Union out of bubble, ready for next phase
Save for the tournament’s two finalists, the Philadelphia Union adapted to life in the MLS Is Back bubble as well as any of the league’s other 23 participants.
Those particular skills are obsolete as MLS embarks on Phase 1 of phase three of what feels like month 85 of the 2020 season. The Union’s response to the World Cup-style knockout tournament, advancing all the way to the semifinals … well, it needs to be channeled a little differently outside the Wide World of Sports bubble.
Thursday marks the start of the rest of the Union’s schedule, an 18-game run into the finish that opens at the New England Revolution (7:30, PHL17). Playing in Disney at glorified practice fields and at cavernously empty Foxborough are much different challenges.
“It’s a different type of personal accountability, I would say, these types of games now, where we don’t have the bubble to protect us or the hotel down in Orlando,” Union captain Alejandro Bedoya said on a Zoom call Tuesday. “From that standpoint, it’s personal accountability but also leaders to be looking out for guys as well to make sure we’re doing the right things, both in market here in Philly, hanging around, when we leave training, when we’re back home and when we travel, that we make sure we’re taking care of ourselves and mitigating the risks.”
The Union proved adept at doing what needed to be done in Orlando, going 4-1-1 in six games before losing to eventual champions Portland in the semifinal. They excelled in the heat, at kickoff times early and late, by scoring early and defending well. With the three groupstage games counting for the regular-season standings, the Union (2-1-2, 8 points) are well-positioned at fourth in the table.
But having to fly and stay in hotels during the era of COVID-19 is a new obstacle. MLS is minimizing risk with same-day travel and charter flights instead of commercial. But the accountability has changed, as Bedoya said. Neither he, nor manager Jim Curtin,
admitted to any players seeking to opt out.
There’s also the question of venues and fans. Some teams are allowing fans to take in games. FC Dallas, for instance, allowed 3,000 fans into last week’s game against Nashville SC; perhaps not coincidentally, those two teams were withdrawn from the MLS Is Back tournament for clusters of positive tests.
Curtin understands why the Union won’t have fans at Subaru Park next Tuesday against the Red Bulls. But he’s less pleased with a double-standard of homefield advantage across the league.
“It’s going to be unique that in some stadiums there’s going to be some fans as you saw in Dallas,” Curtin said. “I think that’s a little bizarre and strange, at a time where, so much politically is on the line for different people and obviously we haven’t handled it the best as a country in certain areas and there’s a lot of agendas, we’ll just say, and different reasons for having fans or not having fans in stadiums. But it’s not a good look, I don’t think, to have fans in the stadium now in some instances and not in others.”
For Bedoya, the lack of fans is just another adjustment.
“It’s crappy, right?,” he said. “There’s no atmosphere, no ambience without our fans. Fans are a big part of the game. But it’s the new norm, right? It is what it is. It’s all about mitigating the risk of transmitting the virus.”
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NOTES » Cory Burke isn’t yet back in the United States, but he’s getting closer, Curtin said. Burke’s season ended last May due to visa issues in seeking his green card, preventing him from re-entering the U.S. He was loaned to former club Portmore United in Jamaica before a successful stint with St. Poulten in the Austrian Bundesliga. “He’ll be back here sooner rather than later,” Curtin said. “It seems now real that we can start to talk about Cory helping us in this season, which is a positive.” … The Union Monday added another Homegrown in Jack McGlynn on a pre-contract, effective Jan. 1, 2021. He’ll play with Union II for the rest of this season. The native of Middle Village, N.Y., joined the Academy in 2019. A 5-11 central midfielder, he turned 17 last month and has nearly 400 minutes of USL experience. He’s the 14th Homegrown player in Union history.