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.

Read more »

Cole Missimo made his Union debut
Wednesday night against Crystal Palace.

The roar went up at Talen Energy Stadium just as Connor Wickham’s shoulders slumped.

Away scampered Cole Missimo, like a culprit from the scene of the crime, ball in his possession, along with a moment he won’t forget.

That nutmeg, Missimo slipping the ball through the legs of the Crystal Palace forward and recollecting it, presented one of the highlights for the rookie in his Philadelphia Union debut, a 0-0 draw in a friendly with the English Premier League side Wednesday night.

Missimo was one of three members of the Union to make debuts, joining fellow 2016 SuperDraft pick Taylor Washington and Union Academy product/Bethlehem Steel short-term loanee Derrick Jones. In a game generally bereft of memorable instances, Missimo provided one.

“I was a little worried because I thought it was Ray (Gaddis) who played it down the line to me and I don’t know what else I could’ve done with it because I don’t think I could’ve gone backwards with it,” Missimo said. “So I was just hoping I’d just put it around him, and I guess I got kind of lucky that I got by him. Pretty cool moment."

Oh my... cheeky from @cole_missimo. pic.twitter.com/qhAFkyS4X9

— Philadelphia Union (@PhilaUnion) July 14, 2016

That passage of play was one of several that will stick with Missimo. The 64th pick in January’s SuperDraft from Northwestern played the second half with the reserves. He’s logged 12 games for Bethlehem Steel and twice been named as an unused sub by manager Jim Curtin.

Missimo has been among a group of reserves that Curtin has touted for their aid preparing first-teamers weekly in training, keeping regulars sharp and healthily fearing for their jobs under the pressure applied from the fringes. For whatever drawbacks posed by a midweek international date inserted between MLS dates with Eastern Conference foes, the chance to reward players like Missimo for their toils feels worthwhile.

“This is probably the biggest moment of my career, to be honest,” Missimo said. “It’s a dream come true. It’s what I’ve been working towards my whole life. So whether it’s an MLS game or an exhibition game, it doesn’t matter. It’s truly a special moment.”
Read more »

As Brendan Burke addressed the media two days before Bethlehem Steel FC plays its first USL game, the coach made abundantly clear one fact: In just four months on the job, Burke has managed to establish a more cogent ideology around his team than its seven-year-old parent club has yet uncovered.

Burke’s expectations and methodologies seem clear-cut when Steel FC debuts Friday evening at FC Montreal (7 p.m., live stream below).



Burke’s roster is sparse, comprising just 13 players after the addition of Fred as player/coach Thursday. (That’s even less populous than I surmised last fall.) There may be one or two bodies forthcoming to swell the ranks on a permanent basis. But Burke is assured in Steel’s place within the Union’s hierarchy. Instead of stuffing the roster with players just to meet quotas and artificial expectations, the guiding philosophy has been only adding players with legitimate chances of breaking into the Union’s MLS squad.

“I think we’re in great shape,” Burke said. “We’re a small but focused group. … We’ve had a number of trialists through, but I think what we found is that we’re happy keeping a smaller number of players who we really trust and who we really think have an opportunity to move through to the first team at some stage in their developments.”

Most of Steel’s roster fits that bill. Captain Ryan Richter has MLS and NASL experience. Irish midfielder James Chambers adds a wealthy of European games. Young players like Nigerian-born Bolu Akinyode, Canadian midfielder Josh Heard, Jamaican forwards Amoy Brown and Cory Burke and Liberians Gabe Gisse and Seku Conneh have been identified by Union brass for large upsides. Academy product Derrick Jones is the first Homegrown to land in Bethlehem, and he’ll surely be joined by more in the near future.

The roster includes USL stalwarts like goalie Samir Badr, defender Michael Daly and Ardmore native Nick Bibbs, who’ll mentor younger players and contribute to what Burke hopes is a winning side, though that’s not the primary goal.

More important is that the Union’s affiliate reflects a similar playing style as what has finally emerged from the MLS side, all the better to facilitate promotion of high achievers from USL to MLS.

“I think part of our goal is to tactically mirror what the first team does and to reinforce some of the things that the younger first-team players are being taught and what our players would need to know to step into that environment,” Burke said. “So I think if we get it right, we should look very similar to the first team on the field.”

On the personnel side, this week is unique, the FIFA international window giving the Union a bye. More players than usual will be shuttled to Bethlehem, with the Union sending Eric Ayuk, Leo Fernandes, Fabian Herbers, John McCarthy, Walter Restrepo, Taylor Washington and Josh Yaro. Steel will also use Academy players as opportunities arise, though many of those prospects are away with various U.S. age-group squads this week.

Burke didn’t make any promises on a lineup, but it’s a safe bet that playing loaned Union players is a priority. Guys that have made the Union’s gameday 18 in the first three weeks like Herbers, Fernandes and McCarthy aren’t going to Canada to sit the bench. The same goes for Yaro, who’ll likely pair with Daly in a backline that’ll feature Richter and possibly Washington. Burke heralded Jones’s work this preseason, so he’ll likely start as the holding midfielder.

A move like Thursday’s capture of Dutch midfielder Roland Alberg has been long anticipated, and one could argue that it’s the biggest non-draft acquisition of the Philadelphia Union’s offseason. (Or at least that’s the hope provided by Alberg’s potential contributions.)

The Union stand on the eve of their first preseason game with a roster occupying both ends of the spectrum. On the one side, it stands at 21 players, theoretically nowhere near the MLS-permitted maximum of 28 players. On the other, Sporting Director Earnie Stewart has made it no secret that the objective “(is) not to fill every spot,” but rather to build a stable and sturdy lineup according to the Union’s perceptions, not external expectations.

The guiding mythos of that search seems to be Stewart’s declaration of being two-deep at every position. By that lens, how far are the Union from a completed squad? In basic math, they’re at least one player shy, plus the unavoidable need for a third goalkeeper.

But otherwise, the offseason rebuild may not be far from completion. Consider these two formations, in the assumption of a 4-3-3 (left to right):

Blake
Fabinho-Marquez-Yaro-Gaddis
Edu
Nogueira-Barnetta
Alberg-Sapong-Pontius
McCarthy
Washington-Conceicao-????-Rosenberry
Carroll
Creavalle-Fernandes
Ayuk-Herbers-Le Toux
Extra: Restrepo
 

Listed above are 22 players, all but one of whom (Taylor Washington) has a deal for the 2016 season. There’s only one bona fide question mark among the first two teams, that being a fourth center back on the depth charter. They drafted Mitch Lurie in the third round of the draft, and he’s one candidate for a cheap, American fix. That player, Lurie or not, would presumably by player No. 23 on the roster.

The second XI indicates a weakness in the lack of a reserve No. 8. Theoretically, Tranquillo Barnetta could play there with Alberg or Leo Fernandes as a No. 10. The defensive responsibilities of that position are probably a little beyond Fernandes. That’s an area to look at for player No. 24.

Another forward option could be player No. 25, as I can’t imagine the idea of entering the season with Fabian Herbers as the only reserve center forward being the ideal situation. And a third goalie, obviously beyond those first two XIs, would seem to be the priority for slot No. 26.

Limiting the roster there would allow the Union the flexibility it desires to bring up players from Bethlehem Steel if they prove worthy. It also provides room for summer dealings if Stewart’s observations of his assets in game action fall short of predictions and he opts for replacements.

For this window, then, the Union’s dealings could be near an end.