Before Roland Alberg, center, and company do too much celebrating,
a big summer win like Sunday's over New England has rarely been apropos
of anything for the Union. (For Digital First Media/Mike Reeves)

The Union are coming off arguably their best performance of the season, a 3-0 drubbing of New England at home Sunday. It was comfortable, it was steady on both ends, with a rock-solid defense and crucial bouts of finishing in the attacking third.

It’s also a harbinger of things to come, right? Not so fast.

Sunday represented what has become a yearly tradition – a June/July hammering of an opponent at home that raises the Union’s hopes of a mid-summer renaissance. Often, that result hasn’t elevated the Union much higher than the three points gleaned on the day. Let’s go year-by-year:

- In 2016, the Union pounded D.C. United, 3-0, on July 9 thanks to – as it was known until just a few weeks ago – Ilsinho’s only two goals. One of those tallies, along with a Roland Alberg marker, came from the penalty spot on a day where the D.C. was reduced to 10 men thanks to a Kofi Opare red. The result came on the heels of two straight losses and was offered as proof that an early-season surge wasn’t regressing to the mean. What followed was just three wins in three months as part of a 3-8-4 finish and a first-round playoff ouster.

- The 2015 Union were a thoroughly forgettable bunch. But out of the Gold Cup break that year on July 11, they thumped Portland, 3-0, when coach Caleb Porter packed only a pair of reserve outside backs for the trip – the legendary duo of Taylor Peay and Jeanderson, both in MLS debuts to forget. That was the alchemy that produced Andrew Wenger’s first (and only) goal of the season in his 20th (and somehow not final) appearance. Vincent Nogueira also scored twice in Brian Sylvestre’s fifth and final shutout with the club. And the momentum translated to … Three straight losses and a five-match winless streak.

Though @DaveZeitlin isn't here, if there was ever a night for Andrew Wenger to be due, it would be vs fullbacks making their first MLS start

— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) July 11, 2015

- OK, it wasn’t a shutout. But the Union’s 3-1 win over the Red Bulls July 16, 2014 fostered hope that the Jim Curtin new-coach bump might be sustainable. Conor Casey chose wisely in drinking from the right grail to cap a streak of six goals in six games, while Fred (!!!) also checked in with his first and only goal of his 14th of 16 stints with the Union (and counting?). This result actually translated to consistent form for a while – followed by two road draws, the Union went on a five-match unbeaten streak and lost once in an 11-game streak (5-1-5). But the exhaustion of the U.S. Open Cup final run eventually took its toll.
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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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Conor Casey's day with the Union may be done
after the team declined his option Monday. (AP)

At long last, the Philadelphia Union have announced some action this offseason, declining options on five players.

Those not returning are midfielders Corben Bone and Fred, and forwards Conor Casey, Brian Brown and Cristhian Hernandez, while the Union also announced that Brian Carroll is out of contract.

Bone, who spent four largely indifferent seasons with Chicago, was drafted by the Union in Stage One of the 2013 Re-Entry Draft. He made just two MLS appearances totaling 13 minutes, capped by a red card after just one minute May 14 against Kansas City. The 26-year-old spent the end of the season on loan with USL Pro side Wilmington Hammerheads.

The 35-year-old Fred was signed via a Waiver Draft in late March after training with the club through most of the preseason. Fred appeared in 11 matches in his second stint with the Union, scoring the game-winning goal against New York July 16.

Hernandez was signed as a Homegrown Player before the 2012 season. He played in two matches, totaling 26 minutes in 2012, then spent most of the last two seasons with Harrisburg City. This year with the Islanders, he was limited to just 15 minutes while floating around several positions.

Brown spent the last four months of the regular season on loan from Jamaican club Harbour View FC. He played in eight games (one start) and scored twice, notching the game-winning goal against Kansas City Aug. 1, then scoring against SKC in a 2-1 win Oct. 18.

Casey, acquired via Stage Two of the 2012 Re-Entry Draft, scoring 18 goals and seven assists in 56 matches with the Union. Casey scored six of his eight MLS goals this season in a six-match stretch from May 31-July 16.

The Union’s roster stands at 24 players ahead of this week’s Expansion Draft (Wednesday) and the two phases of the Re-Entry Draft (Friday, then next Thursday).

Declining options doesn’t close the door to returns for any of the players, though it would be on renegotiated deals. Casey made $192,000 last year. Carroll raked in $185k, while Fred made $65k and Hernandez made $74k.

Union (4-2-3-1)

MacMath

Fabinho-Edu-White-Gaddis

Carroll-Okugo

Wenger-Fred-Cruz

Ribeiro

Bench: Blake, Le Toux, Nogueira, Maidana, Valdes, Brown, Williams

Red Bulls (4-4-2)

Robles

Duvall-Sekagya-Olave-Armando

Sam-McCarty-Alexander-Luyindula

Cahill-Henry

Bench: Meara, Kimura, Eckersley, Bover, Christianson, Stevenson, Sene

Preview 

- Jim Curtin said pretty bluntly Thursday that he wants players training before a game. When Rais M’Bolhi didn’t arrive back in the states until Friday, the decision was made to go with Zac MacMath for at least one more game. The appearance is MacMath’s 100th in MLS, 99 of them starts.

- Given the conditions and the Open Cup final looming Tuesday, the Union are resting most if not all of their big guns. They have only four regulars out there, not including Carlos Valdes, Sebastien Le Toux, Conor Casey (who doesn’t make the bench), Cristian Maidana or Vincent Nogueira. The conditions are poor, and that might factor in, but the challenge is clear to the reserves to take care of business.

- That said, this isn’t a youth team. Brian Carroll is out there with the sole objective of keeping a clean sheet. Danny Cruz and Fred are well rested. The biggest revelation concerns Pedro Ribeiro, who apparently has supplanted Brian Brown in the forward pecking order.

- The gaping absence for the Red Bulls is MLS leading scorer Bradley Wright-Phillips, who’ll sit the bench with a hamstring injury. In place of his 21 goals this season, Thierry Henry will lead the line, and Tim Cahill gets a start after a sub appearance midweek. Given the glut of games for the Red Bulls (including CONCACAF Champions League Wednesday), not pushing Wright-Phillips makes sense. Saer Sene is also looming on the bench.

Philadelphia Union (4-3-3)

MacMath

Gaddis-Wheeler-Berry-Williams

Fernandes-Okugo-Nogueira

Maidana-Wenger-Cruz

Bench: Blake, Hoppenot, White, Fred, Pfeffer, Casey, Le Toux

New England (4-4-2)

Knighton

Soares-Barnes-Tierney-Farrell

Fagundez-Kobayashi-Dorman-Nguyen

Bunbury-Mullins

Bench: Jackson, McCarthy, Woodbine, Caldwell, Neumann, Rowe, Davies 

- Well, there’s a new defensive pairing in Austin Berry and Aaron Wheeler, which could be severely tested by the speed of the New England backline. There will be a significant onus on Amobi Okugo to help cover runners with his speed as he fills in for Brian Carroll for the second straight game. The fullbacks will also be called upon heavily to corral Diego Fagundez, while it’ll be a physical battle between Patrick Mullins and Teal Bunbury with the two big Union center backs.

- John Hackworth goes with the safe option in midfield. He had little choice but to deploy Okugo there without Carroll, Maurice Edu and Michael Lahoud, and he pairs Leo Fernandes (after a less-than-stellar performance against Kansas City) with Vincent Nogueira. It’s a possession-oriented approach, but it has to be done well.

- Look to the bench for a couple of rare sights. Zach Pfeffer makes his second sub appearance of the year, while Fred is back with the Union in a kit. They aren’t just there to be there. They could very well get a look today with the paucity of options.

- The Union get a break with Bobby Shuttleworth out due to a concussion sustained in training. That means original Union member Brad Knighton will start for the Revs.

Few players in Union history left as confusing an imprint as Keon Daniel, whose three-plus year stint with the club officially came to an end Tuesday with the termination of his contract by mutual consent.

Keon Daniel, seen here against D.C. United last year,
was let go by the Union Tuesday. (AP)

His presence has elicited hopefulness, exasperation, devotion, confusion and dissatisfaction, among a wide continuum of other sentiments. Finding a simple summary for Daniel's 64 MLS appearances is well-nigh impossible for a player that has embodied both a major tactical problem and significant solution at versions points in his career.

The contradictions begin with Daniel's very stature. At a formidable 6-1, he was often the most physical of presences among slighter midfielders like Roger Torres and Brian Carroll. Yet he rarely played like it.

His 14 goals in 59 appearances for Trinidad & Tobago indicate his offensive aptitude. His two goals and four assists in 64 games for the Union suggest otherwise. At various times, he's represented for the Union their most attack-minded option, or their most physical, or their most technical.

His two goals are evidence of the promise that has always been so seductive for two Union coaching staffs. The first, June 11, 2011, against Real Salt Lake, was the kind of heads-up hustle goal a player of his stature would find on a somewhat regular basis based on his physicality alone. Instead, it stood alone for him. Statistically, that 2011 season in which he had a goal and two assists in 18 games (nine starts) is remarkably his most productive. (Go to the 1:35 mark below.)
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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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Much of the attention Tuesday at Union practice at YSC was focused on the arrival of Maurice Edu, who participated fully in the morning session before his big unveiling ceremony. The American looked impressive, however limited the action was. But he wasn't the only notable performance. A few others:

Fred: A blast from the Union's past
on trial with the club. (AP file)

- The 11-on-11 scrimmage sided shaped up thusly:  

Orange Team 

Blake

Fabinho-Marquez-Williams-Gaddis

Lahoud-Daniel

Bone-Fred-Cruz

Casey

Navy Team

MacMath

Derschang-White-Cope-McLaughlin

Carroll-Edu

Le Toux-Ribeiro-Fernandes

McInerney 

The only roster players absent where Hoppenot, Kassel and Wheeler, who we're playing 7-v-7 on a lower field. Amobi Okugo wasn't involved.

- I got to see some impressive saves from first overall pick Andre Blake. It's odd to see the lanky guy (he's not 6-foot-4 as some outlets suggested before the draft; the Union measured him at 6-1) get low to make saves since he needs to almost fold his body out of the way to get his hands down. He's got great reach and leaping ability, all the things you’d expect from a goalkeeper. But what I thought was most impressive is that when a ball hits his hands, it stayed in his grasp. That's something Zac MacMath had struggled with at times.

- As far as MacMath, he has warmed to the competition of Blake. The two are constantly communicating in drills, and MacMath is quick to offer encouragement.
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