Sapong is a constant for inconsistent Union
CHESTER » For as long as the Union has been around the MLS, and it is well past the novelty stage, its coaches, fans and critics have been waiting for one soccer treat. They have been waiting for the kind of player CJ Sapong was Saturday night.
Not the most dominating player in Talen Energy Stadium, not necessarily the No. 1 reason the Union was able to defeat FC Dallas, 3-1, Sapong didn’t do anything spectacular. But he did do the mandatory: He finished. He twice put himself in position to accept brilliant passes from Ilsinho and to be at the end of glorious offensive efforts from his teammates, then rammed a soccer ball past a goaltender. Chances earned. Chances rewarded. And a season, more than likely, salvaged.
“Statistically, his amount of goals per starts is really adding up,” Jim Curtin said after the Union won for the second time in three games. “He’s also setting up a lot of goals. Tonight’s goals we were happy with because they were goal-scorers’ goals. He ran into hard areas and got tap-ins.”
Goal-scorers’ goals. That’s what they were, his 19th and 20th of the season in 22 games, neither from more than five yards from Chris Seitz’s reach, both critical to a season that still could turn either way. Before the game, Curtin reminded his players that they had 12 games left, six at home, six on the road. They were in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, close enough to make a playoff push, but only if they were efficient. So they needed Sapong to be what he always was expected to be: A difference maker when it mattered.
A star at James Madison University, then the No. 10 overall pick in the 2011 Draft by Sporting Kansas City, Sapong scored a goal two minutes into his MLS career and would become the Rookie of the Year. Then, he flattened. He was loaned to Orlando City, bumped back to Kansas City, and in 2014 came to the Union for a third-round draft choice. In 2015, he had nine goals, then another seven in 2016. He showed glimpses of excellence. But only glimpses. Yet at age 28, more mature, a little stronger, a little more comfortable in his surroundings, he has become the Union’s leading goal-scorer, already with more than twice as many goals as he has had in any year as a pro.
It has taken a while, but the former Rookie of the Year is enjoying his best season.
“Yeah, I would say so,” Sapong said, “simply because of the fulfillment that I am getting off the field as well. I am at the point of my career where everything is manifesting on and off the field. And I am with a group of guys that kind of make it easy to be yourself and maximize your potential. So that makes it easy. And you are not marinating in the moment. You are trying to get better for the next one.”
The timing is right in Sapong’s career. And it was perfect on the field Saturday, first in the 17th minute when Haris Medunjanin and Ilsinho put him in business, then in the 68th, again with an assist from Ilsinho, giving the Union a 3-0 lead. But as dynamic as the Union’s ball movement was, Sapong was anything but lucky to be in the right position when the ball shot his way.
“He didn’t hesitate,” Curtin said. “He didn’t pull back to think that he may get a ball laid back. He put his head down and ran at the middle of the goal on the first one and at the near post on the second one, and they made a play for him. Those are goalscorers’ goals. It’s no coincidence. C.J. works his tail off each and every game. The amount of ground he covered tonight would be off the charts. The data will be ridiculous on that because he did so much running defensively. So I do honestly believe that it is no coincidence that he gets a couple tap-ins on the night. He gets rewarded for hard work.
“His instincts in and around the box have always been sharp. But tonight they were at a different level. He was in the zone, I guess is how you would put it. He wasn’t thinking. He was just going to run hard to the goal. And he was rewarded for his efforts.”
Sapong was rewarded, as was the Union. Not that there will be many must-wins in August, but Saturday, it was close. Streaky all season, the Union had won just one of its previous five. But a 3-0 victory last week over visiting Columbus was a hint that it was not yet finished. And there was FC Dallas, a good team, visiting on a perfect soccer night. The Union knew, and would play like, it had no excuses. Curtin’s team would need to finish a season. It first would need to finish a game. And for that, it would need to finish great plays. And that was C.J. Sapong’s job, a job he has never done better.
“Experience has a lot to do with it,” Sapong said. “It’s all relative, any way you want to look at it. But to me, every season is a lap around the sun. What can I experience? How can I get better in that one lap? I have to keep the pace up and get better for the next one.”
Beneath a full moon Saturday, the Union made certain that this particular sun-lap has not yet been wasted.
“Timing is everything,” Sapong said. “I am with a group of guys who believe in me. And today was a very, very good day for me as a striker, just being in the right place at the right time and having our playmakers just make plays. We played to the best of our capabilities. And I think we can keep that up, moving forward.”
This time, they might even show an ability to finish.