“Whether people in the public think we’re good, think we’re bad, they will at least say we’re tough to play against. I think that unequivocally across the board, there’s not a coach or general manager or fan in this league that would say we’re an easy team to deal with.”
Jim Curtin sparked a few headlines last weekend by citing the once-ubiquitous sitcom “Two and a Half Men” to make his point about a contentious refereeing decision that annulled what would have been a game-winning goal for the Philadelphia Union in an eventful 2-2 draw at Atlanta United on Sunday.
As juicy as it was, the longtime Union boss’ quote about the vagaries of the phrase ‘clear and obvious’ shouldn’t totally distract from the above, wherein Curtin efficiently encapsulated why Philly (3-0-4) is MLS’s last remaining unbeaten on the 2024 league slate (with the prominent asterisk that this leaves out a stinging 6-0 rout at the hands of Pachuca, one of four Concacaf Champions Cup matchups navigated this spring). It’s also why he and his squad are mentioned in a wider debate about what kind of teams win titles in this league, and how.
First: Curtin is right. Win, lose or draw, home or tie, the Union is reliably a pain for its opponents, and has been for years.
Philly presses, plays direct, gets stuck in, wins set pieces, plays ugly as needed, sniffs out and exploits mistakes, gets under your skin and into your head in various ways. This can be a visceral, tactile experience when witnessed in person, in ways that don’t always convey through a television screen. It’s a combative team with an inflammatory edge, sprinkled with players who initiate contact and welcome the friction and chaos that so often ensues.
The inheritor of a civic sports tradition of gleeful bruisers like the ‘Broad Street Bullies’ Flyers and the Eagles’ ‘Gang Green’ era, the Union can scrap. It’s made them MLS’s most consistently competitive team, with a 2022 MLS Cup final trip and more regular-season points than any other over the past four seasons, a revealing factoid Curtin does not mind calling attention to.
You could see why last Sunday. Atlanta appeared to be in control and on course for three deserved points when Caleb Wiley doubled its lead with a long-distance strike into the bottom corner with over an hour gone at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Philly thrives in the margins, though, and can fall back on Andre Blake’s shotstopping when beleaguered, and here hung around doggedly enough before springing to life after an uncharacteristic misplaced back pass by Tristan Muyumba handed Mikael Uhre a gift of a goal.
Just four minutes later a long throw-in led to Kai Wagner’s equalizer, and only the harshest of offside decisions could stop Uhre from notching a late winner of a match in which they were second-best in most statistical categories. As the Union Soccer Blog’s Joe Tansey notes, Philly has scored half of its goals in losing positions, fueling late rallies in Kansas City, Austin and Nashville en route to nine of 15 points taken from five early road games.
“It’s one of those draws that feels like a loss, to be honest,” Wiley said afterward. “When you create so many chances and you feel like you’re honestly the better team, it feels like a loss.”
Music to the ears of Jim Curtin and Philly sporting director Ernst Tanner. The Union was built to have a high floor, with value-conscious signings, an academy pipeline and a clear game model intended to run on interchangeable parts. It’s made them a role model for other MLS clubs seeking sustainability without big spending on transfers and star salaries.
The stylistic costs of this pragmatism raise aesthetic concerns in some quarters. Curtin, who recently revealed that he gooses his squad’s motivation by dangling perks like free pizza, beer and extra days off for wins, makes sure to lean into the heel aspect of that.
“Do we play perfect, beautiful soccer all the time? No,” he said last week. “At the same time, I think we do everything for the badge, for our fans, for the city. These guys give everything and that’s ingrained in them now. They’ve been through the battles together.”
The Union has been good enough, for long enough, to become the league’s nearly men, falling agonizingly short in the ‘22 final and other big occasions. Thus they’ve been hit with a now-recurring conventional-wisdom rejoinder to comparable projects: A system can make you competitive, but market-rate, match-winning talent is what wins trophies, as shown by the New York City FC and LAFC teams that beat Philly en route to league championships.
Right now, though, Curtin & Co. look well positioned for the regular-season grind. They’ll play four home matches over the next month, interspersed by a short journey down I-95 to visit D.C. United, a stretch in which they should aim to consolidate their position as frontrunners.
While Curtin has for the last several years drilled down on the distillation of Philly’s ethos, one of his age cohorts, Ben Olsen, has been crafting something different at the Houston Dynamo, something quite different from what he was perceived to be doing over his decade in charge of D.C. United.
Olsen shaped Houston into a proactive, pass-happy side when he took over last year, powered by a technical midfield with Hector Herrera at its heart; it earned them the U.S. Open Cup title and a respectable playoff run, even with shortcomings at striker. Now he’s pulling off another remarkable trick, this time with HH sidelined all season to date and just 112 minutes of play combined from him and his fellow Designated Player Sebas Ferreira due to injuries.
The Dynamo has clearly bought in to its identity, scoring goals by committee and keeping faith with the methodical buildouts even after some costly errors in the opening weeks, during which time participation in CCC stretched focus and fitness. It’s paying off. Last week’s 2-1 road win at Minnesota United ran their record to 4-2-1, with Herrera expected to return to match play soon and the Bayou City’s sweltering summer heat waiting to torment visitors to Shell Energy Stadium in the coming months.
“These guys are cowboys, man. They want to roll and win games,” said Olsen of his squad after the defeat of MNUFC, a result quickly followed by news that he’s signed a contract extension through 2026. “They’ve got some moxie, they’ve got a belief, and they’re fearless.”
Like John Travolta in “Urban Cowboy,” the seminal 1980 film that put Houston’s honky-tonk culture on the map, the transplanted Olsen looks pretty comfortable in 10 gallons, too. He’ll stay in the midst of the Coach of the Year conversation — an award he won 10 years ago for feats of alchemy with D.C. — as long as La Naranja is flying this high.
Meanwhile, the Vancouver Whitecaps crashed back down to earth with a 3-1 home loss to the LA Galaxy that sobers up the excitement around Vanni Sartini’s side significantly.
The match was an early barometer of the Caps’ contender credentials after they raced out to early pole position in the West with a hospitable run of matches following their one-and-done CCC series loss to Tigres UANL, and they did not measure up.
Sloppy defensive breakdowns left Vancouver looking vulnerable under examination from the Galaxy’s speed and incision in transition, Greg Vanney’s side dealing out a lesson in pragmatism akin to what LAFC did to it in the year’s first El Trafico.
The eminently quotable Sartini called his team’s fragility under the probing of Riqui Puig and Joseph Paintsil “a knife in my heart” and warned his group that “without following the plan to the tee, no one is good here. No one is good,” which should serve as ample motivation for their trip to Seattle for the second Cascadia Cup clash of the season.
Like Philly, doubts linger as to Vancouver’s quantities of top-end talent and it will take a few more landmark results, particularly away from the comforts of BC Place, to assuage them.
The general MLS spotlight was brightest in the Heartland, where Leo Messi and Inter Miami put on a show in front of a record-breaking crowd at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, defeating Sporting KC 3-2 in an entertaining match moved to the hulking NFL venue to reap the sky-high interest in the Argentine legend’s visit.
Pregame, SKC manager Peter Vermes had lamented the limited options for an opposing coach looking to game-plan for Messi. And sure enough, his team’s lackadaisical defensive awareness in a key moment gifted the GOAT ample time and space in the Zone 14 danger area for a blistering strike from range that wowed a crowd four times the size of full capacity at Children’s Mercy Park.
All of which left some of the hosts’ most devoted supporters wondering if their side had fallen into the ‘Washington Generals’ role for Messi and Miami to put on a show like the Harlem Globetrotters. Bumper ticket paydays and a chance to connect with a wider audience will always make options like this tempting when the Herons roll into town.
But when they take all three points, it’s understandable that loyal fans might ask whether their team’s competitiveness was compromised under the unique pressures of “the Messi Effect.”
DOOP
Seeing the Aaronson brothers style of play, it’s no surprise that they were formed at Union. Turbo City…
architect of the whole philly set-up? Remember – he famously delayed taking his new job at USSF – to complete the task – long forgotten – Dutch-American – Ernie Stewart. Any club with an academy that consistently produces youth that get pro contracts is ok by me no matter the ‘style’. Keep it going!