Everton v. Philadelphia Union Gamethread

Just 5 days after their first preseason friendly Everton begins their American tour with a friendly against the Philadelphia Union. Tonight's match will have a few notable absences including Louis Saha who remains at Finch Farm rehabbing his injury, as well as American Tim Howard who just recently returned from his summer vacation. Howards omission from this match came as a surprise to the Union executives considering Howard is one of the biggest Everton names in America. Lineups are below the jump and for those in England the game can be found EvertonTV, or your favorite internet stream.

Everton Lineup: Mucha, Coleman, Baines, Heitinga, Jagielka, Bilyaletdinov, Arteta, Beckford, Neville, Gueye

Everton Bench:Rodwell, Barkley, Vellios, McAleny, Distin, Davies, Dier, Johns, Touray

Philadelphia starting XI:  MacMath; Williams, Valdes, Miglioranzi, G. Farfan; Mapp, Okugo, Torres, Daniel; McInerney, Mwanga

Philadelphia Union bench:  Holder, Gonzalez, Richter, M. Farfan, Pfeffer, McLoughlin, Hernandez

Lineups are up and enjoy the game COYB!

Due to the lack of streams I'm going to attempt to do some liveblogging of the game

Kickoff: We are underway here, Everton defending the river end as it has been termed.

2': Mwanga races down the left side but Heitinga forces the ball off his shin for a goal kick

5': Everton control possession in the Union half, but Arteta's long ball to Coleman can't be contained by the youngster and it goes out for a throw-in.

6': A Stoke City-esque throw from the Union sees Mwanga try to flick it on but it goes over the crossbar

8': Arteta is fouled, Baines whips the free kick in and Beckford gets a flick on, and it goes out for a Corner, taken by Gueye and Cahill jumps to early and it goes out for a goal kick.

11': Union with the throw after a spell of possession, they whip a cross in but the header goes straight at Mucha from the penalty spot, should have done better there.

14': Another free header from the Union, Valdez connects on it, but pushes it wide of the post. The Union have the upper hand right now although few chances for them so far.

16': Neville with a bit of a lazy challenge around midfield, Union free kick into the far post where Daniel heads it across goal but no one is there to meet it, Coleman clears

18': Cahill plays Beckford thru on the left side, Beckford does well to draw the foul just outside of the left side of the box. Arteta goes for goal and is about a foot to the left of the near post, out for a goal kick. Would have gone in if he had put it on frame.

22': Corner for the Union, Cahill clears it, but Mwanga seems to having no fear about getting stuck in against Heitinga and Mucha. Game is opening up a bit as both teams have seemed to work the kinks out of their play.

24': Beckford with a chance at a bad angle on the right after Arteta plays a brilliant ball to him following a sprint through the midfield. Beckford took a touch to move the ball in front of him, but made a mess with it.

30': Cahill and Gueye both have good crosses into the box but they are easily cleared. Arteta goes down in an accidental collision, but looks to be ok

33': Beckford with another chance, he gets his head on Bily's cross but lifts it over the bar.

37': Baines whips in a beautiful cross between Beckford and the keeper, but no one can get a touch and it rolls out for a goal kick.

Halftime: Everton have had two chances from Jermaine Beckford, and the Union have had two unmarked headers as well. Everton seemed to defend a little to deeply at some points in the first half, but did grow stronger as the half wore on. I'll be back with the second half kickoff.

Subs: Arteta, Beckford, and Gueye are all off. They are replaced by Distin, Vellios, and Rodwell

45': We are underway, Neville moves back to right back, Coleman pushes up to right mid, Heitinga pushes up to center mid, and Distin takes his place alongside Jags

48': Union attempt to free Mwanga into the box after controlling the attacking third, but Mucha does well to scoop up the pass

50': Mwanga does well to hold up the ball at the top of the box after receiving it on the right. He lays it off to Torres who makes a mess of it.

51': Cahill has an excellent chance out of nowhere, but puts it wide

52': Mwanaga with an excellent chance he turns and shoots at the top of the 18, and puts it into the side netting. An excellent shot on the half chance, supporters on that side of the goal thought he had scored.

56': Billy looking sharp on the left, he feeds Vellios to the top of the box, and Vellios holds the ball before playing it across the pitch to Neville, who combines with Coleman before putting the cross way over the goal.

57' Everton corner taken by Neville, Vellios tries to get it but it is knocked out to Heitinga who rips a laser wide of the right post. Everton in the ascendency here.