Philadelphia Union took a trip up north on Friday afternoon after one last training session in Chester in preparation for a weekend matchup against New England Revolution. Before their flight departed, Head Coach Jim Curtin met with the media, previewing the contest to come.
Learning from mistakes
Curtin began his press conference acknowledging the team’s recent difficulties, giving insight on their priorities heading into a match against a New England Revolution squad that sits at the bottom of the Eastern Conference table.
“We have to control what we can control now, try to learn from the mistakes that we made in our last game, and our full focus has to be on improving, because the games come quickly this week,” Curtin said.
The match marks their third game in eight days, having lost to Orlando City SC last Saturday, then New York City on Wednesday night.
“We have to find a way to start well defensively, clean up the goals that we concede, and recognize that over the course of 90 minutes, we're able to create a lot of chances in every game against every team that we play,” Curtin said. “So getting back to those basics, going on the road to play a New England team that will be fully fresh, we'll have some changes, but everybody needs to be ready, whether you're called upon for 45 minutes, 60, 90, or one minute to help close the game out. That's been the message to the group.”
Injury updates
While rotation is imminent heading into the final installation of a busy stretch, Curtin gave an update on two players who might be out of the mix for the matchup. First-year midfielder Markus Anderson will remain out this weekend due to another knock picked up at training, while the team’s three-time MLS Goalkeeper of the Year is still questionable as he continues to work toward a return from injury. Andre Blake hasn’t participated in a Union match since Real Salt Lake came to town on April 27th, but Curtin says his recovery is trending in the right direction.
“Obviously, he's missed. That continuity of the group loses an important piece when you lose the best goalkeeper in the league. We'll see where he's at exactly, but it has gotten better,” Curtin said.
Prepping for turf
New England Revolution is one of six teams in all of Major League Soccer that play on turf, and even though Philadelpiha had just one training session between their trip to Gillette Stadium and their match against NYC, the team took time to practice on the artificial surfaces located at the WSFS Bank Sportsplex in Chester.
“We took our restarts attacking and defending off the turf just to get used and acclimated to that. It's certainly a different surface and they wet it up there in New England. Usually it's raining every time we go there, so it makes for a fast surface for sure,” Curtin said.
“Obviously, we only had one day with our group after yesterday's recovery day, where they're on the field, but they're not physically doing a ton, especially the starters, but the turf's a big factor for sure. New England's a place where we've gone in recent memory and found ways to get results, and that's what this game will need as well.”
