Local soccer news roundup
The Independence will play in West Chester instead of Chester. Plus a Union signing.
For quite some time, it seemed that the Independence would be playing at the Union's stadium in Chester. It made sense for all the reasons you could think of, especially that of having one place for both of the region's soccer teams.
But there was a caveat: with the seasons starting at around the same time, what would happen if the stadium wasn't ready? The Union signed a deal to play at the Linc, and now the Independence have made their move.
Except the Independence have done it for the entire 2010 season.
The team announced this morning that it will be playing at West Chester's football stadium, which seats 7,500 fans.
I talked to a spokesperson for the Independence this morning and was told that the team "had to secure a location bceause when the season stars the [Chester] stadium would not be complete.
Playing at Chester "was the intent," I was told. But because of the construction delays and the need to move ticket sales along, "people needed to know where the venue was going to be, and a decision had to be made in order to be able to do that."
I asked if there would be any public transportation available, since West Chester University is not served by SEPTA, and was told that "we are talking about looking into some shuttle bus services from certain strategic points."
(WCU used to be SEPTA-accessible via the R3, but the line was closed past Elwyn in 1986.)
The Union has made some news today as well. Soccer365.com is reporting that former U.S. national team defender Danny Califf has agreed to a buyout with his Danish club, FC Midtjylland, in order to come to Philadelphia.
Califf has spent the last three years in Denmark, having originally moved there to play for Aalborg. He previously played for San Jose and Los Angeles in MLS.
Also, the Union will be hosting a World Cup Draw viewing party at Fado at 15th and Locust on Friday starting at 11:30 a.m. I'll be there and hopefully will be liveblogging the draw from there.
But I wonder if I should have told you since the place will probably be packed enough as is.