Jim Curtin, alongside Nick Sakiewicz, took the podium for the first time as the Union manager Thursday morning and patiently addressed a number of topics for the better part of an hour. This is hardly the whole thing, but allowed me to post a few of the highlights. (Note: There are plenty of less-than-relevant asides in here that, for the sake of brevity and sanity, I didn't transcribe. I've tried to preserve the context here as best possible.

Opening statement (yes, it's this long):
First, I’d like to thank Jay Sugarman and Nick Sakiewicz for giving me this opportunity. It’s one I’m very excited about, one I’ll take with great pride, being from this city, it means a lot to me. I’d also like to thank John Hackworth and Rob Vartughian. Those are two guys that were able to give me my chance in the game with this club. Those are two guys that put in a lot of years here and left the club better than when they started. …
To the team, I’d say to put it simply, we’ve had a bunch of very good players have poor first halves of the season. We have 18 games left; that’s the good news. We have 18 games to get this ship right. We have the U.S. Open Cup, which we’re going to take very seriously. This club needs a trophy. There’s only two that you can lift, and that’s one of them, so we’re going to take that very seriously.
The big thing with me, the results haven’t been there this year. We all know that. We only have three wins in 16 games, so the results haven’t been here. But the resources are here to win. I’m confident in my staff that’s being formed right now, it’s getting pieced together, it’s a very strong one, it’s one that I trust. As an assistant coach, I have Mike Sorber, a guy who I respect a great deal, I’ve connected with very quickly, I’ve known from the past, times in Chicago. He’s a guy in a lot of ways who is more qualified as an assistant than anyone in MLS right now. He’s a guy that has World Cup experience. He’s a guy that’s played in a World Cup, so again a guy I’m going to lean on heavily. I also have a bright young technical director who’s very progressive in Chris Albright, a guy that I have a great relationship with. Again, has done everything that you can do in this game, an all-Star, he’s played in a World Cup, He is a guy that I’m going to lean on heavily to make decisions personnel wise, along with Nick….
On to the players, right up the middle, you talk about a Conor Casey who right now is in very good form, scoring four goals in his past two games. He’s a guy that just needed a run of games, and now he’s got that and he’s going to get that with me. He’s a guy I trust. We have a Vincent Nogueira right up the middle again, a guy that every coach in this league wants on his team. He’s special. We have Maurice Edu, who in my mind should be in Brazil right now, but he’s not. Has it been tough for him mentally? Yes it has, but we’re going to get him going the way we know he can be, and he’s a special player, one of the top players in this country and one of the top players in this league. When we talk about the things behind the scenes that are going on with this club, we talk about the resources that we had, the little things that you might not see – again I said the results might not be here, but the resources are. ...
We have the most passionate fans in the league, I believe. I’m a Philly fan as well. ... I know the passion that the fans have, I know the emotions that they have, and I know that the thing that they want is winning. That’s what this is about. We need to win. And we’re going to do it with accountability, accountability from the players on and off the field. That sounds like a simple message. I could sit up here and talk tactics and formations and all that stuff, but at the end of the day, what matters in this town is winning, that’s what I believe.
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Apologies for being a little delayed in posting this, but I wanted to make sure I went over it a couple of times to iron out a few slightly confusing details. You'll also find a bit of redundancy, which I can't really control. Here you go.

On the decision to fire John Hackworth:
Yeah, it’s tough. It’s always tough when you have a lot of respect for a person. John’s a great guy, first-class, been with us a long time. But I just felt at this point in the season, halfway through, we needed to make a change. We needed to make a change because first and foremost, I don’t know if any of you were at the game on Saturday, but it was an amazing environment, our biggest crowd of the season and we just had the best fans. And our fans deserve better results on the field. Unfortunately for John, he knows that it’s about results and this is a tough, tough business and you’ve got to make tough decisions. But really we have to go out and we’ve got to find a top, top-class manager that’s going to be able to deliver the results that our fans deserved.

On how long the search will take:
I don’t know. I know that the resumes are flooding in from all over the world. There’s a lot of people that love big markets and love to coach in Major League Soccer, so we’re going to be very careful and deliberate. Very strategic. And the most important thing is to find the right guy who can take this group of players, which frankly I still think is pretty good. I mean this is a team that a few games ago beat the defending champion in their home park. So let’s not lose sight of the fact that there’s a pretty good group of players here that need some direction and need some motivation to win a bunch of games in the remaining part of the year. But beyond that, we need a coach that is going to be able to take this team to an MLS championship.

On the timing during the World Cup break:
Well it certainly gives Jim Curtin a little breathing room and a little time to assess the situation and make whatever adjustments he needs to make. Jim’s been with the organization a long time. He knows our culture. He knows what we’re trying to do. He knows our fanbase. He’s a Philly guy. And he’s got sharp teeth. So I imagine he’s going to put together a plan and this time gives him that opportunity to do that.

On an audition for Curtin:
Pretty much every coach is an interim coach, isn’t he? If you really think about it in any sport. Jim knows what he’s getting into. He’s got an advantage over the many résumés that we’re going to look at, the many people we’re going to talk to, and Jim will have a solid kick at the can for this job.
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There wasn’t a whole lot to write home about in the Union’s scoreless draw Saturday night against Portland. About the best thing you could say is that it was their first such scoreline in almost 11 months. In any case, a few points that deserve a little bit more air into them.

- Leo Fernandes is looking more and more like an MLS player with each appearance. When he came on for Michael Farfan in the 68th minute Saturday, it caused a few raised eyebrows. Farfan took a while to get into the game, but he was looking better after halftime and was about the only member of the Union able to keep possession in the face of Portland’s hard-pressing attack. But Fernandes proved to be a good choice by stand-in manager Rob Vartughian. He wasn’t afraid to mix it up, picking up his first pro yellow card, and his 87th minute volley went off the post and could’ve gone in. “It’s helping me a lot,” Fernandes said about his more regular time on the pitch. “I feel a lot more conformable when I get on the field. I don’t have as many nerves now when I get in. … Every game I’m getting more excited. I just try to help out the team.”

- Zac MacMath has taken his lumps this season (cough, Dallas, cough). But he deserves credit for being really good since then (as my colleague Chris Vito writes). He gave up two goals his next time out against Real Salt Lake, but you can’t fault him on that penalty that forced the Union to settle for a draw. Most importantly, he looked like he learned and grew from the failed punch incident against Dallas. He made a couple of great saves against Houston, where Ricardo Clark’s goal was hardly his fault. (I don’t know how much it mattered anyway; the Union sans most of their midfielders were never going to score that day.) And he was good against Chivas before tonight’s clean sheet. Quietly, MacMath has six shutouts, which puts him squarely in the pack among MLS starters, three off the joint leaders Donovan Ricketts and Bobby Shuttleworth. Read more »

John Hackworth seemed eager to discuss his team Wednesday; after all, he won't get the chance to do that Saturday after his team takes on Portland. Some of the main points discussed by the Philadelphia Union skipper:

On his suspension for Saturday:
I am suspended. I did ask the league if there was a process to appeal it. I was told that there is no process when a coach is thrown out. They did look at the audio and video. There’s not much there, but once the referee makes that decisions, there’s nothing we can do about it. I’m just suspended’ I’ll pay my fine and try not to ever gesture that it’s a handball again to the referee. I will say that I still don’t think that’s worthy of being thrown out of a game, but that’s just my opinion.

On how Hackworth's suspension affects the team's preparation:
Most of our work is done before we get to the game. These guys are professionals. They’ve gone through it. It’s not the first time it’s happened to us; it’s not the first time they’ve dealt with it as professionals. Rob (Vartughian) will be the head coach for the game, and he’ll be supported by Brendan (Burke) and Jim (Curtin). Nothing will change. Our gameplan will be designed well before we get to the kickoff, and the players will adjust accordingly. It’ll be different for me because I’m sure it will be harder for me to sit up in the booth and not have any true interaction with the team, but I have all the confidence in Rob and Jim and Brendan and our players too. Our preparation is always much more important I think than what we do on gameday.
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Union manager John Hackworth was unavailable for his weekly press conference Wednesday, so assistant coach/technical director Rob Vartughian stepped in. Here's what Rob had to say.

On the challenge on heading to Montreal:
They’re obviously a good team. They’ve ahead of us in the table. They’re sitting on 20 points through 10 games, and they’ve got some really good pieces and they’re dangerous. We’re pretty familiar with them. We’ve watched a ton of film on them. They’ve got a guy in (Marco) Di Vaio who’s got six goals who’s up top and they have experience all through the field, whether that’s (Alessandro) Nesta. They’ve got Felipe, who’s a very good player, Justin Mapp, who we’re all familiar with, who’s a very good player. They’ve got some really good pieces, so we obviously started that preparation right after Chicago, and I’ll think we’ll be ready to go once Saturday rolls around.

On where the trip to Montreal ranks:
I think they’re all tough. It’s tough to go into anyone else’s park and play. And this is a good team, it’s an experience team. In terms of where it ranks, I don’t know if I could put a ranking on it so to speak, but our approach has been the same for all the road games, so we’re not going to waver or do anything different than we have in the past and treat it like all the other ones.

On Kleberson's continued place in the starting XI:
We felt good about it. Kleberson was going into his second game, second start, and played a good game. Same for Michael (Farfan). But I would say that about generally all the guys that have been given the opportunity in the midfield. We’re happy for Kleberson and what he’s been able to bring in the two games that he’s played. He’s given us good minutes and he’s given us a little something different than maybe what we weren’t getting, but I think the players around him complement him well, whether that’s Michael, whether that’s Keon (Daniel), whether that’s Brian (Carroll), Danny (Cruz), you name it. That’s been good, and we’ve liked what we’ve seen.
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To celebrate the Easter holiday -- and support the President's Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition's "Let's Move" campaign -- the Philadelphia Union sent a delegation down to Washington D.C. Monday to participate in the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.

From left, Union assistant coach Jim Curtin, technical director Rob Vartughian,
defenders Sheanon Williams and Ray Gaddis and manager John Hackworth
take part in the 135th annual White House Easter Egg Roll in Washington D.C.
Monday. (Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union)

Defenders Sheanon Williams and Ray Gaddis, manager John Hackworth, technical director Rob Vartughian and assistant coach Jim Curtin were among those taking part in the 135th edition of the yearly tradition on the White House Lawn. President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and various other luminaries were in attendance.

Tweeted Gaddis from his personal account:

White House Easter Egg Roll 2013. Blessed to be selected for something so special… instagram.com/p/XkhB2mMDzW/
— ray gaddis (@raygaddis) April 1, 2013

The Union’s event Friday provided all the warm and fuzzy feelings you’d expect from a reunion of this type around the holidays. But stripped of its pomp and ceremony, the Union’s move to reacquire all-time leading scorer Sebastien Le Toux makes sense on the pitch as well.

Le Toux will be 29 when he takes the field for the Union’s opener next season, certainly qualifying as a veteran. But as Le Toux pointed out in the face of questions referring to him as a “mentor” and a “veteran”, “I’m not old.” Just two years ago, he was an all-star and considered to be an elite striker in MLS.

Indeed, it would appear that there is plenty of football left in Le Toux’s boots, and he presents and intriguing fit for this otherwise young Union squad. So often last season, manager John Hackworth’s formation oscillated somewhere between a 4-3-3 and a 4-5-1. Depending on who you ask, the likes of Freddy Adu, Michael Farfan and Gabriel Gomez were at various times referred to as “forwards”; Le Toux is of a completely different ilk in what he brings to the table. It allows Hackworth to adopt a more tradition 4-4-2, which seems to be more to his liking.

The particulars are unclear for now. Hackworth is certain that Le Toux will be used as a forward, not the midfield role that he often fell into last year in his various stops.

In Jack McInerney, who matured greatly last year en route to eight MLS goals, Le Toux has an ideal strike partner. While Le Toux brings much more to the table that just a traditional center forward’s ability to hold up play and be a target man, he also has that ability, allowing someone like McInerney or the speedy Antione Hoppenot to run off of.

“He’s a very young player. I think all the things he did this year made him stronger and I’m very happy for his success,” Le Toux said of McInerney. “… I’m looking forward to playing with him because I’m sure he’s very hungry to do well, and it’s what the team needs to be successful.”

“We know that Jack and Sebastien have already played together for two years,” Hackworth said. “They’ve already developed that rapport. I think Jack has developed separately, and if there was one lesson in that whole thing is that Jack got to become our main goalscorer last year. But now I think we have the opportunity to really take this team forward. … Knowing Sebastien like I do, I feel confident that we can fit him into a system that complements the guys we already have.”

Whoever it turns out that Le Toux is paired with, his ability to stretch the field vertically with his speed and superior vision will be an instant addition, a commodity the Union tried in vain to find last season (cough, Jorge Perlaza, cough). It’s something Hackworth and CEO Nick Sakiewicz each pointed to as one of the glaring voids left by his departure.

Perhaps more so than the tactical implications, it’s fair to see this move as the franchise stepping even further away from the past regime. The gratitude expressed by Sakiewicz toward Hackworth and assistant coach Rob Vartughian in the “collaborative” move to get Le Toux illustrated how the process by which personnel moves are made “feels much more like a team.” The fact that the subject of the move is Le Toux, someone who vowed never to play for the Union under again as long as Peter Nowak was in charge, only underscores the point. (Incidentally, the ability of Le Toux et al. to reference Nowak without referencing his name in the press conference was fun to watch.)

“I’m just very excited. I just know that it’s a different mentality, it’s a different coaching staff and a different approach to the game I’m sure,” Le Toux said. “I know John a little bit. We worked together, but he did not lots of, I would say maybe, power of what he was trying to do here when he was an assistant. I know that, and I respect John for that because he always looked out for the team.”
(Photo by ERIC HARTLINE)

It's official: Peter Nowak, fined $5,000, will be suspended for Saturday's match against visiting San Jose.

But here's the kicker: He'll miss the next match, too.

It took five days, but Major League Soccer's disciplinary committee finally ruled on Nowak, who stepped out of the coach's box and onto the pitch last Saturday --- a league-wide no-no --- while breaking up a scrum during the Union's 1-0 win at Chivas USA. Nowak was sent off in the 86th minute and, until 6 p.m. today, had awaited what he termed "a verdict" from MLS.

The verdict is in, and the Union will be without their coach Saturday against the Western Conference-leading Earthquakes. He also will be forced to take in next weekend's match at Seattle from a club-level suite, rather than on the sideline.

Additionally, the Union were hit with a $5,000 fine, while Chivas USA incurred a $2,500 fine.

Wednesday, players and coaches alike made it sound as though losing Nowak for one match won't be that big of a deal.

Said assistant coach Rob Vartughian: “Nothing changes. We’ve all been around each other for a number of years. Our preparation for this game will be no different than how we’ve approached anything else. Do you have a voice on the sideline with Peter? No, you don’t. But at the point the game starts, it’s up to the players. There are certain things you can do to adjust, and we’ll have to do those. It’s not like Peter’s not here this week. He’s still very much the voice.”

(Times staff photo / ERIC HARTLINE)

It looks like the Union will be without Peter Nowak for Saturday's match against visiting San Jose.

The Union boss was dismissed from last weekend's 1-0 win at Chivas USA when he stepped onto the pitch to contest a red card issued to Gabriel Farfan in the 86th minute and to break up the shoving match between players from both teams.

Wednesday, during his weekly press conference at PPL Park, Nowak said he didn't want to get into details, but said he's expecting to be suspended once "the verdict," he said, comes in from MLS.

By MLS rules, Nowak will not be permitted to view the Union's home game from the sideline at PPL Park. Instead, he will be in a private suite. His communication level with his players will be restrained, however.

So without Nowak, how does the Union's lineup change?

Will assistant coaches John Hackworth and Rob Vartughian have their hands tied on the backline, with centerback Danny Califf returning from a hamstring injury and left back Farfan serving a one-game suspension? Will the assistants try their hands at a two-striker configuration? Will they play Kai Herdling, the German midfielder they signed a week ago, who is expected to arrive Thursday?

What's your take on what the lineup will look like? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

(Times staff photo / JULIA WILKINSON)