Road success is crucial to playoff push for Union
CHESTER » The math is beginning to paint a bleak picture of the last three months of the Union’s season.
The Union (7-9-5, 26 points) sit eighth in the East, in itself not the most disastrous situation. But the club has just six home games remaining. In the best-case scenario of running the table at home — and indeed, the Union have won six of seven at Talen Energy Stadium — those 18 accrued points would bring the Union to 44. It took 42 to book the sixth and final playoff spot last year, and an improved Eastern Conference bolstered by expansion side Atlanta United could drive the line considerably higher this year.
That leads to the inexorable conclusion that the Union can’t just hold serve at home; their playoff aspirations depend on pressing the issue on the road and escape unfriendly environs with some surprise results.
With dates looming at four of the top five teams in the East in the remaining seven road contests, there seems few better opportunities for that sudden road competence to kick in than Saturday’s trip to 10th-place New England (7:30 p.m., CSN).
“We’ve had some really good performances (at home),” manager Jim Curtin said Friday. “Now we have to take it on the road. We haven’t done that this year consistently enough. We’ve played good for stretches but we haven’t been able to take enough points on the road, and this is now four out of our last five on the road that kind of concludes a tough trip. We need to go to New England with confidence, know that they’re a team that’s going to be fighting for points as well, so we have to do a good job of being disciplined but at the same time really taking our chances.”
It’s of little solace to Curtin that the Union have recently had the Revs’ number. The Union have won the last three MLS meetings by a combined score of 110, including a 4-0 demolition of an undermanned squad in Chester July 2. The Union’s last loss to New England came Aug. 29, 2015.
That stretch includes an uncharacteristic run of form at Gillette Stadium where the Union tote a lifetime 4-2-2 mark. They haven’t lost in New England since Aug. 25, 2013.
Curtin, though, knows such trends quickly go out the window in the blinding lights of gameday.
“MLS makes no sense in that regard, in terms of history or tradition or rivalries or whatever we want to talk about,” Curtin said. “It comes down to on the day, and on the day, we know New England has five or six attacking players that can individually beat you themselves and score a goal. We have to respect them.”
The strategy against New England (6-9-5, 23 points) involves containing the game. The Revs are fifth in the East in goals scored with 33, trailing only the top four teams in the conference standings. The disparity arises due to New England’s 34 goals allowed, third most in the East.
Affairs like the 4-3 track meet New England hosted with the Galaxy last week are the ilk which the Union must avoid. That imperative dovetails with the importance of the Union at least minimizing harm: With the glut of intraconference games ahead, it’s almost as important for the Union to gain one point in Foxborough as it is to deny the Revs two points via a draw.
The Union will be without Andre Blake, who will need seven to 10 days for stitches in his hand to heal after a laceration sustained against the U.S. in the Gold Cup final that forced the Jamaica captain to exit in the first half of a 2-1 U.S. win. Curtin said Blake could return for next Saturday’s visit from Dallas and midfielder Kellyn Acosta, whose cleat inadvertently opened the gash. Chris Pontius is also back and ready to go.
Blake is the outlier in the fitness picture. Curtin will travel with 19 players as a hedge against discomfort experienced by Ilsinho in his abductor region. Fafa Picault (hamstring) was a full participant in training after missing two games, and Derrick Jones passed his concussion protocols, training fully Friday.
The swelling of the ranks positions the Union for the away challenge. So does the growing sense of urgency to get results on the road.
“You have to be a team that can go on the road, even in the playoffs if you’re fortunate enough to get in there,” Curtin said. “… We know where we are in the table. We know the teams that we’re going to be competing against for those playoff spots and it’s going to be a fight to the end. But on the road, we’re going to have to take points.”