Blake’s PK performance a spectacular sight … even for Curtin’s eyes

By the time Andre Blake took his spot at the river end of Subaru Park for four of the most important plays in Union history Sunday, Jim Curtin had already seen the eight years of game-tilting saves and franchise-defining excellence from his goalkeeper.

On this night, then, the Union coach would just trust his ears.

His club having been dragged to the penalty-kick portion of its MLS Eastern Conference semifinal match by Nashville SC, all Curtin knew was that he had the best goalkeeper in the league and, with that, a splendid chance at the franchise’s first Final Four.

So he glanced once at Blake who was hopping about the goal line, waving his hands, pointing up, down, sideways, waiting for Hany Mukhtar to try his luck from 12 yards out.

Then, Curtin shifted his eyes from the field.

What would happen would happen.

Turned out Blake happened, and that was enough to send the Union to the Final Four.

“Soccer is about moments,” Blake said. “And when it is your moment, nobody can really take that from you.”

Mukhtar is paid $1.5 million to make shots, and he did that Sunday, scoring in the 39th minute. For that, coach Gary Smith entrusted him to step up first, figuring he could beat Blake and settle the commotion from the Sons of Ben.

That’s when Curtin closed his eyes.

That’s when Blake closed his mind.

“I just kept telling myself, ‘It’s me against the ball,’” Blake said. “I just did anything to not let that ball go by me.”

Mukhtar’s attempt was hardly timid, but rather a jet low to Blake’s right. But when Blake dove, arms extended, to smother the shot, the capacity crowd let out a roar like none in the history of the waterfront stadium, literally causing the press box shake as if by a minor earthquake.

At that point, the man shielding his eyes had a feeling.

“I was just going off the fan reaction,” Curtin said. “And it was non-stop. It was crazy.”

Curtin has been around soccer for a lifetime, from Bishop McDevitt High to Villanova to the Chicago Fire as a player, and since 2014 as the coach of the Union. So he even smiled when a friend shot him a video clip from ESPN Sunday, showing him refusing to look at what Blake was doing.

“I kind of looked like an idiot,” he said, laughing. “But that’s just the way it went.”

Curtin’s refusal to watch matches decided by kicks is a career choice, part a nervous quirk, part a protest.

“It’s an incredibly exciting way to end a game,” he said. “But it’s also an incredibly stupid way to end a game. You wouldn’t end a basketball game with a three-point contest. You wouldn’t end a football game with a passingaccuracy contest. So it’s just part of the game that doesn’t add up for me.”

So, he turns away. Whatever works. Besides, at that point, Blake was easing all tension. After Jack Elliott beat Joe Willis, Blake snuffed Anibal Godoy. By the time Jack McGlynn connected to put the Union up, 2-0, in the shootout with two Nashville shooters on deck, even Blake was not fully aware of the situation.

“I just asked the ref, ‘If I make this save, is it over?” he said. “When he said, ‘Yes,’ I knew I was going to do everything to make that save.”

When Walker Zimmerman’s shot went high and wide, the Union had a spot in the Eastern finals. As for Blake, his spot in club history had another spellbinding chapter. The top overall pick in the 2014 SuperDraft. Blake was MLS Goalkeeper of the Year in 2016 and 2020, and turned in 12 clean sheets during the 2021 season while reaching the All-Star Game.

“To me,” said Daniel Gazdag, who scored at the end of the first half to forge a 1-1 tie that held through regulation and overtime, “he’s the best in the league.”

Blake is in that conversation, and some day he will be in the Union’s ring of honor. When that happens, there surely will be a video tribute, with a mandatory clip of his save Sunday on Mukhtar. Maybe Jim Curtin will even be ready to watch by then.

“I think he was even better this year than he was last,” the coach said. “But sometimes, the way things shake out, people can overlook it. But he just did an amazing job tonight.”

Curtin thought so, anyway.

“People told me that he made two really great saves,” he said, smiling, “and then had two miss the target.”

People told him.

The way the stadium shook told him.

The way the Union players carried Blake off the field told him.

The chants of “Andre Blake, Andre Blake, Andre Blake,” into the Chester night told him.

Sometimes, it turns out, trusting the ears is the perfect coaching play call.