Medunjanin suspended two more games
When his team is at full strength, Jim Curtin believes his Philadelphia Union is in the thick of the playoff chase. Problem is, for the next two games, Curtin won’t have a full complement at his disposal.
Curtin divulged Wednesday at his weekly press conference that midfielder Haris Medunjanin has been suspended two additional games by the MLS Disciplinary Committee after his red card June 2 in Atlanta.
Medunjanin served the mandatory one-game ban for the ejection June 8 against Toronto but will serve three total games for verbal abuse of referee Sorin Stoica. Curtin said the suspension had been pending an appeal by the MLS Players’ Union, but that was to no avail.
“We don’t agree with it, but we have to live with it,” Curtin said. “It’s his first red card in his career, which says a lot about who he is as a player, and there was the incident with (D.C. United’s Luciano) Acosta last year. It is a little bit harsh, the three games, but we have to live with the decision. And now we
move on missing one of our best players. That’s challenging as a team, but we’ll have to go forward.”
The red was the first of Medunjanin’s club career, as Curtin alluded to, in more than 350 matches. He has picked up six yellow cards in all competitions for the Union, a span of 52 matches in a year and a half. And he was lauded league-wide for an incident last year when D.C. United’s Acosta was shown a red card for allegedly kicking out at the Bosnian, only for Medunjanin to talk down the referee by saying he wasn’t kicked. That referee was also Stoica.
That context didn’t sway the MLS disciplinary apparatus, so the Union will miss Medunjanin for this week’s visit from Vancouver (5 p.m., WPHL17) and next week’s trip to Los Angeles FC.
That leaves Curtin to regroup. The Union (5-7-3, 18 points) were without Medunjanin and Alejandro Bedoya in that Toronto affair after Bedoya’s appeal to a red card against Atlanta was rejected by the league. The pairing of Warren Creavalle and Borek Dockal struggled to strike a prosperous balance in the center of the pitch in a 2-0 loss, a second straight setback in the league.
With Bedoya back and in good form, he’ll be inserted into the No. 8 role next to Creavalle, who has continued to impress Curtin.
“Warren Creavalle’s done a good job for us in the minutes
he’s played, whether it was in Atlanta with not a full team and the ground he covered in that game, and following up in Toronto, I think he did a great job without Bedoya next to him, so he had to cover for maybe a little bit more attackminded lineup,” Curtin said. “We’ll have Ale back, we’ll have Warren out there and he’s been doing a good job and doing well in training.”
It would be only Creavalle’s sixth start in the last season and a half after 21 starts in 2016. He’s a better player than his usage indicates, mainly because he’s stuck behind a squad cornerstone like Medunjanin. While he’s not a dynamic passer like Medunjanin, Creavalle is a better ball-winner and he added an assist against Atlanta on Fafa Picault’s goal.
Derrick Jones, who scored for Bethlehem last week and was named to USL’s team of the week, is also in the mix for a role in the next two weeks, Curtin said.
*** Defender Josh Yaro remains in concussion protocol after he picked up the injury several weeks ago. Curtin offered no other update.
CJ Sapong is back in action after an illness shelved him last week. He barely got through training Friday due to the illness and resulting weight loss. With an eye toward a substitute role potentially entailing extra time and penalty kicks in the U.S. Open Cup tie with the Red Bulls, Curtin opted for Jay Simpson on the bench behind Cory Burke.
Sapong has since trained fully and regained some of the weight lost to his ailment, and though his fitness had dipped, he’s ready to go for the Whitecaps Saturday.
The toughest challenge he’ll face for the start will be posed by Burke, who scored the game-winner in Saturday’s 2-1 decision.
“I’m happy with where he’s at,” Curtin said of Burke. “This game is about opportunities and whether you get 10 minutes or 90 minutes, making the most of it. Cory’s done that. It doesn’t put pressure on CJ but it brings the best out of guys when you see players in your position do well, and that’s what makes a true team.”
Whether or not Burke is in danger of taking Sapong’s starting spot remains to be seen. But Burke’s ability to impact the game off the bench is valuable. It’s something Sapong hasn’t always done, though granted he’s done plenty of scoring as a starter the last three years. Simpson hasn’t shown that skill either, with no goals or assists in 20 substitute appearance with the Union in MLS.
“I definitely think that is a unique trait,” Curtin said. “For certain guys, it’s easier to come off the bench and have a mindset of, I’m coming in for 20 minutes to empty the tank and everyone on the field is a little tired. Some guys are able to come in and embrace that. … There’s certain guys that can do that and it’s easy (for them). There’s certain star players that maybe have the most talent in the world that stink as subs because they take 25 minutes to get the feel of the game and by then it’s over.”