alone, Luciano Acosta is one of the best creative midfielders in Major League Soccer. The Argentine’s growth last year was stunning, and his placidity now has prevented DC United from becoming the menacing force they evolved toward a year ago.

Are the Union collapsing? Aurélien Collin doesn’t think so, and knows from experience
“We take one game at a time, and we know that every game we have to win,” centerback Aurélien Collin said after Tuesday’s practice. “So right now, there’s no excuses. We have to make sure that what happened in Chicago doesn’t happen again, and we win on Saturday.”

Time for the Union to find some consistency
Since the end of the Gold Cup break, the Union have struggled to find any sort of consistency, both in attack and in defense. And — troublingly — a baffling lineup change against Chicago this past weekend suggests that, rather than building steadily toward the playoffs, the Union squad is still very much in flux.

Philadelphia Union sign Jack de Vries to homegrown deal for 2020
De Vries, 17, who holds a Dutch passport, has been called up to the U.S. U-17 National Team in 2019 and was committed to the University of Virginia before inking his deal.

MLS News

St. Louis’s new MLS team boasts female majority ownership group
Carolyn Kindle Betz fronts a seven-woman group from the locally based Taylor family. Kindle Betz is the granddaughter of rental car magnate Jack Taylor and the president of the Enterprise Holdings Foundation.

MLS Power Rankings: LAFC leave the competition in the dust
Union drop to number four in this week’s power rankings.

The 10 most significant outbound transfers in Major League Soccer history
With one eye on who may be the next MLS star to test international waters, we focus the other on those who took that jump over the years to evaluate which were the most significant sales in league history.

Miami closes Melreese after tests on Beckham stadium site reveal unsafe arsenic levels
The proposed site for a Major League Soccer stadium and mall in Miami is far more toxic than previously expected, with arsenic contamination levels reaching more than twice the legal limit and surface-level soil samples containing debris that poses a “physical hazard.”

St. Louis Secures MLS Expansion Team; Are Sacramento, Charlotte Next?
Eyes elsewhere will turn toward slots 29 and 30, the last to which MLS is currently committed. There are two openings and, at the moment, two viable bids.

Rest of the World News

Sources: PSG rebuff Barca €190m Neymar deal
Another source close to the negotiation told ESPN FC that Barca’s offer was indeed rejected, but claimed that the offer only reached €170m, and was for a two-year loan with an option to permanently sign after each year.

Ajax face UCL fight after first-leg playoff draw
Ajax have managed to keep the bulk of last season’s team together, with Matthijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong the two major departures ths summer, and fielded seven of the players who started the second leg of their dramatic semifinal against Tottenham Hotspur in May.