CHESTER, Pa. – Philadelphia Union and the Sons of Ben, the club’s supporters group, released today their official rosters for the inaugural River Cup that will take place at PPL Park on July 15. The charity event will feature some of the Union’s ownership including 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).

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The Union take on DC United on Wednesday April 6th at the Maryland Soccerplex in Germantown, MD. This is the ZOLOs first game in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup tournament and a big turnout is expected.

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I wanted to get an inside perspective on the Union players, and thought, what better way then to begin interviewing them! Kyle Nakazawa has become a favorite of section 140 where I reside, so it was only fitting that he is the first to be interviewed. Below is the transcript of my interview. [..]

You know how you sometimes plan something out in your head, really mean to do it, but never quite find the time to sit down and actually execute the task in question? Yeah, sorry for the delay in blogging, fellow SoBs. I blame work. The internet company expects money in exchange for bringing me lolcats and twitter, and burying pennies in the back yard has yet to result in a money tree.

Now, looking forward to tomorrow’s match, Eduardo Coudet is listed as questionable, and being so close to the end of the season, my gut feeling is that young Amobi will be in the starting eleven. He might not be able to pass a stool in a laxative factory, but you can’t deny he’s got the work rate to make things difficult for the opposition, and the potential to be a key player in this league. I’d be very surprised if Coudet and Miglioranzi are both around at the start of next season.

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It’s Chicago in town tomorrow, and quite obviously, the biggest story is our own Peter Nowak and Justin Mapp facing off against the club where they made their MLS careers. While it’s been a few years since Peter played for the Fire, Mapp was wearing red as recently as late July. Having spent eight years and hundreds of games in the Windy City, there’s got to be some sort of bond between him and the fans there, but he’s a great professional, so if he plays tomorrow evening, I wouldn’t expect anything less than total commitment.

He’s been pretty good since arriving here (he was available in the expansion draft, why did we take David Myrie again?), and having picked up two assists and a very important goal in his last two league matches,  as well as an assist in the Chivas friendly, seems to be in the midst of a nice little run of form. He’s a proven MLS contributor right in his peak years, which is something our roster is sorely lacking in, so hopefully he can give the Fire management a bit of a “You made a mistake letting me go” present. [..]