Curtin may have to rely on Simpson against RSL

CHESTER » The salaries indicate that the Union’s choice for a replacement forward this weekend, if one is needed, should be easy. The reality is anything but that simple.

Jay Simpson is in the picture to get a start in Saturday’s visit from Real Salt Lake (7:30, PHL17). But it’s hardly the cutand-dry proposition that the club would’ve hoped, given its substantial financial commitment to the English striker.

Cory Burke, who opened the scoring in last week’s slumpbusting 2-0 win in Montreal, is suspended for a red card. CJ Sapong (quad/groin) is questionable after a heavy knock sustained late in last Wednesday’s loss in Columbus. Sapong has a quad contusion that manager Jim Curtin said Sapong could play through, and a groin strain that is less forgiving.

As of Wednesday, Sapong had not trained fully with the group, an ominous sign for his starting hopes on the weekend. He missed the Montreal game as well.

That leaves the only other out-and-out forward on the roster, Simpson. But Curtin also name-checked Fafa Picault and David Accam, nominally wing forwards in the 4-2-3-1, as options up top in a departure from the usual hold-up play expected from that role.

“David has played up there and I think we saw in the 4-41, he caused a couple of problems for Montreal,” Curtin said Wednesday at his weekly press conference. “He can do it. I think