COVID-stricken Union have 11 players in protocol ahead of East final
CHESTER, PA. » The Philadelphia Union’s COVID-19 crisis forced Jim Curtin on Friday to comment on changes happening in “real time.”
Saturday, a day before the biggest game in franchise history, the full extent of the wave of cases within the team came to light.
Eleven Union players, including five starters from last week’s conference semifinal win over Nashville, are listed as out in the COVID-19 protocols, as of the club’s injury report Saturday morning. Just 17 players trained at Subaru Park Saturday, a day before the Union take on New York City FC (3 p.m., ABC) in the club’s first Eastern Conference final.
Listed as out are goalie Andre Blake and Joe Bendik; center backs Jakob Glesnes and Jack Elliott; outside backs back Kai Wagner and Alvas Powell; forwards Cory Burke and Sergio Santos; and midfielders Alejandro Bedoya, Ilsinho and Quinn Sullivan. That group comprises the team captain Bedoya, vice captain Blake, a player who logged every single minute in 2021 (Glesnes) and two defenders who played 33 games each (Wagner and Elliott).
All players in COVID-19 protocol are formally listed as out. There is a possibility that they can exit protocols if previous positive tests are determined to be false positives, though the likelihood of that lessens by the day. The club cancelled practice on Thursday and held scaled-down sessions on Friday and Saturday. Reasons include being a highrisk close contact, a pending or inconclusive test, or
having a non-COVID-19 related illness. (High risk behavior is also a possible reason, though the Union’s high vaccination rate limits that.)
The Union trained at Subaru Park Saturday with 17 players. They still have at least one player at every position, though they are direly thin at the back. Their only two available center backs are Stuart Findlay, who has started four games this year, and Aurelien Collin, a 34-yearold veteran who was a member of the MLS Best XI in 2012 but who has played just one minute (in CONCACAF Champions League) in 2021. Outside back is also
an issue: The Union have two available, but Olivier Mbaizo (who just exited the protocols after two weeks out) and Nathan Harriel are both right backs.
Matt Freese will start in goal, as he did in clutch moments late this season and last. But behind him is MLS pool goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh, who the Union had signed earlier in the year and who has continued to train with the team while MLS pays his salary.
The midfield will include plenty of starting options in Jesus Bueno, Leon Flach and Jose Martinez to prop up the backline. And up top, the Union stand to start their same triumvirate
of Jamiro Monteiro, Daniel Gazdag and Kacper Przybylko. Paxten Aaronson, who started the first round of the playoffs when Monteiro was in COVID-protocols, and PK-taker Jack McGlynn are also options, as is Anthony Fontana.
Other players who trained Saturday include Cole Turner and Brandan Craig (two Homegrowns available after season-long loans), Union II player Anton Sorensen and Matheus Davo.
“If history has shown us anything,” Curtin said Friday, “a group of men, a group of women with almost nothing to lose can be the most dangerous.”