A sharp Blake critical in MLS Is Back tourney
Quarantine was on the fitness of most MLS players, they’ve said. But consider what it was like for a goalkeeper.
Running on the soccer field and running around your block is an analogous if imperfect replacement. But getting drilled with shots and having to make fast reaction saves? Or controlling the flow of a game and directing a team? There’s no replicating that in a backyard. It took several weeks after the early May return to training for field players to even be able to shoot on goalies in the name of safety.
That dearth of conventional preparation makes all the more impressive what Andre Blake did in Thursday’s 1-0 win over New York City FC, in the Philadelphia Union’s opener of the MLS Is Back tournament. The finer points of goalkeeping form – when to rush off the line, when to shout for defenders to step or to track runners, when to punch or when to catch – there’s little that could’ve prepared Blake for that in the four months since the Union’s last game.
“It was very tough,” Blake told media in a videoconference Sunday. “It was about doing as much as you can while you can, try to find ways to stay sharp mentally, stuff like that. It was tough, but we just tried to make the most of the time we had and how quick here we could get the sharpness back. It’s still a work in progress, but it’s been good.”
Instead of rust, Blake looked extremely sharp, making seven saves in one of his better performances in a while. It marked the Union’s first clean sheet in 19 outings (including the playoffs). A big part of the Union’s defensive dip last year was a pedestrian season by Blake’s usual All-Star standards.
But from the start in Orlando, Blake is on his game. He delivered a man-of-thematch performance, which included a handful of outstanding saves late to make Alejandro Bedoya’s goal stand up.
In a tournament that is so short, where defenses could wilt in the Florida heat and strikers look short of their characteristic edge in front of goal, Blake could loom ever larger.
“Especially in a short tournament, a hot goalkeeper is a very powerful thing,” manager Jim Curtin said. “As the game went on and we got a little fatigued and New York City was coming at us as we knew they would when we were up 1-0, you need your goalkeeper to make some big saves. Andre made some really, really important, crucial saves down the stretch. It’s great knowing that we have him behind us and our midfield and defensive line can be aggressive because we know if we make a mistake, he’s there to bail us out.”
Blake’s adaptation is a microcosm of what the Union are doing throughout the tournament. The Disney World bubble is tenuously holding. The Union (1-1-1, 4 points) have already seen it encroach on their group, with Nashville SC, which was supposed to be the next opponent, withdrawn and Chicago shuttled to fill FC Dallas’ vacancy in Group B. Sunday’s drama featured the earlymorning postponement of Toronto FC vs. D.C. United due to one “initial unconfirmed positive” and one inconclusive COVID-19 test. When those players returned negatives later Sunday night, the game was rescheduled for Monday.
Curtin has harped on it before: If you stress the negatives and emphasize the myriad variables and discomforts you face, it’ll paralyze you.
“The teams that have approached this with a positive mindset and a good mental approach, it’s just as important as anything,” Curtin said. “There’s going to be probably a few teams that lose a game or two and their mindset’s going to be to get out of here. And that can’t be our focus. We can’t ever let that creep into our group. That’s one thing we can control, is how positive we stay in what are unique and a little bit uncertain times. It’s brought our group pretty strong together.”
The next opponent is a case in point. The Union were supposed to face Inter Miami (0-30, 0 points) next week. Instead, they get a 10:30 p.m. start on Tuesday (broadcast on Univision and streamed on Twitter), hopefully after the heat of the Florida day has faded. After playing into temperatures that rose to feel like triple-digits in a 9 a.m. start against NYCFC, Curtin is trying to flip his players’ clocks to the opposite extreme.
The expansion club remains on the hunt for the first points in franchise history, on the wrong end of a 2-1 decision to Orlando City in the MLS Is Back opener thanks to Nani’s
90+7th minute winner.
The schedule tweak isn’t something that Curtin or his players are worried about.
“I don’t really care about the opponents we are playing,” defender Kai Wagner said. “We have to look every week not to the team we’re playing. … I think the whole league is good, they have good teams. We just have to play our style, play what we can and perform.”
Despite the winless start, Inter Miami has an interesting blend of MLS veterans (led by goalie and captain Luis Robles) and international talent. The deep-pocketed club hasn’t put the results together yet, but three games spaced four months apart is hardly evidence for a definite verdict.
Beyond the matchups, Curtin is sticking with the emphasis he’s hammered home for the last month: If the Union play their game, they can take care of business, against any opponent.
“We can talk about formation, we can talk about tactics, we can talk about a million different things,” Curtin said. “But the mental side of the game is really being tested down here in Florida because of things like the elements, the start times and the unique environment we’re playing in. For me, that’s been the biggest challenge, to keep everyone positive and moving forward.”