15-game winless streak taking on an art form
CHESTER >> The 238th day without a Union victory had just ended, and the reaction from the River End was swift and predictable. It was a boo, long and loud. The people, even those who’d pledged eternal loyalty, were speaking. The players would too.
“Three soft goals,” Alejandro Bedoya said. “Disappointing. Frustrating.”
He left out ridiculous, bizarre and, in particular Saturday, stunning. The Union had just run its two-season, all-match winless streak to 15, wasting a three-goal lead in a 3-3 draw with the Montreal Impact. If it weren’t so unacceptable, it might have been considered an art form.
“Pure frustration,” Bedoya said. “I’m at a for words.”
The slide, which began last season and, oddly enough, included a playoff appearance in Toronto, has included every sort of disappointment, from botched leads to lengthy goals to no-chance wastes loss of time. And because the storylines shift from match to match, the implication is plain: The players have reached the point where they are just wondering when the next catastrophe will hit. As it happened Saturday, it hit in the 87th minute when goalkeeper Andre Blake allowed a rebound that Anthony Jackson-Hamel buried for his second goal of the game.
“The guys are working as hard as they can,” said manager Jim Curtin. “I feel gutted for them. They are a group that deserves three points. It’s just hard to now have another week to have that doubt in our head that we can get it done.”
And there it was, the problem, in one word: Doubt. Even as Roland Alberg was providing a 3-0 lead on a penalty kick in the 39th minute for his second goal of the game, the stress in Talen Energy Stadium was thick … and not just in the seats, plenty of them empty. At that point, it was as if the Union stopped playing and, instead, began a vigil for the disappointment to come. A Montreal goal just before halftime in Minute 41, added to the pressure. By early in the second half, there was Bedoya, just trying to contain the rampaging panic.
“After 10 minutes. I just called everyone together and said, ‘Let’s not go and press,’” he said, suggesting that the Union, “stay compact.” But rather than remain disciplined, the Union exhibited tension. “You keep dropping back and you play soft defense and you allow second balls in the box and don’t put bodies on guys in the box, you get punished,” Bedoya said. “That’s what happened to us today.”
Even while ending a four-game losing streak, the Union needed to be scolded Saturday, and Bedoya, their highest paid player, was right to do some growling. Few expect the Union to compete for a championship with its payroll, said to be among the MLS’ skimpiest. That approach is not likely to change, which is why the club touts such vague attributes as practice facilities and developmental programs which, apparently, include players as young as 12. Still, the Union have enough talent to beat a one-win Montreal team, at home, after building a 3-0 lead.
Not that anything new typically catches on in Philadelphia, but if ever the Union had a chance to gain appeal beyond the 15,117 who found their way to the Chester waterfront Saturday, this might have been the year. Yet with every other major-league team in Philadelphia embarrassingly begging for years of patience, the Union is doing the same, and with an even longer timeline.
Already, the front office has slapped Curtin with a vote of confidence. In sports, that typically means he has the year. So smearing him with any more blame is not going to matter, even if the firethe-coach hum is growing. Players, though, will matter. And there should be enough scorers springing available internationally this summer to give Curtin a better chance to win. That choice — fire a coach for the third time in eight years, or spend more on talent — will define the operation.
Either way, the situation is reaching critical point, with the Union set to play next in Los Angeles against the talented Galaxy. Curtin has few answers, and the mood in the locker room is curious.
“These things happen,” said CJ Sapong, whose goal Saturday provided a 2-0 lead. “We’re still performing well. It’s just the areas of the game where sometimes, maybe, we have a little bit of a mental lapse. But those things are controllable. We just have to go out the next game and try to do better.” The Union haven’t won bloody soccer game a since last Aug. 27. But it’s good to hear, as the man said, that the players are performing well. Imagine if they were performing poorly.
“We just weren’t able to have that killer instinct,” Curtin said, “to finish off the game.”
As for the fans, including the most loyal, they knew a good way to get that done.