A scorer ‘for everyone,’ Fabian relishes hero role
CHESTER >> There’s a dichotomy in what Marco Fabian has done in eight months with the Philadelphia Union that is so perplexing as to be a perfect fit for the club’s history.
The club-record signing didn’t have the regular-season im- pact that was hoped for when he signed from German club Eintracht Frankfurt in February. Yet he scored the most important goal in franchise history, the 105th-minute winner in last Sunday’s 4-3 win over the Red Bulls.
The Mexican midfielder isn’t the most popular among the Union’s fans, but he’s beloved by teammates. And that feeling, as Fabian showed by being the differencemaker Sunday, is reciprocal.
“I love my teammates, and they are winners, too,” Fabian said Tuesday at Union training. “They know the quality we have, and this is a special moment when you know you can do more and we can win. At halftime (against Red Bulls), maybe it’s 3-1 losing, but we are better with the ball and we have more chances. In this moment at halftime, maybe there are some mistakes that are the reason we’re losing,
MLS PLAYOFFS
CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS and then we know we can go up and the recompense for us is the real thing. My teammates did good work in the 90 minutes.
“When I scored my goal, it’s not for me, it’s not who scored. It’s for everyone.”
That sincerity should dash any aspersions that watchers of the Union have as to where Fabian’s priorities lay. He’s as disappointed as anyone that he hasn’t been a regular in the lineup, first through a nagging ankle injury, then the inability to consistently beat out Brendan Aaronson for the starting spot at the No. 10 in the Union’s high-pressure system.
And while he hasn’t always been at his most impactful as a sub, he was Sunday in the biggest moment of the season, a touch of magic in the box to cap the Union’s recovery from a 2-0 deficit after 25 minutes and 3-1 at halftime for the first playoff win in franchise history.
“I always have the goal in my mind,” said Fabian, who wasn’t available for comment Sunday. “Maybe a lot of people don’t believe I tried to shoot, but I was looking for sure, because it touched the defense a little bit. It’s not the first time I scored like this. Sometimes I shoot hard, but when I see the goalkeeper thinking I’m trying to cross, I know the goalkeeper is taking two steps forward and I chip like this. In my mind, always I try to score.”
Fabian’s perplexing journey in Philadelphia will have at least one more chapter when the Union travel to Atlanta Thursday for the Eastern Conference semifinals (8 p.m., ESPN2).
Don’t expect it to be straightforward with regard to Fabian in this game, either. Though he scored and Aaronson, who turned 19 Tuesday, struggled in a pedestrian 72-minute shift against the Red Bulls, it may not necessarily be a straight swap. Aaronson has scored two of his three goals against Atlanta this season, and his high pressure has worked wonders against the reigning MLS Cup champs. There’s an argument to be made that Fabian is more effective after Aaronson has softened up the defense for him.
Fabian, with experience in the UEFA Champions League and two World Cups, isn’t satisfied as a reserve. But he’s making the most of it. And that effort has been recognized in the locker room and by his coach.
“I think positive and I always do my job,” Fabian said. “I came here for a reason, to try my best on the pitch, and always when they need me, I do my best. It’s my job, I’m a professional, I’m a winner and I try to help this team, if it’s for a few minutes or all the time.”
“If people want to criticize Marco, they’re wrong,” Curtin said Sunday. “The people should criticize me because I’m the one who didn’t put him in the game. And when he was called upon, he delivered. So, he’s a professional. He’s the guy that if you separate soccer off the field, as a person, that I like a lot. I think he’s a great person and he’s great with our guys in the locker room, he has a lot of friends here. And he just wants the club to win.”
Fabian was brought in for moments like Sunday, or when the Union are up against it and they need a player of pure class to put them over the top. It’ll be more of the same in Atlanta, and the Fabian is ready.
“I think we have to take this confidence right now, this motivation,” he said. “Because right now we know we can do more and more things. Always I think my maximum is, ok we’re happy because we got to the semifinal, but it’s just one step. Now we have to focus on Thursday and for sure, I think all my team, we want to go to the final and be concentrated for Thursday.”