Ahead of a big matchup against sixth place Montreal Impact, Union head coach Jim Curtin spoke about facing a team in good form, Borek Dockal’s recovery from an ankle knock, and the development of Cory Burke this season.
The days are just ‘pact
The Impact are coming off a big 3-0 win over New York Red Bulls, and Curtin said that he gave players some time to relax in order to help them maintain focus for a big Eastern Conference battle and the subsequent matches that come hard and fast over the coming weeks.
“Gave the guys a couple of days off, now we progress to preparing for a very dangerous Montreal team that has been in really good form in recent weeks,” Curtin said. “The table is very tight right now in the Eastern Conference. A lot is on the line. I think it's good going into a game like this with our guys and their confidence being high.”
But with the Union in good position to make the postseason, the Union head man wants to make sure everybody is still grinding day in and day out. “There's a lot of teams that are trying to chase us from behind, and we've stressed to the guys that our eyes need to be forward,” Curtin said. “Look at the teams ahead of us, try to take care of business the next couple weeks.”
Dockal doing it in full training again
Borek Dockal is back training with the team after working on the side for a few days as he recovered from an ankle injury sustained against Orlando City when Cristian Higuita tackled him from behind. Curtin said he was encouraged by what he saw from his playmaker.
“He was sharp,” the coach began. “When we're clicking on all cylinders he's out there and playing forward passes. We're using him in possession. Has a real knack for speeding the game up and also slowing the game down when he needs to, a skill that doesn't get talked about enough I feel like.”
Still Curtin remains reluctant to throw Dockal back into the fray unless he’s completely certain his ankle can handle the stress of a MLS match. “We will have to assess how his body, after a pretty strenuous day, how it feels, and make a decision moving forward,” Curtin explained. “Obviously, we still have two training days left but all things are positive right now. But we have to do what's right. Yes, Montreal is a very important game but we also have to think big picture with the stretch of games that we have coming up. He obviously wants to be on the field, he wants to be back helping his teammates.
“We'll make the appropriate choice.”
Burke building a resume
Cory Burke’s sensational season began with the Union’s first road goal of the season the last time Philly faced Montreal Impact. Since then, the Jamaican striker has been a huge boost to the team’s attack. “Credit to the kid — he came into this preseason, worked his tail off, was pretty low on the depth chart,” Curtin said. “Stayed hungry, stayed humble, pushed himself, took his opportunities when he did very small minutes early in the year.
“He maximized those minutes whether it was drawing penalty kicks or drawing fouls or getting an assist. That progressed to more minutes, scored goals, and now he's done it in a way that you can't take him off the field because he's played so well.”
Burke recently notched two goals for Jamaica over the international break and that success may point to bigger things to come. “His whole development and growth dates back to his time with Bethlehem Steel and the work that Brendan Burke did with him,” Curtin told the press. “He always had a knack for scoring goals. The consistency for the rest of the 90 minutes was something that took some time to work on.
“Some things click fast, some things take time,” Curtin continued. “This one took a couple years of games with the Steel and the work that he did down there and the work that the coaches did down there. And now he's shown to be a very good striker in MLS and I think he has ability to even move on to a higher level. And that'll be up to him how far he wants to take it because he has a lot of potential.”
The Union will hope Burke continues his hot form on Saturday at 7:30PM EST when Montreal Impact arrive at Talen Energy Stadium four points behind Philly in the Eastern Conference standings.
