Homegrowns deliver another result in D.C. draw

The questions for Jim Curtin have gotten monotonous, in a way the coach might well enjoy.

Game after game, as injuries and suspensions pile up, Curtin faces the daunting task of having to appraise his young players, especially the Homegrowns, as they step into ever larger roles. As they win games, as they earn results with clutch plays, as they quietly take care of their jobs and hit milestones, what once was a trickle of praise has become a torrent.

In some ways, Wednesday night was Mark McKenzie’s turn. It’s hardly the first time Curtin has lavished praise on the defender, who’s grown into one of MLS’s most promising young Americans. But the goal McKenzie ripped from25 yards in the 87thminute to earn a 2-2 draw at D.C. United was something special, and the manager gave it its due.

“Mark, night after night, is one of the most dominant players on the field, and that’s not easy from the center back position,” Curtin said. “… To step into a ball like that, it’s kind of a center back’s dream, whether it’s in the back yard or the practice field, you dream of that one where it’s just slowly rolling out to you. Ninetynine times out 100, players put that one 10 rows deep, but Mark had the composure to lock his ankle, keep his head down and strike through the ball and really score an important goal for us.”

It bears repeating, so skip ahead if you’ve already digested these stats. But short-term trends have become sustained excellence.

The Union, from Day 1, professed a desire to recruit and develop local talent. It was part of the club’s founding conceit, seeing how many players the Delaware Valley produced (Curtin among them) in the first decadeplus of MLS’s existence and posited what would happen if a franchise could harvest that bounty. As the club chronically underinvested in the first team, it poured resources into YSC Academy, with co-owner Richie Graham making it one of the premier academies in the United States.

The payoff was, for years, nonexistent. Promising talents sputtered, stuck on the bench or marooned at luke warm developmental affiliate Harrisburg City, as short-term objectives of winning matches and saving jobs were prioritized over long-term development. It wasn’t until Earnie Stewart arrived to a club that had thudded into rock bottom that the pathway to the pros was first coherently articulated much less actually assembled.

And now, the results are staggering. The Union (10-3-5, 35 points) are in second place in the Eastern Conference with the second-most points in MLS. They are the second team to clinch a playoff berth, the fourth time in five seasons the club has made the postseason after just one playoff appearance in its first six campaigns.

The Homegrown program’s development tracks that rise. It hit its nadir in 2013 when Homegrowns logged zero minutes. They did so again in 2016, but the tide was turning, with the signing of Nos. 4 and 4, Derrick Jones and Auston Trusty.

In the club’s first seven seasons, Homegrowns earned 1,973 total minutes. In 2018 alone, the Union doled out 5,408minutes to Homegrowns, Trusty playing every MLS minute (3,060 total). The number was just under 5,000 in 2019 (thanks in large part to injuries to McKenzie).

Despite the truncated 2020 slate, Homegrowns are have already exceeded 4,000 minutes this year.

Then there’s the goals. Until six weeks ago, the Homegrown contingent had scored just 11 goals all-time. Starting with the Sept. 6 win over the New York Red Bulls, Homegrowns have scored nine goals and six assists in nine games. They’ve scored nine of the team’s last 20 goals.

Along the way, defenders Matt Real and McKenzie got their first career goals. Brenden Aaronson has continued to grow into a player whose sale to a European club is imminent. McKenzie surely won’t be far behind. Anthony Fontana, who scored the opener Wednesday on his 21st birthday and provided a stoppagetime winner from outside the box against New England Sept. 12, has five goals in three starts, scoring every time the ball gets near him it seems.

It’s not just the production but the moments that the Homegrowns seemto rise to, from McKenzie calling off Kacper Przybylko to obliterate the ball with his right foot Wednesday night to Fontana, on an off night, sticking with it mentally to open the scoring in the 49th.

“He has a real knack for getting goals,” Curtin said. “I don’t think it was Anthony’s best night. We didn’t put him on the ball enough, in those pockets on either side of their No. 6. It wasn’t for lack of effort. Anthony ran and worked and tried to find space, but as a team, we were just a little sloppy, a little slow, in the first half in particular. But then he makes a play on the goal. It’s kind of like a right place, right time, a Clint Dempsey-type of goal where if you just run hard in the box, you run hard in the box 10 times, nine times the ball might not come but if you keep running, eventually he gets rewarded with his goal.”

After years of bloviating without the corresponding production, of talking a good game but failing to back the Academy with first team support, the organization finally saw the light. And it’s being rewarded with players blossoming on the field.