UNION (4-2-3-1) 

Blake 

Rosenberry-Elliott-Trusty-Real 

Medunjanin-Bedoya 

Picault-Dockal-Accam 

Sapong 

Bench: McCarthy, Gaddis, McKenzie, Creavalle, Burke, Fontana, Ilsinho

San Jose Earthquakes (4-4-2) 

Tarbell 

Lima-Quintana-Cummings-Qwiberg 

Eriksson-Godoy-Jungwirth-Qazaishvili 

Wondolowski-Hoesen 

Bench: Bersano, Affolter, Salinas, Hyka, Alashe, Thompson, Amarikwa

- No surprise given the performances of Fabian Herbers the last three games that Fafa Picault returns from suspension and zooms straight into the starting lineup. Jim Curtin talked a lot this week about the Union’s desire to get Picault’s vertical and horizontal field stretching onto the field. Without any game action in the last month, he might be a little short on sharpness and game-fitness, but he’ll be a spark that hopefully ignites the technical powder kegs that are the scuffling Borek Dockal and David Accam.

- The Delco Destroyer backline gets its first chance to play in front of home fans, with Matt Real granted another start at left back next to Auston Trusty. The Drexel Hill native Real faired alright in last week’s 3-0 loss in Colorado, and a game on home turf should afford him the chance to get forward more and show what he can do on that natural left foot that Curtin so prizes. A little chemistry between Real and Accam on the left flank wouldn’t go underappreciated either.

- No surprises tactically from the Earthquakes, a team that has finally made a change in its fourth game, a little tweak at left back with Joel Qwiberg in for former Union man Shea Salinas. The Quakes generated plenty of chances in last week’s 2-1 loss to New York City FC but couldn’t only solve a stellar Sean Johnson once in net. The big key here is how to handle Valeri Qazaishvili, Georgian code name Vako. With Danny Hoesen and Chris Wondolowski occupying the center backs and the lack of a true holding midfielder, how the Union’s defense communicates and hands off the in-cutting runs of Vako from the wing will be vital to quell his threat. Vako did score against the Union last year at Avaya Stadium.

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.
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The fullback contingent, including left back Giliano Wijnaldum,
presented a mixed bag for the Union this season. (DFM/Mikey Reeves)

The Philadelphia Union’s deployment of fullbacks this season was consistent, in that only four players manned the role, hewing to the two-deep philosophy. The results they yielded, as befits the larger narrative, was decidedly mixed.

Let’s not bury the whopper of a stat that involves the one person everyone wants to discuss from this quartet. Here’s the Union record broken down by the starter at right back:

Ray Gaddis, 23 starts, 10-9-4
Keegan Rosenberry, 11 starts, 1-5-5

We can take that further, since Rosenberry played every minute of the 2016 season, which means he was intimately familiar with the late-season collapse that resulted in eight winless games to end the season, including a 90-minute playoff cameo. That means the Union have won just one of Rosenberry’s last 19 starts, a record of 1-11-7.

There’s some bad fortune that factors in to Rosenberry’s predicament – 16 of those 19 starts occurred when the Union as a team were sliding into the abyss. But the coincidence is pretty startling. And oddly, it doesn’t bear out in the left back comparison this season.

Fabinho, 21 starts, 6-10-5
Giliano Wijnaldum, 13 starts, 5-4-4

Again, neither’s record is gleaming. But both went up and down with the Union’s fortunes this season, while Rosenberry’s descent seemed to be one-way.

Going to goal

Consistency in the lineup was one thing; production was an entirely different proposition, and one didn’t translate to the other. All the rhetoric about fullbacks jumping into the attack and the shorthand scouting reports of “watch those fullbacks getting forward” is bunk, according to the numbers.

Union fullbacks contributed a grand total of five assists and no goals. Fabinho led the way with two helpers, one a secondary in the finale. The other three added one each.
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