Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Home game secured, Union chasing more
HARRISON, N.J. >> The Union’s three-game road trip started in unfavorable fashion, a 2-0 loss to the New York Red Bulls Sunday night.
But veiled in that result was an event from the dead of Saturday night, a milestone that both illustrated and informed how far the Union have come this season.
A series of draws or losses from the teams chasing the seventh and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference was required to create sufficient space for the Union to clinch a home game, which goes to the top four teams. Yet each of those inept dominoes fell, some on the West Coast deep into the night.
So the Union arrived at Red Bull Arena Sunday to take on the thensixth place Red Bulls knowing that it had secured objective No. 2 on the preseason punch list.
First, the Union had gotten to the postseason (with a month to spare, even), the third time in four years and the first time the club has ever made the playoffs in consecutive seasons.
Second was the home game, bringing playoff soccer back to Chester for the first time since a one-game cameo in 2011.
“We’re chasing some points now,” is how manager Jim Curtin put it Sunday night. “It’s great to clinch a playoff game at home, which is important, so I will step back and be proud of the club for that, but we’re going to chase every point.”
The reason was underscored a question later, when Curtin was asked how his team would try to climb past Atlanta, which sits in second, two points ahead.
“We were pushing for first place,” Curtin said. “It’s still possible.”
Even in the disappointment of Sunday’s result, the point remains that the Union are in a place few expected them to be to start the season. The playoffs were possible, maybe even likely. But so comfortably entrenched in the race for first place in the East? That’s the surprising bit.
The top three teams in the East each have three games remaining, and here’s how it stands:
• New York City FC has 58 points and finishes vs. Atlanta, at New England and at the Union.
• Atlanta United has 54 points and finishes at NYC, at Montreal and vs. New England.
• The Union have 52 points and finish at San Jose, at Columbus and vs. New York City.
It would take the Union losing out and either D.C. United (48 points) or the New York Red Bulls (47) winning each of their last two games for them to crawl past the Union, who can finish no worse than fourth. The second place team would host both a first-round game and a conference semifinal, a huge advantage. It would also mean a drastically easier first game against whichever team survives attrition to grab the seventh spot instead of a team like Toronto, D.C. United or Red Bulls, one of which will be sixth and take on the third seed.
Curtin’s zoomed-out view is an important perspective on the Union’s growing ambitions. Even if they aren’t charging toward the finish like NYC (6-0-2 in the last eight) or Atlanta (eight wins in its last 11), the Union have done the work over the bulk of the season to warrant being in the conversation with those teams. They are 6-5-3 since the international break in June, which is playoff caliber if not setting the league on fire.
“We’re going to play a home game. That was a goal of ours this season to host a home game,” Haris Medunjanin said. “But we need to understand when we play away that you need to finish your chances. And we’re going to get now San Jose also who is desperate for points. They need to win also to stay in the playoffs. It’s going to be a hard game. They play very good soccer. It’s going to be a tough game, but it’s good that in three days there’s another game so you can show that you are a good team on the road.”
The Union’s road isn’t easy. They travel to San Jose Wednesday. The Quakes are sixth in the West but sliding, having lost six of eight. Two starters, Cristian Espinoza and Chris Wondolowski, are suspended after being sent off in a 3-1 loss last weekend in Atlanta. Coach Matias Almeyda also got the gate in that one. Columbus is quietly unbeaten in its last four (20-2) after a hellish run through the early part of the season ended its playoff hopes.
The focus of the next two games is to keep NYC within three points, setting up a winner-take-all scenario for the finale (and lessening the chance that the Union have to play in the absurd confines of Yankee Stadium again).
It’s the kind of challenge that the Union have built up for in an expectations-shifting season.
“We have a lot to play for now,” Curtin said. “We can tell how tight it is in the East, in the West. Teams are picking up injuries at tough times. A lot of things are changing by the hour, by the minute. We’re still a team that can jump up to that 2 or 1 seed. We believe that, but it got a little bit tougher tonight.”