Philadelphia Union wraps up a hectic March slate at Subaru Park on Saturday as the club hosts Orlando City SC. With the Eastern Conference contest taking place during a FIFA international break, Head Coach Jim Curtin and his staff will rely upon their depth as they seek a strong response from his team after the setback last weekend.
Positives but not satisfied
While the Union saw a result slip away last weekend late at CF Montreal, Curtin pointed out that the club had taken a step forward offensively prior to going down a man.
“At halftime I challenged the group to be more like us and I am really happy after watching the film back that from 45’ until red card that we really performed like us,” Curtin said. “We created two Union goals and after the red card we bended but didn’t really break. Obviously at the end we didn’t do a good enough job attacking the ball in the box. We had the numbers in the box to get a clearance or maybe a block on service but the end of those games when you are down a man is difficult.”
Those two goals saw forward Mikael Uhre open his scoring account for 2023 with both set up with passes from Daniel Gazdag.
“You never want to be happy in a loss…for us to have a bunch of different ways to create chances was important. You saw us play balls behind, you saw us combine at the top of the box for a good goal, you saw us counter press and win balls in their half. On a different night if we stay disciplined and don’t get the red card, I think a third goal comes and maybe a fourth. If we can execute like that, the results will take care of themselves.”
Primed for Perea
With Saturday’s match taking place in the FIFA window, the Boys in Blue will be without seven players due to international call ups. The Union will also be without Andre Blake as he recovers from his adductor strain and Julian Carranza will miss the contest as well due to his second yellow north of the border. Asked if the club would have a full selection of substitutes, Curtin quickly responded that “it won’t be a full bench for sure”. With a pair of first choice midfielders away on international duty, one player that could see an elevation into the lineup could be Andres Perea.
“Andres has had a great start to the season for us and a former Orlando player which could factor into it as well. A guys that is earning and deserving of minutes and brings really high quality both with the ball and without the ball. He’s done a great job with us and added the two goals in [Concacaf] Champions League which were important so I think he’s going in confidence now and he’ll certainly play a big role this weekend and he deserves that. Sometimes we forget he is such a young player and has room to grow to get better and better each year.”
While Perea has featured so far as more a shuttler in the Union’s midfielder diamond, Curtin said his offensive output could be key for the club as they look for attacking options due to missing players.
“Andres is certainly a guy that can play both ways and get goals by arriving late in the box or score from distance. He’ll need to do his defensive work but we’d like to see him get closer to goal as well.”
Look at the Lion’s Den
While Orlando City is off to a slow start with five points through four matches, Curtin was quick to point out that the results are misleading with their primary focus being the same tournament that the Union found success in.
“Another team that is dealing with [Concacaf] Champions League which is a big caveat in this thing because they were playing against Tigres and were putting so much into those games,” Curtin said. “They will be a team that as the season goes on will only get stronger and stronger. They have a lot of new players but Oscar [Pareja] is an incredible coach and he’ll manage and navigate his group very well throughout the course of the year.”
Orlando City SC also will be short several key players as well due to the international window including starting goalkeeper Pedro Gallese and midfielder Wilder Cartagena who are with Peru while forward Facundo Torres is with Uruguay.
