Philadelphia Union look to rebound this weekend and return to the win column as Kacper Przybylko makes his return to Subaru Park for the first time since his transfer to the Chicago Fire. After a tough loss in their first matchup earlier in the year, the Union aim to get revenge and split the season series with the Windy City foe. These are our Founders Brewing Co. Pressing Points.
Bouncing Back
The Union played a very tough FC Cincinnati side this past weekend and unfortunately came up short, resulting in a 3-1 loss. After a stellar five game win streak, Head Coach Jim Curtin talked about how he can get his team back on the right track.
“Look, we had a really good five game win streak with some good performances, and we had a little bit of a let down,” Curtin said. “But I know our group will, just from the work they did this week, have a good response. I think it’s good to have a week of training to clean some things up… and to reset and refocus as we push towards the final ten games.
Even after the loss, the Union still remain atop the Eastern Conference table with a three point advantage over second place NYCFC. Coach Curtin talked about how this can’t affect how the team plays, however
“Our challenge now is to not get comfortable and complacent… we are going to fight for every point, we don’t want to fall down into the pack before we reboot and get strong again, we wanna play with urgency from the start of the game now, regardless of where we are in the standings.”
Philly All-Stars
Wednesday was very impressive for the Union organization, as they had multiple players across two of their teams perform in their respective all-star games. The Union’s own Andre Blake, Kai Wagner, and Jakob Glesnes all played this week in the MLS All-Star game against the Liga MX All-Stars. Coach Curtin was given the privilege to give Glesnes the call to tell him about his achievement of becoming an All-Star.
“I did have the moment when I was able to call Jakob and tell him that he had been chosen,” Curtin said. Being an international player from Norway, Curtin explained to him how special it is to be selected as an All-Star, “any time [the media] says anything or writes anything about him, it will be, ‘Jakob Glesnes, All-Star defender from the Philadelphia Union,’ for the rest of your life, that’s what you’ll be categorized as.
The MLS NEXT All-Star Game also took place in Minnsota on Wednesday with the Union Academy had three of its players selected for the game, Daniel Krueger, Andrew Rick, and Marcos Zambrano-Delgado. Zambrano-Delgado came on to score the game winning goal for the East side in the 89th minute of the game. Coach Curtin talked about how special this organization has become in recent years
“It’s great because it’s what our club is about. We want to win first and foremost, but one of our main pillars is to promote from within. We will always look towards our academy first and foremost to find and develop players… To have three players represented in each game, it only grows the importance of this brand and it really speaks to what this badge means, our club now has a true identity.”
Putting Out the Fire
Saturday will be a good test to see how the Union face adversity coming off their loss last week, as the Fire are a tough team to beat. Chicago have won four of their past five games, and have found their stride as the season as the playoff race is heating up. Swiss international Xherdan Shaqiri has racked up double digit assists after getting a pair last time out.
“They’re in a good run of form, obviously it starts with Shaqiri, Kacper’s been doing very well for them too, so two key guys on the attack,” Curtin said about the upcoming matchup. “In our home stadium at Subaru Park, it is on us to play the right way, to play our way, and I’m very confident that our guys will have a good response off a disappointing loss.
Though currently tied for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, Coach Curtin doesn’t feel Chicago’s record is a good representation of how dangerous this team can be.
“If you look at a lot of their performances from early in the season, they’ve been a little bit unlucky… They’ve played really good soccer all season, and now you’re starting to see the results go their way.”
