Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Muddled schedule mitigates hype as Union visit Columbus
Ordinarily, listing spots in the standings eight games into a season would seem uselessly early. “Ordinary” is not an adjective to be applied to any part of the 2020 MLS season, however.
So when the third-place Union travel Wednesday to take on second-place Columbus in a battle of the Eastern Conference’s presumed elite, it has to mean something big, right? Not this “season.” “We still haven’t gotten the rest of the schedule,” Jim Curtin said during a Tuesday Zoom call. “We don’t know if it’s going to be another six games, another 12 games, another block of whatever. We have no idea. Are we going to continue to be on the road every game? I’m not sure. All we can control is what’s ahead of us. We know that it’s early in the season, but you want to test yourself against the top teams.”
Suffice it to say that both teams are among the elite in the Eastern Conference. Unbeaten Toronto (5-0-3, 18 points) is atop the league, mainly because travel restrictions mean they’ve played a bad Montreal team twice (with two more scheduled) and a worse Vancouver side twice. Second is the Crew (5-1-2, 17 points), ahead of the Union (4-1-3, 15 points).
Columbus’s headline is defense: The Crew have allowed two goals in eight matches, plus one in the MLS Is Back tournament’s Round of 16 loss to Minnesota United on penalties. No other MLS team that has played at least eight games has conceded fewer than six goals. The Union are in a good defensive patch, with eight goals allowed, including three in the last five matches.
“For all the great attacking pieces that they have and the goals that they score in bunches, needs to be said that they’re very sound defensively,” Curtin said of the Crew. “When you get chances against them, you need to be clinical. We worked on that in training. And it’ll be a really tough test against Columbus, two really good teams getting at it at the top of the Eastern Conference. Our players know what’s at stake and we want to put in a good performance.”
“I think Columbus is one of the best teams right now, and I think we are also a very good team, so for us, it’s also a test how we respond to a team like that,” midfielder Jamiro Monteiro said. “Tomorrow we will see that. I think it will be a tough game for sure.”
The Crew’s sturdy defense means they can counter attack through Gyasi Zardes, Pedro Santos and Lucas Zelarayan, who returned for Saturday’s scoreless draw with FC Cincinnati after missing two games with an ankle injury. But the fulcrum of the team is Darlington Nagbe, who Curtin calls “probably the best midfielder we have as a country.”
Nagbe scored a screamer from midfield in the Aug. 20 win over Chicago, but more constant is his calm on the ball, which makes him resistant to the press that the Union spring on less capable midfielders.
Curtin will stick with his recent squad rotation, likely meaning Mark McKenzie and Ray Gaddis returning after being rested last game. Kai Wagner (leg) is also likely to sit after leaving Saturday’s 4-1 win over D.C. United, making way for Matt Real.
“It’ll be what he can tolerate,” Curtin said. “Hopefully he’s a part of the game. Obviously we’re a better team when he’s on the field. He’ll be close for tomorrow.”
Curtin has targeted three changes per game to keep his team fresh and maintain continuity. The defense presents three, depending on Wagner. With Brenden Aaronson, Kacper Przybylko and Sergio Santos all having scored last game, attacking subs seem less likely.
“For us, it’s been very good,” Monteiro said. “Now you see Kacper is scoring goals and I hope he will continue like last year. For Sergio also, they both are very hungry to score goals.”
It’s tough to posit Wednesday’s game as a playoff preview, since the future remains so distant and unsettled. Curtin didn’t help the issue Tuesday by using coaching motivation to deflate any hype about the Union rising in many outlets’ latest MLS rankings.
“The power rankings are neat and everything, but if you’re asking me if I think we’re the thirdbest team in the league, I’d tell you, no, I don’t,” Curtin said. “I think depending on our health and fitness, we could fall anywhere from the fifth-best to the 18th-best, and it can happen quickly in this league and I recognize that. I’m going to continue to challenge our guys. We’re not going to be satisfied until the season is over and then we’ll know exactly where we are.
“If I’m going to be happy after, I guess eight, you’d call it, regular-season games saying we’re the third-best team, it really means nothing right now. It’s flattering, and the compliments are nice. I think we do have a nice, young, improving group, but we haven’t accomplished anything quite yet.”