It's no World Cup, but plenty of reasons to watch Philadelphia Union vs. Harrisburg City Islanders tonight

Philadelphia reached the Open Cup semifinals at PPL Park
back in 2012, beating Harrisburg 5-2 along the way.

Calling an American soccer game the day after the US national team’s dramatic 2-1 win over Ghana is intimidating. It’s not like any mid-season club game can top that type of drama, emotion, or significance.

Nevertheless, I’m really looking forward to calling the Philadelphia Union game against the Harrisburg City Islanders tonight in U.S. Open Cup play (7:00 pm ET, Philadelphia Union YouTube channel). Here are a few of the storylines that make this one worth watching:

1. Motivation: The Open Cup often pits amped-up lower-division teams whose players have a point to prove against MLS teams for whom the game is more of a scheduling nuisance than a date to be circled. (Case in point: the New York Cosmos crushing the New York Red Bulls 3-0 on Saturday). But in this case, both teams will be highly motivated. It will be the first game for Philadelphia under interim manager Jim Curtin, which means players will be trying to prove that they deserve to either stay in the lineup or get a chance to break into it. Curtin has also stated that the Union will prioritize the Open Cup more than some other MLS teams. On the Harrisburg side, this is the biggest game on the schedule so far, and their players will bring maximum effort from the opening whistle. 
2. Connections: With an affiliation agreement in place, these teams work together 364 days per year, but on Tuesday, they will be looking for any advantage they can get. Philadelphia will not allow four players currently on loan to Harrisburg to play against the Union, depriving Harrisburg of three starters (target forward Pedro Ribeiro, wing Jimmy McLaughlin, and center back Richie Marquez). Harrisburg will rely on its knowledge of the Union, thanks in part to wing Morgan Langley and center midfielder Yann Ekra, who have both had brief stints with Philadelphia. Union defender Sheanon Williams began his pro career with Harrisburg in 2010 
3. Up against it: Harrisburg is seriously depleted. This is the City Islanders’ sixth of seven games in 21 days from May 31-June 20, and after seeing both Neil Shaffer and Clesio Bauque subbed out due to injury on Saturday against Pittsburgh, they have only 13 field players available for the 10 starting spots. Nevertheless, Harrisburg is 5-4 all-time in Open Cup games against MLS teams, so head coach Bill Becher and captain Jason Pelletier will be able to instill some belief in the players who are available. 
4. A new era: Curtin is a 34-year-old Villanova alumnus who highlighted his local roots when he was introduced as Philadelphia's interim manager last week. The passionate Union fans want to see a team that reflects their own intensity, and I have a feeling Curtin will be a good motivator. That still leaves questions such as, what formation will Curtin choose, which young players will get looks, and where will some of the more established players line up? The Jim Curtin Era begins tonight, and I’ll be there to get a first glimpse.

	Philadelphia	Harrisburg
Record	3-7-6	3-6-3
Place	8th/10 MLS East	11th/14 USL PRO
Scoring	22-27 = -5	14-20 = -6
Leading scorer	Sebastien Le Toux 4 Conor Casey 4	Morgan Langley 4 Clesio Bauque 3
Open Cup history	4-2, 3-1 home	14-7, 5-4 vs. MLS
Head-to-head	Open Cup: PHI leads 1-0 (2012) Friendly: PHI leads 2-1 (2011, 12, 13)

Two soccer broadcasts coming up next week

Storm brewing during Open Cup game between
Philadelphia and Rochester in 2012.

The eyes of the soccer world are on the World Cup in Brazil, and mine are as well. But soccer continues elsewhere, particularly in the United States, where the US Open Cup, USL PRO, and NWSL all continue playing. I’ve been fortunate enough to schedule two broadcasts so far during the World Cup, both coming next week.

First up, on Tuesday, I’ll be calling the online stream of the US Open Cup game between the Philadelphia Union and Harrisburg City Islanders. I love the Open Cup. I love the pressure the single-elimination Open Cup creates in each game, its potential for upsets, and (if I’m honest) its role as a niche competition overlooked by many. I lived in Philadelphia for almost a year in 2011-12 as my better half finished her studies, so I saw two games during the Union’s run to the Open Cup semifinals in 2012 (including their win over Rochester, pictured above), and I’m excited to be calling their home games in the tournament this year.

Tuesday's game will mean a little something extra to Philadelphia players because it will be the first game for interim manager Jim Curtin, and thus the first chance for players to prove they deserve playing time in the future. Harrisburg is off to a slow start and relies on four on-loan Union players during league play. That quartet will not be allowed to play on Tuesday, one reason Harrisburg is a decided underdog. Don’t write them off, though; the City Islanders have advanced in five of their nine all-time meetings against MLS clubs in the Open Cup.

My second broadcast next week, on Thursday, is exciting in a very different way. It will be my first chance to call a game for the women’s national team, the top-ranked team in the world, as they take on No. 4 France in the second of back-to-back friendly games. These teams’ recent competitive meetings (2011 Women’s World Cup semifinals, 2012 Olympics) were both highly entertaining (3-1 and 4-2 US wins), and France is one of the few teams that can hope to match the US in terms of skill, so this is as big a friendly as you could hope to call, and it will be streamed on USsoccer.com.

Watching tape (and by tape, I generally mean YouTube, although sketchy streams from France have also been used) on both France and the US has been a lot of fun. Both teams will bring some of the best players in the world, particularly on the attacking side of the ball, but we'll also get to see some newer faces at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn., all hoping to make the squads for next year's Women's World Cup in Canada.

I took French in both high school and college and loved trying to read the daily sports newspaper L’Equipe when I have traveled in France, so determining the correct pronunciations for French players’ names has been a blast. It’s made for a busy few weeks of preparation, and it should pay off when I call both games next week!

Looking back on Seattle broadcast: Memorable for me, less so for the Sounders

All smiles before the game began, of course.

I had the chance to step in as a replacement play-by-play broadcaster on the Seattle Sounders' May 11 broadcast, but I'm not sure I'm going to be asked back any time soon.

Seattle came in on a five-game winning streak but suffered a 5-0 loss, its worst in six years of MLS regular-season play. We all know broadcasters have nothing to do with results, but it sure didn't look good for me. I have several college friends who live in Seattle and were excited to watch the game, but as you can see, their excitement quickly turned to frustration:

.@jtyardley WHAT DID YOU DO WITH OUR @SoundersFC ?!?! #justkidding #onlysortof
— Aubrey Bergauer (@aubreyyy) May 11, 2014

The Sounders' production team, from the excellent behind-the-scenes staff led by Brian O'Connell to vibrant pre-game hosts Jackie Montgomery and Taylor Graham and my unfortunately under-the-weather partner Kasey Keller, was extremely welcoming and great to work with. And of course the man for whom I filled in, Ross Fletcher, provided an excellent scouting report on the show format and some storylines when we talked during the week.

Interviewing Lamar Neagle from afar.

The Sounders communication staff and team personnel were also helpful - I talked briefly with defender Chad Marshall on Saturday, then had pre-game production meetings with head coach Sigi Schmid and defender Brad Evans on Sunday, finally interviewing Lamar Neagle for the pre-game show. Full credit to Sigi Schmid for enduring a halftime interview with his team down 4-0 and his voice starting to go.

My favorite two hours.

As for the broadcast itself, I definitely wish I could have another crack at the pre-game show. As always with a new show, there's a level of comfort that would be there the second time around but isn't present right away. It wasn't bad, but just something I know I could have done better. I felt very good about the in-game play-by-play, but of course it didn't create many happy memories for Sounders fans.

We were fortunate enough to be a little bit prescient in highlighting Revolution wing Diego Fagundez. He's one of the players I most enjoy watching in MLS but had been scoreless in 2014. During the week, I looked up the numbers and found that his nine starts without scoring a goal was the longest such streak of his young career, a stat I had not seen anywhere else. He also had a great track record against Seattle. Unfortunately for the Sounders, the trend that continued was him killing Seattle, as he scored twice in the first half. Not good on the field, but you always feel good when something the entire production team chose to highlight ahead of time ends up being relevant to the game itself.

Here's a look at highlights from the game via our broadcast (the league highlights used the home team broadcast in this case):

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the Sounders won their next game and tied the next; as of May 27, they remain on a seven-game unbeaten streak (5-0-2) when I am NOT calling their games. I would love to work with these guys again, but I can't say the odds are looking very good.

Clint Dempsey faces old club for first time, I get to call it! Sounders-Revs on Sunday

MLSsoccer.com

In May 2004, Clint Dempsey was a rookie midfielder for the New England Revolution who had broken into the starting lineup and scored a goal, pretty impressive feats for a first-year professional, but hardly something that screamed ‘international-caliber player.’

Ten years later, Dempsey returns to Gillette Stadium to play against the Revolution for the first time, and his game has done plenty of screaming in the intervening decade.

MLSsoccer.com

That long-haired rookie is now the captain of the U.S. national team and the most prolific American scorer in the history of the English Premier League. He has been the best player on the field – by a country mile, several times – through the first two months of this MLS season, and he is probably the most entertaining player the league has seen in years, providing a mix of jaw-dropping skill (did you see his behind-the-leg spin pass against Colorado?) and brash attitude (how about his forearm to the head of Philadelphia’s Aaron Wheeler?).

All of that will be on display on Sunday when Dempsey’s Seattle Sounders take on New England, and I will be fortunate enough to call the game for Sounders TV, airing on Q13 FOX in the Seattle area, as a fill-in for play-by-play announcer Ross Fletcher, who will remain with his wife as the birth of their first child approaches. Congratulations to Ross and his family, and thank you to the Sounders for bringing me in! I’m really looking forward to the game.

Besides the sheer fun of watching Dempsey play and the emotions his return will bring, both on the field and in the stands, there are a lot of other storylines headed into this game. Here are a few we’ll be watching closely on Sunday:

1. Men on Fire – The Sounders have won five straight games, coming from behind in four of the five and getting late game-winners in three. Add in Seattle’s miracle finish in its 4-4 tie with Portland on April 5, and they have used late goals to pull out a result in five of their last six. 
2. The Fort – New England has not allowed a goal at Gillette Stadium this year, and goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth has only had to make three saves to record his three home shutouts. Despite allowing four goals in their opening (away) game, the Revolution rank fourth in MLS in goals-against-average (1.11), but they’ll be facing a Seattle offense that scores a league-best 2.20 goals per game. 
3. This is the last game before the United States’ pre-World Cup camp begins, which means Dempsey and Brad Evans (and maybe even DeAndre Yedlin, at least for a little bit?) could miss the next two months of action, so Seattle needs to take advantage of its games with Dempsey and Evans on the field. New England’s only World Cup player is Honduran forward Jerry Bengtson, who has struggled to translate his international goalscoring to MLS and is unlikely to start.

I’m excited just to watch this game, let alone call it alongside a former U.S. national team hero in his own right, Kasey Keller, so it should be a fun weekend in New England!

For Sounders fans who don't know me, I'll sound a little different than what you're used to because I'll be speaking American, but rest assured I have an appreciation for Seattle soccer. Long before the Sounders invented MLS, here I am (on the right) with a couple of college friends at a USL game at Qwest Field back in 2005. Some kind souls in the ECS sold me a scarf for my collection, and I haven't forgotten it!

Oh, and the Sounders won that game.

Calling three college baseball games this week on ESPN3!

Jack Kaiser Stadium at St. John's earlier this year.

College baseball is one of my (many) sports passions. It's what got me started in broadcasting as a college freshman in 2002, and after living and dying with the fortunes of the Rice baseball team for four years, the sport at this level is fairly well ingrained as something I care about.

In the Northeast, however, it is nowhere near as big a deal as what I experienced in Texas, nor as what they have in California and the Southeast. Probably because it still feels cold outside, and it's April 25!

But I am psyched to be calling college baseball again tonight, Tuesday, and Wednesday, as I cover the storied St. John's program for ESPN3. Not only will these be my first baseball broadcasts since last year's WAC Tournament, but they will be my first baseball games on a full television production. I've called more baseball games than any other sport (literally hundreds), but I haven't called them for TV until now. To prepare, I've been following college baseball all year and even went to see No. 2-ranked Louisiana-Lafayette play when I was in Dallas last weekend.

Tonight I'll have St. John's against Georgetown in a Big East game. (Click here to watch.) It's pretty clear which team is favored. St. John's is 21-4 in its last 25 games, has the best home record (16-1) in the country, and is expected to at least qualify for the Big East Tournament (four of the seven teams make it). Georgetown, on the other hand, hasn't had a winning season since 1986 and is 1-8 in conference play. But the Hoyas have really improved as a program over the last 15 years and had a 25-18 record at one point last year before faltering down the stretch and finishing sub-.500.

The best part about the game, from my perspective, is that it's a Friday-night series opener. There's something special about Fridays in college baseball, when both teams pit their No. 1 starters against each other and try to set the tone for the series.

You would expect St. John's to have the edge in that department, with the experienced James Lomangino (4-4, 3.99 ERA, 1.38 WHIP) on the mound. I saw him two weeks ago against Butler when he tied a career high with 10 strikeouts, and he was very good. On the other side, Georgetown will start Matt Smith (3-5, 3.90 ERA, 1.49 WHIP), whose numbers are similar, although Lomangino is much more of a strikeout pitcher. So there may not be much of a gap between the starters.

The difference is likely to be in the bullpens, where St. John's is deep and very good and Georgetown is erratic, to say the least. We'll see if that scouting report is accurate or not, but I'm excited to see what happens tonight!

I'll also be calling two mid-week games next week, both of which will likely have a different feel in terms of intensity. St. John's will be looking to get work for its pitching staff against Princeton, playing its final game of the year, and Iona, which is struggling this season. At this point in the year, weekend series are priority No. 1, since St. John's path to the NCAA Tournament pretty much has to go through the Big East Tournament.

What would a fixed U.S. Open Cup bracket look like? Check it out

The 101st edition of the U.S. Open Cup -- a single-elimination tournament open to all soccer teams in the United States -- was announced on Thursday by U.S. Soccer.

The tournament will feature 80 teams, the most in recent history, and be played over eight rounds, with Major League Soccer teams competing in rounds 4-8.

The pairings, however, are only announced two rounds ahead of time, so there's none of the fun speculation and bracket madness we enjoy with other tournaments. Imagine if U.S. Soccer released a bracket in April with all 80 teams. Imagine the pick'ems, the office pools, the bracket challenges!

There are a lot of factors to deal with, most notably long travel for under-funded teams and avoiding head-to-head games between teams and affiliate clubs. I put together a sample bracket, keeping things as even as possible between the bracket and simulating as best as I could a model that prioritizes reasonable travel for MOST matchups.

Here's what I came up with, via two extremely ugly screen captures:

Let me know what you think in the comments below! Would you like to see U.S. Soccer try this model in the future?

Day 2 broadcast comes through with smiles, jubilation in dramatic finish

After a brutally cold first day and a 0-0 game (albeit an entertaining one), we got great weather on Tuesday and a remarkable game to broadcast. Here's my Day 2 recap for MLSsoccer.com.

Real Salt Lake and Stoke City had been two of the more impressive teams on the opening day of the tournament, and they were pitted against each other on Tuesday. Stoke, however, only had 13 players (which meant only one field-player substitute) due to a red-card suspension. Real Salt Lake, meanwhile, had vocal support in the crowd from a Layton, Utah-based youth club that has produced several players on the RSL Academy roster.

Stoke scored early, but Real Salt Lake controlled much of the first half. RSL head coach Martín Vásquez told his players at halftime that they were affording Stoke too much space, and RSL came out possessed in the second half. They tied the score and dominated the entire half, but when Stoke scored following a free kick in the final minute of regulation, it looked like curtains.

There were several minutes of stoppage time, however, and Salt Lake scored a dramatic tying goal with what turned out to be the last kick of regulation in the third minute of stoppage time! The goal really saved their chances of winning the tournament; otherwise Stoke City would have controlled its own path to the final.

Instead, Real Salt Lake won the shootout to earn an extra point in the standings and provide a memorable ending to our broadcast! After we had tearful injuries on Monday's show, I hoped we would get some jubilation on our next broadcast, and we certainly did.

Here's the full archive of the game -- the frantic finish starts around the 1:24:55 mark:

Shivering, sniffling through opening-night broadcast at the MLS U-17 championship

Our setup on Monday night

You would think Dallas in late April would be pretty warm, but the weather on Monday at the 2014 Generation adidas Cup was anything but welcoming. With temperatures in the 40s and dropping into the 30s at night (which, of course, included our live broadcast under a full moon), and a strong wind whipping across the exposed complex all day long, everybody on hand was talking about how cold it was.

The broadcast must go on, of course, so at 8 p.m. CT I stepped onto a small podium near the bench of the San Jose Earthquakes U-17 team and called their game against the Chivas Guadalajara U17s. Coaches and kids from both teams were staying at our hotel, so that made it easier than normal to prepare for the game, but there were still a few challenges. For example, Chivas wears thin, navy blue numbers (often in the triple digits) on a background of red and white stripes, which is virtually impossible to see more than 40 yards away. We also did not have replay capabilities on Monday, although we hope to show replays later in the tournament.

The game itself, despite being the only 0-0 tie of the day in the tournament's championship division (my full Day 1 recap is available here), was pretty compelling. Less than three minutes in, we had the heartbreaking site of a San Jose player in tears after suffering an injury and being helped off the field by his teammates. Whatever the injury, you could see the anguish on the kid's face. Luckily, when I checked at halftime, the injury turned out not to be the complete ruptured Achilles the player had feared it to be.

After San Jose dominated the game in terms of scoring chances but was consistently denied by the Chivas goalkeeper, the Mexican club won in a very well-executed shootout, as the teams combined to score on nine of their 10 penalty kicks. One Chivas player had been injured late in the game, after the club had run out of substitutions. So he remained with his team in the center circle for the shootout, then was carried off in tears by a teammate.

While you obviously hope both kids are OK and get to play again in the tournament, it's not every day you call a game book-ended with that kind of emotion. Hopefully we get more elation than anything else throughout the remaining games!

Here's the full archive of the game:

Set to broadcast six U-17 soccer games at Generation adidas Cup

Quick post - just arrived in the Dallas-Fort Worth MetroPlex on Sunday for a week of broadcasting soccer games for MLSsoccer.com. I'll be calling six games in the Generation adidas Cup, which is the U-17 championship of Major League Soccer. Nine teams qualified for the final around, joined by three international clubs.

Here's a brief preview article I put together for MLSsoccer.com.

The weather conditions are cold and windy, at least for April in Texas, and since we're not working in a stadium with infrastructure but on equipment we set up, there may be some exciting stories ahead!

Talking in the Rain: Calling 2014's USL PRO vs. MLS Reserve League opener

One week after hosting a pregame show for the New York Red Bulls first team, I got to call play-by-play for the Red Bulls Reserves on Sunday, as they played the Dayton Dutch Lions in a crossover game that counted in the standings both for Dayton in USL PRO (the third division of American soccer) and in the MLS Reserve League (now in its final season as teams integrate with USL PRO, either via affiliation or by fielding their own minor-league team).

This particular reserve game took place at 25,000-seat Red Bull Arena, kicking off one hour after the Red Bulls' regular game against Chivas USA. By the time it kicked off, in the rain, there were not a whole lot of people in the building, and I was working the game solo. So it presented some challenges.

But I had researched Dayton as thoroughly as possible, talking to a Columbus Crew coach who gave insight on the seven players his club had loaned to Dayton and to the head coaches of both Dayton and the Red Bulls Reserves before the game. So I knew the players and personnel and had a great time calling the game:

Looking back, I'm frustrated at myself for losing focus on the plays in the second half that led to New York's goals (particularly the set pieces) and will be alert to that moving forward. But it's always good to be in a play-by-play setting, and hopefully there is more to come!

Dayton Dutch Lions (0-1) vs. New York Red Bulls Reserves (1-1)
March 30, 2014 -- Red Bull Arena, Harrison, NJ
USL PRO / MLS Reserve League

Scoring Summary:
NY -- Michael Bustamante 1 (Connor Lade 1, Eric Stevenson 1) 51
NY -- Eric Stevenson 1 (Marius Obekop 2, Arun Basuljevic 1) 61
NY -- Matt Miazga 1 (Eric Stevenson 2) 66

Dayton Dutch Lions -- Matt Williams, Taylor Bowlin (Ross Friedman 70), Brock Granger, Kevan George, Shane Smith, Shintaro Harada, Sebastien Thurière (Fifi Baiden 64), Eddie Hertsenberg (Aaron Schoenfeld 53), Cameron Vickers (Joe Broekhuizen 70), Ryan Finley (Matt Walker 64), Eli Garner.
Substitutes Not Used: Brad Stuver, Eric Kissinger.

New York Red Bulls Reserves -- Ryan Meara, Chris Duvall, Matt Miazga, Kevin Politz (Brandon Tetro 76), Ambroise Oyongo, Connor Lade, Eric Stevenson, Michael Bustamante, Arun Basuljevic (Malcolm Dixon 86), Chris Lema, Marius Obekop.
Substitutes Not Used: Santiago Castaño.

Misconduct Summary:
DAY -- Shintaro Harada (caution) 47
DAY -- Fifi Baiden (caution) 74
DAY -- Aaron Schoenfeld (caution) 88

Referee: Robert Sibiga
Referee's Assistants: T.J. Zablocki; Zeno Cho
Fourth Official: Ashraf Kamel

Weather: Rain-and-46 degrees
All statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial