Ilsinho at Union trianing: Always a good time.

The Union wrapped up the last of three days at the Bubble over Dunning-Cohen Champions Field on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania (I will not missing typing out that lengthy title) Thursday.

The club will have at least three more days on the field at the Power Training Complex, the Saturday session of which will be open to the public, before jetting off to the first phase of their Floridian training camp next Tuesday.

Thursday’s session involved a lot of attacking drills, particularly from the wings, and finished with some full-field 11-v-11 scrimmaging. Here are some belated highlights.

- First up: Attendance report. Haris Medunjanin has headed off to Bosnia and Herzegovina camp in southern California. CJ Sapong is still away with the U.S., as those two prepare to possibly meet in a friendly next week. Fafa Picault (personal reasons) has yet to report to camp, and Andre Blake was excused from training for the same. That left 28 bodies, with Tomas Romero as the third goalie plus the voluminous Steel roster of James Chambers, Olivier Mbaizo, Brandon Allen and Santi Moar.
- The first group of 11-v-11 lined up thusly:

Team 1:

McCarthy
Rosenberry-Yaro-Trusty-Fabinho
Creavalle-Bedoya
Epps-Najem-Accam
Burke

Team 2:

McGuire
Gaddis-Elliott-Marquez-Real
D.Jones-Fontana 

Herbers-Ilsinho-Ayuk 

Simpson 

From that group, the center back pairings are interesting (Mark McKenzie rotated in for Marquez for the second round of games), restoring a certain right-left symmetry that Jim Curtin harped on in 2016 but relented on in 2017. It also raises eyebrows that Anthony Fontana is being deployed in a more withdrawn role, but I’d write that off as fewer central players sans Medunjanin. David Accam on the left with Fabinho is an attacking axis, though Matt Real seems to naturally gravitate higher up the pitch, which is promising.
Read more »

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."
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(DFM/Mikey Reeves)

A lot is going to be made in the coming weeks about the future of the Philadelphia Union and where the club goes from a disappointing 2017. But first it’s worth taking a step back and getting a broad and dispassionate view of what transpired.

We have a 34-game sample on which to assess the team’s strengths and weaknesses, something the Union will do in the weeks and months leading up to December’s offseason frenzy. I’ll be looking more in depth into certain personnel groupings in the coming weeks. But for now, let’s get the overview and work from there.

The Individuals

- Sunday’s 6-1 pantsing of Orlando City provided the perspective for the individual accolades. CJ Sapong scored twice, his third multi-goal game of the season, to take his total to 16 and supplant Sebastien Le Toux for the single-season franchise record. Haris Medunjanin’s assist was No. 12, tied for second-most in a Union campaign. Those two numbers indicate the kind of top-line players the Union have found in too short of supply.

- Thirteen Union players scored MLS goals this season. That’s the same number as each of the last two seasons. Five more picked up assists without scoring.

- We can break that down by positional grouping. The forwards accounted for 17 goals and five assists (all but one goal via Sapong). The midfield was the nexus of creativity, contributing 29 goals and 35 assists. The backline had a hand in just nine goals (three goals, six assists). The Union benefitted from one own goal.

- The Union’s lack of activity in the summer was widely (and rightly) panned, but the winter signings have paid off (Jay Simpson notwithstanding). Fafa Picault was second on the team with seven goals and three assists. Medunjanin scored twice to go with the aforementioned 12 assists. In all, new arrivals accounted for 14 goals and 18 assists.

- Let’s talk draft picks: Marcus Epps and Jack Elliott played 3,300 minutes this season. That’s the second most for a Union SuperDraft class, trailing only the 2016 cohort of three first-rounders. It’s more minutes than the 2010 class of three first-rounders.

- Can we quantify luck? The Union conceded six penalties, one of which was saved by Andre Blake. The Union drew seven penalties, converting five. The Union had four opponents sent off (two in the same game). The Union were shown two red cards on the year – Derrick Jones against the Red Bulls and Josh Yaro against Atlanta. The three instances of VAR use in Union games benefitted the Union, wiping out goals against Atlanta and Dallas and nullifying a red card and penalty against Minnesota.

The Team
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.
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UNION (4-2-3-1) 

Blake 

Rosenberry-Yaro-Elliott-Wijnaldum 

Bedoya-Medunjanin 

Picault-Alberg-Pontius 

Sapong 

Bench: McCarthy, Marquez, Gaddis, Creavalle, Epps, Ilsinho, Simpson

Atlanta (4-2-3-1) 

Guzan 

Walkes-Parkhurst-Gonzalez Pirez-Garza 

Larentowicz-McCann 

Villalba-Almiron-Asad 

Martinez 

Bench: Reynish, Mears, Kratz, Ambrose, Gressel, Vazquez, Peterson 

- It’s three changes on the backline for the Union today, with Jack Elliott the lone holdover. Josh Yaro is in for Oguchi Onyewu, which makes sense given the matchup and the Wednesday-Saturday turnaround. Keegan Rosenberry makes his first start since April 14. This is this most squad rotation I can recall from Jim Curtin, particularly at the back. Sticking with his preferred guys in the past hasn’t worked, so let’s see how this does.

- It’s the full complement for Atlanta in its first meeting with the Union, making only one change in central midfield with Chris McCann in central midfield. Other than that, the front four of Miguel Almiron, Yamil Asad, Josef Martinez and Hector Villalba up top. Atlanta is coming off a tough 1-0 loss to D.C. Wednesday, so they could be hungry for a result with a glut of home games upcoming.

- The matchup at the back for the Union is logical, but will be testing. Yaro makes sense as the guy today for his speed. But increasingly, his positional awareness seems lacking. And he’ll be tested by a passel of MLS’s most dynamic attackers today from Atlanta. How Yaro prevents the backline from being torn and distorted by the motion of Almiron and Villalba is going to be vital in the Union’s quest to get a home result.

UNION (4-2-3-1) 

McCarthy 

Gaddis-Elliott-Yaro-Wijnaldum 

Bedoya-Medunjanin 

Picault-Ilsinho-Pontius 

Sapong 

Bench: McGuire, Fabinho, Marquez, Creavalle, Alberg, Epps, Simpson 

Montreal (4-3-3) 

Bush 

Duvall-Cabrera-Ciman-Lovitz 

Dzemaili-Piette-Bernier 

Oduro-Mancosu-Piatti 

Bench: Crepeau, Fisher, Francis, Beland-Goyette, Coinere, Salazar, Jackson-Hamel 

Preview 

- A 3-1 win over FC Dallas last week alleviates the impulse to change for Jim Curtin, who makes just one change in the side enforced by injury. Oguchi Onyewu’s groin injury flared up, so Josh Yaro steps in. Richie Marquez makes his return to the bench. As expected, John McCarthy starts his seventh straight game in net with Andre Blake out again.

- Besides that, it’s the same team that worked so well in attack. Ilsinho is back in the No. 10 spot, with Roland Alberg ready as the super sub role. No Keegan Rosenberry or Derrick Jones, who might be in line for time with Bethlehem in Sunday’s game.

- Montreal is set to hand a debut to Canadian international Samuel Piette in central midfield after signing him from Spanish minor league team Izarra this summer. He moves Hernan Bernardello and Marco Donadel out of the 18 altogether. It’ll be interesting to see how they change shape around them, with Ignacio Piatti’s tendency to drift in off the win and Blerim Dzemaili nominally farther back in the midfield three than his normal No. 10 role. It could come to look more like a 4-2-1-3, with Piette and Patrice Bernier anchoring a triangle with Dzemaili at the point.

It's been nearly four months since Keegan Rosenberry, seen here in
the U.S. Open Cup fifth round at Red Bull Arena, has found his way
into a starting lineup for an MLS game with the Union. (DFM/Mikey Reeves)

Of the first 3,690 possible minutes in Keegan Rosenberry’s MLS career, the defender played 3,684.

In the Union’s last 16 MLS games, a span of 1,440 possible minutes, Rosenberry has played 56, all the while healthy as a horse and rotting on the bench.

That stat seems unthinkable for a player who so impressed last year that he became an MLS All-Star, Rookie of the Year runner-up and earned a call to a U.S. national team camp. But a year on, Rosenberry finds himself the subject of an incomprehensible stat: The native of Ronks hasn’t started an MLS game since April 14.

So how exactly did a player that was the apple of manager Jim Curtin’s eye come to such a pass? And when will he pull out of this spiral?

“It’s earned in training each and every day,” Curtin said Wednesday at his weekly press conference when asked what Rosenberry would have to do to play again. “I had a good talk with him today, keeping him posted and improve on in training. Defensively, different ideas of staying right off the outside (shoulder) of your center back. Keegan’s going to be a big part of the future of this club. I know he’s frustrated. He wants to get on the field where he can help the group. And that’s something that he’s working to improve each and every day. But again, it’s earned in training, and it’s earned in the 90 minutes. He’ll have another opportunity at some point. When that point comes, he’ll be called upon to be ready.”

That non-answer treads very close to the John Hackworth era “he has to play to be fit, and has to be fit to play” circularity. And it speaks to a frightening correction for a player who exceeded his anticipated talent ceiling last year and has plummeted through his talent floor this year.

Cracks formed in Rosenberry’s game late last year. An accomplished one-on-one defender early, teams started to figure out how to attack him, isolating him and forcing tough decisions on him by exploiting seams of space left by the positional awareness of what was, to be fair, a 22-year-old rookie. He contributed to and was dragged down by a collective malaise to end last season by conceding 17 goals in a nine-game winless streak, playoff cameo included. His gifts were obvious, but so too were flaws, including a youthful tendency to play out sequences instead of ending them early with a swift kick out of bounds.

So this year, when the Union tumbled and Curtin sought to stanch defensive bleeding, Rosenberry made sense as a temporary change. Ray Gaddis has stepped in and played capably, the defense has stabilized and Curtin hasn’t wanted to mess with a good thing that, for the Union’s lowly table placement, is the fourth stingiest defense in the East. Read more »

Union rookie Jack Elliott showed well in his MLS debut
Saturday, a 2-1 loss to D.C. United. (AP)

With his 6-foot-5 stature, Jack Elliott is used to standing tall. But the rookie’s ability to not shrink from his MLS debut Saturday night at RFK Stadium spoke to more than just his physical mettle.

Elliott took his MLS bow under difficult circumstances, for a Philadelphia Union team trailing two goals at halftime. But he acquitted himself well for a defense that didn’t allow a third goal, giving the team space to attempt a comeback in what went down as a 2-1 loss to D.C. United.

Elliott, drafted in the fourth round of the 2017 MLS SuperDraft out of West Virginia, entered at halftime for Richie Marquez, who suffered an apparent concussion.

“I had to do a job,” Elliott said. “Richie went out at halftime and I stepped up. It felt great to finally be on the pitch for my MLS debut. At the same time, we didn’t come out with the result, so bittersweet.”

Marquez got kicked in the head by goalie Andre Blake in a scramble in the 15th minute. He soldiered on, conceding a penalty in the 26th minute on a handball converted by D.C.’s Luciano Acosta. Manager Jim Curtin said that Marquez felt fine after the initial on-field concussion testing but experienced blurred and double vision later in the half and couldn’t continue.

In stepped Elliott, the 77th pick in January.

“You tell Jack to do what he’s done in training each and every day,” Curtin said. “He’s worked hard to be the reserve center back right now. He stepped in and performed very well. You can see his qualities on the ball. Composed on the ball, and he wins everything in the air. He did a good job in a 45 minutes where we were on the ball a lot, had a lot of the run of play.”
Read more »

Union defender Josh Yaro, right, is facing three to four months out
after surgery on his balky right shoulder. (File)

The Union took a brief hiatus in their Floridian preseason to return home and regroup before recamping in Clearwater for the final phase of the preseason. After three days off, the Union snuck in a session Monday morning under the Bubble at Penn Park’s Dunning-Cohen Champions Field ahead of a travel day Tuesday. A few takeaways:

- Mostly it was notable for the absences. Jay Simpson, Oguchi Onyewu, Eric Ayuk and Chris Pontius were among those not taking part in practice. Additionally, Maurice Edu (leg) was continuing his rehab with the medical staff in Chester, while Josh Yaro was in attendance, his right arm in a sling after shoulder surgery last week that will sideline him three to four months.

- Also with the team but back in Chester was new midfielder Haris Medunjanin, who took a physical Monday. Manager Jim Curtin said that the Bosnian could’ve trained, but it was wiser to wait for his first Union practice to be on grass in Clearwater rather than frigid Philly turf. Medunjanin was also getting a tour of the facilities for the first time, which Curtin said left him impressed compared to recent stays in Spain and Israel.

- One player on the turf was Brian Carroll, with whom the Union have been cautious given a history of plantar fasciitis, which is easily exacerbated on artificial surfaces. Carroll played as a neutral in 7-v-7 short-sided games, eschewing the running off to the side that others did.
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A hundred or so people turned out for Union open training Friday.

The Philadelphia Union held their annual open practice Friday morning, in blustery conditions that were far less hospitable than what YSC has offered in the past. Nonetheless, about 100 fans turned out to see the team practice for an hour and a half.


A few observations from the session:

- Still waiting on the arrival of Jay Simpson and Giliano Wijnaldum, neither of whom practiced Friday.

- Also absent from training: Fafa Picault. Though he’s not with the club at the moment, I’m told his trial isn’t over. (The Union are usually pretty upfront about when trials end, so his absence may be a precursor to a move.)

- One other new face in: Former Clemson central midfielder Alex Happi. Born in Cameroon and raised in France, Happi was eligible for the 2017 MLS SuperDraft but wasn’t selected. Sounds like a guy just there to stay fit alongside former college teammate Aaron Jones (Oguchi Onyewu is also a Clemson guy who remains with the Union), and it’s likely he’s being looked at more for Bethlehem Steel than the Union, if at all.


- It's not from Union training per se, but there's this from Keegan Rosenberry at U.S. National Team Camp:

US soccer announces that Taylor Kemp, Keegan Rosenberry, Brian Rowe, Wil Trapp, & Chris Wondolowski have been sent back to clubs. #usmnt

— Jeff Carlisle (@JeffreyCarlisle) January 27, 2017

- The last hour or so of training involved the Union in full-field 11-v-11. Here are the field players for each of the three teams (with some positional shuffling):

Blue Team
Fabinho-Tribbett-Yaro-Gaddis 

D.Jones-Happi 

Epps-Najem-Herbers 

Sapong

Pink Team
Real-Onyewu-Marquez-Ayuk 

Chambers-Creavalle 

Nanco-Alberg-Ilsinho 

Davies

No Pinnie Team 

Real-Trusty-Roberts-A.Jones 

Fontana-Elliott 

Nanco-Moar-Brown 

Burke

- You’ll notice five Bethlehem Steel players in there – Matt Real, defender Hugh Roberts, winger Amoy Brown, forward Cory Burke and of course James Chambers. Burke scored a couple of nice goals in interchange play with Brown. Burke will join Andre Blake with the Jamaican national team next week. Steel has alternated platoons of five guys training with the Union and five training together with Steel this week (Bolu Akinyode and Seku Conneh were among those present Tuesday).
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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 »

Clemson grad and English defender Aaron Jones, left,
is one of four foreign-born players taken by the Union
in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft. (AP)

The Philadelphia Union Tuesday wrapped up day two of the 2017 MLS SuperDraft with three picks – forward Chris Nanco, defender/midfielder Jack Elliott and forward Santi Moar. The odds of any of the three having an impact on the senior club, this year or next, are fairly remote. But those chances are improved by the minutes afforded by Bethlehem Steel, and if nothing else, the three added Tuesday are intriguing pieces. A few takeaways from the draft in broad strokes:

Foreign flair. Four of the Union’s five draft picks were born outside the United States – Nanco (Canada), Elliott and Aaron Jones (England) and Moar (Spain). Nanco cut his teeth at FC Sigma and the Canadian youth national team. Jones played at Ipswich Town, Elliott at the delightfully named Old Wilsonians Football Club. Not sure about Moar’s upbringing. In the two drafts overseen by Earnie Stewart, six of the Union’s 11 picks have been foreign-born players (Josh Yaro went through Ghana's touted Right to Dream Academy, while Fabian Herbers was at FC Twente and a pair of German clubs before landing at Creighton). Considering that 31 percent of the available players in this year’s SuperDraft were foreign-born (75 of 238), the Union’s preference looks to be a trend.

What you can’t teach. Cliché as “you can’t teach speed” may be, it’s helpful to look at the Union’s picks through a risk-reward lens. There are plenty of solid players available in the SuperDraft with elite club and college upbringings who are what they are at age 23 – that is a five-foot-something center mid or undersized but cerebral center back or a college center mid turned right back because that’s his best chance. Call it the Eric Bird mold. The Union seem to eschew that and look not for a complete player who has met his (middling) potential but one who could have an elite skill around which the Union staff can mold a fully-formed whole. With Marcus Epps and Nanco, that’s speed. With Elliott, it’s his 6-foot-5 frame. (No Aaron Wheeler jokes, please.) Jones has exemplary set-piece ability and work ethic. Moar, I’m guessing by the 19 assists, can provide a final pass. None is a complete player. But it’s easier in the second or third round to find one arrow in the quiver that projects as MLS-caliber and coach the rest of the individual around it, especially since the Union have improved drastically from a development standpoint in the last few years. The chances of any contributing are long, so why play it conservative?

The Real deal. With all due respect to the three draftees enjoying a monumental achievement, the big story is Matthew Real, who should be the Union’s left back of the future in two or three years, signing his first pro contract with Bethlehem Steel. The Drexel Hill native has been in the Union youth pipeline since before there was a coherent vision thereof. He’s a fixture on U.S. Under-16 and U-18 teams. The former Wake Forest commit would’ve played significant minutes for Steel before leaving for school this year. Now they’ve finalized a full pro deal, Real joining the likes of Auston Trusty, Derrick Jones and Yosef Samuel to sign out of the Academy. Of the four, Real could end up being the most impressive. Expect Real to train with the Union regularly this season.

The Union's Alejandro Bedoya, center, is recovering well from a rib injury
unrelated to this knock against Montreal Sept. 10. Manager Jim Curtin
expects him to be fine for the Oct. 16 visit from Orlando. (AP)

The Philadelphia Union’s squad was a tad thin Wednesday during the international window, with Andre Blake (Jamaica), Warren Creavalle (Guyana), Derrick Jones and Auston Trusty (U.S. Under-20) away on international duty. But the team put in a lengthy morning session in the first of a double-workout day. I chatted with new signing Kevin Kratz, and I’ll have that story posted soon. A few quick hits:

- Manager Jim Curtin is keeping his team’s mentality as even-keeled as possible in the face of a five-game winless streak and a slide to sixth in the Eastern Conference. The Union control their destiny and require a home-field meltdown to miss the playoffs, so the group remains confident. From the manager:

“Obviously it was a road trip where it didn’t go the way we wanted. Obviously the three games, three difficult places to play, we’re disappointed with the amount of points we took, only taking one in Toronto. So you step back and you’re frustrated in that regard, but you do know you have two home games at the end of the season, which is good. I think we had stretches in all three games – in Portland, in Toronto and in Red Bull (Arena) – of good soccer, but we didn’t put together 90 minutes, and we got punished in some areas of those games. The goal now is, we know that we’ve been a good team at home, that if we play at the level we’re capable of and we get back to just the basics and putting together the complete 90 minutes, we still like our chances at home to get a result.”

As to whether or not the week off helps, Curtin’s not sure, though he’s grateful for the chance to reinforce certain points (cough, set-piece defending, cough) and recuperate. Curtin:

“I don’t have the perfect answer. This does give us a little bit of time to work on some things. Obviously defensively we can tighten things up. Giving three goals up on the road is something where we can look at the film and get some things corrected. I think it’s good to have the extra week. We obviously have a couple of guys that got banged up, so it comes at a good time. … It’s a strange time to have a bye for sure, I think for every team right now. But at the same time, it falls at a good time for us. We can regroup and know exactly what we need to do at home.”

Read more »

Union (4-2-3-1) 

Blake 

Fabinho-Marquez-Yaro-Rosenberry 

Creavalle-Bedoya 

Pontius-Barnetta-Herbers 

Sapong 

Bench: McCarthy, Tribbett, Gaddis, Carroll, Fernandes, Davies, Alberg. 
 Red Bulls (4-2-3-1) 

Robles 

Lawrence-Collin-Perrinelle-Duvall 

Felipe-McCarty 

Grella-Kljestan-Muyl 

B.Wright-Phillips 

Bench: Reynish, Zizzo, Long, Davis, S.Wright-Phillips, Veron, Damari 

Preview & Playoff scenarios 

- Tranquillo Barnetta is back in the lineup for the Union, which moves them away from the double pivot in central midfield that worked last week in Toronto. But the better possession side, with Warren Creavalle as the 6, Alejandro Bedoya as the 8 and Barnetta is the better bet against the Red Bulls’ high pressure.

- It’s intriguing that Maurice Edu isn’t in the 18, but that could be out of necessity rather than an injury setback to the midfielder. With Ilsinho not fit, the Union would’ve had only two attacking options on the bench. Instead of a redundant No. 6 in Edu (with Brian Carroll there), Jim Curtin goes with Leo Fernandes, who’s played all of 93 MLS minutes since April 1.

- On defense, Josh Yaro returns, an interesting decision to swap him in for the Ken Tribbett, who played well last week. Fabian Herbers also keeps his spot in the lineup, and deservedly so.

- Speaking of rookies, Keegan Rosenberry can make history today. If he goes 90 minutes, he’ll tie Michael Parkhurst for the most minutes played by an MLS rookie (SuperDraft or Homegrown) since 2001. He’s on pace to be just one of three rookies since 2002 to play every minute for his team as a rookie.

- The Red Bulls started a mostly reserve side Tuesday in Guatemala for a CONCACAF Champions League title with Antigua GFC. But four starters – Aurelien Collin, Luis Robles, Mike Grella and Felipe – turn around for the start today. Felipe, Collin and Robles played in last week’s win over the Impact. Grella is back in for Daniel Royer, and in addition to the Route 1 threat via that midfield nucleus to Sacha Kljestan to Bradley Wright-Phillips, those wingers off a nuanced. Grella is also a reason to get into your seats quickly for the start of the game.

Union manager Jim Curtin lauded new signing Kevin Kratz, center,
for his intelligence and versatility in midfield. (AP)

Sandwiched between a loss in Portland and a daunting trip to Toronto, Jim Curtin addressed plenty of odds and ends Wednesday in his weekly press conference. Here are some highlights:

- Two injury absences from training: Tranquillo Barnetta has some swelling after a knee-to-knee collision with Fanendo Adi last week. He’s getting a scan and sat out the Wednesday morning session, but Curtin said, “I don’t expect him to miss the weekend.” Josh Yaro is underdoing concussion protocols after sustaining a head injury in Portland. With Yaro suspended after “wrongly getting sent off” in Portland, there’s less immediacy to him passing that battery of tests.

- CJ Sapong, as has been written, hasn’t supplied many goals or shots in recent weeks, which seems too narrow a scope on which to criticize for Curtin. Despite Sapong’s lack of tangible statistical contributions, Curtin remains high on the things Sapong does to make those around him better, and it doesn’t sound like rest or a chance for Charlie Davies to start is in the offing. Curtin on Sapong:

“He brings a lot of things to our team. Again, it’s a little deceptive, one shot on target. I guess if you take that as a snapshot and you don’t really look any deeper, he still has created chances. … The margins in our league are very small. He’s still a forward that I very much believe in, a guy that brings a lot of intangibles to every game. He’s a big part of our success and one that we know will get going and get goals. Even if he doesn’t get goals, he’s going contribute and make everyone else’s job easier around him. Still very much a believer in CJ and what he’s about.”

- Given the choice of sitting Sapong or morphing the formation to a 4-4-2 to accommodate minutes for Davies, Curtin seems to favor neither. “We don’t want to get too drastic now,” he said. “We’ve gone through 30 games with one system. We don’t want all of a sudden to completely change. Is it something that you could see if we’re down a goal and chasing a game? I think you could see a second striker in there. … We’re still a 4-2-3-1 team.”

- At field level, the Talen Energy surface is being resodded after last week’s concert. Only the final third in the River End, where the main stage for the Rock Allegiance concert, appears to be getting the facelift.

Resodding underway at Talen Energy Stadium pic.twitter.com/cUzDHuEh63

— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) September 21, 2016

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Midfielder Alejandro Bedoya, left, defending Montreal's Donny Toia
last Saturday, has improved the Philadelphia Union since arriving
in August. But how to quantify his impact? (AP)

At the risk of attributing any credit to Eric Wynalda, the question has been raised in recent weeks if how to evaluate Alejandro Bedoya’s impact, for the national team and for his new club. For as stable a presence as Bedoya is over the last month for the Philadelphia Union, his impact can be enigmatic. It seems tough to avoid confirmation bias in projecting your expectations on Bedoya’s actual utility on the field.

(Aside/disclaimer: I thought Bedoya was solid if unspectacular for the U.S. in recent World Cup qualifiers, a calming presence that contributed more to consecutive shutouts over overwhelmed opposition than to the attacking avalanche that swarmed it under.)

The very nature of Bedoya’s position with the Union is difficult to assess for its all-encompassing nature. He’s not a pure attacking player, subject to those metrics. He’s not called upon for exclusively defensive roles, thus not fully summarized by those figures.



Union manager Jim Curtin has always doled out his expectations of Bedoya in minute doses. Here’s an important one, Aug. 17 in appraising Bedoya’s debut in the win over New England:

“I thought Alejandro brought a real calming presence to the group in possession, did a lot of the little things that maybe don’t show up on the stat sheet just to get us out of some tight spots, connect us from front to back. His fitness is gaining, is growing, so that’s a positive. But, we talked in the locker room before the game about everybody winning their individual battles and I thought, on the day, every guy, including the three reserves that came in, impacted the game and won their individual duels on the night.”

Qualitatively, Bedoya can be credited with plenty of positives from the team success that he has, in some proportion, inspired. The Union are 3-1-1 in his five games. That’s 2.0 ppg with him, as opposed to 1.29 without (31 points in 24 games). They have scored 10 goals with him and allowed five, keeping two clean sheets.

Individually, he’s made those around him better, unspecific as that praise is. Warren Creavalle has stitched together his best performances of the season as the No. 6 to Bedoya’s No. 8. Curtin has lavished praise on Tranquillo Barnetta as one of MLS’s best No. 10s, accentuated by his linkup with Bedoya.

But what about the numbers? Here’s a look, via Opta Stats, at Bedoya’s passing numbers, the most readily available yardstick of his impact.

Game	Result	Passes comp.	Passes att.	Passing %	Successful passes own half	Successful passes opp. half	Successful passes final third	Passing %  opp. half
at NE	W 4-0	44	50	88.0	22	22	12	84.6
Toronto	L 3-1	58	65	89.2	23	35	13	92.1
at Clb	W 2-1	48	53	87.8	20	28	7	87.5
SKC	W 2-0	50	54	92.6	11	39	16	95.1
Montreal	D 1-1	50	55	90.9	26	24	14	85.7

Bedoya’s passing stats are impressive. He’s completing passes at an 89.3 percent clip, and he’s regularly near the team lead for touches in games. When you consider that the Union aren’t even 18 months removed from this passing nadir against Sporting Kansas City last April, it’s all the more impressive a transformation.
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Union (4-2-3-1) 

Blake 

Fabinho-Marquez-Yaro-Rosenberry

Creavalle-Bedoya 

Pontius-Barnetta-Herbers 

Sapong 

Bench: McCarthy, Gaddis, Tribbett, Fernandes, Alberg, Restrepo, Davies 

Sporting KC (4-3-3) 

Kann 

Medranda-Besler-Opara/Abdul-Salaam 

Espinoza-Mustivar-Feilhaber 

Zusi-Dwyer-Peters 

Bench: Kempin, Alvarado, Hallisey, Appiah, Nagamura, Davis, Rubio 

Preview 

- In naming an unchanged side from Wednesday’s win in Columbus, Union manager Jim Curtin again tries to strike the balance between consistency and squad rotation. His team is 3-0-2 in midweek MLS games this season, but 0-4-2 in weekend games immediately following those midweek affairs. If something changes, it’ll have to come from within this group, which includes a second straight start for Fabian Herbers. - It’s the third time this season that the Union’s set of three rookies all start, with Josh Yaro preferred to Ken Tribbett in central defense.

- No surprise that Ilsinho (foot) and Brian Carroll (foot) remain out. Curtin said Friday they’re on pace for a return next weekend in Chicago.

- SKC gets a little relief from its defensive injury backlog with Ike Opara back in central defense. That allows Graham Zusi to move back into midfield to cover for Brad Davis, who misses out. The front six is first-choice for SKC, but they are very thin on the bench and have an exploitable backline that the Union have to attack from the start.

UNION (4-2-3-1) 

Blake 

Fabinho-Marquez-Tribbett-Rosenberry 

Carroll-Creavalle 

Ilsinho-Alberg-Pontius 

Sapong 

Bench: McCarthy, Yaro, Gaddis, Fernandes, Le Toux, Herbers, Restrepo. 

Real Salt Lake (4-3-3) 

Rimando 

Phillips-Olave-Maund-Beltran 

Mulholland-Beckerman-Morales 

Plata-Garcia-Martinez 

Bench: Attinella, Glad, Wingert, Kavita, Stertzer, Holness, Sandoval

Preview 

- The Union ring the changes after last week’s embarrassment in Montreal. Ken Tribbett and Fabinho return to the lineup, and the suspension of Tranquillo Barnetta requires Warren Creavalle to play as the No. 8. Derrick Jones, signed midweek, isn’t ready to play just yet.

- It’s hard to pinpoint the defensive changes, though both all-stars Andre Blake and Keegan Rosenberry are straight back into the squad. Josh Yaro and Ray Gaddis, both a party to last week’s drubbing, make way. Let’s see if that makes a difference in the recent defensive slide.

- Nominally, it’s a 4-3-3 for Real Salt Lake, which is missing Yura Movsisyan up top with a hip flexor injury. But the action of Javier Morales flitting between the lines creates the difference in shape that should look more like a 4-2-3-1 in attack. The Union fullbacks will have their hands full corralling the pressing runs of Joao Plata and Juan Manuel Martinez.
- Jamison OIave shakes off a calf problem to start in central defense for RSL. He should be the big target to get moving to create gaps, particularly for Roland Alberg to exploit. CJ Sapong will certainly get his licks on Olave in the physical back-and-forth, but Alberg’s ability to capture second balls in the space between the center backs and Kyle Beckerman is vital.

The Union's Josh Yaro, defending against Crystal Palace in a recent friendly,
is part of a rookie class that has contributed more than any other
in franchise history. (AP)

Thursday night, Keegan Rosenberry will represent the Philadelphia Union, along with Andre Blake, in the MLS All-Star Game. It’s a tremendous honor for a rookie to be playing with the league’s best and most expensive talent against a club with the quality and history of Arsenal.

But Rosenberry in particular symbolizes another aspect of the Union’s resurgence this season: His All-Star nod epitomizes a stellar rookie season being compiled by the Union’s SuperDraft picks.

Just 21 games into the season, Rosenberry has already set the Union record for minutes in a season by a drafted rookie. Likewise, the Union’s rookie contingent has bested the club mark for most combined minutes in a season by a draft class. In the process, they’re showing that the methodology of Earnie Stewart that prizes building through youth is on solid footing.

Here are the rookie numbers, which paint a rarely rosy picture for the Union:

Rosenberry has played every minute for the Union this season in MLS play, 1890 in all. He’s tied for second in MLS in minutes played, trailing only New York City FC’s David Villa (1906). Rosenberry is also one of three field players not to have missed a single minute for their teams this season, joining D.C. United outside backs Sean Franklin and Taylor Kemp (1800 minutes each).

Rosenberry’s total supplants the previous rookie mark for a Union draft pick, held by – appropriately enough – the man he replaced as the starting right back, Ray Gaddis. The second-round pick in 2012 logged 1,475 minutes that season, narrowly edging out Danny Mwanga in 2010 (1,461) and Michael Farfan in 2011 (1,460).

Rosenberry has vaulted past that with room to spare. And he’s still got nearly 40 percent of the season to go.

“I would date it back to day I was drafted, just how thrilled I was and blessed to have the opportunity to play for the team I wanted to, close to home and in a familiar organization,” Rosenberry said this week. “Every time I’m put on the field, it continues to build confidence that the coaching staff and the team believes in you, and it breeds more confidence. That I’m continuing to play and earn starts, it means I’m doing my job right or the way it needs to be completed.”

But it’s not just Rosenberry. The four Union SuperDraft rookies on the roster – Rosenberry, Josh Yaro, Fabian Herbers and Taylor Washington – have combined for 3,277 minutes. That exceeds the total set by six draft picks who made the roster in 2010 and logged a collective 3,087 for the inaugural Union. The Union’s rookie minutes bottomed out last year at a grand total of 12, all by the readily-released Ray Lee.

MLS minutes played by Union rookies per season.

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UNION (4-2-3-1) 

Blake 

Fabinho-Marquez-Tribbett-Rosenberry 

Carroll-Barnetta 

Pontius-Alberg-Ilsinho 

Sapong 

Bench: McCarthy, Yaro, Gaddis, Creavalle, Fernandes, Le Toux, Herbers

Red Bulls (4-2-3-1) 

Robles 

Lade-Perrinelle-Collin -Zizzo 

McCarty-Felipe 

Grella-Kljestan-Muyl 

B.Wright-Phillips 

Bench: Reynish, Zubar, Bilyeu, Zubar, Duvall, Davis, Veron, Etienne 

Preview 

- Jim Curtin isn’t one to change after a clean sheet. So coming off last week’s blanking of D.C. United, he sticks with Ken Tribbett even though Josh Yaro is back from suspension. Tribbett’s physicality will be helpful against Bradley Wright-Phillips, though he has to be careful to limit his penchant for stepping into midfield rashly, since the Red Bulls’ creativity can punish the slightest of openings. Tribbett’s passing also gives him an edge; it was when the Union made a concerted effort to split the center backs wide, get fullbacks forward and drop the central midfielder deep to receive possession that they started making progress against the Red Bulls in the Open Cup win two weeks ago. 

- Without injury restrictions, the Union go with their prized front five, naming an unchanged XI from last week. The danger of Dax McCarty as a late runner in the box and as a deep-lying connector for 1-2s puts a big responsibility on Roland Alberg and Tranquillo Barnetta to be vigilant tracking back.

- The Red Bulls are playing a third game in seven days, so the lineup is a mashup of the last two. Damien Perrinelle makes his first start of the season after knee surgery last October. He pairs with Aurelien Collin, alleviating the need for Ronald Zubar to start a third game in seven days. Alex Muyl gets the start as Gonzalo Veron has failed again to prove he’s worthy of playing every game.