Philadelphia Union fell 4-1 against Inter Miami at Subaru Park on Tuesday night, but their Leagues Cup journey hasn’t concluded just yet. Instead of advancing to the final, the team will compete in the third-place game on August 19th against C.F. Monterrey and there’s still a lofty prize on the line. The winner of the match will earn a Concacaf Champions Cup berth – and the Union hope to claim it.
After the team’s unfavorable Semifinal loss against Inter Miami, Head Coach Jim Curtin met with the media, recapping the match and previewing what’s to come.
Looking ahead
After the game, Curtin expressed that even though they won’t be competing for a title, the Philadelphia Union are still fixated on finishing out their first Leagues Cup campaign as the best they.
“To now play in the third place game, it is deflating. But we have to find a way because there's still a Champions Cup spot on the line, which is big. Our players still want to win the competition the right way,” Curtin said.
“It hurts man. Again, we want to win more than anything. I know our fans know that and understand it. 47 teams entered this competition, we're into the Final Four and we want to finish the best we can right now, which is third place.”
with Lionel Messi and Inter Miami back in the sunshine state and the semifinal is behind them, the team has a new and unfamiliar opponent to prepare for. They’ll take on a never-before-seen adversary in Liga MX side C.F. Monterrey this weekend in the pair’s first ever meeting.
Carranza update
On Tuesday, Curtin’s starting lineup didn’t feature the team’s own Argentine midfielder in Julián Carranza due to a Grade 1 hamstring injury. After the match, he reiterated his reasoning behind leaving the team’s top goal scorer sidelined, though dressed for the match.
“If Julian was able to play tonight, he would have been on the field,” Curtin said.
“I would’ve put him in if I could’ve. Just to be clear, he was there if some crazy situation happened where guys started dropping at the end of the game, and we needed someone to take a penalty – that was the only reason he was even in a uniform. He would tell you he maybe could have done more, but the reality is we wanted to be safe and trust the medical staff,” Curtin said.
Going against the GOAT
Tuesday’s match marked the first time the Union had conceded four goals in Chester since their match against Montreal C.F. on September 15, 2018, nearly five years ago. It’s uncommon for the Union to allow that number of goals on their home turf, but even more uncommon for them is hosting a player of Messi’s caliber.
“I think there was a little bit of too excited, maybe showed a little too much respect, and we got punished,” Curtin said of his team lining up against Messi.
“It takes 11 guys at their maximum to have a chance against a team like Miami. If you go back and look at the first 20-30 minutes, we made too many mistakes and they really punished us. We were in position to clear balls, I think we had numbers even around Messi and almost dropped off of him when we had five guys around them at that moment when he scored. You have second thoughts, you second guess yourself. Maybe emotional, maybe too much respect, whatever it might be. But yeah,it wasn't us for the first half.”
Rowdy, record-setting night
Tuesday's crowd set a record for the highest attended soccer match at Subaru Park -- there was 19,778 fans in the stadium, and their enthusiasm didn’t go unnoticed by Curtin and his team. Though the sea of blue and gold was speckled with pink, when Inter Miami’s starting xi was announced, Union faithful held true to their convictions, treating the superstar opponent like they would any rival.
After the game, Curtin described the unique atmosphere, recounting the historic night.
“In terms of the stadium, look, the crowd was amazing. I thought it was a great atmosphere. Of course, I think if you're even a union fan, you should respect and love how Messi plays the game and how he is as a human being and as a teammate, so that part I'm totally okay with,” Curtin said.
“There was a lot of pink for sure. I think that's gonna be the case anywhere he goes because again, I grew up in Philadelphia, I’m a 76ers fan but also love Michael Jordan. There is a little element of that he's global, he is literally the best to ever play our sport,” Curtin said.
