As his team prepared to embark for Portland, Philadelphia Union head coach Jim Curtin spoke to the media about preparing for a week with a US Open Cup semifinal sandwiched between a long road trip and a big Eastern Conference showdown.
Gio’s heroes
It has been 14 games since Portland Timbers tasted defeat, and Curtin spoke of first year Timbers’ head coach Giovanni Savarese’s energy has a significant factor in that run. “When you think of Gio, he's very passionate,” Curtin asserted. “His teams are very organized and disciplined, tough to play against, so that's what you see right now. Defensively, from their forwards all the way to their back line [they] are competing for everything all over the field. It's not a coincidence now, I believe in their last nine wins they're all one goal games. And that's the sign of a good team. They're a team that can attack you in a lot of different ways.”
Even if the Timbers were not such a fired up group, it can be difficult to play them on their home turf. “They have a lot of good weapons, and on their home field, it's probably one of the more intimidating crowds that our league has,” Curtin admitted. “Always an incredible atmosphere, long travel, a lot of variables that go into it.”
Ale leading the group
“He does a lot of the things that make us who we are,” Curtin stated when asked about Alejandro Bedoya. The Union captain scored against Houston Dynamo last week and has been instrumental in helping the club build and maintain an identity this season.
“He's our connector, he does a ton of defensive work for us, breaks up a ton of plays,” Curtin continued. “He's been an incredible leader for us this year in the locker room putting young guys under his wing, motivating the older guys. I think he's having his best season with us, couldn't be happier for him.”
“People take for granted how hard that is: Leading 30 guys and keeping them all going during the course of a season where guys are high, guys are low, they're happy they're playing, they're disappointed they're not playing. But keeping them all on the same page and pushing them forward is something that Ale's done a great job with.”
Rolling deep
With the US Open Cup semifinal against Chicago Fire looming a week out, Curtin emphasized his squad’s ability to share minutes during these packed weeks. “A really big opportunity for guys to get minutes at a critical point in the year,” the coach said in no uncertain terms. “We're going to use our full squad. We've talked about now and preached that we have a deep team, guys are going to be called on at different times.
“We have confidence in all our guys,” he concluded. “We have some guys playing really good in a lot of different positions, and to be honest there's not a huge dropoff.”
The Union will face off against Portland at 11PM EST on Saturday evening before returning home for their fourth ever US Open Cup semifinal against Chicago Fire on Wednesday at Talen Energy Stadium.
