As Brendan Burke addressed the media two days before Bethlehem Steel FC plays its first USL game, the coach made abundantly clear one fact: In just four months on the job, Burke has managed to establish a more cogent ideology around his team than its seven-year-old parent club has yet uncovered.

Burke’s expectations and methodologies seem clear-cut when Steel FC debuts Friday evening at FC Montreal (7 p.m., live stream below).



Burke’s roster is sparse, comprising just 13 players after the addition of Fred as player/coach Thursday. (That’s even less populous than I surmised last fall.) There may be one or two bodies forthcoming to swell the ranks on a permanent basis. But Burke is assured in Steel’s place within the Union’s hierarchy. Instead of stuffing the roster with players just to meet quotas and artificial expectations, the guiding philosophy has been only adding players with legitimate chances of breaking into the Union’s MLS squad.

“I think we’re in great shape,” Burke said. “We’re a small but focused group. … We’ve had a number of trialists through, but I think what we found is that we’re happy keeping a smaller number of players who we really trust and who we really think have an opportunity to move through to the first team at some stage in their developments.”

Most of Steel’s roster fits that bill. Captain Ryan Richter has MLS and NASL experience. Irish midfielder James Chambers adds a wealthy of European games. Young players like Nigerian-born Bolu Akinyode, Canadian midfielder Josh Heard, Jamaican forwards Amoy Brown and Cory Burke and Liberians Gabe Gisse and Seku Conneh have been identified by Union brass for large upsides. Academy product Derrick Jones is the first Homegrown to land in Bethlehem, and he’ll surely be joined by more in the near future.

The roster includes USL stalwarts like goalie Samir Badr, defender Michael Daly and Ardmore native Nick Bibbs, who’ll mentor younger players and contribute to what Burke hopes is a winning side, though that’s not the primary goal.

More important is that the Union’s affiliate reflects a similar playing style as what has finally emerged from the MLS side, all the better to facilitate promotion of high achievers from USL to MLS.

“I think part of our goal is to tactically mirror what the first team does and to reinforce some of the things that the younger first-team players are being taught and what our players would need to know to step into that environment,” Burke said. “So I think if we get it right, we should look very similar to the first team on the field.”

On the personnel side, this week is unique, the FIFA international window giving the Union a bye. More players than usual will be shuttled to Bethlehem, with the Union sending Eric Ayuk, Leo Fernandes, Fabian Herbers, John McCarthy, Walter Restrepo, Taylor Washington and Josh Yaro. Steel will also use Academy players as opportunities arise, though many of those prospects are away with various U.S. age-group squads this week.

Burke didn’t make any promises on a lineup, but it’s a safe bet that playing loaned Union players is a priority. Guys that have made the Union’s gameday 18 in the first three weeks like Herbers, Fernandes and McCarthy aren’t going to Canada to sit the bench. The same goes for Yaro, who’ll likely pair with Daly in a backline that’ll feature Richter and possibly Washington. Burke heralded Jones’s work this preseason, so he’ll likely start as the holding midfielder.

When you’re coming off a 3-0 win at home like the Philadelphia Union Sunday, it’s easy to write off struggles from the penalty spot as easily fixable issues, ones the fortunately did not affect the outcome against New England.

Jim Curtin Wednesday more or less regarded the failures from the spot as an anomaly, and the numbers reinforce that. For one, there’s this stat on Revs goalie Bobby Shuttleworth, which is pretty impressive:

Bobby Shuttleworth the fourth GK in MLS history to save two PKs in a game (Tony Meola - 2002, D.J. Countess - 2003, David Ousted - 2015).

— Nicholas Rosano (@nicholasrosano) March 20, 2016

But even more illustrative of Sunday’s oddity is this stat: The Union missed as many PKs against the Revs as they had in their first six-plus seasons of MLS play. Here’s the breakdown by year, including John Hackworth’s infamously lamentable PK-free year of 2013, in which the Union scored on 20 of 22 penalty kicks awarded in MLS play until Sunday:

2010 3/3
2011 4/4
2012 5/6
2013 0/0
2014 7/7
2015 1/2
2016 0/2

The two misses were Michael Farfan against Sporting Kansas City in 2012 and Maurice Edu last year against Seattle, equaling the number of failed conversions proffered by Ilsinho and Sebastien Le Toux Sunday. For the Frenchman, it was his first missed PK in 14 attempts with the Union.
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Union (4-2-3-1)

Blake

Fabinho-Marquez-Tribbett-Rosenberry

Creavalle-Carroll

Ilsinho-Alberg-Pontius

Sapong

Bench: McCarthy, Anderson, Gaddis, Fernandes, Le Toux, Nogueira, Herbers.

New England (4-2-3-1)

Shuttleworth 

Tierney-Goncalves-Farrell-Watson 

Koffie-Caldwell 

Fagundez-Nguyen-Rowe 

Bunbury 

Bench: Knighton, Neumann, Hollinger-Janzen, Barnes, Woodberry, Agudelo, Herivaux

- The Union won with this lineup in Columbus last week, so why not go back to the well? The central midfield pairing of Warren Creavalle and Brian Carroll appears a little conservative, but it should give free reign for Creavalle to get forward. He did score plenty of goals in the preseason, and he’s made some smart runs forward, so let’s see if he can shift the numerical balance in attack.

- Roland Alberg gets his first start with the Union, moving Ilsinho to the wing in place of Leo Fernandes. It’s a good chance to see how those two work together and whether that brings the advanced dynamism that Jim Curtin hopes for.

- All is quiet on the defensive front. Ken Tribbett and Richie Marquez reprise their partnership, while Keegan Rosenberry gets a third straight start. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

- The big change for the Revs is enforced by Charlie Davies’ hamstring injury. He misses out, with Teal Bunbury shifted up top and Kelyn Rowe introduced. It’s not a huge change, and Lee Nguyen and Diego Fagundez are still out there to ease any transition. Juan Agudelo is on the bench in case things don’t work and Jay Heaps can make a change.

By the doctrine of lowered expectations, the Philadelphia Union’s 2-0 loss to FC Dallas contained positives. I mean, what did you expect from a team that had turned over half its roster, handed MLS debuts to six players (Union debuts to seven) and had just two holdovers from last year’s opening-game starting lineup traveling to the team that finished atop the Western Conference in 2015?

That the Union failed to embarrass itself should ring as hollow consolation. But adding to those hope dampeners the absence of the last two players to wear the captain’s armband, and maybe survival without humiliation is a moral victory of sorts. Put another way, at least the Union can still proudly trumpet that they are not the Chicago Fire.

First the positives, even if most reek of damning with faint praise. Andre Blake’s outing was an unqualified success. He was hung out to dry twice, but it would’ve been a four-goal game had the Union had an average keeper in net. He’s been a very busy man for the Union:

With 8 saves today, Andre Blake has made 41 saves in 8 MLS starts. For comparison, Rais Mbolhi made 17 saves in 9 games.

— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) March 6, 2016

Now the qualifiers. Ken Tribbett didn’t look completely out of place of MLS. Ditto Anderson. Keegan Rosenberry decisively passed the Raymond Lee Rookie Right Back Test (patent pending). Ilsinho looked willing and able to contribute in MLS. You can only be so sanguine watching Fabian Castillo do this:

#SpeedKills #FCDvPHI pic.twitter.com/7mUuvXb576

— Ben Jata (@Ben_Jata) March 6, 2016

Even the numbers are better. The Union actually won the possession battle with 50.9 percent of the ball, something that occurred just seven times in MLS last year. (The Union were 2-4-1 in those games, the last occurring July 18 at Toronto FC.) Two shots on target – one a sharp-angle header by Anderson off an overcooked corner – aren’t enough of a payoff, but a passing percentage of 69 is passable if not ideal given the circumstances. Consider that last year’s 2-0 loss to FC Dallas at PPL Park, marred by Zach Pfeffer’s red card, afforded the Union 46 percent possession.

Every part of Sunday’s affair comes with this push and pull, and nowhere is it more profound than in what could broadly be called the Union’s “style.” It may be too much to expect an injury-diminished team to internalize and acclimate to a drastically novel way of playing in game No. 1. But so much of Sunday felt regressive.

The Union still deployed Brian Carroll as a holding midfielder, essentially a deep-lying double pivot with the ghostly Vincent Nogueira. They still turned to Sebastien Le Toux for a late-game spark and their best goalscoring chance. They still “went with the big ball a little too much today, which is not what we did in the preseason,” according to Chris Pontius, too often bypassing midfield to feed an under-pressure and isolated CJ Sapong too high up the pitch.

Some of those concepts will take time to implement. Take Jim Curtin discussing the fullbacks. While Rosenberry showed some glimmers of attacking promise, Fabinho struggled mightily, a product of Dallas’s attacking pressure wearing out the defense and pinning them back.

“(Our outside back) are good on the ball. They’re comfortable. They can make passes. I think it’s important spacing-wise that they’re in an area of the field that’s a little higher up then they receive it, so Castillo or (Michael) Barrios isn’t the one running at them. They’re ahead of that so they can create man-more situations, 2-vs.1. So being as a starting point a little higher. Part of it also is our center back shaving the confidence to hit the little clipped ball over the wingers.”

Those are issues that may take months to acquire fluency in.

At the end of the day, the pressures seem to be in opposition. It’s a results-oriented business, and Curtin needs to get results, particularly if his seat is as hot as many league-wide pundits believe. But let’s be clear: The Union were highly unlikely to get a result in Dallas, much the same way that they’re very unlikely to return from Columbus with points next week.

This early in the season, in such early days of a comprehensive rebuild, the process warrants attention. The Union want to operate differently than the club’s past milquetoast iterations. Curtin reflected that in his selections Sunday – Leo Fernandes over Le Toux, Rosenberry over Ray Gaddis, Anderson over Richie Marquez.

But on the basis of one game – and it is only one game against one of the MLS’s most daunting opponents – not much beyond the customary carousel of names has changed.

So numerous are the illustrations of change within the Philadelphia Union that the numbers no longer astound. Yet 365 days from the 2015 season opener, one more stat about the tumult and Earnie Stewart-overseen cleanout seems worth mentioning.

Thanks to a bevy of new arrivals like Fabian Herbers, left,
Vincent Nogueira is one of the few holdovers from last season's
Union lineup. (Digital First Media/Pete Bannan)

Of last year’s starting XI for the opener against Colorado, six are no longer with the Union. Coupled with Maurice Edu’s injury absence and (depending on who you ask) the tenuousness of certain veterans’ spots, it’s possible that CJ Sapong and Vincent Nogueira are the only two players to start consecutive openers.

Stewart’s rebuild is still in the nascent phases (Josh Yaro is to the Union as Michael Carter-Williams was to the Sixers?), and the club opted for the prudent course of building for the long term instead of spending more on short-term patches.

Those tempered expectations portend another season of playoff-free soccer at The Stadium Formerly Known as PPL Park, even if the elements thereof contain more redeeming and hopeful qualities.

For mocking purposes, here’s my prediction for the Union’s 2016 result:

11-13-10, 43 points, 8th in the East

The Union will improve. They’ll capitalize more often on opportunities afforded by MLS’s schedule, like games when none of LA’s designated players want to fly east or when Toronto has four guys on international duty. They’ll drop fewer points from leading positions, their hallmark. They’ll threaten for the playoffs before fading as other teams get serious and pull away.

But they also lack the firepower to consistently collect wins. Having Sapong as the lone striking option isn’t dire if the midfield responds by creating chances more consistently than last season (or if they splash some cash in the summer, maybe for some guy whose name rhymes with “Blatan”). Andre Blake’s stability in goal will be an unfamiliar yet appreciated boon.

By the end of 2016, the goal should be for the Union to have fewer liabilities within the squad and have identified the path toward remedying them and achieving regular playoff contention.

And now, league-wide predictions:

Eastern Conference

After stumbling in last year's MLS Cup final, Ethan Finlay
and the Crew are poised to be back in the picture again. (AP)

1. Columbus. Kei Kamara is paid and happy. Ethan Finlay is getting his due in the national team picture. The Crew hit their stride last year, and if Wil Trapp features more this year than last, the Crew are Supporters Shield contenders.

2. Toronto. The Big 3 are back, and even if Sebastian Giovinco doesn’t ascend the heights of last year’s MVP campaign, the rebuilt defense should even out the peaks and valleys to help the Reds collect points more consistently.

3. New York Red Bulls. The Red Bulls have won the Supporters Shield twice in three years. Any drop off this season in replacing Matt Miazga promises to be slight within a Jesse Marsch system designed to exceed the sum of the individuals.

4. Montreal. If Didier Drogba replicates what he did late last season over 30 (or because of turf, 26) games, the Impact will compete for MLS Cup. Smart offseason additions mean that the Impact are more than just a one-man team.

5. New England. The injury to DP acquisition Xavier Kouassi puts a damper on their offseason, but the passel of attackers entering their primes jelling for another year should eliminate some of the nagging inconsistency of the past.

6. Orlando City. The Lions threatened for a playoff place in their expansion year. While Cyle Larin may suffer a sophomore slump, less roster upheaval and more time for a young nucleus to coalesce should portend improvement.

7. New York City FC. The defensive issues have been addressed, and the team seems closer to competing. But accommodating Andrea Pirlo and Frank Lampard in the same midfield hasn’t become any more conducive to winning.

8. UNION. Earnie Stewart has improved the team in his first offseason at the helm. He’s positioned them well for the future. But those gains won’t yet bridge the sizeable gap between the Union and the ever-increasing standard for playoff inclusion.

9. D.C. United. With no replacement for Perry Kitchen, D.C.’s group is another year older and not that much wiser. The Ben Olsen hoodoo on opponents started to wear off last year, and this might be the year all the narrow escapes catch up to D.C.

10. Chicago. Vjelko Paunovic’s rebuilding project is on the order of years. He’s cleared out some lots of dead weight on the Fire roster, and David Accam is a valuable piece who will attract international transfer attention, but there are no expectations of an instant turnaround.

Western Conference

Kekuta Manneh, left, the the Whitecaps
are primed for a stellar season. (AP)

1. Vancouver. The Whitecaps are one of the most daunting trips in the league. They have so many pieces back from a squad that started to flourish last year, and that continuity should yield wins with alarming regularity.

2. FC Dallas. Dallas will contend for MLS Cup. After winning the West last season, their youthful core can still improve. The only reason for pessimism is the possibility of a hiccup if a foreign club woos Mauro Diaz or Fabian Castillo this summer.

3. Seattle. Jordan Morris will have a role instantly with the Sounders, breathing new life into a side that seemed to stagnate last year. The regular season is just an elongated exercise in ramping up, since it’s MLS Cup or bust this year.

4. Portland. The reigning MLS Cup champs could experience a slight hangover. But they struggled early last year, too, and with the bulk of the team back and strategically reinforced, the Timbers will be in the conversation once again.

5. L.A. Galaxy. There’s too much talent for the Galaxy not to make playoffs, even while trying to replace Omar Gonzalez, finding a role for the aged Steven Gerrard and keeping the disciplinary report from being renamed in Nigel De Jong’s honor.

6. San Jose. The Earthquakes finally seemed to hit on something a little too late to salvage last year’s season. Dominic Kinnear knows how to win in MLS, and if they can maintain the same strong spine while finally unlocking Tommy Thompson’s potential, maybe the playoffs are in the offing.

7. Real Salt Lake. The dependence on Jamison Olave, whose knee ligaments are one tackle from oblivion, to anchor central defense is concerning. The return of Yura Movsisyan could be invigorating, but he’s struggled to score in MLS before.

8. Sporting Kansas City. SKC is better in most respects. Their defense is healthy, they have a bevy of MLS effective midfielders. But they didn’t replace the wing scoring of Krizstian Nemeth, which puts an uncomfortably large burden on Dom Dwyer after a lackluster season.

9. Houston. Owen Coyle is accruing pieces. But how they all fit together remains a question that requires time. Will Bruin could have a crazy breakout season to keep them in contention, and while they won’t be easy to play against, that doesn’t a playoff team make.

10. Colorado. Shkelzen Gashi could be one of the big surprises in MLS this year, and the Rapids season is in a holding pattern until the Tim Howard rumors resolve themselves. Stockpiling young talent bodes well, but the rebuild shows no signs of abating, even if Jermaine Jones makes it more interesting.

MLS Cup: FC Dallas over Red Bulls.

Supporters Shield: Columbus.

The Philadelphia Union are four days from the start of the 2016 season. They also have, according to manager Jim Curtin, “two spots left where there are still discussions about” who starts against Dallas.

Perhaps it’s coincidence that that number equals the amount of practice absences this week – midfielders Maurice Edu and Tranquillo Barnetta. Edu (stress reaction in leg) has yet to train with the club and has been in and out of a walking boot in recent weeks. While Curtin stopped at doubtful in his assessment, it’s almost assured the midfielder won’t play.

Barnetta received an injection in his knee, which was surgically repaired during his stint in Germany, and didn’t train with the team Tuesday or Wednesday. Curtin said that the Union, “(will) monitor that and be smart.” That seems to peg Barnetta as doubtful for the opening week with no need to rush him back.

Without those two, what does a Union lineup look like? Try this one:

Bench: McCarthy, Anderson, Creavalle, Carroll, Ilsinho, Restrepo, Herbers

Curtin’s two battles are likely for the starting center back spot alongside Richie Marquez and the composition of central midfield. He’s said that Vincent Nogueira has played as a No. 6 in preseason, and with Edu’s absence open-ended, Nogueira may see significant time there. Brian Carroll could get the nod if the Union want to go defense-first with Nogueira as the No. 8 bumping Roland Alberg, but omitting Carroll would signal that the Union want to play differently, not reverting to the caution of the past.

As for defense, Anderson has made strides, but Ken Tribbett has been one of the “revelations” of preseason and is further along in familiarity and fitness. Through Tribbett, Curtin can send the message that players who train well will be selected. The same goes for Leo Fernandes, who scored twice in training Wednesday and has impressed in preseason. He’s the logical replacement for Barnetta.

There’s no question about CJ Sapong up top. Fernandes would be an option to supplant Chris Pontius or Sebastien Le Toux on a wing was he not needed centrally, or if either of those two faltered this preseason, which they haven’t. And we don’t even need to talk about goalies, for once.

One understated aspect of the positional debate is the captaincy void. Barnetta and Edu are the last two players to wear the captain’s armband, and while Curtin lauded each for their contributions behind the scenes, someone has to lead the team out in Dallas. The need for veteran presence could shift the Nogueira/Carroll discussion in the latter’s favor. Or if could fall to a new captain – Le Toux or Ray Gaddis, perhaps – to earn that honor.

The Philadelphia Union returned to Chester Tuesday to begin the final preparation for their season opener in Dallas next Sunday at 3 p.m. The club has been in Florida for the better part of the last month, taking part in six official preseason games to go with a pair of scrimmages. A few notes from practice.

The Philadelphia Union returned to training in Chester Tuesday
ahead of Sunday's season opener.

- The two notable absences from the group Tuesday were also the last two to wear the captain’s armband in MLS action: Maurice Edu and Tranquillo Barnetta. Edu has what manager Jim Curtin termed “a stress reaction in his leg” that is unrelated to his offseason sports hernia surgery. You'll remember that this entire affair began last July with a partially torn groin that has morphed into much more. Edu has yet to train with the Union this preseason, still working off to the side. Curtin labeled him as “doubtful” for Sunday’s trip to Dallas. Here’s the full quote:

“Mo still hasn’t trained with us at all. Obviously a big piece of our team, a captain, a leader, a guy we always expect big things from. To not have him is a detriment, but everybody has picked up the slack, and has played well. He’s looking doubtful to be honest for Dallas, but the players in his spot have competed well. Obviously we’re a better team with Mo on the field, but the reality is the game doesn’t wait for anybody and we have to move on. It’s not likely he’ll be part of the Dallas game.”

- Barnetta’s absence, Curtin said, stems from tendinitis in his knee. Recall that Barnetta had several major knee injuries in his time at Schalke in Germany. Barnetta did, however, log 60 minutes last Saturday in a scrimmage with Montreal (prior to the game against Toronto).

- The other injuries were minor. Cole Missimo left training a little early, though Curtin didn’t list an ailment. Josh Yaro was somewhat limited due to groin soreness. Ray Gaddis has largely shaken off his knee soreness and appeared to train fully.

- On Ilsinho, Curtin had some good things to say: “We knew probably two games into the preseason that he participated in that it was something we wanted to get done. … A guy that has come in, came from a big club in Europe, the situation there wasn’t ideal for him, so he came with us, turned our heads immediately.”

- Caught the end of some tactical drills at training, where it looked like the “first” team featured Richie Marquez and Anderson as the center back pairing. Brian Carroll was the holding midfielder with Roland Alberg and Leo Fernandes in the central attacking midfielder spots. Not sure if that’s a hint for this weekend, but there are a lot of pieces to still fall into place with this lineup in the coming days.