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.
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Some fuss was made in last year’s season finale when Sheanon Williams became the first member of the Philadelphia Union to make 100 MLS appearances, a notable milestone for a team at the end of its fourth season. The news was understandably overshadowed by a playoff race that didn’t go the club’s way, but it was a notable achievement nonetheless.

With Williams on the shelf to start the season, Union captain Brian Carroll is now in line to catch him in the 100-cap club, positioned to reach the milestone this weekend when the Union travel to Chicago.

Brian Carroll is poised to leap into history this weekend
with his 100th appearance for the Union. (AP)

Union manager John Hackworth mentioned what the accolade would mean for his captain.

“I think that would say a lot,” Hackworth said. “Brian is obviously very important to our team. He has accepted the responsibility on our team the last couple of years of the leadership role. As a pro, if you look at the course of his career, he has always been a player who found his way into important position and consistently led by example. If you talk to coaches and players around the league, nobody every says anything but position things about the way Brian players and conducts himself on and off the field. Hitting a milestone like that is a great recognition for all the work that he does.”

Carroll remains behind Williams in one regard, though: All 100 of Williams’ appearances have been starts. Carroll has one substitute appearance to his name.

Once Carroll hits the mark, there are plenty of others waiting in the wings to make their 100th Union cap:

Sebastien Le Toux: 98 (91 starts; he has 159 total MLS appearances)
Jack McInerney: 95 (only 53 starts)
Amobi Okugo: 89 (74 starts)
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