Looming road games makes playoff mandate much harder
CHESTER » The margin for error, Union manager Jim Curtin said Wednesday — and will likely repeat until it evaporates entirely — is small for his club’s playoff hopes.
But the Union are embracing that challenge, even with FC Dallas coming to town this weekend.
“It’s not an area you want to be in, but at the same time, it is the situation we’ve put ourselves in,” Curtin said. “Again, things can change fast in this league. You saw teams make late runs last year. It starts with getting on a run and getting above that red line and trying to move yourself up as high as you can.”
The Union (7-10-5, 26 points) are six points adrift of the sixth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, situated ninth. They have one win in five games. With consecutive home dates looming against Dallas (9-47, 34 points) and fellow Eastern playoff pretender Montreal, the Union likely won’t make a move up the standings just yet, but they need to not fall irretrievably behind.
After the two home outings in the next week, the Union have just four remaining contests at Talen Energy Stadium in 2017. The homestand gives way to four of five on the road, which has been a house of horrors for the Union to the tune of a 1-7-3 mark.
If it ever materializes, that road stretch would be the time to make a grab for surprise points. But anything squandered at home could make a surge on the road academic. That stacks up as a lot of “must-win” affairs, which you would think could take a psychological toll on the group.
“I think the same thing applies that applied in week 1,” Curtin countered. “You have to find ways to win your home games in this league. That is for sure, that is clear. Again our road total of points has been a disappointment; it’s not good enough for a variety of different reasons. We haven’t had the same possession, the same chance creation when we’ve gone on the road and looked not like ourselves. That’s something we have to rectify.
“Again, you guys can point to all of the past history of the league and what win total it takes, what point total it takes on the road, what point total it takes at home and we’re coming up a little bit short right now. It’s something we have to push forward. I think it’s going to take more than last year’s point total, so we have our work cut out for us but at the same time, it’s not impossible to do.”
*** Reports out of Greece Tuesday night linked the Union to Nicolas Martinez, a soon-to-be 30-yearold Argentine midfielder under contract with Olympiacos. Martinez’s older brother, Juan Manuel “Burrito” Martinez, enjoyed two successful seasons in MLS with Real Salt Lake.
Curtin deflected on the reports.
“It’s a player we’re familiar with, a player that we’re always looking to upgrade our roster,” Curtin said. “But a query at this time, he’s still Olympiacos’ property, so to talk about him one way or another is not something we’re going to do.”
Nico Martinez signed a four-year contract with Olympiacos in 2015 after a successful season and a half with another Greek club, Panetolikos. He’s yet to play for the 44-time Greek league champ, loaned first to Cypriot outfit Anorthosis then Western Sydney Wanderers in the Australian A-League, where he played 27 games and scored four goals last year.
Per reports, Martinez would be in line for a loan move to MLS. The left-footer can play as an attacking midfielder, where the Union are mired in a week-to-week shuffle between whichever of Ilsinho or Roland Alberg is least nagged by leg injuries. *** Andre Blake’s prognosis for Saturday’s Dallas game was set at “probably unlikely” by Curtin. Blake still has stitches in a lacerated hand incurred in the Gold Cup final last Wednesday when he was unintentionally cleated by U.S. (and Dallas) midfielder Kellyn Acosta.
Curtin drew parallels between Blake’s wound, which snakes from the back of the hand to the palm in the webbing between his right index and middle fingers, as similar to the 2014 injury to Brian Sylvestre. Then, the Union allowed Sylvestre to play through, precipitating a summer of constant maintenance.
Instead, the bent with Blake is toward full healing with an eye toward Montreal. Blake did technical work with the club Wednesday but with the heavy bandaging still around his hand, he still has yet to test his pain tolerance.
Oguchi Onyewu has missed two days of training this week with what Curtin termed “a minor groin issue,” which could open the door for Josh Yaro to start. And this could be the week that Maurice Edu sees the field for the first time in 2017 with his twice-broken leg, as Curtin said the medical staff will conference later Wednesday to decide if Edu will begin the game phase of rehab with Bethlehem Steel this weekend.
Edu hasn’t played for the Union since the fall of 2015 thanks to successive fractures in his leg, the second sustained last September after three games with Steel and two bench appearances with the Union when he was on the eve of starting the season finale.