After a grueling April road trip, Jim Curtin met with the media to discuss how the club is preparing for its Eastern Conference showdown against Toronto FC this weekend on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
Rest and Recover
That April road trip saw the Boys in Blue play three games in nine days and span over 5,000 miles in the air with the Union getting results at Atlas FC in Concacaf Champions League and Chicago Fire FC in MLS play. Curtin said the 2023 season offers no easy blueprint to follow with clubs all across the league facing similar congested schedules that will present new obstacles and possibly make the standings look quite wild.
“Every team has gone through different stretches whether it is injuries, international call ups, congested schedule and it’ll continue throughout the rest of the year,” Curtin said on Wednesday afternoon. “Some teams will have to do it for the first time and I’ve said it before that there is no blueprint for this season in terms of sports performance or coaching because it is new for all of us.”
With the trio of matches in the rear view mirror, Curtin and the rest of the team are the midst of a full week of prep for their contest against Bob Bradley’s Canadian side. While the match is No. 9 on the calendar, it is just the fourth time that the Union have a full week to prepare for a match with the last coming in the run of to their April 1st contest.
“To have a full week of training going into Toronto is something that is needed,” Curtin said when asked about the preparations. “We get some guys to rest and to recover but also to get on the training field so we can work on some things we can improve on.”
Finding Consistency
Expectations were the highest they have ever been in Philadelphia Union history coming into the 2023 campaign. Depending on your philosophical point of view, the season has been one of great pride with the Boys in Blue into the Semifinals of the Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League or it has been of worry with just eight points in eight league matches. While the Union’s Greener Goals Night presented by Subaru is match No. 9 of the league campaign, it is contest No. 13 overall in less than two months. With so many games and roster adjustments to keep players fresh, the Union have found themselves chasing matches and it is something Curtin is hoping to address with the schedule getting more practice friendly.
“We did not start the game well and I think you saw us in the second half come to life and look like us,” Curtin said. “Our challenge now as a team is to have more moments in the game and longer stretches in the game where that is the case. With and without the ball where we look like us. I think more times than not this season we’ve been a little bit inconsistent and now its about putting together a complete and total 90 minutes.”
Defending Toronto’s Stars
Toronto FC made a huge splash during the summer transfer window last season with the additions of Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi. The Italian duo have combined for 17 goals and eight assists since coming across the Atlantic and are a key focal point for every opposing coach. Bernardeschi has started all eight of Toronto’s matches this season and contributed six goals while his teammate is making his return from injury with a substitute appearance last weekend against Atlanta United. Saturday’s focus will be keeping the Union defense compact which they have deployed in other contests throughout Curtin’s tenure against some of the world’s biggest stars.
“When we are compact and we’re 30 to 35 yards from Jakob and Jack to Julian, we’ve very difficult to breakdown,” Curtin said. “Now in the moments where we let the game get stretched 60-70 yards back, that’s where players like Bernardeschi, Insigne, Carlos Vela, Denis Bouanga can hurt you. We need to always have a full team effort to be in and around each other to have a double team to force them to the sidelines and try to cut up passes before they get to the top attacking players. You’re never going to stop players of that quality and caliber for 90 minutes so they are going to get chances but your hope is always you can have those touches and those chances be in the least dangerous positions possible.”
Philadelphia Union hosts Toronto FC for Green Goals Night presented by Subaru on Saturday, April 22nd at 7:30PM ET. Limited tickets remain for the contest and can be purchased by clicking here. Fans can also catch the action on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
