Deep defense at fore of club’s future

As the whistle blew, onto the turf at Talen Energy Stadium walked the defense most people may have expected in the blinding optimism of preseason.

On the right, All-Star Keegan Rosenberry ran by his marker time and again. Giliano Wijnaldum towered over his on the opposite side of the field. In the center, Josh Yaro and Richie Marquez exhorted the team to move in tandem, displaying speed and strength in complementary measures.

This wasn’t a high-stakes game with a MLS rival or a crucial Open Cup tie. Instead, this was Wednesday morning, when what many envisioned could be the defense of the future toiled through a scrimmage between the Philadelphia Union and Bethlehem Steel.

Many things pass as remarkable in the Union’s young season, none more so than the transformation of a beleaguered defense into a daunting unit that has conceded just two goals in six games.

But even more astounding is that the names comprising it are ones few might have expected, while the established group has languished on the bench.

How to interpret that is a matter of perspective — either an indictment on the stalled development of young up-and-comers or a testament to a pervasive mentality that elevates the team above the individuals. Levying judgement either way would seem premature just 13 games in. But it still qualifies as an astonishing happenstance.

“There’s going to be tough decisions that are made,” Union manager Jim Curtin said. “That’s a heck of a back four that plays with our second group. There’s some good players out there. … It’s a group that all those guys are starters in the league.”

This oddity requires dissection. The six-game stingy streak by the Union (4-5-4, 16 points) has featured two defenders starting each game, Ray Gaddis and Jack Elliott. That’s a veteran left stapled to the bench last year and a rookie selected in the fourth round of the SuperDraft. Oguchi Onyewu has presided over the last five, not relinquishing his position after Marquez missed a game due to illness; the 35-year-old’s 10 starts have already exceeded the modest expectations placed on the free-agent signing.

Fabinho has also taken part in five of the six games. The only projected starter in January, the Brazilian probably had the most tenuous grasp on that role but has proved to be the most perseverant.

Out in the cold are Marquez, Rosenberry and Wijnaldum. Rosenberry needed a break after playing the first 40 games of his MLS career, which led to an All-Star selection, second in the Rookie of the Year voting and a U.S. national team camp call-up, and he hasn’t wrestled the position back from Gaddis. Wijnaldum, like Rosenberry labeled an outside back of a future that doesn’t yet include the present, was acquired in the offseason to vie with Fabinho for a starting spot. The push didn’t materialize until May, though he played well in the May 20 win over Colorado.

Yaro has been out since February after surgery to replace his twice-separated shoulder. Now that he’s rounding back into form, minutes seem to be scarce. Yaro was cleared to play this week and will return to game action, either with the Union or Steel.

“He’s going to compete to start, that’s for sure,” Curtin said of Yaro. “He’s been a starter for us. The key is staying healthy, putting together that 34 games that I always talk about, how valuable it is to have guys that can go all 34.”

These considerations don’t account for Ken Tribbett, who started 19 games last year, or brightest prospect of the corps, Auston Trusty, who scored Thursday morning in the United States’ Under-20s 6-0 rout of New Zealand to advance to the quarterfinals of the World Cup in South Korea.

This is the part where Curtin discusses how long the season is. He’s asserted time and again that Rosenberry and Wijnaldum will get opportunities, and a multitude of options is certainly preferable to (not to mention drastically different from) what Curtin contended with in recent years. The two-deep scheme also creates potential trade assets should the Union find themselves shorthanded at another position in the summer.

The plethora of options sets up a paradigm for Curtin: How to rotate his defenders proactively and in a way that gets the best of them? How to make sure that Rosenberry, for instance, elevates his play to earn back his job instead of Curtin merely waiting for Gaddis to lose the job?

“It’s going to be tough keeping them all happy with the minutes, that’s for darn sure,” Curtin said. “But if they have the right mentality, when their number’s called, they’ll step up.”

And with the proper mindset, the competition at the back can foster improvement throughout the squad.