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MLS Notes: Philadelphia Union add Sheanon Williams, Wizards ink homegrown player and more

Sheanon Williams (ISI)

Photo by Tony Quinn/ISIphotos.com

By TRAVIS CLARK

The youth movement in Philadelphia continued Tuesday, with the club announcing the acquisition of 20-year-old defender/midfielder Sheanon Williams.

A U.S. representative at two Youth World Cups — the U-17 in 2007 and U-20 in 2009 — Williams joins after a stint with USL-2 side Harrisburg City Islanders. Philadelphia Assistant Coach John Hackworth coached Williams at the 2009 U-20 World Cup in Egypt. He also played a season of college soccer at UNC.

The acquisition of Williams brings Philadelphia to the roster limit.

Here are a few other MLS stories:

WIZARDS SIGN YOUTH PLAYER

The Kansas City Wizards became the latest MLS team to sign a member of their Academy to a professional contract on Tuesday, signing goalie Jon Kempin. The 17-year-old was a member of the Wizards Juniors, and also spent two sessions at the U.S. Soccer U-17 residency program back in 2008 and 2009. As part of the Homegrown roster rule, Kempin won’t be eligible to play this season and won’t be counted as part of the 24-man roster.

NOTES

Three MLS players were called up by the Gambian national team — Sanna Nyassi of Seattle will join his brother Sainey and Kenny Mensally of the Revolution for a African Cup of Nations qualifier back in Africa.

Joel Lindpere turned down a call up to play for Estonia this week in a pair of World Cup qualifiers.

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What do you think of the signing? Can Williams have an impact this season? Glad to see another youth player sign on? Excited to see more MLS players get national team call ups?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. for real? so you don’t think there’s any issue with a the coach of team getting a dui, particularly when he’s coaching kids?

    letting a kid “grow up” means putting them in that type of situation?

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  2. Just out of curiousity, could Lindpere switch national team allegiance if he wanted to and play for the US under FIFA rules? He’s capped over 70 times for Estonia.

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  3. or maybe he doesnt have parents, and was raised by wolves at Swope Park where the Wizards training facility is

    jtd would be homeschooling his kid, honestly, let lil’Timmy grow up

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  4. Good to see a former DC player do well. Between Danso and Janicki, the odds are pretty good that at least one former DC CB will make the jump back into MLS.

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  5. Very happy for Futty but you forget about James Marcelin who got called up for Haiti earlier this year. Granted it was just a friendly but still very cool!

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  6. Mamadou Danso from the Portland Timbers was called into the Gambian National Team this week as well. First Timber since Brent Sancho to report for national team duty. Congrats Futty!!

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  7. Fair point.
    I would still contend that the head coach of a pro sports team that is deepening it’s connections within the community and signing that communities youth to it’s squad should have the where-with-all to understand that pushing the line between what is a little or a lot over the legal limit is probably not a good idea. If I’m a parent of a talented 16 year old that kc has it’s eyes on, I’m definitely thinking twice about letting him sign with a coach who doesn’t appear to have this figured out yet.

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  8. As a non-parent of legal drinking age, I would first ask if he was Tony LaRussa drunk (asleep at a traffic light) or just over the limit, or if he is just over the limit might he have restrictions on his license which would cause him to be over with just single beer.

    While I would make fun of him when he visits my team, I would not judge him without getting at least a couple facts first.

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  9. Mike Wheeler, A soccer agent is reporting he’s bringing an ex Inter Milan player to trial with an MLS team in September… guesses as to who it is?

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  10. Estonia is playing one UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying match and one friendly both at home in their 9,692 seat stadium. They are currently top of the table in their group with one win over Faroe Islands after get two extra time goals.

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  11. I think he left after his freshman year with dreams of playing in Europe, only to find out he wasn’t good enough at every stop. I want to say he looked into signing with MLS upon failing his trials, but would have had to take a terrible offer, as MLS is prone to do. So, he continued on his journey of trying to find a Euro team for awhile, then trained with RSL but ended up in D3 or PDL. He definitely got some bad advice, as he certainly needed more than one year in college to refine his skills. Hopefully he can grow up to be a nice player for Union.

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  12. Man Estonia might make it to the World Cup if they get to play World Cup qualifiers this early and get a head start on everyone else.

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  13. Good point Aaron, Ives can you explain how the Union were able to sign Williams as a former youth international player wouldn’t he have to go through a Weighted Lottery?

    (SBI-He had already gone through that process and nobody wanted him, therefore he was free to go anywhere he wanted. The kid has been in limbo for a year now.)

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  14. My pedastal? You may have to explain more. I was under the impression that we are able to comment freely – within reason- here. I posd a question: I DO wonder what the parents of a 17 year think about signing their son over to a squad where the coach is arrested for drunk driving? As MLS growth continues, as evidenced by this new round of signings for home grown talent of young, underage players, a certain mount of trust is put into the coaching staff. If the head of that staff is DUI-ing what message does that give to parents who may be considering allowing their child to be under someone like Vermes wing. This isn’t necessarily lke the NBA or NFL. These are high school kids. My question/pondering is valid. Then again, I don’t necessarily expect you to understand valid questioning of a manager… afterall, the soccer brains in St Louis hired Claude Anelka for your coach (see now, that’s a personal shot).

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  15. Aaron — jtd is not getting up on a “pedestal.” He’s making a legitimate point about a coach’s responsibility to kids on a professional sports team. jtd illustrates the point with a personal experience, and he surely is not alone in knowing someone killed or almost killed by a drunk driver.

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  16. Montenegro has a very very good team, whereas Estonia get battered by 5 each time they play. Worthless for him to travel all that way for nothing. Boskovic has something to play for.

    This coming from a DC fan 🙂

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  17. Not sure your reply makes to much sense. What is your definition of a personal shot? Just drawing connections. The article in his arrest was previously posted on this site. It’s worth stating since the home
    grown signings are getting younger and younger. These coaches have a responsibility to them and their coumunities.

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  18. I know you’re being facetious, but – this might be Lindpere’s only chance to part of a team that might win something. Playing for NY might be bigger than playing for Estonia,, which really makes it a rare exception. Even Boskovic prefers to paly for Montenegro over DCU.

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  19. Williams will have a huge impact this season. I predict that Philly will be able to move past the Revs and claim 6th place in the Eastern Conference (13th place overall). They might even be able to set their sights on the Dynamo or the Fire.

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  20. And all this young home grown talent signing with MLS Clubs at a time when a lot of world class talent from all over the world is ariving. A very big corner is being turned this year, this only helps the MLS and the USMNT.

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  21. you know that MLS has made it when European players are declining call-ups to their national teams!

    Especially against Italy and Serbia!

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  22. The wizards signed homegrown talent. Good for them. Interesting note… The kid is 17. I’ve been working with a 17 year old kid who was nearly killed by a drunk driver last week. I wonder how Kempin’s folks feel about him playing for a coach who is out getting dui’s and putting other peoples lives at risk.

    Reply

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