Union rookie draft pick Eric Bird, left, on the practice field at YSC Sports in January,
which is about the only place he's played this season. (Times File)

One game remains in the Philadelphia Union’s moribund season, and for the plethora of possibilities that the playoff race portends Saturday against Orlando City, there’s one thing that we likely won’t see from the hosts at PPL Park: A drafted rookie getting time.

The Union don’t possess a long, rich history of success through the SuperDraft. Their roster features only three regulars – Ray Gaddis, Richie Marquez and Andre Blake (and ‘regular’ status is new and not wholly solidified for the latter) – drafted by the club.

Only eight players on the Union’s roster arrived by the free and easy mechanism of the draft. Leo Fernandes and Zac MacMath are out on loan, the latter with likely no future in Philly. One, Antoine Hoppenot, has played 22 MLS minutes in the last 17 months under manager Jim Curtin and is likely on the way out the door.

And two have never played for the club, Dzenan Catic and Eric Bird. In fact, the Union are poised to endure the entire 2015 campaign with just one appearance by a drafted rookie, and what an debut it was. Plus, Ray Lee was cut soon thereafter.

This criticism comes with obvious caveats. The Union dealt their top pick in 2015 to Sporting Kansas City for CJ Sapong, who’s played a central role this season and likely moving forward. (That pick was used on midfielder Connor Hallisey, who has played 13 games.) There’s a disclaimer that with the Union Academy allegedly poised to start churning out top-flight talent, the draft is increasingly becoming an excuse to fly to Florida for the combine and spend a January day in a ballroom hobnobbing with execs. Plus having a USL team where young players can, you know, actually play will be beneficial.

But on a team with blatant voids of talent whose coach gushed about the potential of the players they picked in the second round, it’s a complete and utter lost season for acquiring and developing assets free of charge. Say what you will about the declining quality and depth in the draft, but for the perpetual poormouth crying Union to not nab a single player of significance given to them essentially free of cost is an unqualified waste. That may be a luxury the Seattles and Torontos can stomach, but for a Union team so thin in central midfield that it repeatedly resorted to a Brian Carroll-Michael Lahoud double pivot and six games worth of Fred as the No. 10, any reinforcements should be warmly embraced.
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I did learn a lot from the Seattle game last year. I thought we were a fresh team going into it, but we did play a lineup that kind of was repeated and played again in the final. So, I won’t have any regrets this year. I’ll play a fresh team, completely fresh team, in the final.

- Jim Curtin, Sept. 16

We’ll find the right balance of lineup to give guys the proper rest and proper confidence going into a final. I’ll tell you there will be no regrets in terms of whether we are fresh or not in terms of the final. We will be fresh for sure.

- Jim Curtin, Sept. 20

Often without much provocation the last two weeks, Philadelphia Union manager Jim Curtin has been forthcoming with his vision for how the final days of September should play out. With the playoffs falling out of view, all of the squad’s efforts have been geared to one solitary date: The Sept. 30 U.S. Open Cup final against Sporting Kansas City.

Curtin is a manager that you can often take at his word. Judging by the above quotes, he’ll dial up massive changes for Saturday’s trip to New England, a game in which the Union’s hope of a result would be remote, regardless.

Here’s what the Union did last season, playing New York Red Bulls at PPL Park Saturday before entertaining Seattle at home Tuesday in the cup final.

Union lineups vs. New York Red Bulls Sept. 13, 2014 in MLS play (left)
and vs. Seattle in the Open Cup final Sept. 16, 2014 (right). (Via MLSsoccer.com)

That’s 6.5/7 changes, depending on how you look at it, with Ray Gaddis and Maurice Edu each changing positions but playing in both games. That’s a fairly fresh team, you’d think. But the result against Seattle, with the Sounders looking far stronger in extra time, may indicate that more rest is required. The term “fresh” is inherently ambiguous, and for some players, getting a half or 90 minutes is preferable to a weekend off in terms of their sharpness, though the three subs limit how many can follow that tack.
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I took the drive up to scenic Exeter High School Tuesday evening primarily to work on something from the Reading United side, a feature on former Union U-18 product and Haverford School grad Brett Campbell, a junior at Georgetown who has had a torrid start to the summer.

There was more to see than just the handful of Reading standouts, though, in the Union’s 1-0 friendly win at Don Thomas Stadium. A few observations from the game:

- We have an Andrew Wenger goal sighting. It took Reading’s third goalie of the night crashing into a defender as he tried to collect a header by Steven Vitoria off a free kick, but hey, Wenger kicked a ball into the back of the net and then the ref blew the whistle and the scoreboard changed. That should be a win for Wenger considering how his season has gone, plus there’s the added bonus of doing it against his former team. It goes without saying how badly the Union need him to get going.

- The Union started the same lineup as Saturday (with the exception of John McCarthy in for Bryan Sylvestre), which was essentially the same lineup as last Wednesday (minus CJ Sapong for Fernando Aristeguieta), which was the same lineup as the previous Saturday. For nine outfield players, that’s four starts in 11 days. Granted, most only played for 30 minutes or a half in a glorified practice session, plus it’s a bit of a reward for the 1,200 Reading fans that showed up, one of the biggest crowds for a friendly in the teams’ partnership that created a really great atmosphere.

- Only two players went 90 minutes Tuesday: Richie Marquez and McCarthy. Remember that McCarthy must be the Union’s goalie in next Tuesday’s U.S. Open Cup match with Rochester since Sylvestre is Cup-tied.

- Tuesday was the first match in a Union kit for rookie Eric Bird, who started the season injured. More on that in Thursday’s paper. Read more »

The Union's lineup vs. D.C. United Saturday and Columbus Wednesday,
a rare repeat XI for Jim Curtin. (MLSSoccer.com)

Jim Curtin hasn’t been one to make excuses this season. That doesn’t mean he didn’t have an ample supply at the ready.

We know that injuries have persistently befallen the Union this season. But the number of absences has really been remarkable.

And Saturday, that total will eclipse the amount of injuries from all of last season even before hitting the halfway mark of 2015.

First, consider the lineup changes. The Union have played 15 MLS matches. They’ve fielded 14 unique lineups. Not until the 3-0 win over Columbus Wednesday did Curtin pencil in the same starting IX for a second time this season (and it withstood all of 37 minutes). That’s what happens when you use three goalies, five center back pairings and flip briefly between 4-2-3-1 and 4-4-2 formations.

The root cause of that upheaval has been the bevy of injuries sustained.

Note: Though MLS’s rules on injury reporting have improved significantly, they’re by no means standardized (and still voluntarily self-reported, which makes this database essentially nonviable), and the line between injured and unfit and eligible-but-overlooked is blurry. Antoine Hoppenot’s current hamstring issue, for which he’s still listed as questionable after being out then making the bench May 17 against D.C. United, is an example of one where the demarcations between fit and not selected aren’t clear. (As such, I don’t include injuries to Pedro Ribeiro and Richie Marquez to start last season and Eric Bird at the beginning of this season since they were likely to be absent even if healthy.) The numbers also don’t include the proportion of missed starts due to injury, like when Vincent Nogueira’s ankle knock allowed him to travel to Sporting Kansas City with very little real threat of playing. That means that numbers below are educated estimates, but the conclusion they illustrate even through the fuzziness is vivid.

By the best estimates last season, the Union lost 53 man games to injuries suffered by 14 players. They also suffered six one-game suspensions.

This season, through a mere 15 matches, the Union have lost 51 man games with injuries, affecting 14 players. With Conor Casey, Steven Vitoria, Andre Blake and Michael Lahoud not yet back to full fitness, they’ll certainly exceed last year's benchmark in Saturday’s visit from New York City FC. The 51 games through 15 matches puts them on pace for 115 man games lost over a 34-game campaign. That's in addition to nine game lost to suspensions, another figure that exceeds last season's.

Making things worse is how many different players have been bitten by the injury bug. It’s not as though one or two players have missed the entire season, skewing the number to the high side. Of the 11 players Curtin named in the starting lineup Wednesday, five had missed time this season, and the doesn't include the "play without training" plan that many, including Fernando Aristeguieta and Nogueira, were placed on of necessity at various points.

Here’s the grim reading of injuries:

2014 man games lost: Austin Berry 7, Danny Cruz 6, Sheanon Williams 5, Cristian Maidana 5, Conor Casey 5, Vincent Nogueira 4, Sebastien Le Toux 4, Ethan White 4, Zach Pfeffer 4, Brian Carroll 3, Fabinho 2, Michael Lahoud 2, Maurice Edu 1, Fred 1. Total: 53.

2015 man games lost: Andre Blake 10,* Steven Vitoria 6,* Michael Lahoud 5,* Conor Casey 5,* Antoine Hoppenot 5, Vincent Nogueira 3, Cristian Maidana 3, CJ Sapong 3, Raymond Lee 3, Sheanon Williams 2, Fabinho 2, Fernando Aristeguieta 2, John McCarthy 1, Ray Gaddis 1. Total: 51.

* absence ongoing

In three weeks or so, the tenor of the Union’s position on summer reinforcements for the forward line has gone from no to maybe to specifics on who and what they’re looking for, a shift which constitutes warp speed for the club.

Kenny Miller might be too pricy an option
at forward for the Union. (AP)

It’s becoming blatantly obvious that something has to change quickly. The Union’s center forwards have five goals this season, four (excluding Jack McInerney’s one) from players still on the roster, and two of those were from the penalty spot. The club endured a stretch where no Union player scored from open play in five matches, a major contributing factor to the club’s franchise-record nine-game winless streak.

Those aren’t even the bleakest stats. Consider this: Conor Casey has two shots on goal this season in eight appearances (300 minutes). Antione Hoppenot has two shots, none on target, in 10 short yet increasingly futile substitute appearances.

The answer to the Union’s offensive woes must come from somewhere, and last Tuesday prior to the trip to Kansas City, manager John Hackworth had plenty to say about what he’s looking for.

Among the critical points from Hackworth are that:

- The club is looking within MLS and abroad.
- The club can’t afford to bring home another national teamer via allocation.
- The club is looking for someone to make an impact.

The push and pull of looking domestically or abroad is obvious. Hackworth admitted that the Union are unlikely to be able to pry a player of the quality they want away from their current MLS club, while eliciting international help would mean that reinforcements would be delayed until July 15, six games down the road.

This Wednesday, Hackworth added a new wrinkle to the discussion in broaching the topic of where the money and roster room would come from.
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There’s been little shortage of discussion on the protracted (I can’t call it “transfer”, since technically it wasn’t) saga involving the Philadelphia Union and Union original Fred. All the machinations came to a resolution weeks in the making last Thursday when the Union were officially allowed to ink the 34-year-old player to a deal via an allocation draft.

That poses the question: Where does Fred fit into the 2014 team?

The value of Fred, seen here sliding in on D.C. United's Chris Pontius
in an April 10, 2010 game, is very likely to exceed the number of minutes
he gets on the pitch this season. (AP)

Part of the reason why the Union sought him out and allowed him to train with them for the entire preseason before finally securing his services is that Fred gives manager John Hackworth so many ways to answer that question.

“Fred gives us another option in the midfield, more depth, but also good leadership,” Hackworth said in his weekly press conference Tuesday at PPL Park. “I think he can play as the No. 10. I think in certain positions, you could play him in wide positions. Even as a No. 8, it’s not like he doesn’t have the engine to go up and down the field. But Fred’s creativity and ability to open up a game are certainly more valuable as an attacking midfielder.”

Through the admittedly small sample size of the Union’s three-game start to the season, there’s no indication that the current occupiers of those starting positions are in danger of giving way. Despite some stumbles here and there, it’s been by and large a purposeful introduction to MLS for the likes of Cristian Maidana, Vincent Nogueira and Maurice Edu.
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Yet again, this appears to be another week of tactical change for the Philadelphia Union. Facing a daunting task in needing to get a result in Montreal, manager John Hackworth is not only facing the prospect of reintroducing two players in Sheanon Williams and Fabinho back from suspension. He’s also having to cope with the loss of Michael Farfan to a yellow-card ban just as his form has improved, and the likely absences of Sebastien Le Toux (foot) and Michael Lahoud (ankle).

If Hackworth is looking for a reason to hope amid the changes, perhaps nothing provides more reassurance than the play of Matt Kassel last week against D.C. United.

Four days later, at his weekly press conference Wednesday, Hackworth was still extolling the virtues of Kassel, inasmuch as they served as an example for others to emulate this week.

“Matt Kassel’s performance in DC is probably going to go under the radar screen a little bit, but he deserves a ton of credit because he was so important to us battling back in that game,” Hackworth said. “He played at right back in the first half. He played kind of a hybrid left back/left midfield position in the second half. He got us to a point in the game where we could put Jack on the field and get a result. Guys like Matt and other guys are really valuable, and it’s just good to see that those guys are taking their opportunities at this time. We might have the same situation this weekend.”

Indeed, Kassel’s performance was important, if understated, in the Union salvaging a draw Saturday. It was in the game’s first minutes that Le Toux tweaked his foot injury, straining to make a clearance from a right-back position he was playing for the first time in his Union career. That’s when Kassel started warming up, and by the 16th minute the pain was too much for Le Toux to continue. Read more »

The Philadelphia Union made a personnel move Friday, trading reserve goalkeeper Chris Konopka to Toronto FC for a third-round pick in next year’s MLS SuperDraft. Perhaps the most stirring revelation of the trade is that what the Union got in return actually existed.

First, there’s Konopka, the 28-year-old ’keeper who joined the Union in 2012 and for whom Toronto is his fourth MLS stop. He made just one league appearance in nearly two years with the Union, a 1-0 loss to none other than Toronto May 26, 2012. Three days later, Konopka shut out the Rochester Rhinos, 3-0, for the Union’s first ever win in the U.S. Open Cup.

Konopka served as the backup for the first 24 league matches of the 2013 season behind Zac MacMath, who’s played every MLS minute and leads the league in shutouts. A knee injury kept Konopka out of the matchday 18 since Aug. 17, and he has been supplanted by veteran summer signing Oka Nikolov. 

Konopka, who was recently named one of the Philadelphia Daily News' Sexy Singles, was a bit of a fan favorite as backup goalies tend to be. He tweeted Friday morning:

I'd like to thank everyone at the @PhilaUnion for all the support over the past 2 yrs! Ill always look forward to coming back! #PhillyLove
— Chris Konopka (@ChrisKonopka414) September 13, 2013

As for the SuperDraft, which will be held in Philadelphia in 2014, the format has apparently changed. Instead of two rounds with a four-round supplemental draft, the latter has been eschewed for just a four-round SuperDraft this season, a fact that MLS never directly announced (there's even still info on the MLS site touting the supplemental draft).

However many rounds the league finally decides the draft will entail, the Union will be armed with an a bevy of picks. In addition to their four allotted picks, the Union have Chivas’ first pick thanks to the Gabriel Farfan trade, Chicago’s second-rounder in exchange for Bakary Soumare and a conditional pick acquired from Los Angeles in return for Chandler Hoffman.

The Supplemental Draft has been pretty friendly to the Union, as they've managed to extract the likes of Antoine Hoppenot in 2012 and Leo Fernandes in the final round of 2013. (Konopka, it should be noted, was picked in the third round of the 2007 Supplemental Draft by Kansas City.)

The league has jockeyed back and forth with the Supplemental Draft, twice dropping it then reinstating it, the last time being in 2011 after a two-year hiatus. Among the players to come through the Supplemental Draft process through the years: Adam Jahn (2013); Aaron Schoenfeld, Greg Klazura, Brian Rowe and Andy Rose (2012); Ryan Richter (2011); Chris Tierney (2008); Steve Purdy, Kosuke Kimura and Daniel Woolard (2007); Jordan Harvey, Andy Gruenebaum and Daniel Paladini (2006).

I think we’ve let enough air into the Brek Shea-Matt Kassel kerfuffle, at least until the results of the scan on Shea’s knee due for Wednesday come back. While Shea’s unfortunate (and hopefully not too serious) injury is the most notable takeaway from Stoke City’s 2-0 win over the Philadelphia Union Tuesday, a few more thoughts.

- In translating success in the English Premier League to MLS, one thing quite literally stands out between the Union and the Potters: Height. The Union had 20 outfield players see the field Tuesday, nine of which were six feet or taller (and that includes borderline 6-footers Kassel and Leo Fernandes). Of Stoke’s 19 outfield players, 14 were six feet or taller. Only three of the Union’s 10 starters (barely-theres Kassel and Fernandes and 6-4 Aaron Wheeler) hit that threshold, while only three of the Stoke starters were under six feet. Look at the physicality of Stoke’s central defenders (Robert Huth at 6-3, 194 pounds and Ryan Shawcross 6-3, 168) and forwards (Cameron Jerome 6-1, 187; Kenwyne Jones 6-2, 187; Peter Crouch 6-7, 165). Perhaps the most daunting juxtaposition is between central midfielders. Stoke’s contingent includes 6-3, 165-pound Steven N’Zonzi and 6-1, 182-pound Charlie Adam compared to Michael Lahoud (5-9, 162) and Brian Carroll (5-10, 155). The Union have struggled this season against bigger, more physical teams (see Los Angeles and Dallas), and while manager John Hackworth didn’t see many lessons to be taken from Tuesday, he at least had some fun joking about the Union’s vertical challenges. “You can’t,” Hackworth said of the prospect of matching up height-wise. “(Chris) Albright said, ‘coach, who are we going to match up with?’ And I said, ‘You match up with the 6-7 guy, and Kassel, you match up with the 6-6 guy and then just go down the line from there.’ We didn’t know what they would roll out either, so it was impossible.”

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There wasn’t a whole lot to write home about in the Union’s scoreless draw Saturday night against Portland. About the best thing you could say is that it was their first such scoreline in almost 11 months. In any case, a few points that deserve a little bit more air into them.

- Leo Fernandes is looking more and more like an MLS player with each appearance. When he came on for Michael Farfan in the 68th minute Saturday, it caused a few raised eyebrows. Farfan took a while to get into the game, but he was looking better after halftime and was about the only member of the Union able to keep possession in the face of Portland’s hard-pressing attack. But Fernandes proved to be a good choice by stand-in manager Rob Vartughian. He wasn’t afraid to mix it up, picking up his first pro yellow card, and his 87th minute volley went off the post and could’ve gone in. “It’s helping me a lot,” Fernandes said about his more regular time on the pitch. “I feel a lot more conformable when I get on the field. I don’t have as many nerves now when I get in. … Every game I’m getting more excited. I just try to help out the team.”

- Zac MacMath has taken his lumps this season (cough, Dallas, cough). But he deserves credit for being really good since then (as my colleague Chris Vito writes). He gave up two goals his next time out against Real Salt Lake, but you can’t fault him on that penalty that forced the Union to settle for a draw. Most importantly, he looked like he learned and grew from the failed punch incident against Dallas. He made a couple of great saves against Houston, where Ricardo Clark’s goal was hardly his fault. (I don’t know how much it mattered anyway; the Union sans most of their midfielders were never going to score that day.) And he was good against Chivas before tonight’s clean sheet. Quietly, MacMath has six shutouts, which puts him squarely in the pack among MLS starters, three off the joint leaders Donovan Ricketts and Bobby Shuttleworth. Read more »

You heard my thoughts already; time for what those on the field saw in the Philadelphia Union's 1-0 loss to Houston Satuday.

Making his first career MLS start, the Union's Aaron Wheeler
couldn't help his side get much started offensively.
(Associated Press)

Union forward Aaron Wheeler On the challenge of his first career MLS start: It’s a tough place to come and play, so I was looking forward to the challenge. It lived up to everything. It was a tough, physical game. It was just a heart-breaker really. I don’t really have much else to say about it.

On whether Houston’s confidence grew as the game went on: I don’t know so much as confidence, but they had to push more. They’re the home team, so once the game stays 0-0, as the home team, you had to push more and go forward. They started to get the ball a little more. I don’t know about confidence, but they definitely started to put us on our heels a little bit.
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I strongly debated writing this post, if only because to opine on the events of the Philadelphia Union’s 1-0 loss to Houston Saturday would further preserve the game for posterity. It wasn’t a pretty game by any stretch of the imagination, two severely depleted teams with low morale desperately trying to carve out a result. What went wrong for the Union? Oh let me count the ways.

It was a tough day at the office for Conor Casey
and a makeshift Union lineup against Houston.
(Associated Press)

- Let’s get the crux of the problems out of the way. Houston was missing Will Bruin, Brad Davis, Corey Ashe and Kofi Sarkodie. The Union were without Jack McInerney, Keon Daniel, Kleberson, Danny Cruz and Michael Farfan. Sounds a lot like the first names you’d call if these two teams were drafting a schoolyard pick-up game. It was difficult to expect much beautiful or even coherent soccer from those two deficient sides Saturday. On that count, they delivered.

- I know it’s making the best of a bad situation. But you have to strenuously question John Hackworth’s formation. A central forward pairing of Conor Casey and Aaron Wheeler supported by “wingers” Sebastien Le Toux and Antoine Hoppenot. He gets away with fielding a defensively suspect side because of Houston’s atrocious attack (more on that momentarily). But the idea that somehow a bunch of forwards thrown haphazardly together and moving more or less in concert towards goal will translate into goals is seriously flawed. Casey was facing a second 90-minute run out in 90-degree heat in four days. Wheeler admitted last week that his fitness wasn’t all there yet, not to mention the sizable redundancy in the skill sets of the two front-runners. Hoppenot with 90 minutes to run aimlessly at guys was ineffective, squandering chances to shoot or cross on the rare occasions he found space. And we haven’t even gotten to the lack of possession (a paltry 38.6 percent with 71 percent passing efficiency) in a midfield that was just Brian Carroll and Leo Fernandes.
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For the first 94 or so minutes Wednesday, this was going to be a post about the Union’s resilience, the prolificacy of Conor Casey, the development of Zac MacMath and a couple of digs about the officiating. I guess that will have to wait for another day.

As Union fans have come to know all too well, things change quickly, so instead, here goes.


There are a variety of late-game strategies the can be employed by soccer teams. Some go big and burly. Some go for possession. Some for aerial proficiency. Whatever you want to call the plan from the Philadelphia Union at the moment, it’s not working. It’s certainly creating exciting soccer, as the dramatic 2-2 draw with Real Salt Lake Wednesday reinforced.

But while the fans may be glued to their seats, the sight of points flying out the window as they did again at altitude against 10-man RSL is anything but encouraging.

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The math isn’t favorable for the Philadelphia Union.

No, this calculation has nothing to do with altitude or travel times or anything like that. It’s all about who’ll be on the field Wednesday night at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Could Antoine Hoppenot make his first MLS start
of 2013 Wednesday night against Real Salt Lake?
(Times Staff/ERIC HARTLINE)

In 17 matches this season, the Union have had 16 players start, tied for the lowest in MLS. Exclude goalkeeper Zac MacMath, and you’ve got 15 outfield players. Two of those players, Bakary Soumare and Gabriel Farfan, have been traded. Two (Keon Daniel and Jack McInerney) are on international duty, and two (Michael Lahoud and Kleberson) are likely out due to injury.

Do the subtraction and there’s one inequality that stands out for the Union: Nine players who’ve made starts in 2013 in line for 10 outfield starting spots Wednesday. It means someone who has yet to start this season will have to make their bow. So just who is that?

First, it’s worth looking at the stats for the Union in terms of games played. The Union have had 11 players start at least 10 matches; only Houston (11), FC Dallas (12) and New York (13) can say that. And the Union are tied with the Dynamo for least players to start a match at 16.
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Saturday's date with Dallas looms large for the Union and dominated the focus of manager John Hackworth, midfielder Brian Carroll and Antoine Hoppenot in Wednesday's press conference. Here's some snippets of what they had to say.

Union manager John Hackworth
On the challenge presented by F.C. Dallas:
I think FC Dallas has had a pretty good start to the year. They’ve been at the top of the table the entire year. Right now they’re sitting third in the Supporters’ Shield, third in the West but have had a very productive start the first half of this season. They’re a very good team in all ways, and we don’t see many weaknesses in their lineup. They’ve been consistent with the way they’ve played, and I just think it’s going to be another big challenge for us here art PPL. The good news is that we can prove we can beat a team ahead of us in the table now, and this one is going to be a good battle because we’re both toward the top of the table.

On the effect of Dallas' date with Portland Thursday:
It depends. I have no idea how Dallas is going to approach their game against Portland. We’ll obviously keep a very close eye on it. But sometimes when you play those games in quick succession, they can actually get you in a little bit of rhythm, and other times, it can be a distraction especially with the travel. I hope it’s the latter for them. I hope they come in fatigued. But our expectation is that we’re going to play one of the best teams in the league Saturday. We’re certainly going to give their best. They’re a team that has been very tough to play against every single time out, and I expect a little bit of the same Saturday.

On avoiding a mental let down after New York:
It is a challenge, there’s no question. We need to try to do a really good job of staying focused and not still thinking about New York. So far this week, I think the team has responded very positively. From what our staff can tell and in the conversations we’re having in our training, we’re fully focused on Dallas, but I’m not going to lie to you and tell you it’s different. There is a normal little bit of let down because you build up to a rivalry game, you build up to the importance of trying to beat someone in front of you for the first time in a year, and that was a huge game. But we knew this stretch was going to be tough the whole time, so I think in our planning and the way that we presented it to the players, we talked about this four-game stretch to being pivotal to our success all year long. So hopefully I think they’ll be very up for it on Saturday.
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As Antoine Hoppenot bulged the net in the 89th minute Sunday, the course of Major League Soccer history was changed.

OK, that’s a bit dramatic. But Hoppenot’s goal played a definite role in an MLS first.

When Hoppenot finished off the cross by Sebastien Le Toux to put the final touch on the Philadelphia Union’s 3-0 win over the New York Red Bulls, Union manager John Hackworth called back would-be sub Aaron Wheeler and instead put on Matt Kassel.

In the process, he gave Kassel the distinction of being the first MLS Homegrown player out of the 76 signed in the last five years to play against the team that signed him. He beat Chivas USA’s Tristan Bowen to the punch by about six hours, as Bowen played against former team L.A. Galaxy later Sunday evening.

No matter the historical ramifications, it was satisfying for Kassel simply to get on the field.

“It’s always great to finally get rewarded, and after coming in each day and working as hard as I possibly can, just keeping my head down and knowing that whenever my name is called I have to be ready, and today was that opportunity and I’m excited,” he said. Read more »

I’ve got a feeling that there’s a bit to discuss after the Union’s 5-3 loss to the Montreal Impact Saturday, certainly at least as many discussion points as goals posted. So here are eight points I saw from the game.

Union defender Jeff Parke and company had problems all day
with Andrew Wenger and company as Montreal claimed a 5-3 win
over the Union (AP).

 

1. The Union defense simply was not up to the task. They struggle a lot against physical central forwards (see Thierry Henry, Lio Pajoy, Robbie Keane, to name a few), but Marco Di Vaio’s dominance Saturday was still remarkable. He scored three goals in 30 minutes in the first half, then missed a great chance later in the half that could easily have been four. He outmuscled the central defenders and got lost by the fullbacks, so there wasn’t anything that really worked against them.

2. There’s not a lot good on that back four. Ray Gaddis got sucked into the middle, Sheanon Williams struggled to pick up runners and all four got caught ball-watching far too often. The midfield coverage wasn’t much better. The Union scored three goals in hostile territory – one of only three teams to do that in the year-plus the Impact have been in MLS – yet they couldn't get a win. They’ve got some serious issues to fix.
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Once again the Union proved an ability to pick up points away from home, and despite playing on the backfoot for large stretches and failing to create much in the way of attacking verve, they managed to get the goal they needed in a 1-0 win at Chicago. Some quick reacitons:

- Jack McInerney showed exactly what makes him such a dangerous weapon. His goal off a quickly taken free kick showcased his ability to pop up out of nowhere and get a goal. He was clinical in the finish, and it's the reason why the Union start a difficult stretch with three points.

- Eyes were focused on Bakary Soumare, and I think he proved pretty conclusively that he's still an MLS-level defender. He may not be as quick as Jeff Parke, but he knows that and doesn't take the kind of risks that Parke does tracking the ball farther up the field. Since both Parke and Amobi Okugo prefer to play that aggressive style, it can open holes at times. But if Soumare stays home and cleans up the messes, he and Okugo could flourish for however long they play together. This was a tough matchup for Soumare with speedy guys like Chris Rolfe and Patrick Nyarko. But he did well in the face of that.
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Philadelphia Union manager John Hackworth set a tactical precedent last week against Toronto, it just wasn’t the one most people flocked to point out.

In the sixth match of the season, Hackworth for the first time deployed an attacking triumvirate of Jack McInerney, Conor Casey and Sebastien Le Toux. Though all three are nominally forwards, Le Toux tracked often into the midfield, doing a lot of work down the attacking left side of the formation (for proof, check his heatmap).

However tantalizing the accumulation of such attackers may have looked on paper, the reality was much different. A three-man midfield (four when Le Toux tracked back) was unable to string together passes or maintain purposeful possession with regularity, leading to a disjointed performance. That didn’t change much until Michael Farfan came on for Danny Cruz in the 65th and Antoine Hoppenot for Le Toux in the 73rd.

Hackworth, both Saturday and this Wednesday at his press conference, was reticent to condemn his three-forward experiment, trying to convey that other facts may have contributed.

But one other precedent was set in his Saturday team, one that may be more important starting Sunday at D.C. United.
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It took a tremendous performance from Jack McInerney to earn the Union a point against Toronto FC. Some observations from the match.

- “That has to be a game that we win, and looking back on it later in the season it’s going to be disappointing. It might feel good now, but it’s going to be disappointing later.” McInerney gets the goal, and he also gets to the heart of the matter. The Union were not good in the first half; they weren’t much better in the second. Yes, they forced nine saves from Joe Bendik and controlled possession to the tune of 63 percent. But let’s forget the process for a moment: There’s no reason why the Union need Toronto to go down to 10 men and get into stoppage time before they score. It was said by several players in the locker room afterward that this wasn’t a playoff-team performance, and they’re right on the money.

- That said, McInerney’s goal still looms large. It’s a big point, even bigger for what it does momentum-wise. The Union know they need to improve, and at least they got something from Saturday’s game on which to build. And there’s not enough to say about the development of McInerney. Not only is he the second-leading scorer in MLS, he’s already halfway to his total of last year. In six games! Read more »