(Times / ROBERT J. GURECKI)

They've scored once in 351 regulation minutes. They've gone six matches without a win. They've been shut out nine times, a franchise record.

So ... what's the next step for the Union and their beleaguered offense?

If you ask John Hackworth, he thinks it's a goals-by-committee fix.

It's worse than that. The Union, with their scoreless draw in New England last weekend, have been blanked on nine occasions this season. That's worse than the eight they incurred in their inaugural season.

The likely move, per Hackworth, is to trust what you've got. That means playing third-year guy Jack McInerney (above), seasoned veteran Freddy Adu and rookies Antoine Hoppenot and Chandler Hoffman to your heart's content. That means trusting your gut with that quartet, in the hopes that those guys can find the net in a way they haven't in games gone by.

The real fix, however, is farming out the job. The Union must find goal scorer elsewhere. Their offseason add projects, in the form of Lio Pajoy and Josue Martinez, were failures. Pajoy wasn't anywhere near the goal scoring force the Union expected, or that ex-boss Peter Nowak had predicted. And Martinez, well, he can't even find his way into consistent starts.

Dating to 2011, they transferred one of MLS' most-successful goal scorers to Mexico (Carlos Ruiz), traded the franchise's best scorer for allocation money (Sebastien Le Toux) and traded another scoring threat (Danny Mwanga) for a guy marketed as a scoring threat (Jorge Perlaza), who turned out to be nothing more than a ghost in the lineup.

That's a ton of goals out the door. The remedy for the Union in the interim will come from that aforementioned foursome of young legs. The long-term fix will arrive in the offseason transfer window.

Look what Columbus did. The Crew rose from midseason irrelevance to postseason capable with the additions of Jairo Arrieta and Federico Higuain. They realized their flaws and went outside the franchise to correct it. The Union might have to do the same in hopes of achieving a more successful campaign in 2013.

(Times/ROBERT J GURECKI)

Next Wednesday, Aug. 15, is one of FIFA’s preordained international friendly days. They’re fun for soccer fans, bad news for contending clubs.

That being said, Union manager John Hackworth said there’s a chance centerback Carlos Valdes (Colombia) and midfielders Keon Daniel (Trinidad and Tobago) and Gabriel Gomez (Panama) might get call-ups for their respective nations’ senior teams.

The biggest absence to fill would be that of Valdes, the club’s captain and one of its All-Stars. This would be Valdes' first national-team call-up since 2010, prior to joining the Union.

“We’ve got to figure that out with Carlos,” Hackworth said. “We’re still trying to finalize his travel plans with the Colombian federation. Hopefully, he’s available for us Sunday. If he’s not, we’ll deal with that.”

Assuming Bakary Soumare is fit --- for real, this time, as opposed to when Hackworth said a week ago that he'd be ready for selection against Montreal -- there shouldn't be an issue. But if the Union have to go with a central defense tandem of Amobi Okugo, a natural midfielder who was played well above average at centerback, and rookie Ray Gaddis, that could create problems. There's also Sheanon Williams to slide into that spot, too. So plenty of options, but having Valdes is the best one.

(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.

(Times staff / ROBERT J GURECKI)

For most of the night, Union interim manager John Hackworth had a good time ... except for when MLS All-Star coach Ben Olsen decided to sub in the Union's Carlos Valdes late in the first half.

"Carlos got an opportunity early and I told Ben I was pissed because I didn't want Carlos to play more than 45 minutes," said Hackworth, one of Olsen's assistants. "We had it out on the bench, and now we're all good."

Valdes got 55 minutes, Union teammate Michael Farfan took in the final 16 and the MLS All-Stars topped Chelsea FC, 3-2, Wednesday night in the MLS All-Star Game at PPL Park.

Seattle's Eddie Johnson scored in stoppage time to lead MLS, which required a first-half goal from Chris Wondolowski and a second-half strike from Chris Pontius to avoid staying winless in the league's summer showcase game for a fifth consecutive season.

For more from Hackworth and Farfan about the game, read on. Also, I've embedded video of Valdes (pictured above), upon entering the match, which can be viewed below.

JOHN HACKWORTH
On Farfan:
"You know, Michael -- I can't say enough about that kid because he just comes in and he's class. His touch is good, he weights his passes good, he fits right in, he doesn't look out of place at all. I'm really happy for him.

On reception for his players:
"It gave me goosebumps. I thought it was incredible. It's fantastic. It's great for our fans to see that and to embrace Carlos and Michael was fantastic.

MICHAEL FARFAN
On the game:
"It's something I'll remember for the rest of my life. To have all these fans cheering for us is an amazing experience."

On brother Gabriel Farfan's message:
"Nothing. He was just excited."

On disbelief in getting subbed on for David Beckham:
"I didn't (believe it). I never thought that would happen, but I'm excited that it did. Just really happy to be out here with everyone."

(Times staff / ROBERT J. GURECKI)

If you took a look around the Union dressing room Wednesday, you probably couldn't tell that they had been eliminated from the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

Their 2-0 semifinal loss to Sporting Kansas City was filled with fouls, bookings and intrigue.

“It sucks to lose," Jack McInerney said, "but we have such a young team. We're only halfway through the season and the goal has to be to get into the playoffs."

Captain Carlos Valdes (pictured) and the Union got shoved around plenty. They took their knocks and, even though Union interim manager John Hackworth said he doesn't want to pin blame for the defeat on his club's fatigue, it's difficult to mask that the Union were run down. They're playing nine matches in 27 days, including next week's friendly against Aston Villa.

So, considering the resurgent nature of the Union and their attempt to climb the MLS standings, maybe dropping the Open Cup semifinal wasn't the worst thing in the world. Good luck trying to pry those words from any of the players' mouths, but there's an argument to be made there.

Consider their next five matches: v. Montreal (8th in East), at New York (3rd in East), v. New England (6th in East), at Montreal, v. Chicago (4th in East). World-beaters, those teams are not. This would be as good a time as any for the Union to make their push.

"I think the first game, (SKC) thought they were going to step on the pitch and win the game (a 4-0 Union win June 23) just by stepping out there," said Michael Lahoud. "This time, they played what they were designed to do – scrappy and found a way to win. In this tournament, that's what gets it done and that's what got it done for them tonight."

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OKUGO A STARTER AT CENTERBACK?
Amobi Okugo, who's already on the fast track to establishing career-bests in games played, games started and minutes played, could be in line for the full-time starter's job at centerback.

Okugo, who played all 90 minutes against SKC, got rave reviews afterward from Hackworth --- who said injured centerback Bakary Soumare, who the Union signed earlier this month inside the transfer window, isn't a lock to start when healthy.

“Amobi was fantastic again and when a player's playing like that, there's no way that you're going to replace him," Hackworth said. "Hopefully Baki gets back sooner and that'll be some tough decisions. Crazy things already happened with injury or another long stretch of games here. It's good to have that depth."

A defensive midfielder, Okugo was viewed as a stop-gap centerback at first when Danny Califf was traded in May. Since, he's started and played all 90 in each of the Union's last five MLS matches. Okugo has played nine games with six being starts, for 610 minutes. His career-best totals were achieved last year, when he logged 15 appearances with 10 starts for 811 minutes.

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Couple more odds and ends...

• Long after the final whistle, McInerney was seen walking off the pitch at PPL Park holding a cardboard-cutout replica of the U.S. Open Cup. According to one Tweeter, a young girl gave McInerney her homemade souvenir. What a cool gesture.
• The Union were whistled for four yellow cards and 21 fouls, to SKC's two bookings and 17 fouls. Wouldn't be the first time some folks in Chester were shouting about cheatin'. (Just ask the kids who play basketball at Chester High.)
• Not sure who had the hook-up, but Sporting Kansas City was booming some Jay-Z/Kanye West out of the visitors' dressing room. Usually, the Union's opponents don't play music. But winning an Open Cup semifinal must be different.