Union sporting director Earnie Stewart had plenty to say
Wednesday in evaluating players for 2017 and beyond.
(DFM file)

Earnie Stewart and Jim Curtin spoke for 45 minutes Wednesday afternoon at Talen Energy Stadium. The discussion got very big-picture and very granular at times. There’s plenty to parse out of the many informative digressions, and I’ll post a full transcript later (after I recover from the transcription).

But first, let’s hit the high notes, rapid-fire, player by player to offer the postseason assessment from Curtin and/or Stewart. So here goes:

- First, Roland Alberg, who Tuesday was introduced by CSKA Sofia. Here’s Stewart: “In the conversations I did have with the agent, it never really materialized that there was going to be a substantial transfer fee, so we would’ve maybe looked at that option. It wasn’t something that was there.”

Stewart had more praise for the Dutchman: “When you look at Roland Alberg and his biggest quality, anything that gets close to the 18-yard-box, everything gets on target. Even though he’s a midfielder, I want to say he’s one of the best scorers that we have out there. I’d say his role was very good. When we talk about possession and we talk about touches on the ball and having that, that’s something that we knew we did want to add that special part of Roland to the group, but now that we’re transitioning and trying to go a little further in, we came to the conclusion that the (salary) number that he was at, it wasn’t the right fit or the option number that was there.”

- Andre Blake, via Stewart: “In the offseason, because I remember we talked about Andre Blake, and I can still and will say there were no offers for Andre Blake. That doesn’t mean that there was no interest for him, but not that we were aware of.”

- Here's Curtin on Keegan Rosenberry: "A very good young player that we strongly believe in. Every player goes through highs and lows, peaks and valleys in their development. Again, if you think to when he was selected, obviously the Homegrown issue comes up, but at the same time, we were maybe crazy for doing so from the public perception, and then he went on to a very quick rise: All-Star in his first year, playoff team, U.S. national team player. So a really high high. This year there was the feeling of a low low for him. So again, we have full confidence that he can bounce back quickly. If he as great as the guaranteed, penciled-in, right back starting national team player? Maybe not. But he’s also not defined by just how this year went. So again a developing young player that is a very, very strong right back, an important position because we like to attack with our outside backs. But when you talk about development, there’s on-the-field development, there’s off-the-field development, there’s handling success, there’s handling the down times. These are all part of growth, and to now write him off and say that his development has stopped is silly, because now if he bounces back and we’re a playoff team next year and he’s starting again and is an All-Star, did we all of a sudden redevelop him? I don’t think that’s the case either. ... We believe in him. He has all the tools, all the assets on the field to be a good player, and we’ll pull that out of him. I know he’s going to attack this offseason with a chip on his shoulder, come back ready to go."
Read more »

Union (4-2-3-1) 

Blake 

Gaddis-Marquez-Elliott-Fabinho 

Bedoya-Medunjanin 

Epps-Ilsinho-Picault 

Sapong 

Bench: McCarthy, Onyewu, Wijnaldum, D.Jones, Simpson, Alberg

Sounders (4-2-3-1) 

Frei 

Leerdam-Marshall-Alfar-Nouhou 

Svensson-Delem 

Jones-Roldan-Lodeiro 

Bruin 

Bench: Miller, Fisher, Wingo, Shipp, Kovar, Neagle, Dempsey 

- UPDATE: Chris Pontius misses out with an abdominal injury after originally introduced in the starting lineup. Marcus Epps is in on the win. Union go with 17 in the lineup.

- Two changes for the Union enforced by injury. Out go Warren Creavalle and Keegan Rosenberry; in come Ray Gaddis and Ilsinho, the latter playing the 10. That makes it closer to the customary 4-2-3-1 formation that the Union so often favor.

- Derrick Jones is back on the bench. It’s just his second time in the 18 since July 6.

- No Clint Dempsey for the Sounders from the start today, which puts the more bruising Will Bruin up top to battle with the Union defense. Watch for the interchange between Nicholas Lodeiro and Cristian Roldan: Roldan nominally starts centrally, but he and Lodeiro should move positions plenty, making a lot of work for the backline and Haris Medunjanin to track.

This hasn't been the season the Union wanted.
But none of the blame goes to CJ Sapong. (AP)

In certain corners of Union Twitter, there persists a notion that blame for the team’s devolution to non-playoff status this season owes to a failure to address concerns at the striker position. Some would argue that the factor constraining the Union is the lack of a star up top; for further evidence, look at how the Union endeavored and failed to fill that hole via Jay Simpson last offseason.

That stance – that somehow CJ Sapong is the deficiency holding this team back – is completely ludicrous. And quietly, while Sapong has been chronically underestimated, he’s compiled one of the best seasons ever by a Union player.

It’s September and Sapong is tied with Jozy Altidore for the MLS lead in goals by an American player at 13. Sapong has played more games than Jozy Altidore, but has fired fewer shots in that time. I’d argue that Sapong is more central to the Union’s attack than Altidore is to Toronto’s, in part due to the absence of a central playmaker (of which TFC possesses two). Both have 10 goals from open play and three from the penalty spot, though Sapong is 3-for-3 on penalties while Altidore has missed a pair. Sapong has also drawn two penalties for others to take.

Sapong has five assists, a high number for the kind of target forward Sapong is usually typecast as. All five are primary assists. His assist and goal totals are both career highs.

There’s no disputing how monumental those achievements are given Sapong’s history. But where does he fall in Union history and in MLS this season?

Lucky No. 20

In eight MLS seasons, the Union have had 20 players account for more than 10 combined goals and assists in a season, a group that includes Haris Medunjanin (two goals and eight assists this season).

The cut for the elite seasons falls at 19, which culls the fraternity to five.

Sebastien Le Toux, 2010 14 goals, 11 assists (25)
Chris Pontius, 2016 12 goals, 6 assists, 3 PKs drawn (21)
Sebastien Le Toux, 2011 11 goals, 9 assists (20)
CJ Sapong, 2017 13 goals, 5 assists, 2 PKs drawn (20)
Sebastien Le Toux, 2014 12 goals, 7 assists (19)

(Note: Penalties drawn aren’t easily recovered, so they’re not included in Le Toux’s numbers. Chances are he would’ve taken those PKs anyway; in Pontius’ and Sapong’s case, the PKs were taken by others.)

That list is a long way of getting to a concise point: Sapong is having one of the most statistically productive seasons the club has ever had.

18 and over only please

Across MLS, Sapong is one of 14 players this season whose goals and assists sum to 18 or greater. It’s the kind of company an attacking player aspires to keep: Read more »

The Union's 2017 season is likely lost. So why not give minutes
to young players like Keegan Rosenberry? (DFM/Mikey Reeves)

If you’re of the sort that trusts probability, the Union’s chances of making the 2017 MLS Cup playoffs are essentially nil. That means to salvage merit from a lost season, the sixth of eight in Union existence in which they’ve fallen at the manageable hurdle of playoff qualification, the goals must shift. (Even tanking for the sake of a draft pick is off the table, as you’ll recall.)

The remaining seven games of 2017 should be aimed at granular accomplishments. Time to take a page out of the Phillies’ book of perpetual rebuilding: The Union need to know who is worth keeping and who isn’t. The best way to glean that info is to let players take their lumps and, for better or worse, evaluate how they emerge on the other side.

SPI's @MLS playoff projections after the weekend. @ColumbusCrewSC up 22 points with the win and Montreal's loss. https://t.co/KqFHjJXNkg pic.twitter.com/QOrFqP60nD

— Paul Carr (@PCarrESPN) August 29, 2017

Let’s consider seven objectives, which care little how many of the 21 points on offer the Union reap.

Play. Your. Kids. Josh Yaro has struggled this year. Keegan Rosenberry has been up and down. But the Union are better off knowing if their rookie successes were outliers or the norm. Given the peaks and valleys, Jim Curtin and the organization need to know where the mean for each player rests. Yaro won’t travel to Minnesota in observance of his red card. He should play the last six games. We know well what Ray Gaddis brings at right back, and it’s unlikely to differ in the next seven games from his previous 138. (Not a value judgement, just an observation on plasticity.) What Rosenberry brings requires space to be sussed out.

Two starts for Adam Najem. That’s at a minimum. I doubt Roland Alberg is in the Union’s plans beyond this season. I don’t know if Ilsinho is. I would hope the organization recognizes and will act on the glaring need for a No. 10. But ascertaining what it has Najem, in terms of starting potential or merely carving a positional niche, is vital.
Read more »

Keegan Rosenberry, left, seen against Portland's
Marco Farfan in a game in April, hasn't started
an MLS game in more than four months.
(DFM/Mikey Reeves)

CHESTER >> A season ago, Keegan Rosenberry never saw the bench for the Philadelphia Union, making MLS history in the process.

This season, he’s hardly seen the field, in a case of drastic extremes for the second-year pro.

Rosenberry finally return to action in last Saturday’s 2-2 draw with the San Jose Earthquakes, his first MLS minutes since May 17. He hasn’t started in more than four months, dating to April 14.

The departure from how Rosenberry began his career is stark: He started each of his first 41 MLS games (including the Union’s playoff ouster in Toronto last fall), the first rookie to play every minute of a 34-game season. From those lofty heights, he’s logged a scant 72 minutes in four months, all in substitute appearances, the last a 16-minute cameo when left back Giliano Wijnaldum picked up an ankle knock. Rosenberry started two U.S. Open Cup matches in that span.

“It’s been fine,” Rosenberry said Tuesday. “For me, it’s just about trying to continue to train hard and stay focused and try to be motivated and help the team in whatever I can do to push the guys in front of me that are playing day in and day out.”

Rosenberry, who finished second in Rookie of the Year balloting, clearly hit a wall late last season. The logic went that a stint to rest and watch from the bench would be beneficial.

But fate has intervened in the plan for a short-term refresher. The Union were winless in Rosenberry’s last 14 starts, and his benching coincided with an uptick in form that rescued hope for 2017. Along the way, Ray Gaddis provided a valuable veteran presence, not relinquishing his spot.

So the MLS All-Star has watched and waited … and hoped to learn.

“It’s not easy,” said Rosenberry, repeating that phrase on several occasions. “It’s the last place you want to be and trying to learn about the game and trying to get better. At the same time, like I said about the frustration in training and not getting selected, it’s the same way when you’re watching the game: You try to use it to your advantage in any way you can. If that’s watching players on other teams in terms of matchups and what you might see, but at the same time, it’s a different perspective and you try to use that to your best benefit.”

Rosenberry was thrown into a difficult position Saturday and didn’t exactly impress. It was on his side of the field that Josh Yaro felled Shea Salinas in the 90th minute for a PK that denied the Union a badly needed three points.


Rosenberry is one of many players who could’ve done better on the sequence, and manager Jim Curtin acknowledges mitigating factors – like the switch of Gaddis from right to left back and the late addition of Marcus Epps for a tiring Chris Pontius on the wing.

“Keegan went into the game, had some decent moments,” Curtin said. “On the penalty kick, didn’t do great to help with Marcus, but again it was a bit of a chain reaction of events. … We had a breakdown on that side, but it was difficult.”

While he may not be polishing his skills in games, Rosenberry has been forced to burnish his mental approach. Beyond platitudes about being a better practice player, you could imagine the temptation to take selection for granted last year when Rosenberry was an automatic selection.
Read more »

Chris Pontius, center standing to left of trophy, was elated over the U.S.'s win
in the Gold Cup final Wednesday, a special moment in his career
no matter what comes next for him in the national team picture.  (AP)

CHESTER >> To many in the media, the biennial CONCACAF Gold Cup is often portrayed as a means to an end – toward individual placement on the squad for the next World Cup, for national entrée to the FIFA Confederations Cup.

But for players, the scope is necessarily more granular, about one practice or game at a time. And when there’s reason to celebrate, it’s about savoring the moment.

That’s how the Union’s Chris Pontius relished in the U.S.’s victory in the tournament, sealed by a dramatic 2-1 finale Wednesday night over Jamaica at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

“It’s pretty special,” Pontius said Friday at Union training, his first full day back with the club. “With the national team, a lot of the guys were talking, even the guys that have been around the national team a long time, there’s not many times you get a chance to win trophies. So you enjoy it. That’s my second (trophy) now, with the 2013 Open Cup (with D.C. United), and I’ve lost in the finals of the Open Cup and been close to getting into the finals in other things.

“It’s special to raise silverware in something and when you’re done, I think that’s what you look back on, those moments, in the locker room after and enjoying it with the guys.”

Pontius appeared in three of the U.S.’s six games, added as an injury replacement for Kenny Saief. He started one group stage game and was a late sub in the quarterfinal win over El Salvador at Lincoln Financial Fried. He played no part in the 2-0 win over Costa Rica in the semifinal and the triumph over Jamaica, sealed by a Jordan Morris bolt into the top corner in the 88th minute.

Pontius is up to five career caps, all earned in 2017.

For many fringe players, particularly those based in MLS, the Gold Cup was a chance to impress Bruce Arena in the absence of many mainstays ramping up in the European preseason. Read more »

His third cap in four Gold Cup games was extra special for Chris Pontius,
right, in Philadelphia Wednesday. (AP)

PHILADELPHIA >> The roar was pronounced as Chris Pontius readied on the sidelines.

The other two U.S. subs Wednesday night in a 2-0 win over El Salvador in the Gold Cup quarterfinals at Lincoln Financial Field were greeted warmly, for sure. But the passion behind the reception for the Philadelphia Union midfielder was something he noticed right away.

“It was great,” Pontius said. “I had some chants going up for me, too, which was nice as well. It was special for me.”

Wednesday’s appearance was a short cameo, Pontius entering in the 87th minute for Darlington Nagbe, the U.S. well on its way to salting away the win and a berth in the semis. But as Pontius has cemented a spot in the rotation under manager Bruce Arena, this appearance brought something special.

Not that Pontius, who scored 12 goals for the Union last year and is second on the team this season with six assists despite still being in search of his first goal, needed reinforcement that he’s arrived in Philly. He played at an all-star caliber level last year, his first with the Union after seven with D.C. United, the last several blighted by recurrent leg injuries. It helped him return to the U.S. fold after six years in the wilderness.

Wednesday’s rousing welcome reinforced the point.

“That was nice,” he said. “It was definitely special for me. Just to have it here in Philly, it was a great. … I think I settled in pretty well last year. I think you saw that in my play last year. I always said it was credit to the staff and credit to the guys around me because they made me feel at home right away and it was my first time in a professional environment moving teams, so it was tough for me. Philly has welcomed me with open arms.”

Pontius has also settled into a role under Arena. He’s made five appearances this year, two in January friendlies after the offseason camp and now three in four Gold Cup games. He might not yet be at first-choice status for World Cup qualifiers, but he’s an important role player in a tournament like this that requires depth and a certain tactical flexibility.

And he’s got reason to believe his role with the team in the competition isn’t done.

“We did what we needed to do, and still we weren’t as clean as we know we needed to be,” he said. “We just need to improve on all the little things. The name of the game in this is win and move on, and we’ve done that.”

The Union’s defensive record in recent weeks has gone from horrible to tremendous. It’s been rehashed many times, but once more for emphasis – dating to last year and including the playoff loss to Toronto, the Union allowed multiple goals in 12 of 15 games. They haven’t allowed more than one goal in their last six games, conceding a mere two times in that span.

Make no mistake, this is the foundation on which their turnaround his been built.

But though drastically improved, the team still has its vulnerabilities. And one forms the commonality between the last two goals they’ve surrendered, one of which cost them three points against Real Salt Lake Saturday.

Here’s the goal that the Union allowed against Colorado last week in a 2-1 win. Axel Sjoberg takes possession of the ball deep in his own half:

 

And here’s when Caleb Calvert deposits it in the net: 

That’s nine seconds for the ball to travel nearly 100 yards.

Fast-forward a week to RSL, and a play that begins with a wayward Chris Pontius cross that rolls toward the touchline that Fafa Picault and Tony Beltran pursue (the video doesn’t quite go back that far). Beltran recovers the ball at 35:14.

In 24 seconds, the ball is in the back of the net 90-some yards on, after a succession of nifty passing between the lines featuring Jefferson Savarino and Joao Plata and through a defense that never full resets into its shape. It’s a bit more leisurely a pace than the Colorado goals, but in the way RSL weaves in and out of Union bodies, it’s arguably more concerning.

The Union have gone through spells this season where particular actions have given them difficulties. They’ve been susceptible to moves up the center of the park, a weakness they’ve shored up. In years past, they’ve struggled with quick changes of field or set pieces or any number of issues. It’s a constant game of cat and mouse to adjust, and this vulnerability to the quick counterattack is the next one on the board to repair.

Ilsinho has started two straight games at the No. 10 role. Jim Curtin
seems to think he could be up for a third Saturday against Colorado.
(For Digital First Media/Mike Reeves)

CHESTER >> For the third time in eight days, the Philadelphia Union will suit up Saturday night against the Colorado Rapids. That backlog of games could mean changes are in the offing, though that conventional wisdom opposes the Union’s red-hot form, in search of the franchise’s first ever four-game winning streak and enjoying in five-game unbeaten run, with the Western Conference straggling Rapids visiting to boot.

Some notes from training Friday:

- Roland Alberg won’t be a part of any squad shuffling Saturday. Manager Jim Curtin ruled the midfielder out after an injection in Alberg’s strained quad. He worked to the side of training with the goal of prepping him for Real Salt Lake next week. “Difficult to not have him, but at the same time, we know that other guys can step up in his absence, but it looks more like next Saturday in Salt Lake hopefully,” Curtin said.

- Two of the more obvious candidates for change Saturday are the oldest legs in the side – defender Oguchi Onyewu and midfielder Ilsinho. Onyewu has played every minute of the three-game winning streak, and Ilsinho has two starts in the No. 10 role under his belt this week. The Brazilian logged 64 minutes in the win over D.C. United and 67 Wednesday against Houston. Here was Curtin’s answer when asked directly about Onyewu and Ilsinho:

“You look at the data: Gooch plays a position where it’s a lot of organizing, it’s winning your duels and he’s done an excellent job of that. It’s not a position where it’s as taxing on the legs. It’s still difficult, but I think he’s up for the task of turning it around. Ilsinho in a newer position for him, I think has adjusted well to it. He’s doing a lot of running defensively. It is tough on the legs, but we’ll look at everything. We’re kind of still in the process of picking the final lineup, but he tells me he’s feeling great.”

On paper, this looks like a decent time to get Adam Najem his first start – at home, against a struggling team, maybe lower expectations. But if Ilsinho is ready to go, he’s Curtin’s preference, it seems.

- One area where the Union have options to swap is the wing, in part because Curtin’s system asks so much of wingers defensively. Chris Pontius and Fafa Picault have forged a bountiful pairing, but Fabian Herbers could slip in a start Saturday, given how the wingers tired against Houston and contributed to the Dynamo applying more pressure than Curtin would’ve liked. Curtin Friday:
Read more »

UNION (4-2-3-1) 

Blake 

Gaddis-Elliott-Onyewu-Fabinho 

Bedoya-Medunjanin 

Picault-Ilsinho-Pontius 

Sapong 

Bench: McCarthy, Rosenberry, Marquez, Creavalle, Herbers, Najem, Simpson 

Houston Dynamo (4-3-3) 

Willis 

DeLaGarza-Machado-Leonardo-Beasley 

Alex-Cabezas-Clark 

Manotas-Torres-Quioto Bench: Deric, Anibaba, Holland, Sanchez, Remick, Wenger, Boniek Garcia 

Preview 

- No changes from Jim Curtin this week, which should shock no one. Roland Alberg is still out, so Ilsinho gets another shot at the No. 10 role. Oguchi Onyewu and Jack Elliott keep their spots in central defense. And Chris Pontius stays on the same right wing where he’s been so effective late.

- It’s steady as you go for Houston, which makes just one change. Instead of risking Alberth Elis with a hamstring strain, he stays home and Erick Torres, MLS’s leading goal scorer, is restored to the starting XI for the Western Conference leaders.

- If you’re looking for a matchup to watch tonight, might I suggest the wings? Romell Quioto and Mauro Manotas have stretched opposing defenses vertically and horizontally, spreading defenses out and getting in behind. Ray Gaddis and Fabinho will have their hands full; they need to keep those two in front of them and prevent dangerous crosses from the byline in the direction of a dangerous target man like Cubo Torres. Given the steamy conditions tonight, expect Fabian Herbers to be ready to spell one of the wingers sooner rather than later since they’ll have to run plenty, too.

Ilsinho, here splitting a pair of D.C. United defenders in the April trip
to RFK Stadium, performed admirably in the No. 10 role last week.
(For Digital First Media/Mike Reeves)

CHESTER >> For the 16 or so months that Ilsinho has been with the Philadelphia Union, a false equivalency has sprung up around him.

The Brazilian is impeccably creative, capable of summoning tricks with a soccer ball that many dare not dream attempting. A career winger in Europe whose upbringing in the Brazilian ranks occurred as an outside back, Ilsinho has played his entire career on the flanks. But his skillset, to an American audience, mimics what is expected from a No. 10 – the passing, the runs, the danger but reticence to shoot, the diminished defensive responsibility.

To slide him centrally by 20 or so yards couldn’t be that different for him, right?

“Everything is different at this position,” Ilsinho said Tuesday.

Well, then.

Ilsinho capably handled matters in the middle of the park in Saturday’s 4-0 win over D.C. United. He made way in the 64th, just before Oguchi Onyewu’s second goal sent the visitors flying toward a rout. But his first foray of the season in the No. 10 role in the absence of Roland Alberg was promising, even if it entailed a good deal of change for the 31-year-old.

“Everything is new for me because I just played it two times last year, just the first two games,” Ilsinho said. “I have to move different, I have to run different. I have to look for some space, look for the final pass for other guys.”

For as different as the position might have felt to Ilsinho, manager Jim Curtin thought it extracted some of the traits the staff sought from him out wide. And while the final touch remains lacking – see the 21st-minute passage in which he does magnificently to create space but curls a meek effort straight at goalie Bill Hamid – the initial signs are encouraging for a player who hasn’t played there since the opening two games of 2016 when Tranquillo Barnetta was injured.



“I thought a lot of things we worked on him as a winger came out in the game,” Curtin said Tuesday. “We’ve been trying to get him to run in behind the defense a little more, since he has a tendency to come inside and not stretch them as much and hold the ball at his field. Strangely, as a No. 10, you saw the ball that Fabinho plays him over the top where he’s running behind aggressively, the one that (Steve) Birnbaum makes that hell of a play in the box to defend otherwise that’s a great goal, a tap-in from Ilsinho and a really good action from Chris (Pontius). To get him to do that, to run hard in the box, was really eye-opening, was good.”

“It’s different but the good point is that I have more freedom, I can move to both sides, left or right,” Ilsinho said. “But I need to run at it a little bit more. But it’s good. I just try to help my teammates, and I try looking for CJ (Sapong) or Fafa (Picault) or Chris when I get the ball. It’s different, but it’s good.”
Read more »

Talen Energy Stadium has been anything but a happy hunting ground
for Chris Pontius and the Union this season.
(Digital First Media/Mike Reeves)

Laid before the Philadelphia Union this week is a notable opportunity. Twice, Western Conference foes will arrive in Chester. Both present compelling cases why the Union could glean three points from their respective encounters. Both are positioned as golden chances for a hot Union side to perpetuate its recent run of strong form in a place where wins are (supposedly) easier to come by.

For a team that has been close to broken this season, this week hardly qualifies as a make-or-break stretch. But history would suggest a huge burden for the Union to recoup a significant return of points against Houston Wednesday, then Colorado Saturday, to prove their recent four-game unbeaten streak isn't a flash in MLS's parity pan.

(I fully realize the ludicrousness of what I'm about to propose. To pillory the Union for months on end and see them endure 252 winless days, then assert that they can win four times in 15 days seems even to me the height of optimism bordering on insanity. But little makes sense in MLS, so why let that stop us?)

When this week ends, the Union will have played seven of their scheduled 17 games at Talen Energy Stadium in 2017. Currently, the Union stand 1-2-2 in five home contests, a yield of five points from a possible 15. That's suboptimal, but to what degree?

The Union have claimed only 33.3 percent of the home points available this season. Unsurprisingly, that paltry return doesn’t correlate well with playoff aspirations. Read more »

Yeah, Andre Blake and Jack Elliott, there's been a lot of that lately
for the Union. (Times File)

There is, mathematically speaking, a possibility the Philadelphia Union could win Saturday against Montreal. Odd things happen in MLS all the time.

On the off chance that that occurs (and that’s the last bit of snark for this post), the Union would banish their winless streak that has covered the last 14 meaningful games. So without qualifiers or the mudslinging that seems to popular online, let’s lay out what exactly this streak of futility has entailed.

- The Union have lost 14 games in all competitions – the last seven of the 2016 regular season, the playoff game to Toronto and six straight to open 2017. In that stretch, they are 0-10-4. That’s a return of four points out of a possible 42 points or 0.29 points per game.

- Exclude the playoff game, and the Union have endured 13 straight regular-season games sans victory. Should that stretch to 14 (and 15 overall) with anything but three points against Montreal, they enter ignominious company in MLS history (from the league’s Facts and Record Book):

Should the Union fail to win Saturday vs. Montreal, it would be 14 straight regular season games w/o a W, tied for 9th most in MLS history pic.twitter.com/OiQrvUD9TW

— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) April 19, 2017

- The Union have allowed 28 goals, a tidy average of two per contest. They’ve scored just 11 goals.

- On the concession side, the Union have kept just one clean sheet. More worrying, they’ve allowed multiple goals in 11 outings. Yet they haven’t allowed more than three goals in a game, that one breakdown that skews the numbers, indicating a steady stream of goals each week.

- Home field has been no refuge. The Union are 0-4-2 in home games, having allowed 12 goals (again, right at two per game) and scored just four. A loss or tie this weekend ties the franchise record for the longest home winless streak at seven, set from March 15-July 12, 2014. That run involved five draws at least, though it spanned the firing of John Hackworth. 
Read more »

Though disappointed not to get a cap, Union right back
and MLS All-Star Keegan Rosenberry is grateful
for the chance to be in camp with the U.S. National Team
in January. (AP).

PHILADELPHIA >> The setting under the bubble at the University of Pennsylvania’s Dunning-Cohen Champions Field Monday, barely dodging intermittent snow squalls, seemed about as far away from sunny California as one could be.

Regardless of the differing climes, the work rate didn’t change Keegan Rosenberry. Whether competing with members of the U.S. National Team or his Philadelphia Union teammates, the approach seemed constant from the second-year pro.

That degree of consistency is vital for Rosenberry, who’s undergone a whirlwind 13 months, the latest step being the national team call-up from manager Bruce Arena. Rosenberry’s camp ended without a cap, the right back among a handful of players from the 30-plus man squad returned to their clubs ahead of last Sunday’s friendly with Serbia. (Graham Zusi, the converted midfielder, played the full 90 at right back in what appears to be Arena’s experiment du jour, while healthy-again Greg Garza of Atlanta United and debutant Jorge Villafana split time on the left.)

Despite a pang of disappointment, Rosenberry is drawing positives from a significant milestone.

“It was a good experience,” Rosenberry said. “I was happy to be out there. Very honored to get the call and to be a part of it. Obviously disappointed not to be involved in the friendlies, but I think they’re in an interesting situation going into March with the friendlies. I just use it as motivation going forward.”

It was just a year ago that Rosenberry was the rookie in Union camp, the result of a Homegrown Player claim denied by MLS and the Georgetown alum rocketing up the SuperDraft board to bed plucked at No. 3. In the last year, he’s earned an MLS All-Star Game nod, set an unbreakable record as the only rookie to play every minute of a 34-game season and finished second in the Rookie of the Year balloting while winning the league’s Fair Play Award … all while helping the Union make their first playoff appearance since Rosenberry was a high schooler playing on the nascent academy squads.

It’s no wonder that Rosenberry appeared on Arena’s radar, particularly at a position in which Arena’s predecessor, Jurgen Klinsmann, exhibited precious little consistency of selection.
Read more »

Oguchi Onyewu has the second-most caps among Americans
never to play in MLS. The Union looked to end that Monday
by signing the defender. (AP)

A thought occurred at Philadelphia Union training today that inspired a little digging on my part. The club announced the signing of Oguchi Onyewu, whose illustrious career includes stints in France, Belgium, England, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal. His CV includes 69 national team caps from 2004-14 and inclusion in the U.S. roster for both the 2006 and 2010 World Cups.

The glaring omission on Onyewu’s resume is having never played in MLS. His pathway to Europe – growing up in Olney, Maryland; residency at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.; two years at Clemson – is fairly conventional for an American, even if the 34-year-old center back took it to exceptional levels.

In chatting with my colleague, Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com, while watching the Union train at Penn Park Tuesday, I wondered where Onyewu ranked among Americans abroad. Did the Union quietly sign the most distinguished American international never to play in MLS?

The answer is, not quite. But the Union got pretty close, and they’ve done this before.

Among American internationals of the modern era, only one player has more caps than Onyewu without playing in MLS. That would be Steve Cherundolo, who earned 87 caps with the U.S. and spent his entire 15-year playing career with German club Hannover 96 (where Cherundolo is now an assistant manager).

Onyewu, though, is second on that list for most caps in the absence of an MLS game, which will be rectified soon, presumably.

Next on that list, at least as of last summer, was Alejandro Bedoya, who secured 53 national team caps before his first MLS game with the Union following his million-dollar transfer from FC Nantes. Bedoya followed a similar trajectory as Onyewu, signing with Swedish club Orebro SK after his career at Boston College.
Read more »

Oguchi Onyewu has gone from just training
to signed by the Union in one week.

The Philadelphia Union ship out to Florida Tuesday for some long-awaited preseason work in the sun, but before that, the club squeezed out one more chilly training session at Penn’s bubble at Dunning-Cohen Field.

The group was thinner today, with Bethlehem Steel’s preseason starting, so not much to see in training. But a few highlights from post-practice availability:

- The big news was the signing of Oguchi Onyewu to a one-year deal, the 34-year-old American central defender finally landing with an MLS club. He’s been out of contract since the end of the 2014-15 season with Charlton Athletic in England, and he impressed sufficiently in a week of training (not even a trial) to warrant a deal. Here’s manager Jim Curtin’s thoughts:

“It started as just an idea to keep him going in terms of seeing where he was at training wise and almost as just to keep his fitness and maintain it, and it kind of evolved into seeing very fast that he still has a lot more to give to the game. Still a decent age for a center back, 34, ton of experience, a guy who has done it at the highest level in Europe, with our national team. He can sprinkle down some wisdom to our young corps of center backs. The message was, yes that’s part of why he’s being brought here, to help and mentor and coach on the field, but also we want him to push to be a starter. Sat down with him with Earnie (Stewart) a couple of times now and it kind of started and has kind of evolved into us not wanting to let him continue on anywhere else. We locked him up pretty quickly, happy with where it is and now he’ll join the group down in Florida.”

Onyewu was back in D.C. today and not training with the club, but he will meet them in Florida. More reaction in the paper Tuesday.

- Also absent Monday were the Union’s other two big offseason signings, but with positive caveats. Jay Simpson’s visa has been cleared, and the English striker will meet the Union in Florida. Giliano Wijnaldum is with the club but remained in Chester to undergo a physical. The Union had hoped to have him train Monday (had the session been at the Power Training Complex, he might have).

- Back at training was Keegan Rosenberry, who spent two-plus weeks with the U.S. National Team camp but was released last Friday, not making the gameday roster for Sunday’s friendly with Serbia. Rosenberry admitted disappointment at that but also saw the positives of his training stint. “It was a good experience,” the right back said. “I was happy to be out there. Very honored to get the call and to be a part of it. Obviously disappointed not to be involved in the friendlies, but I think they’re in an interesting situation going into March with the friendlies. I just use it as motivation going forward.”

- Curtin said that both of the Union players to play against Serbia, Alejandro Bedoya and Chris Pontius, turned in solid shifts. Bedoya started and was replaced in the second half by Pontius, who came inches from firing in the game-winner in his international debut.

#USMNT sub: Chris Pontius replaces @PhilaUnion teammate Alejandro Bedoya to make his international debut. #USAvSRB, 0-0, 65' pic.twitter.com/siyF5Q1vml

— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) January 29, 2017

Read more »

The question of Roland Alberg's fitness for the Union's full-time No. 10 job
will be tested this preseason. (AP)

The Philadelphia Union’s first full practice of the 2017 season will take place Tuesday morning at the Power Training Complex. And it will ensure an almost unfathomable level of consistency from the last time the Union assembled in the shadow of Talen Energy Stadium.

Of the 18 players in the squad last October for the Union’s first playoff game in five years against Toronto FC, 17 remain with the club. Ten of 11 starters’ jobs are preserved from last season, Tranquillo Barnetta the lone exception. I don’t even have to check past figures; that’s surely unprecedented for a club where roster churn has been the norm.

As I wrote Monday, the Union have the best of both words. They have the prestige and tangential benefit of three players prepping for the season with the U.S. National Team in its January camp, three who are certainly among the 10 given starters. Fewer regulars means more opportunities to see the contestants for the other slots on the depth chart battling it out.

So let’s look at the five positional battles sure to play out in camp this week and in Florida next month:

Roland Alberg vs. Expectations. Lest you think the Union have everything figured out, consider that one battle dictates several others. (I needn’t remind you how many returning starters Columbus had in place before last season, do I?) Parse the roster and the Dutchman is the only player you’d consider a No. 10, lest Alejandro Bedoya moves up into that spot and somewhat out of position. Doing so leaves the current reserve corps at the No. 8 remarkably thin. So getting Alberg to consistently play the 10 in a 4-2-3-1 system that the Union show little taste for changing is vital. Alberg proved last year he can play excel in spurts; if we allow the benefit of the doubt in his acclimation period to MLS, then the hypothesis to be proven is that he can be for the Union what Barnetta was last year.

Fabinho vs. Gilliano Wijnaldum. To dub this Fabinho’s job to lose would disrespect the work the Brazilian did last season. More apt is that it’s Wijnaldum’s job to win. Earnie Stewart put it bluntly: Wijnaldum didn’t come to MLS to sit the bench. And while Fabinho wasn’t necessarily the weak link in a defense that leaked 56 goals in 35 games last year, his left back spot is as logical a place as any to start searching for reinforcements. Read more »

Time to heal and consistency helped Chris Pontius launch
his Comeback Player of the Year season in 2016.
(Times File)

Chris Pontius’s first reaction two weeks ago at being named a finalist for the MLS Comeback Player of the Year Award struck at the fundamental conflict in the award: It’s nice to win, sure, but you’d rather avoid being in a position to.

That contradiction is fitting, since it informs how Pontius got to a point where the 2016 award was bestowed on him Wednesday. By not constantly considering the injuries that had dogged him for the better part of three years, Pontius finally moved past them to compile a career season.

“I tried to not think about it,” Pontius said Thursday by phone. “Late on in the season, maybe 27 games in, I was like, ‘holy cow, I haven’t missed a game yet.’ And it was just trying to (think), let’s keep this thing going, not thinking about it. I just was like, let’s keep this thing going and doing what I was doing, just week by week and focusing on the week ahead.”

For the first time since 2012, Pontius enjoyed a season not defined by injuries. He scored a career-high tying 12 goals to go with a career-best six assists. Including the U.S. Open Cup, he bagged 14 goals. The winger also set career marks in games played, starts and minutes.

In his first season with the Union, Pontius doubled his combined goal total from 2013-15.

And as Pontius explained Thursday, from out on the golf course with former D.C. United teammate and roommate Steve Birnbaum, one of the keys to a change in outcome was consistency of approach. Read more »

Jim Curtin, left, and Earnie Stewart wrapped up the Union season
with a lengthy press conference Wednesday.

For over an hour Wednesday, members of the Philadelphia Union worked either on the field or in the weight room, a coda on a long campaign and a gateway to the offseason. Then coach Jim Curtin and sporting direction Earnie Stewart fielded questions for 30-some minutes, wrapping up a playoff season that was and previewing an offseason of tinkering rather than rebuilding.

Those two, particularly Stewart, discussed a wide range of topics. Some takeaways:

- First, big picture. The Union announced options declined on six players: Loanees Anderson and Matt Jones, plus Cole Missimo, Taylor Washington, Walter Restrepo and Kevin Kratz (more on that later). It’s still mulling decisions on Charlie Davies and Leo Fernandes. Everyone else is back. That is a level of decisiveness and transparency that past squads have lacked.

- Breakup days of seasons past have been helter-skelter affairs – exit interviews, players slinking back to their personal lives, some informal workouts organized. This year, the Union are in Chester for two weeks after the season, working with the staff to prep for the offseason. Captain Brian Carroll indicated that that was a stark departure from the past, emblematic of the changes Stewart has instituted.

- Plenty of fans have opined about Curtin’s future as the coach of the Union. Stewart was unequivocal in assessing his performance:

“Really good, and I say that with a lot of confidence too. The way we set out the start of this season, I was curious in the United States how we go about practicing and do we go out with purpose, and Jim has exceeded those expectations in going out every single day. When we talked about roles and responsibilities as the players, you can go out and play games, or you can put a purpose behind everything that you do in the exercises that we have and in trying to create those moments of, the angled passes that we always talk about, playing forward that we always talk about. You can say it, or you can go out and practice it. I have to say Jim and his technical staff have been excellent in that in what I’ve seen, the level of training. And that’s my form of recognition to seeing how things go. If you see the progress in the beginning of the seasons in our keepaway and if you see the process now of where we are in our keepaway games, that’s a major, major difference and a lot has to do with the coaching staff in that.

“I think the beginning of the season showed that confidence level that we have, the way we can play. Do things happen during the season that we can’t reach that totally? Yeah. Do I feel that there’s open discussions about trying to tweak it left and right within our formation, within our style, within our system in getting better and getting those results? Yeah, they’ve been there. We’ve had open, honest discussions with each other which I think is fantastic and a very good way of working. That evaluation has been really good.”

- The Union adapted to a new training load, with two-a-days and other new tactics. Stewart was adamant that the increased burden didn’t precipitate the late-season swoon. “No, I don’t think so,” he said. “I do know how it works from a player perspective. That’s my own experience. When you win games, you’re never tired, and when you lose games, you’re very tired. And that’s just it. A human body can do way more than we think, so I don’t believe in that. That’s not an excuse.” Curtin added that per team data, he didn’t see players late in the season failing to reach the physical outputs they did early on. “To put in on fatigue, I don’t buy it,” Curtin said.

- The reasons for the late struggles remained elusive. Some of it was a young roster in the heat of a playoff chase for the first time. Some was untimely injuries. Part of it was the schedule getting tougher, leading to crises in player confidence. Some of it, as Stewart pointed out, is simple perception. Said Curtin: “We are examining and trying to pinpoint exactly what it is, too, and the harder we search and the more we look at the data, the analytics, the games, it comes back that it’s a variety of things.”

- Stewart has said that the club hasn’t received concrete offers for Andre Blake. The goalkeeper, who graduated Generation Adidas Monday, will count on the Union’s salary budget for the first time in his career in 2017. Stewart concurred that Blake has earned that and he would listen to offers for the Jamaican goalie, but they haven’t yet materialized. Stewart: Read more »

Something unusual will happen Saturday evening when the Philadelphia Union host Toronto FC at Talen Energy Stadium: Of the 22 players chosen to start the game, nearly half will have experience playing for the U.S. National Team. And for once, the Union will actually contribute significantly to that tally.

The Union’s summer dealings can be characterized by many lenses. But one is the acquisition of players in Alejandro Bedoya and Charlie Davies, who’ve represented the U.S. internationally.

And so Saturday, using the Union and Toronto rosters, you can cobble together a fairly cogent starting XI of fully capped American internationals.



There’s some fudging position-wise. Chris Pontius is included, and while he has never appeared for the U.S., he’s twice been invited to camps and traveled internationally without getting in a game, and it’s reasonable to assume that had he not experienced such bad injury luck, he’d have that cap by now. (Consider this the start of the campaign for Pontius to play the role Ethan Finlay did at January camp and beyond last year.) There’s also no capped goalie, but Alex Bono, the former Reading United player, has played for the U.S. Under-18 team, so he’ll do.

The spine of the team is formidable. It features, when healthy, the U.S.’s top striker for the next World Cup cycle (Jozy Altidore), its captain (Michael Bradley) and arguably one of the first two or three names coach Jurgen Klinsmann pencils into the lineup in Bedoya.

That isn’t a bad team, if you could swap a forward for a truer fullback. It’s certainly a darn good one from a marketing standpoint, and it reveals a point about the Union’s direction.
Read more »