AFC Bournemouth (1st preseason match) at Philadelphia Union (6-10-4 in MLS)
What: Friendly; When: Tuesday, 7 p.m.
Where: PPL Park, Chester, Pa. Tickets:here
TV: None;Radio: None;
Social: Follow the action via Twitter: @TheUMatchday
Parking: $20 at all PPL lots; Mass Transit: Shuttle service to and from Chester Transportation Center
The Philadelphia Union will play their annual international friendly Tuesday night, but AFC Bournemouth is a little bit of a different foe than what Union fans are used to. This time, it’s not a big-spending, internationally known squad. This time the Union have brought in someone who head coach Jim Curtin certainly sees a lot of resemblances in, a hard-working team and values team concept.
The game, which takes place tomorrow at 7 p.m. at PPL Park, is the first time that Bournemouth, a team who was recently promoted to the English Premier League from the English League Championship, will face an MLS team.
“The Philadelphia Union, obviously, built up in a short period of time a really good relationship with several people at the club,” said Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe. “I’ve got to say, we’ve been made to feel very welcome here. I know the club is relatively new, six years old, and growing all the time, much like the MLS in my opinion, growing rapidly as one of the emerging leagues in world football.”
The Union are coming off what Curtin called “their most complete performance of the year”, defeating the Portland Timbers 3-0 thanks to Andrew Wenger’s first goal of the season and Vince Nogueira’s brace.
Bournemouth, who has been in the Philadelphia area since last Wednesday, were in attendance for the game and came away impressed.
“I thought they gave an excellent performance right from the start of the game against Portland,” Howe said. “I thought they were very good and should have been ahead at halftime, I thought with a bit more luck. They took their chances well in the second half so I was really pleased to see the score line.”
Bournemouth are coming in off a hot streak themselves, dominating the second half of the season in the English League Championship, finishing with a goal differential of 53 and not losing a game since February 25.
“There are a lot of similarities with the club and kind of with our city too,” said Curtin. “Rocky always comes to mind with Philadelphia and their story’s a real one. Rocky is fictional. They actually did it on the field and were promoted into the best league in the world so like I said their stories special. Like I said they have a young staff, a very good staff. They have a great team: anytime you have a plus 53 goal differential in a season, you’re doing a lot of things right. It means you aren’t just scoring goals, you’re preventing goals, which is something we try to emulate.”
Just because this game is labeled as a friendly, don’t expect the teams to put out all of their substitutes. Expect both the Union and Bournemouth to put out strong opening lineups.
“From a player’s standpoint, again, from a club standpoint, we’re all excited for the game,” said Maurice Edu. “I think anytime team’s come over here, they enjoy themselves, they enjoy the atmosphere of the game, and most importantly, both teams are competitive, both want to win but it’s important that we go out there and approach the game the right way. We’re competitive but at the same time we get out of it what we need to get out of it.”
And while both teams will look to perform at their best for a full 90 minutes, both teams recognize the need to get non-starting players live game action.
“We plan to make wholesale changes at halftime so you’ll see two different XI’s,” said Howe. “That’s at the stage where the lads aren’t able at the moment to play more than 45 minutes so we’ll see the whole squad. I’m looking forward to seeing everybody back in action. The players we had last year plus the new signings makes it an exciting game for us.”
The Union are 5-5-0 in their 10 international friendly matches since 2010, getting wins against team’s like FC Schalke 04 and Celtic. However, the team is only 1-4 against Barclays Premier League opponents, their lone win coming against Everton FC in 2011.
In their most recent international friendly on July 25, 2014, the Union lost 1-0 to EPL side Crystal Palace after a 20th minute own goal by Ethan White.
What do you think is the plan for success against AFC Bournemouth? Leave your comment below
Contact Union writer Kyle Basedow at kbasedow@philadelphiaunion.com.
