Philadelphia Union returns to action this weekend after time off for the international break as they welcome Charlotte FC to Subaru Park on Saturday night. The newest team in the league arrives filled confidence after back-to-back wins before their trip to the City of Brotherly Love. Ahead of their showdown, Philadelphia Union Head Coach Jim Curtin spoke with the media about the upcoming game. These are our Founders Brewing Co. Pressing Points.
Productive time off
“It feels like we havn't played a game in about a month,” Jim Curtin said at the beginning of the press conference. While the Boys in Blue haven’t played in nearly two weeks, players and the staff have been busy. A total of eight players were out with national team duties including the homegrown group Brandon Craig, Paxten Aaronson, Jack McGlynn and Quinn Sullivan who all played for the U.S. U-20 national team in Argentina
“All of the guys left a really good impression with the first team,” Curtin said. “To be honest, I’m quite glad that Quinn Sullivan made it back instead of getting purchased.” While Curtin was in a joking mood, the homegrown’s play was a strong one with five goals in matches against the Argentinian U-20s and River Plate.
He also pointed out the performance of Daniel Gazdag who played for the Hungarian national team during the break. Curtin noted that the midfielder is currently on a good run of form with goals in three-straight league matches and “it is our job to keep him on the ball.”
With numbers lacking in the group for training sessions due to the international break, Curtin and his staff got to see the talent in the pipeline courtesy of combined sessions with Union II. Curtin was very happy to get the chance to see the young guys up close and for them to see just how veterans like Alejandro Bedoya and Jakob Glesnes bring day in and day out at the Power Training Complex.
Uhre returns fully
Another positive thing about the international break was that Mikael Uhre had the chance to get back to 100%.
“He has worked really, really hard with the medical staff,” Curtin said on Thursday afternoon.
With him fully back in training, Uhre should play a role on Saturday against Charlotte too. With the Designated Player back in the mix it means that Curtin has all four strikers in his team for the first time in 2022. With such a strong group it does have Curtin wondering just how he will deploy the group in the upcoming matches.
“Imagine a situation where we run two of them on the team for 60 minutes and say empty the tank make hell on this back four and then two fresh men come in and there is not a big drop off”. Scary for the opposition. Delight for the Union faithful.
A new side awaits
Saturday night’s contest will be the first time that Union fans will get to see the league’s newest teach in action. After losing the first three games, the team has bounced back with wins in their last two matches as fly over to Philadelphia with a lot of confidence.
Coach Curtin looks forward to the match against Charlotte: “It is going be an interesting match. I think both teams are in good form right now both teams play good soccer and entertaining soccer so it’s gonna be a very fun game here at Subaru Park”.
Karol Swiderski leads Charlotte FC’s attack with four goals early on in the season. Curtin noted that the DP forward isn’t they only thing they need to Union prepared for.
“I see a team that is very well organized, very tough to play against, is brave with the ball and takes intelligent risks” warns Curtin ahead of the match on Saturday.
