Union clued in on how to play from the top
CHESTER >> The two most difficult achievements in sports will always be attached. For the Union, this has become the season to attempt both.
The first: Become a firstplace team, a real contender, a side that the fans have been waiting to chant about for 10 years.
The second: Know how to behave like one once it happens.
Saturday at Talen Energy Stadium, the Union had a chance to show why it was in first place in the MLS East, encountering one of those opportunities the classic sports powers crave. Jim Curtin’s team was home and rested, mostly healthy and just recently enough stung by a lopsided loss to Real Salt Lake to be on full alert. The opponent would be the Chicago Fire, squished near the bottom of the conference with a 5-9-8 record, winless in its last three and playing in 92-degree heat on just two days’ rest.
Curtin had rejected the designation as a “must win.” He was right. Because it was more like a “must frolic,” a chance to prove that the 10-ply difference in the standings was more than a mid-summer reflection of scheduling imbalances or, as the know-it-alls will often remind, of a soft conference. Not only could the Union not afford to lose, but a tie would be use
less. And given the dynamics of the standings and the moment, even a close, borderline-lucky, eke-out win would not have been dripping with satisfaction.
Sufficiently inspired, the Union won, 2-0, and were never in real trouble. They took a lead at 10:49 on a 25-yard blast from Marco Fabian, who finished a tictac-toe play set up by Haris Medunjanin and Kai Wagner. In the 65th minute, Anthony Fontana scored from a scramble in front, and that was plenty on a night when the overcautious Fire often made it difficult to tell the difference between when it was on offense and when it was taking an officially ordered hydration break.
The Union did what good teams do, and did what first-place teams must do.
“We’re not sneaking up on anybody,” Curtin said. “The secret’s out. We’re a good team. We’re a good club. We have good, young players that are great. Our players play with confidence. We can improve, too. But it needs to be said: It’s harder to play from the top, because everybody wants to beat you. It’s as simple as when we played our last three games. On the other teams’ Twitter account, the first thing that comes out is ‘Eastern Conference-leading Philadelphia.’ There’s weight that comes with that. And I think our players navigated it well.”
It’s unreasonable to project whether the Union can keep making the “We’re No. 1” hand signal into November. There are reasons, though, to wonder. In 2016, they beat D.C. United, 3-0, at home July 9, generating some mild buzz, then won just one of their next six. In 2017, after a responsible if unspectacular start, the Union defeated FC Dallas, 3-1, on Aug, 5, then did not win again until Sept. 23.
But though winless in four of five, including the staggering 4-0 loss in Utah, the Union might have used 2018 for comfort, remembering that they collected seven victories and a tie after July.
Technically, whatever happened in 2016, 2017 and 2018 doesn’t smoothly apply to 2019. There is too much regular roster upheaval for that. But in the wide picture of what the Union has been trying to achieve since 2010, it is critical. Even in its 10th season, Philadelphia/Chester really hasn’t gained mainstream sports traction in its market much beyond the Sons of Ben. And the vacant seats in the river end of the stadium hint that even that devotion is beginning to dry up. But if that is going to happen, it will happen when there is consistent success and, more specifically, when the word “Philadelphia” is consistently at the top of the MLS table.
“We have to continue to build and try and create some separation, because we want a home playoff game, however we have to get that,” Curtin said. “I think our players recognize now that every point is going to matter down the stretch here. But we have a target on our back now as the top team in our conference, as a team that’s beaten a lot of the good teams in the East already and a couple from the West as well. So we’re not sneaking up on anybody. And that’s different for us. We’ve never been in this position as a club and we have to be brave and continue to push and try to improve.”
Though the Union was not necessarily at a breaking point Saturday, Curtin did characterize the Salt Lake loss as “a disaster.” So the Union and the 17,471 watching Saturday were feeling more than one kind of heat.
“It was an important game,” Curtin said, “in a lot of ways.”
The Union entered play with a one-point lead over D.C. United, which was in Atlanta awaiting a Sunday afternoon match. By night’s end, that cushion was four points. “A gutsy performance,” Curtin said.
That was enough. It may not have proven that the Union will remain a first-place team for the rest of the season. But it surely meant they know how to bravely act like one at just the right time.