This late season stumble by Andre Blake and the Union
at the hands of Montreal's Matteo Mancosu has become the norm
for the club in recent years. (AP)

There’s an exclusive club that the Philadelphia Union belong to, one they’d love to graduate from, one whose membership dues are being paid again this fall in accordance with a familiar and dispiriting pattern.

In MLS history, two clubs have never won more than 12 games in a season. One is Orlando City, which won 12 games in its inaugural season of 2015 and guaranteed in Saturday night’s drubbing by D.C. United that it will miss the mark for another year, sitting at seven wins with four matches to play.

The other is the Union, and the odds of the club escaping that miasma even in this resurgent season are getting slimmer with every passing non-win, even if Saturday's 1-1 draw in Toronto is objectively a positive result.

The Union’s season-best for wins ominously endures at 12, set not in the playoff season of 2011 but in 2013, when the Union accumulated 46 points yet finished seventh in the East (they could end up fourth this year and in the playoffs with fewer points, but that’s another story).

Looking at wins historically in MLS is fraught, given past practices like the shootout and vacillating schedule lengths. But if we narrow the scope to the parity-riddled expansion era of 34-game schedules since 2011, the Union’s lack of wins still resonates. Minus Orlando City and the Union, the other 18 extant MLS teams have not only won at least 13 games in a season at least once; they’ve all done so within the last four seasons. The longest such drought, beyond the Union, is Chicago and Colorado, each of whom won 14 games in 2013 and have struggled since.

That means 16 clubs have authored a better season in the last three years – including this in-progress campaign – than the Union ever have. (And by the way, MLS’s three extinct franchises – Miami, Tampa Bay and Chivas – all have at least one season of 13 wins or more.)

That may seem like piling on an undistinguished Union resume that needs no tarnishing. Edmund Burke never wrote about soccer, but the pertinence of this look back isn’t just trivial measurements. It’s the troubling trend it illustrates: The Union, as we’re seeing now, are atrocious at finishing seasons.
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You can't tell from this tantrum in a June 29th Open Cup game,
but Red Bulls manager Jesse Marsch, right, and Union boss Jim Curtin remain
close friends from their playing days. (Digital First Media/Pete Bannan)

Jim Curtin can scarcely get through a press conference relating to the New York Red Bulls without mentioning his personal connection and professional admiration for the team’s manager, Jesse Marsch.

The two go way back, teammates with the Chicago Fire from 2001-05 and again in wrapping up their careers with Chivas USA from 2008-09. They were both part of the 2003 Chicago Fire team that came within a win of the American soccer treble, finishing as MLS Cup runner-up to complement capturing the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and the Supporters’ Shield. The Fire lost in the Open Cup final again the next year.

Curtin and Marsch now find themselves on opposite sides of a burgeoning MLS rivalry, which pens another installment Sunday when the Red Bulls visit the Philadelphia Union.

Marsch this week spoke glowingly to reporters in New York about his former teammate and mentee (Curtin is five years Marsch’s junior). The remarks come midway through the video:



Marsch recognized coaching aptitude and interest in Curtin from a young age, and his description of a young Curtin coaching in the youth ranks early in his days with the Fire tracks with Curtin’s ascent to the Union top job via success in the Generation Adidas Cup in 2012.

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Union manager Jim Curtin, seen coaching in Seattle
last week, would move into the club lead for wins
in all competitions with his next victory. (AP)

Philadelphia Union manager Jim Curtin has often been blunt this season about his only full campaign in charge. ‘We weren’t good last year,’ has been Curtin’s message about 2015, paraphrased though its many uttered variations.

While no one’s lining up to argue that, the manager in his third season is approaching a piece of significant history: With his next win, Curtin will become the Union’s franchise leader in coaching victories. It’s possible that could come at home, with the Union embarking on a season-long, three-game homestand starting with Saturday’s game with New York City FC.

Curtin has managed 67 competitive matches for the Union (MLS and U.S. Open Cup). He carries a record of 25-26-17 in those games, even on wins with his predecessor, John Hackworth.

Hackworth went 25-32-20 in 77 matches. Peter Nowak, who oversaw a franchise-best 81 games, posted a 23-33-25 record and is already in Curtin's rearview mirror. (Updated: I neglected to include Nowak's two playoff games, both losses to Houston, in his record. Anyone else forget those?)

A major driver is Curtin’s record in the U.S. Open Cup. Over the last two seasons, the Union are 5-1-4 in the competition. (Technically, winning by penalty kicks is regarded as a draw, but it we want to get qualitative, Curtin’s team has advanced in eight of 10 matches.)

Curtin’s next MLS win will be his 21st, tying him with Nowak for second-most all-time and putting him two behind Hackworth.

Nowak, signed before the club’s inception, was in charge for two and a half seasons from the inaugural game in 2010 to June 13, 2012. Hackworth took over then and coached for three days shy of two years, when Curtin took over on an interim basis June 10, 2014 and was made full-time in October of that year.

The obvious difference between the coaches becomes obvious on points per game (in MLS play):

Coach	GP	W	L	D	Pts	PPG
Peter Nowak	75	21	30	23	87	1.16
John Hackworth	73	23	30	20	89	1.22
Jim Curtin	57	20	25	13	73	1.28

Curtin is well ahead of either of his forebears in that all-important ppg category. Barring a drop to last season’s 1.0 ppg levels or unforeseen circumstances, Curtin should top his predecessors this summer. And he has the potential to do it in many fewer games.

To add in the Open Cup component for total wins, Peter Nowak went 2-1-1 in the competition (including the qualification bracket in 2010 and 2011), both of his wins coming in the weeks before his dismissal in 2012. Hackworth won one game in 2012 and one in 2013 for a 2-2-0 record.

The Union bid farewell to Homegrown player Zach Pfeffer
after five seasons Friday in a deal with Colorado. (Times File)

An era ended Friday for the Philadelphia Union.

It wasn’t directly related to coaches or management or anything like that.

What ended Friday was the age of affixing outsized significance to the on-field actions of Zach Pfeffer on his narrow shoulders.

A bunch of other switches flipped with the trade of the 21-year-old midfielder to Colorado as the player to be named in the deal that landed the Union the No. 2 pick in Thursday’s SuperDraft and defender Joshua Yaro.

Pfeffer’s departure marks a clear end of what we can call the Nowak/Hackworth era of Homegrown signings, Pfeffer joining fellow honorees Jimmy McLaughlin and Cristhian Hernandez in the hallowed ranks of former Union members in a campaign that has been an unabashed failure. Pfeffer’s trade kicks out the crutch that often buckled under the weight of the Nick Sakiewicz regime that trumpeted commitment to Homegrown players out of one side of its mouth and whose only recourse was to point to Pfeffer in a desperate act of HG tokenism. (“See, we’re committed to Homegrowns. Look how Zach Pfeffer almost played last week.”)
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Court documents revealed this week show the depth of dysfunction
behind the scenes during Peter Nowak's tenure with the Union.
(Times File)

For those residing in the peculiar Venn diagram overlap of “people who follow the Philadelphia Union” and “people with a high tolerance for digging through legalese,” this last day has been a whirlwind. Jonathan Tannenwald at Philly.com Tuesday night obtained many of the relevant documents relating to the long-standing lawsuit between Peter Nowak and related entities for wrongful termination from the Philadelphia Union, and more documents were made public Wednesday. You can find a tidy listing of the highlights divulged by Tannenwald’s tweets here at the Brotherly Game, and it's worth picking through his timeline for gems.

All the documents are available at Philly Soccer Page, and I’d expect plenty more reaction there in the coming days. If nothing else, Steve Holroyd’s guide behind the curtain of arbitration proceedings such as these is extremely helpful.

In the over 700 pages of disclosures, there is plenty of new information, lurid details and downright concerning glances at the inner workings of the early Union franchise. Among the very important documentation is Nowak’s contract, liked at PSP as Exhibit A. (All of these links will be pdfs, so browsers beware). The most pertinent are the two parts of Exhibit C, which is the Union’s post-hearing brief. Tab 1 is more detailed; Tab 2 is more condensed. Nowak’s post-hearing brief is available in Exhibit D.

Exhibit G is arbitrator Margaret Brogan’s interim decision, followed by her final award in Exhibit L, which finds decisively in the Union’s favor and orders Nowak to pay nearly a half-million dollars in legal fees.

There are many points of granular interest. But I want to pinpoint something else that is inherent in the text and that still has real ramifications for the Union. To be sure, Nowak’s influence has waned. The number of players exposed to his brand of management number in the single digits, and the hiring of a real sporting director in Earnie Stewart is further hope for the maturation of the Union as an organization in the club’s second half-decade. Beyond the headline-catching salacious details – and yes, it’s taken me this long to type the word “spanking” – the ramifications of the disclosures echo much farther down the line, which imbues the past with greater significance.

First, the files The crux of the determination for Nowak’s dismissal and the subsequent reason why Brogan found that not to have constituted wrongful termination lies in the opening months of 2012. Nowak was fired June 13, 2012, and the timeline of events leading up to that are a bender of disconcerting behavior.

Here’s the rough timeline, as alleged in Exhibit C , Tab 2, from the Union’s perspective, many of the details of which Nowak was only made aware of after his firing:
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Union manager Jim Curtin has joined some undistinguished
Union coaching company with the slow start to 2015.
(Times Staff/Rick Kauffman)

The Philadelphia Union are struggling. That isn’t in much question, certainly not after last Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Toronto FC, which sealed the Union’s worst 10-game start to a season in terms of points.

Some of this alarming trend has already been explained by my colleague Kevin Kinkead in a recent post, but it’s worth digging a little bit deeper to put numbers to the overarching measure of the Union’s futility, which includes just two wins in the last 17 matches.

First off, the Union are 1-6-3 through the first 10 games. How does that compare to previous years? Not well:

2015: 1-6-3, 6 points
2014: 1-4-5, 8 points
2013: 4-3-3, 15 points
2012: 2-6-2, 8 points
2011: 5-3-2, 17 points
2010: 2-7-1, 7 points

The Union aren’t generally quick starters, but this is sluggish even by their standards. There’s a clear delineation between the season in which they made the playoffs (2011), the season in which they contended for the playoffs into the fall (2013) and the rest of the disastrous campaigns.

But the numbers are even grimmer than that. Not only is this the Union’s worst 10-game start to a season; it ties the worst 10-game stretch in franchise history. It joins the run from the April 5, 2014 draw with Chicago to the May 25 loss to L.A. Galaxy as the lowest points total over 10 matches. (That was also a 1-6-3 stretch.) The consideration of 10-game streaks includes ones that bridge the gap between multiple seasons.

Perhaps most alarming for manager Jim Curtin is this: Each of the last two managers of the Union was axed after a slow start. Then again, “slow” is a relative term:

Peter Nowak, 2012: Fired after 11 games, 2-7-2 record, 8 points, 0.72 points per game
John Hackworth, 2014: Fired after 15 games, 3-6-6, 15 points, 0.94 ppg 
Curtin, 2015: Through 10 games, 1-6-3, 6 points, 0.60 ppg

It’s important to stress that each of these situations is vastly, vastly different, and the numbers are no guarantee.

But as they stack up, Curtin needs some wins quickly to catch up to the pace of his predecessors. He needs a win against Vancouver Saturday to better Nowak’s ill-fated past, and it’ll take pretty close to a result in every game (over a very tough schedule) in the next three to improve on Hackworth’s record.

Rene Meulensteen, seen here with Fulham last year,
is happy to be working with the Union. (AP)

It’s possible that Friday could be looked at as a seminal moment for the Philadelphia Union, a watershed day in which their structures and hierarchy begins to take the shape required by the rigors of the new MLS (2.0 or 3.0 or whatever.0).

Announcements of such gravity –the contracting of Rene Meulensteen as a consultant, the formal declaration that a sporting director will be sought and the first public comments made by majority owner Jay Sugarman – provided plenty of food for thought and a lot of information to sift through.

So let’s distill it into a few important points from today’s press conference.

1. Jay Sugarman is not a silent owner.

It’s easy to have thought differently given his muted public presence, which fostered the notion among some fans that Sugarman was just the money and little else. There’s no doubt the enormity of investment that he’s put into this club, but his involvement (which I’m going to explore in a little more detail later) doesn’t entail writing checks and then ignoring how the funds are spent. Through co-owner Richie Graham, he’s had a hand in the creation of the Union Academy. Sugarman is an enormously successful businessman, and he got that way by identifying talent and allowing those people to do their jobs. And now, being less than satisfied by how those jobs have been done, he’s stepping in to put into practice his time learning about the team, the league and the American sports market.

2. Nick Sakiewicz is no longer involved in football operations.

In the assignment of duties Friday, one of the first was that Sakiewicz “and his team will focus on building the business and have the resources to compete as our league gets stronger and stronger,” according to Sugarman. Implicit in that statement, which Sugarman repeated later in the press conference, is that Sakiewicz will have limited to no hand in soccer operational decisions moving forward. That follows with Sakiewicz’s public statements of late (and depending on your perspective, has been the paradigm all along), and it dispels any misinformation to the contrary in concrete terms.

3. Rene Meulensteen is a temporary remedy.
Read more »

For the second time in the club’s history, the Philadelphia Union have announced a coaching change Tuesday, heading in a different direction from John Hackworth’s so-so two years, punctuated by a disastrous first half of the 2014 season. In steps Jim Curtin, who is regarded as having the knowhow for the job even at a young age (34). Given the fact that Hackworth was hired from within two years ago, it’s no surprise that Curtin will get a definite shot at the job and be vetted appropriately. A “serious global search,” in the words of CEO and Operating Partner Nick Sakiewicz, is currently underway for a long-term replacement.

Former Union player Veljko Paunovic, seen here in 2011,
has become a successful coach in the Serbian youth ranks. (AP)

Who that could be is an open question, and there’s no obvious name that jumps off the page. With the downward trajectory of Hackworth’s last four months, the window has long been open for speculation, and some of that preliminary work has been done by my colleagues over at PSP. But let’s float a few names out there.

Jesse Marsch: Like Hackworth, the 40-year-old did a stint as a U.S. national team assistant before a less-than-stellar turn with the Montreal Impact in 2012 in which he went 12-17-7 in the team’s first MLS season. What should’ve been sufficient for a second season in charge led to an ostensibly amicable split with the club that was likely less than amiable. A veteran of over 300 MLS games, Marsch is the solid, MLS-savvy option.

Veljko Paunovic: There was a fair amount of questions when the well-traveled Serbian midfielder ended a three-year retirement to play for the Union in 2011. However that term is regarded, Paunovic has parlayed it into a successful coaching career, piloting the Serbian youth teams since 2012. Having played nearly 300 games in Spain as well as other top European leagues, Paunovic presents a more international option, and he’s about the closest thing to hiring from within beyond Curtin.

Martin Rennie: The options for recycled, recently-fired MLS managers are slim. I would assume Robert Warzycha’s similarities to Peter Nowak (fairly or otherwise) would lessen his chances. Former New England coach Steve Nicol doesn’t seem quite right for the role (plus he’s well entrenched with ESPN), nor does Montreal’s hotheaded Swiss ex-manager Marco Schallibaum. Richie Williams, given his ties to New York during Sakiewicz’s days there, is intriguing and a name that was floated after Nowak’s axing. Rennie is a young manager who was dismissed by Vancouver last year against the popular wishes of the fanbase, and the Scot could invigorate a youthful Union squad.

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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Last week, while the Philadelphia Union had dispersed for the international break after being eliminated from the U.S. Open Cup, manager John Hackworth quietly celebrated his one-year anniversary of taking the helm at PPL Park. A lot has changed since Peter Nowak was axed and Hackworth installed June 13, 2012, so much so that I thought it worthy of a column in Thursday's paper hitting the highs of Hackworth's reign.

I had the chance to sit down with Hackworth briefly Wednesday — other news understandably occupied the press conference — to discuss his year on the job.

On his recollections of the day and what it meant to him:
Certainly the day that I found out and the day it was announced, was a huge change for this organization. And looking back on it, there are a lot of mixed feelings because Peter and I were very close, and you don’t ever want to get an opportunity at the expense of someone else’s loss, and that was on a personal level somewhat hard to deal with. You’re conflicted for sure, but it’s certainly something that long-term I thought wanted to do and a major goal of mine. And the way that the club and the players supported me during the transition being an interim, having to earn the job as a head coach, was a very positive experience for me. Now being a year-plus into it, it’s nice because I know how hard this business is and know how volatile it can be and the pressures that go into it. I think if you can be consistent and be into it, the one true measure if you’re good at this level is longevity. Making it a year, while it’s not long, is a very positive step.
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For your pre-game reading convenience, all my weekly coverage in one place.

Danny Califf, right, will make his return to PPL Park today
when his Toronto F.C. Team takes on the Union.
(Associated Press)

The story this week is the return of former captain Danny Califf, who will make his first appearance at PPL Park since being banished by former coach Peter Nowak 11 months ago. Califf is excited to make his return in front of the Philly faithful.

Speaking of last year, the 1-0 loss the Union suffered at Toronto last May seems a long time ago, for both clubs, each of which has undergone some serious changes from top to bottom since then.

And finally, the nuts-and-bolts preview of a game between a Union team trying to parlay road success into a home win and a transformed Toronto team riding high after drawing FC Dallas.

The image could be haunting.

It seems such a distant memory, the before picture to John Hackworth’s high-achieving after. The portrait of Freddy Adu and Peter Nowak, gleefully mugging for the camera, once signaled the hope of the Philadelphia Union.

Behind them stood the logo of a team that seemed to be figuring out this whole MLS thing, flourishing in its second season with the playoffs on the horizon. Adu’s acquisition, with his undeniable if yet underrealized talent, would take them over the top, as MLS Cup contenders and a team that was more than just an overachieving band of nobodies.

Just over 20 months later, both are gone, Adu’s departure to Brazilian side Bahia being made official Monday. And the Union are, against most odds, much better off.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Adu’s production on the field failed to live up to the expectations. In 35 MLS matches with the Union, he recorded seven goals and two assists. It’s the same goal total as from his meanderings through Portugal, France, Greece and Turkey (43 matches).
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“He certainly didn’t meet the very lofty expectations that were placed on him within our team.” 
 — John Hackworth

In a sentence, whether he intended to or not, the Union manager got to the heart of the Freddy Adu saga Monday.

Freddy Adu in a Union shirt is a thing of the past. (Times File)

The Union and the enigmatic attacker announced an end to their year-and-a-half relationship, with Adu persona non grata at training camp and the Union actively shopping the 23-year-old attacking midfielder.

To summarize briefly, the Union presented new contract terms under which they would consider bringing Adu back, ones more in line with the type of production (seven goals and one assist in 37 matches) featured in his second stint in MLS. Adu chose not to take the pay-cut, bringing the teams to an impasse as they search for a new destination for the attacking midfielder. The decision has been several months in the making, and Hackworth is adamant in that the door is closed to a return.

There are a variety of reasons behind the departure. Hackworth admitted that Adu posed “a little bit” of a selection problem with how he integrated to the team’s tactics. To those ends, Adu often looked lost, drifting on the left wing through long stretches without possession. Painting him as a selfish player may be a bit harsh, but he’s a technically-gifted player whose best position is as a central-operating midfielder and whose work rate can suffer if he’s not seeing enough of the ball. With Hackworth moving to a 4-3-3 formation, opportunities for him to occupy that role are even scarcer.

Read more »

(Times file)

The Union underwent a little course correction Thursday, when they traded with New York to acquire the guy they never should have traded away in January.

It took stopovers in Vancouver and New York, but Sebastien Le Toux is back in Philly. The Union sent Josue Martinez and allocation money to the Red Bulls in exchange for Le Toux, the club's all-time leading scorer.

Le Toux never wanted to leave the Union. He was on the wrong side of contract negotiations, with ex-Union coach Peter Nowak convincing the shot-callers in the front office to invest in cheaper, yet riskier options at striker before meeting Le Toux's contract demands. So the Union sent Le Toux to Vancouver, and Le Toux told the Daily Times hours after the January trade went official, that he would never again play for Nowak, a man for whom he had such little respect that he refused to shake his hand when the Whitecaps played the Union.

It appears he won't have to, with Union manager John Hackworth and CEO Nick Sakiewicz pulling the strings to bring back Le Toux.

Le Toux told me in July, after his trade from Vancouver to New York, that he hadn't ruled out the notion of playing for the Union in 2013. After all, he would be out of contract by then, and to a degree would have the cards in his hands. (I'm still trying to figure out some of the details of Le Toux's new contract. If I find them, I'll pass them along.)

The Union's vision at the time of the trade of Le Toux was simplistic: Bring in less-expensive options at striker in place of the 28-year-old with 25 goals in two seasons for the Union. It didn't work. They went from a playoff team to a doddering non-contender. Guys like Martinez, Gabriel Gomez and Lio Pajoy are gone. And back is the constant -- Le Toux.

Le Toux and the Union will hold a 10 a.m. press conference Friday. It's a presser that, to Union fans, will probably feel long overdue.

(Times staff/JULIA WILKINSON)

In preparation for Monday's MLS Waiver Draft, the Union emitted a subtle, "My bad," when they cut ties with three players.

On their way out the door are D Porfirio Lopez, MF Gabriel Gomez and FW Krystian Witkowski.

Lopez, a 27-year-old Costa Rican, was brought in by ex-Union boss Peter Nowak as a sure-fire back with as good a left foot as any. It turned out his left foot was non-existent. He started the first four matches of the season, subbed on for 12 minutes May 19 and never saw the pitch again.

Gomez, a 28-year-old Panamanian, did his part with six goals in 24 matches, including 18 starts. But the Union routinely played him out of his natural position. He was brought on board to be an attacking midfielder who, instead, found himself in the central midfield more often than not. Sure, he had a heck of a free-kick delivery from inside 25 yards, but he was otherwise a bust.

Witkowski, a 22-year-old rookie out of Marist, never really got his shot. He picked up a concussion in reserve-league duty and the 26th pick in the supplemental draft never saw action with the first team.

In terms of a re-do, the Union are looking toward 2013. These three releases are the first in a series of what should be a roster roller coaster this offseason.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

In other news, the Union added three names to their traveling cavalcade this offseason.

FW Freddy Adu left Monday for a two-week training stint with Galatasaray, a club in Turkey's Premier League. MF Michael Farfan and D/MF Amobi Okugo will train for an undisclosed stretch with SC Freiberg, of Germany's Bundesliga.

Also on the road this offseason are:

• GK Zac MacMath, who spent time with English Premier League side Everton
• FW Cristhian Hernandez, who was with Real Sociedad, of Spain's La Liga
• MF Jimmy McLaughlin, who is currently training with TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, of Bundesliga

(Associated Press)

Keon Daniel is back.

Physically, yeah, he's been here all season. Tactically, he never looked better than in the Union's 1-0 victory over New England.

It was Daniel's free kick in the 73rd minute that Jack McInerney got on the other end of, heading it in for the match's only tally. It extended the Union's reign over the Revolution (4-0-3 all-time) and gave the club its first winning streak in three months.

It also gave the Union plenty of reason to keep playing Daniel, the midfielder who's gotten two straight starts.

"I’ve been working hard to get my confidence back," Daniel said. "I’m a guy that, when confidence is there, it’s high. And when it’s high, it’s hard to play against me."

Daniel was particularly candid Saturday night. (Try this one on for size: “I’m comfortable anywhere because football is football," he said. "Put the ball in a good spot and something good will happen.") He even addressed his desire to stay in Philadelphia, which was a challenge a year ago, when then-coach Peter Nowak said visa issues kept Daniel in his native Trinidad & Tobago. (On that topic, I've gotten confirmation, from a source close to Daniel, that visa issues were not to blame.) Remember all of those 'Free Keon' tweets? Daniel wasn't sure about his status. He hopes his play Saturday shored it up some.

“Of course I’m happy to be here. I love being here," Daniel said. "I call here my home, my second home. I’m just going to keep working hard with the guys and try to help the younger guys with the experience I have. I’ll keep pushing them. Knowing your teammates is a hell of a thing. When you get comfortable with your teammates, it gets easier."

But will Daniel be back next season?

“I hope so. That is not my call. It’s the league and the coaches’ call," Daniel said.

If he has matches like Saturday's, Union boss John Hackworth will have no excuse not to bring back Daniel. Hackworth said Daniel's performance in the match, with featured spot-on free kicks throughout, was the best he's ever seen from Daniel.

“It’s been a while since I’ve had a performance like this," Daniel said. "I’m just getting comfortable. I owe the fans because they had high expectations of me. I haven’t been the best I can and it’s something I have in my mind to give back to these fans – these lovely fans we have – and even this league and my teammates. So I’m just working on it."

(Getty)

Amobi Okugo has played every minute of every match since John Hackworth grabbed the keys to the Union from Peter Nowak.

He hasn't played like he needs a break, either.

Fact is, Okugo has played well, whether it's been in the midfield or in the central defense, for the Union. The third-year player said Tuesday he's relishing his chance to play, and it hasn't mattered where on the pitch his minutes have come.

“Dosn’t matter,” Okugo said, on a phone call from the Philly airport. “I’ve shown that I can play two legitimate positions, especially with Carlos (Valdes) getting called up (to the Colombian national team) from time to time. It’s good to know I can play centerback, and it’s good Coach Hackworth has given me the chance to do that.”

Okugo shouldn't necessarily get cozy at centerback, with Bakary Soumare presumably returning to the pitch for the 2013 campaign at 100 percent. There's a reason the Union went after Soumare. It wasn't necessarily to shore up their defense in 2012, either, with Soumare still nursing a surgically repaired knee.

But like Okugo said --- doesn't matter where he's playing, so long as he's playing.

For more on Okugo and the Union, who are in Chicago Wednesday to face the Fire, pick up Wednesday's Daily Times.

(PhiladelphiaUnion.com)

The Union announced Thursday they've removed the interim tag from John Hackworth's title and made him their team manager.

Hackworth took over in June, following the dismissal of Peter Nowak.

Hackworth has directed the Union to a 5-6-2 record, with 17 goals in 13 games. Nowak led the Union to a 2-7-2 mark, with 8 goals in 11 games.

Said Union CEO Nick Sakiewicz, on the timing of removing the interim tag after a deflating 2-1 loss to Columbus: "It was just waking up this morning and a very lousy feeling about last night and how we dominated the game. John really created what that product was yesterday and we need more of it to get better. He’s the guy to do it. 

"He’s got a great plan. He presented a plan to me yesterday. We had a planning meeting for next year before the game, on how to make the team more effective and the development of the younger guys. Not that I wasn’t going to take the interim tag away, but that plan was impressive. I said to myself, ‘Why wait? Do it. Let’s go.'"

For more on Hackworth, pick up Friday's Daily Times.

(Times staff / ROBERT GURECKI)

When the Union went through that forgettable stretch in March, April and May, when they won only two of their first 11 league matches, a couple of the beat writers had the same thought: What about Brian Carroll’s streak?

Carroll, the Union’s veteran midfielder, has made the playoffs in all nine of his seasons in Major League Soccer. Here are some of the highlights: He won league championships in 2004 and 2008, with D.C. United and Columbus, respectively. His teams made the league semifinal once, in 2006, and have qualified for the league quarterfinals every other year.

But with such an ugly start to the 2012 campaign, it looked as though the Union might buck Carroll’s career-long trend. Only recently, with wins in four consecutive home games, five wins in their nine games since John Hackworth took over for Peter Nowak, the odds of Carroll extending his playoff-appearance streak is looking up.

“Obviously, everything that has to do with the team comes first and it’s about getting the team to the playoffs,” Carroll said.

But…

“It certainly would be nice to continue that personal streak and make it 10 out of 10,” he added. “We’re on the right path. We’ve put ourselves in that position and we need to continue to gain ground.”

The Union (7-10-2, 23 points) can close in on the next team ahead of them, the Montreal Impact (8-13-3, 24 points), with a win today.

(PhiladelphiaUnion.com)

There's been plenty of talk bandied about lately, regarding John Hackworth and whether the 'interim' label will be removed from his title with the Union.

For now, it won't be. But that's not to say it'll never be.


“Right now, John's our coach,” Union CEO Nick Sakiewicz told me Friday, in a phone interview. “He's done a great job and he has my 110-percent, full-faith confidence. He's got all the decision-making power and he's in charge."

“I'm not interviewing, and I'm not entertaining resumes.”

Hackworth, who served as an assistant coach for Wednesday's MLS All-Star Game, has guided the Union to a 4-3-0 mark since taking over the club June 13. And while the Union remain in ninth place in the Eastern Conference table, the same spot they occupied when Hackworth succeeded Peter Nowak as the club's manager, they are only 11 points (four victories) out of a playoff spot, with 15 of their 16 remaining matches against East foes.

It's not insurmountable and it's clear how Sakiewicz feels: Until further notice, this is Hackworth's team.

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The MLS midsummer international transfer window closed Friday, with the Union standing pat. That was the best-case scenario, too.

Here's why: Both Hackworth and Sakiewicz had said that adding a player to the Union, who at midseason have endured more than a season's worth of roster turnover, would hinge solely upon the ability of that player to make a huge, immediate impact. There's reason to believe in the players on this club, who have posted a 4-3-0 mark since Hackworth took over. And there's no reason to doubt that the Union turned over every stone in search of adding such a player.

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On the missing-player front, Hackworth said Freddy Adu should be back for Sunday's match after missing the previous one due to "an internal team matter." Also, Hackworth let on that Bakary Soumare --- who is still on the mend --- is healthy enough to consider putting him on the 18-man gameday roster. So stay tuned.