Cavan’s choice | Sports Daily Newsletter

He’s just 14 years old.

He hasn’t played a second of professional soccer. But Cavan Sullivan’s name already is known worldwide. European powerhouses Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund were courting him. He’ll eventually join the former.

But for now, he’s a member of the Union, his hometown squad.

The Sullivans let The Inquirer tell the story of how the teenage phenom and his family came to the decision and what went into it.

So who is Sullivan? What is the Union Academy? Our soccer experts answer your questions.

Sullivan’s family has been synonymous with Philly soccer for generations — and his brother, Quinn, currently is a Union first-teamer. It’s a “full-circle moment” for manager Jim Curtin. Sporting director Ernst Tanner weighed in on Sullivan’s signing, too.

So now what? Aside from growing — into an adult and a pro soccer player — Sullivan wants “to win the World Cup with the USA.”

— Maria McIlwain, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.

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Here are the Phillies, 26-12 early birds, with the best record in the majors and the third-best through 38 games in their 142-season history, and all anyone seems to be thinking about is … can they keep it up? The past informs us that a 110-win pace is usually unsustainable. The schedule will toughen. Challenges will arise. The Phillies haven’t lost back-to-back games since April 23-24, or three in a row all season. At some point, they will experience a downturn. Maybe the question, then, isn’t whether the Phillies zoomed too quickly to the pole position. It’s how they will handle driving the pace car rather than having to floor it in June and July just to get back in the wild-card race.

Kyle Schwarber, a “grizzly bear with an eight-pack,” as Brandon Marsh likes to call him, is moving better this season. Here’s why.

Next: The Phillies head south to face the Miami Marlins tonight (7:10 p.m., NBC10). Ranger Suárez (6-0, 1.72 ERA) will face Trevor Rogers (0-5, 6.15).

After a disappointing end to the 2023 season, the Eagles made significant changes to their coaching staff. Among those changes were bringing in Vic Fangio, who was previously worked in an advisory role on the Eagles’ coaching staff helping the offense during the 2023 playoffs, and Kellen Moore, the former Los Angeles Chargers and Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator.

On Thursday, Fangio and Moore spoke to reporters for the first time since being hired by the Eagles. Eagles beat writer EJ Smith gives his top takeaways from Thursday’s session, including Fangio’s desire for Philly to be his final stop.

Eagles fourth round draft pick, Will Shipley, was a standout running back at Clemson. But he’s no stranger to Philadelphia. His brother, James, just finished his college lacrosse career at Penn and their brotherly competition helped push Will to the NFL.

The 76ers have big expectations for this summer. With $65 million in cap space, they are expected to go star hunting. But while the Sixers’ coffers are in order, this could be a dry summer on the free-agency market. And the team also has 10 of its own players hitting free agency. So how will they handle all of these variables? The Inquirer takes a closer look at 10 questions facing the Sixers this summer.

Going star hunting, though, doesn’t always lead to success. While teams like the Raptors, Lakers, and Bucks have won championships in recent years, it’s somewhat concerning if the Sixers are looking at any of those teams as an aspiration. A better example of what the Sixers are trying to pull off might be the Knicks, David Murphy writes.

Two years ago, on a rainy May day, Drexel men’s rowing was jubilant. They’d just made history and swept the overall titles at the Dad Vail Regatta. Last year, they brought home plenty of hardware, too.

Now, the Dragons are back, and they’re again looking to sweep the competition.

As for the rest of the two-day regatta, here’s everything you need to know about the 85th iteration of the event.

Next: The Dad Vail Regatta starts bright and early at 8 a.m. today.

Taking flight: Meet Birdy McBirdface, the newest mascot on the Philly sports scene.

‘Empty the tank’: Drexel women’s lacrosse is on a mission in the NCAA Tournament.

Philly connections: North Philly’s Kahleah Copper is settling in with the Phoenix Mercury — and teaming up with a familiar face.

We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Jonathan Tannenwald, Scott Lauber, Alex Coffey, EJ Smith, Jeff Neiburg, Gina Mizell, David Murphy, Kerith Gabriel, Isabella DiAmore, Gabriela Carroll, and Lochlahn March.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

Thanks for reading along! Have a great weekend, and Jim will be in your inboxes Monday morning. — Maria