After his side pushed Sporting Kansas City for 90 minutes on the road while spending a half-hour down a man, Jim Curtin said his team will be locked in going into Atlanta next weekend. "We'll get back to work," the head coach said. "But obviously, there's a sense of urgency to get our first points of the year. But if we perform like that, being down for 30 minutes and still creating a few chances, I'm really proud of the players."
The big thing Curtin wanted to see when his players came out of the gate was a response after a disappointing result against Toronto. "I got that," he said after the match. "I think not many teams come into this building into a home opener environment, and have the amount of ball, have the amount of chances that we did," Curtin continued.
"Obviously, it's critical to get that first goal. We didn't do that."
Captain Ale Bedoya thought that the team improved their play from a week ago, and called the work on a new formation "a work in progress."
"This game was an improvement over the one in Toronto in terms of being defensively compact and hitting them on the counter," he said. "I thought we turned them over in their half a bunch in the first half."
Curtin agreed with Bedoya. "When I watch our group play against one of the best teams in the league, I take away a lot of positives."
Now, with Atlanta United looming, the Union are still seeking their first open play goal of the season, but they remain encouraged by the growth of the squad as it adjusts to a new style of play.
Philly travels to Atlanta next Sunday at 7:15 p.m. ET on PHL17.
