Dropped points vs. Impact could loom large

CHESTER >> Saturday’s visit from Montreal, Jim Curtin was saying this week, was the first challenge on a sixquestion test over the last month and change of the season. The grade at stake was, in the Philadelphia Union manager’s words, “whether people call our year good or if people call our year great.”

In the 1-1 draw with the Impact, the Union were merely good. And in the standings as the season crawls into its seventh month, the Union have been just good among an Eastern Conference that has scuffled to escape the grasp of mediocrity.

But “good” in soccer parlance usually means parity like what they endured Saturday night. Half the time, as was the fate sealed by Matteo Mancosu’s 88thminute goal, those draws feel like losses for one team.

The positives of the effort still stand. Josh Yaro banished the demons of the 5-1 thrashing by the Impact earlier this season and was solid. With Keegan Rosenberry, the rookies got the better of Didier Drogba and Ignacio Piatti, with the duo’s only two shots on target coming from beyond 45 yards out.

They were aided by Warren Creavalle, whose stellar play makes the prospect of reintegrating Maurice Edu in the coming weeks more difficult (Edu played 90 minutes for Bethlehem Steel in Charleston Saturday night on his rehab assignment). And Tranquillo Barnetta continued to back Curtin’s assertions that he’s among the league’s best No. 10s, scoring a superb goal in the 45th minute that put the Union on track for the full three points.

But the Union (11-10-8, 41 points) were let down late after numerous chances to put the game to bed. Fabian Herbers, who could’ve drawn a penalty kick on a clumsy if accidental bowling over by Marco Donadel in the 59th minute, should’ve at least put a shot on frame nine minutes later when Barnetta set him up on a tee on the counterattack. CJ Sapong, whose tireless work for others has yielded one goal from the run of play since mid-May, generated just one shot off target and looked generally out of sync with his fellow attackers.

And set pieces remain a bugaboo. Counting Cristian Maidana’s stoppagetime winner in Houston and Steve Birnbaum’s equalizer in D.C., it’s the third time the Union have conceded result-altering goals from the 88th minute on this season.

That’s the arena where “good” is most profoundly punished: Execute properly on nine of 10 free kicks, and it doesn’t much matter if your opponent burns you on that final try.

“It’s never easy, especially when you feel like you’ve earned the points,” Rosenberry said. “I felt like we played well enough to take all three, but that’s how the game goes sometimes. It’s going to be about how we respond.”

The Union’s conundrum Saturday reflects the larger standings struggle. They’ll end the week nearer to first place in the East (five points behind Toronto FC) than seventh (eight ahead of New England). They remain three points ahead of the Impact in the race for the fourth seed and the honor of hosting a wildcard playoff game in late October. That’s all good.

“We’re playing well, which is good, that’s the first and foremost,” Curtin said. “We’ve put together some good performances. …. We’re in a good spot right now — we’re not chasing it, we have to win a few more games and we’ll be in a good spot to make a run in the playoffs.”