Busy schedule picks up in Portland, but still without sporting director

CHESTER » As a prelude to one of the busiest andmost consequential stretches of the Philadelphia Union’s season, this week hasn’t exactly been sedate, even if it might not hold a candle to next week’s adventure.

The Union departed Wednesday night for the Pacific Northwest, where a game looms Saturday night against the Portland Timbers, unbeaten since April. On the heels of that is a return home to take on the Chicago Fire next Wednesday in the semifinals of the Lamar Hunt U. S. Open Cup, with the Union two wins away from the franchise’s first trophy. And the gauntlet ends with a visit to the team directly above them in the Eastern Conference standings, New England, the current occupant of the sixth and final playoff berth.

So yeah, few things to balance there.

“It’s a very important week for the group,” manager Jim Curtin said Wednesday. “We’ve been able to do a lot of work since the win in Houston. We’ve spent a lot of time on the training field sorting things out and trying to get on the same page, but now the focus shifts to the most important game which is the next one in Portland.”

Where to begin? Howabout at the top, where Tuesday was officially Earnie Stewart’s last day on the job as sporting director, becoming the first generalmanager of the United States men’s national team. He spent his last evening of work watching four Union players suit up for the MLS Homegrown team as part of the All- Star festivities.

The Union released a statement Wednesday about its sporting director vacancy.

“We have identified and agreed to terms with our chosen candidate and are inthe process of finalizing a contract with that candidate,” the statement read. “When that process is complete, the club looks forward to making an announcement. In theme an time, soccer decisions will bemade bymembers of the Union’s existing technical staff, who have been preparing for this transition and are evaluating transfer window opportunities.”

Among those decisions are the comings and goings of the transfer market, with the summer window closing Aug. 8. In the departing column appears to be Eric Ayuk, who’s been in Turkey since themiddle of last week reportedly finalizing a deal with Trabzonspor.

“It’s all still up in the air,” Curtin said. “It’s been a volatile one, but nothing new to report until something’s finalized. I’ve got no new news.”

The 21- year- old Cameroonian winger played 28 games in 2015 at the tender age of 18, scoring two goals and two assists. He’s played just 90 MLS minutes since, none this season, and spent 2017 on loan to Swedish club Jonkopings Sodra, where he also played sparingly. Ayuk was signed in 2015 from Rainbow Bamenda FC, which reportedly will retain a portion of any transfer fee.

No longer in the “arriving” category is French midfielder Anthony Ribelin. The 22- year- old attacking mid on the books at Stade Rennes is in Philadelphia but is being looked at as a candidate for affiliate club Bethlehem Steel rather than as an immediate reinforcement for the first team.

In between all that, there are three games for the Union to try to win. Cur tin anticipates shipping to Portland with 22 players to train for two days and devise a roster for Saturday’s game. Not among them will be Ilsinho, whose quad strain is still causing toomuch pain for him to contribute. The Union’s four participants in the Home grown Game— Anthony Fontana, Auston Trusty, MarkMcKenzie and Matt Real — will meet the team in Portland after helping to draw with Tigres’ Under- 20s in Atlanta.

All those variables indicate that Curtin will test the depth of his roster. The Portland game is the Union’s first in 10 days, so it’s not likely that Curtin would leave veterans home and risk rust if they don’t get minutes. More likely, some of the regulars will be relegated to bench roles, and Curtin has cultivated a two- deep rotation at several positions so that elevating reserves won’t entail a large change.

“We have a deep roster,” Curtin said. “We have confidence inall our guys, we have some guys playing very good at a lot of different positions and to be honest, there’s not a huge drop- off. We’ve played a lot of different guys a lot of minutes this year.”

DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA FILE Union sporting director Earnie Stewart put in his last day of work with the MLS club Wednesday. He goes on to take over as general manager of the U. S. Men’s National Team.