May 5, 2023 • 34 mins
Jon Jansen and Joe Tansey break down how the Union must approach their busy May schedule after being eliminated from the Concacaf Champions League.
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Welcome back to the Philadelphia Union SoccerPodcast, part of the Union Soccer Blog
dot substag dot com. You canget this podcast anywhere where you find your
podcasts, Google play Store, AppleStore. Wherever you find your podcast is
where you can find the Union SoccerPodcast. This fine program hosted by myself,
John Jansen. You can follow meat j Jan's thirty four and Joe
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Tanzi who runs the show over atthe Union Soccer Blog sub stack. You
can follow him at j Tanzy ninety. Joe, I imagine this is going
to be a what are the Vibesfor the Union type of podcast. They
end up losing in pretty not sogreat fashion against LAFC in the semifinal of
cock Cafe Champions League, and obviouslythey have not been too impressive so far,
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not bad, but not impressive sofar in league play. So,
Joe, we got a lot ofquestions that I'm sure we have to answer
here. Yeah, Jim Curtin hasa lot of questions to answer too.
When she was actually very reflective andmaybe poignant is a way to describe the
press conference today, which is whichis why I'm actually kind of happy we
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waited to do this until Thursday night, because I think I don't know if
it's more of a vibe check moreof just like we have to hammer the
hell out of the reset button rightnow and flush Cocky Cafe Champions League from
our system. As as depressing asit maybe after the way Tuesday night went,
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I mean, if the best casescenario emerges, the Union could be
a few wins away from another trophy. They could be competing for top spots
in the Eastern Conference pretty quickly.So this is something where it really has
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to be just a hard reset mentallyand physically, not just from the players,
but from you know, the fanbase as well. Yeah, it's
got to be just Champions League isout the window. We had our day
of morning, we had our dayof depression. But it wouldn't it be
nice if they went and beat theRed Bulls on Saturday. It would be
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nice if they did that. Iwould like that and maybe feel better about
you know, league play. Certainly, I mean, what does this because
this was a goal, or thiswas the Union seemed to be taking next
step after next step after next step, and I felt like the next step
was getting to a conker Caalf final, and they didn't get there and fell
short and fell short of gets theteam that's been blocking their path through a
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few notable achievements that they could get. It's frustrating, I think as a
fan, right frustrating that they werethere at MLS Cup, they lose to
LAFC. They get there to aCounty CAF semifinal, have a chance to
get onto the final and they losein very bad fashion. Would say to
LAFC again. So, I mean, losing to Las LAFC twice is one
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thing, but does that just sayanything about the union And maybe this team
does have a ceiling, even thoughvery high ceiling understandably. I mean,
they got the MLS Cup in semifinal, I get that, but are
they starting to hit that ceiling?That's a good question. Um. I
haven't read Kevin Kinkad's piece, butI think that was his his kind of
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thing too. I'm crossing broad today. Um. I did not steal that
then, and let it be known, I had no idea Kevin posted that.
No, no, no, no, no, we go. I
do not steal from Kevin sometimes,no, we like Kevin. Yeah,
that's kely his question. I didnot did not steal that. That's just
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too good journalists. Okay, that'sall it is. Kevin Kinkaid is number
one on our on our best friendslist on the Union. That's so funny
because he literally that's in the titleof his headline. Oh my god,
you can tell who's been in thestudio doing a three hour afternoon radio show
talking about the Sixers and you who'sbeen who's been sitting on his ass watching
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baseball all day? Um? Um, maybe I can't say no to that
because lafc it's just his shoulders andhead and shoulders above everyone. It's not
just the Union, and it's it'sfrustrating because now you've gotten the taste of
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it twice. You've had the MlesCup Final. Where were you so close?
And let's be honest, like,if this thing goes differently on Tuesday,
you're in it for the final thirtyminutes. Um, And that's really
all you could ask for. Imean, look, positives from this,
and there are very few positives.But the positive from like the single game
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performances themselves is I dare you tofind two, three four opposing defenses out
there, even Club Leon in thein the Champions League Final. We're going
to do a better job than CarlosVela and Danny Bolonga for ninety plus minutes
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and then say, let's let's sayseventy five because everything kind of went out
the window in the final ten orfifteen a second leg. If we're grasping
for the positive straws, I'm not. I'm just saying that's the one thing
that I'm kind of taking away fromthat, and on a positive regard is
yeah, they can play with them. They've played with them twice. And
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that's the frustrating part is it didn'tcome together on a night where everything needed
to come together. You had theyou know, we've I don't want to
call it the LAFC propaganda machine,but it kind of feels that way where
and you and I fall back fromtoo and everyone falls with them to it
that like they're going to score threefour goals on you every single game and
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just demolished teams, which they have, but they've adapted now, you know,
they've found ways to win one nothing, two nothing type games that let's
be honest, it's the way itwas heading on Tuesday, and that's why
everyone was so frustrated with the lackof adjustments because it was very clear what
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the game plan was. UM,And and you know we talked on Twitter
spaces on Tuesday night that the Unionare gonna miss those Martinez, but they
didn't miss them in the conventional waythat we think they're going to miss him.
UM. Usually we think it's it'sdefense and plugging all the holes in
front of the center backs. Inthis case, it was offensively and moving
the team forward and playing those ballsthrough that. Not to pat myself on
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the back, because I'm not asoccer X is an os guy, all
right, So I felt like whenI was making that point about the midfield,
I was like, oh, maybeI'm wrong here, but yes,
that was the one thing I wasworried about. He's the one that pushes
them forward, and it just itwasn't opening in that way. There was
a disconnect between Flock and gos Daggthe LAFC purposely caused like that was that
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was their tactical adjustment to the firstleg. Um. I was, you
know, sitting in the in thepress conference with UM with Jim, Jim
Cretis, Steve Tremundolo, uh lastWednesday, you could tell he was very
disappointed and like in just the stylein which they played. He was very
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complimentary of the Union's game plan,but also like LAFC did not play the
way we're used to seeing them playfair enough, you know, it's uh,
that's again part of the whole thingwhere the Union were so close,
like you could touch, how closethey were to getting this done, and
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it's it's one mistake in the firstleg and it's just borderline in competence on
in the second lake. Because andthis is how we're going to kind of
transition from what this Champions League glossmeans to the rest of the season and
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have just this month alone because there'sa three game and eight day stretch coming
up. But you've got to beable to make those adjustments that Jim Curtain
didn't. I understood the Harrial whatchange because you needed to have defensive structure
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to at least contain LAFC and makesure they didn't score a second one immediately
after buys I went off, whichI don't have to spend too much time
on this too silly just idiotic plays. And that's why Buysos such a frustrating
character within this Union lineup, becauseyou see the good, but you see
the bad in a span of oneweek in two major games, and it's
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just a net neutral at this point. So I mean, what are you
gonna do there that that's that iswhat it is. But we're where Jim
is at and where he's his faultsor as a manager, is he's too
loyal to his guys. And I'veactually think this probably was the most reflective
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kind of point Jim Kurt and we'vegotten in a long time, because there
hasn't been much losing, because therehasn't been many opportunities for this to happen.
But this afternoon during his pre matchpress conference for Red Bulls, which
UM, I don't know how muchwe'll get into that match, but UM,
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I think this is more a episodeabout the state of the union.
UM to use our favorite pon here. Um, he's very reflective and pointing
about wanting to use more guys,and I don't know if this was if
something he realized after he you know, he took away. He took a
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step away from the heat of thebattle on Tuesday night, because you can
get very little from from those pressconference. I know everyone wants those answers
immediately to do the inside baseball thinghere that copycaff runs this thing the Union,
don't. They're calling our reporters whowho shouldn't be asking questions, and
it become it becomes, you know, five generic questions later about l Jim
Curtin feels about LAFC. The pressconference ends and we can't go into detail
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about how do you feel about raisingJim Curtin? Right, And it's like
basically like the the first three orfour questions of the press conference to night
or while Jim you lost to LAFCagain hawk Um, the questions were more
eloquent. Obviously that was kind ofjust a bit. So I think today
was actually very informative. Midweek pressconferences outside of injury updates can be very
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boring, which is a good thing. But I think in this case,
at least to what I can remember, Jim was very kind of uh,
he did take that step back.I'm playing whether it was you know,
it's a day off to kind ofchill and reset um about using his guys,
about not wearing them into the ground. And you know, part of
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this is, yes, the circumstancesare going to force that if Jack mcclenn
and Quinn Selden ninety nine percent offof the U twenty World Cup along with
Brendan Craig. That is nothing new, that's not breaking news. They've been
in that U twenty squad forever.Um and tax the Narran's is most likely
going with him as well as nota Union player but a former union player,
so a lot of representation there,and Jim was very poignant on that
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that topic as well today. Butwhat I what I see here is someone
who's acknowledged his his shortcomings now thereare but how do that? How does
that change then? How did he'sSo he's recognized, but what's what are
the changes then that that he couldmake for himself that obviously would write reflect
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in the line up. So whatwas I was about to say is there's
let's say ninety five to one hundredpercent of you guys that are listening,
UM are going to say, yeah, right, Jim's said this before,
and we've been through I know,we've been through this sum and dance so
many times them correct, So thiswill this whole thing has been said before.
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He's just going to play the onflock ninety minutes. I've already seen
him, I mentions, and look, everyone is completely justified for for that
to be the case, because hedoes have a track record. Now,
it's kind of a actions speak louderthan words type thing. You can say
all you want about not wanting torun your guys into the ground actually using
the depth you have, but itneeds to be done and not just in
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an open Cup game. Not justin an open Cup game on Tuesday,
because that's where we'll see it.Like, let's be honest, we'll see
that there. Um So I'd liketo see it. I'd like to see
some variety. I'm not saying drasticallyoverhaul the squad, but maybe there's a
game, maybe say Saturday, becauseJosie Martinez is still on the men from
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his hamstring injury. I'm most likelynot playing on Saturday. Jim Curtin didn't
didn't give a timeline, but Iwould maybe say after the Colorado game because
there's a lot of travel involved.You want to make sure he's one hundred
percent, don't want to rush himback, and you have ample central midfielders.
So maybe this is the time wesee Andre's perea. Maybe this is
the time we see ay Sus Buenoor Joaquin Torres and just maybe is switch
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things up, make it a littlefresh. However, which way you want
it, I think that's we're notasking for Jim Curtain to drastically overhaul the
squad banks Dag. But what we'reasking for here is to Hey, recognize
that. And I know this isgoing to feed to the twitterati out there,
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but um Alhandubadet, Yes, Iget the point that at sixty minutes
he should be the change, notMichael. I get it, And um
I think from a long term thing, I agree with it more than just
a short term in game you know, a game by game basis. I
think from a long term you wantto protect him so that way when we
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do get to playoffs an MLS Cupor like even League's Cup, if that
matters to a lot of people,you want him fresh. You want him
fresh for the bigger games and beable to rotate him out because Andre's Perey.
We've been saying, is he thelong term replacement for Doi? Well,
if he is, and he's thattalented, but I'm out there.
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Or maybe make yourself a little vulnerableand play walking tours with Daniel Gostag,
you know, or whatever. Maybeor maybe play Jesus put on the sides
of the diamond or to go tothe three, whatever the alteration may be,
we're waiting for that. So Ithink that's the big talking point here,
and I think everyone will kind ofagree with with where we're at is.
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You got to give these guys abreak. You traded for these guys,
You spent allocation money on pray andtourists. Specifically, You've developed Bueno,
who it took a huge step forwardin preseason, but we haven't seen
much of since the the Conker CafeChampions League. What the first leg and
in what was a Honduras al Salvador. I can't the country escapes the top
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of my head right now, butround the sixteen first leg? Um.
So you want to see these guys, You want to see them developed from.
You want to see a little moreDamian Lowe, who's who's been dealing
with a few knocks here and there, which I get that's that's why he's
not in the field, but youwant to see more of him. Uh.
You know, we already see enoughof Nathan Harrol to to satisfy our
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concerns here, but there's got tobe variety all that this tactical flexibility and
depth that was talked about in preseason, and we've seen glimpses of it with
Torres and Pereia, but then we'vekind of reverted back to the old Jim
Curtain and we need to find thebalance. You can still have that in
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big games. You can't run theseguys into the ground, especially what this
may they have coming up. Ifthey do that, then yeah, I
think are if they go out thereand lose. But so I understand getting
guys involved, and I think we'vetalked about this a lot Joe before two
is not only tactical flexibility and likelineup changes, but formation changes and trying
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different ways. What I mean whatbecause Pereia, you know, Torres all
kind of new, as you justsaid, and I think there are ways
obviously you can plug him in,but always there's not a one to one
plug in. I think that theUnion just have because I think they do
have kind of versatile different players anddifferent skill sets. So how do they
implement this? Does this mean Curtain'sgot to get out of his comforts for
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the first time, because we've beentalking about this before and it never got
to the point where I think theyreally had to. I don't know if
it's getting to that point now.But what I mean, what do these
changes look like? What do thehow do they implement what Kurtin is saying,
you know, hey, that's aflaw of mine. I need to
get these guys involved. Just howcan that happen? Oh right, Um,
looks we've we've talked about it fora few different episodes. Here eight,
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it's assumed at least that Andres Pereyais a right side of midfielder,
that Um walking tours is a ten, that Jesus Bueno is a six,
could be an eight, So that'sdefined. So the way Jim Curtin's kind
of done it in the past isif the guy in front of the reserve
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is playing so well, then it'shard to take that position away from from
Saya Gosdag say, you know lastyear with Leun Flock and Jack McGlinn.
But I think the point that Jimmade in it was it was the Tuesday
or today where the defensive work thatthis team requires from those positions may not
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be completely up to par yet withKorea and Taures. And this is because
you have a center of former centerback as your head coach. This is
where the stubbornness comes in a littlebit because Jim wants the defensive structure to
be sound at all times of thegame. And yeah, he never wants
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to compromise that, right That's wherethe union you're built on. He doesn't
want to compromise any So if ifJoaquin Torres isn't doing the proper back pressing
or any type of fresher and defensivework with Daniel goazdag Brings, then why
why I start him on a consistentbasis or rotate him. Same with Andres
Perea and the work on the rightside with with al Hentrepredeura and his combination
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with the right backs. They haveto be able to feel confident in those
guys, you know. He Ieven asked him today like how confident do
you feel in Hayess Bueno popping inbecause Glenn going to the EU twenty World
Cup and a Latin is very confident. So look, those are the three
guys we're going to point to asas depth. Maybe maybe this this month
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coming up with Quinn Suldan being awayfor the U twenty World Cup, opens
up more playing time for walking towhereas not just ten but as as a
Ford. You know, how howdoes that operate? Um? The same
thing with Andre's poya. Does heget maybe a little more run sand the
left instead of the right, oreven at the six or maybe in a
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double pivot of some sorts in roadgames? So yeah, well, like
what's the goal of these of thesethree games? So you obviously want to
advance out of UM Minnesota with anOpen Cup victory. So there's there's one
goals three. You don't need toput us through enough crap already, w's
wins. I think the realistic targethere should be, yeah, right,
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bare minimum draw at Red Bull andthen get out of Minnesota with a spot
in the round of sixteen, andthen beat Colorado because I think Colorado is
there for the taking. Um.I assume they're going to travel straight from
Minnesota the Colorado because that's what they'vedone in the past. So you can
adjust to the altitude whatever you needto there and then you come home for
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I think it's DC in New England. So look, I think that's the
I think that's the way to approachit. I mean, you're you're ten
points back in the league of NewEngland, who's been dealing with injuries Cincinnati
is going to lose Brenner to SarahAtlanta. They're kind of influx here.
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Thiago Alado has been hurt. Solike if if we're looking at the Eastern
Conference and kind of breaking it downand removing our ourselves some Champions League now
and looking at the league table,it's gettable. I mean, look at
the teams in front of them.Yes, DC has improved, Orlando's the
middle of the pack team, Columbushasn't completely hit their stride. Nycfcs there,
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but they're all kind of bunched togetherand they're only one point beyond Toronto,
which is hilarious to me because howToronto has twelve points is just just
really funny because if you seldom comein here, they were just absolute crap.
So look, everything's there for thetaking this month. I mean,
you have so the full schedule isat Red Bull Saturday, and you have
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the Open Cup on Tuesday at Colorado, and then you're home for DC,
New England at NYC at City Fieldand home for Charlotte and then your home
for Montreal as well. To startJune. The opportunity is there. I
mean, we could be sitting hereon June fourth because the Montreal games June
third. We could be sitting hereon June fourth with a completely different perspective
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on things like the time is nowto again, Like I said, hit
the hard reset button and really goafter this thing. It may not show
in the two road games, butyou can beat DC at home. You
can beat New England at home.You've done it many times. There's no
longer the bugaboo of not being ableto get points against NYC and baseball stadiums.
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And you can beat Charlotte and youcan beat Montreal. So it's there
and I think that's the positive thing. Now how you get there is the
whole fascinating part. Because Jack mglenn and Quinn Sullivan will be off to
the U twenty World Cup. Ibelieve that that cut off data is next
week or the report date is nextweek. It's very soon. And they're
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going to Argentina, not Indonesia,so travels a little less rough, at
least on the U twenty squad asa whole. So you're losing your what
you've been using as your third forward, you're losing a starting midfielder. The
good news is the three guys thatwe've talked endlessly about in Bueno, Pereya
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and Taures fill those roles. Soyou would think, you would think with
this depth, with this tactical flexibility, all these buzzwords that we've been using
for man how long this season?This second? I mean you right,
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So there there's a way where youcan play Kranza, Gozdagg and Tourists together,
or Tauris and Godsdagg together. Maybeyou can give gas Dagga a night
off, no oh, nights offfor God's dag Um. Not that he
needs it, but you know,And the same thing with Damian. Damian
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lows gonna get to full fitness.He's been dealing with with little knocks here
and there that's been been keeping himout. So you need him to step
up because he is your depth centerback and you can't run Elliott and Glesness
for all of these games. Yougot to have some variety in some capacity.
So yeah, that's that's that's howit sets up, like it sets
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up for the two guys in TourismPrey and then with Bueno, the guy
we've also been waiting to see umthat we want to see on the field,
there's ample opportunity for them to geton the field. All right,
let's get to on the field,and let's get to a game that the
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Union, as you just said,bare minimum at least come away with the
draw. How do they match upagainst the Red Bulls who have not done
much lately and have Corey Burke andof Corey Burke scoring said which is weird
because that that's gonna be That's gonnabe really weird to see Corey Burke in
the in the Red Bulls niver judgingbased off of former Union player doing things
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to the Union. I mean he'sgonna score like three goals against them?
Yeah, probably. Um, justlet's keep up with a trend, let's
keep happening, right. Well,the Casper Shabelko hasn't done much of them,
I mean well, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, that's fair.
I not say anything bad about Wecan say plenty bad like they they
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traded him when the value was remarkablyhigh. Um, so the Red Bulls
man there, they're bad. Imean, look, it's this whole situation.
It was about three weeks ago nowwith Dante von Zier there um their
new offseason forward signing um using theracial remark um in the San Jose game,
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getting suspended for way too short ofa time that he should have been
suspended for. Um Gerhard Strouper,the head coach, offered up the equivalent
of a nothing burger when it cameto his response and his statement um to
that incident. And I don't thinkthey've said it publicly, but I wouldn't
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be surprised if this is kind ofjust a reaction to everything that's gone on
internally where it's no one's happy,it's not working. I don't know.
I don't know the inner workings ofNew York Red Bulls, but if I
see these results here, a homedraw against Houston, who's improved, but
you could you should still be Houstonat home, and then a road lost
to Montreal, a draw with Chicago, and they've scored three goals in their
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last five games. I may I'mgoing to revise my goal here that i'd
set like five minutes ago. Gointo Red Bull and get a win and
show yourself get a win. Iwas a dude. I once you said
that, I'm like, Joe,come on, man, come on like
and it's not you know, ifthey come on with a draw, I
don't think it's it's the worst thingin the world because we're in May and
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we know June damage. But like, that's come on, man, let's
let's get this going. You justyou didn't reach a goal, and MLS
league play has not been great.You know, I don't think this is
a wake up call. I thinkthere were multiple wake up calls, but
this is certainly a let's get agoing here. Let's let's finally the effort
in the league play. I knowyou just said Maya is going to be
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rough for them, so I dounderstand that, but I mean, let's
let's get this going finally, Like, let's this is a winnable game,
take a road win, get thethree points, and get this back on
track. This is the perfect opportunityto say, and we say, I
think we've said this cliche countless timesover the years. This is where you
take your frustration out and actually dothat, take your frustration out from the
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LAFC games and really just humble theRed Bulls. I think Jim's gonna start
the majority of the starting eleven androtate for Open Cup. I don't even
want to go that far. Idon't even want to go stop of the
Red Bulls come away with the winif it has to be grinded out good.
But like we're getting to that pointwhere they're they're not even able to
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grind out wins right now. Ifit has to be the ugly ass one
nothing Union win, I'm fine withit. Just show us something, get
that win, get it like,just get that done, get that result.
That okay? That maybe how youfeel, But is that that's not
how everybody else feels, or maybeeven the Union. I don't even know
that's how If that that's how theUnion would feel, I think Jim Curtin
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would be more than comfortable with aone nothing victory because that's just the way
he he does things. But man, I don't know. I I don't
know if one nothing is is sufficientenough here. I may be completely completely
off base with with where I'm whatI'm saying here, And a win is
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a win is a win at thispoint. But I would love to see
the Union just destroy the Red Bulls. Yes, it still is a rivalry
game. Even though the Red Bullshave taken a back seat to NYC and
LAFC on the rivalry power rankings,it's still the Red Bulls and you would
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still love to pummel them in frontof a half full stadium if that,
whatever, whatever their tendencies these days, you would love that. I think
the fan base book about that,and it goes in line with the hard
reset that I've been talking about.Look, I'm sure after the fact,
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if they win one nothing limit thechances have a well worked goal and get
three points. I'm sure the teamwill take that, and a lot of
people will take that. But there'sa lot of people out there, myself
included, that just want to seethem erase everything about Champions League now.
Leave any lingering doubt not that thatlass affect them in any way possible,
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and go after it beyond the RedBulls from the start, similar to the
Toronto game, and just go afterthem and pumble them, put three four
goals on them, and make astatement. Go out and make a statement
to the rest of the league thatyeah, you're lost to LAFC. There's
one loss. It's it's done andover without there's nothing you can do about
it. Go out, pumble yourarrival. You know, maybe Major League
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Soccer Soccer dot Com will right anice headline piece about you, because they
haven't yet this year. Do it. Just go out and be the old
version of the Union that that wecame to know and love last year.
Put put four, hell, putfive past the Red Bulls. It's doable.
Just go out and be yourselves,play loose, play to have some
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fun and be the ever living snotout of the New York Red Bulls.
Do you think they do that?I had like a sixty percent chance,
the sixty percent confidence level here withthat. I know I said that with
a ton of condiction, but Ithink sixty percent chance believe they do that
because the second you said one nothing, like, Man, I know exactly
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what we're going for here. Ithink they from Morale's sake, a win
is a win is a win.But god, it would be so nice
to see them win three four nothing, just to be like this is the
Union that you remember. It'd benice to see that. But I don't
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know by and now I feel likeI'm the one that's a little optimistic.
I would say to them, Iam my results shaming you. John,
You I think you are results shamingme because I just want the win.
It's it's may you know. Iwant the Union playing their best in July
like we saw last year. OnceI get to the July and if they're
still you know, just squeaking bywins, then I'd be like, yo,
what the hell is going on here? Um? But I think that's
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when hey pile up the five nothingwins, six nothing wins, but get
seven nothing wins for all I care, you know, pile those up then
just right now, just I wantresults. That's all I do is just
want get me results. Get threepoints where you should be getting it,
and then I think that kind ofstatements like they were talking about. I
(32:06):
remember the Union loss to Miami earlyon, and they're like a statement win
from Miami. If your statement winis in like April or March, I
don't want that. I want statementsin July and August when we start getting
to a we're getting ready for playoffsand MLS Cup. I don't need statements
now. I just need wins.And I think that is the bare minimum
for me. At least. You'retaking it a step further than me,
(32:28):
which I was not expecting you todo. Yeah, I know, I
know. I feel like we're switchingswitching roles here and I just wasn't ready
for that. But maybe you areright that it's just it's needed more for
It's not like, you know,get five nothing and then Union or right
back where they were. But it'sat least a statement for themselves. I
think it just a confidence to remindthemselves of, hey, this is what
(32:52):
you were, this is what youstill can be, and just prove it
to yourselves. I think we're bothI think we're both in agree. Meant
that a clean sheet is like therequirement here, the clean sheet for sure,
it needs to be which they whichthey To their credit, they've been
trending in the right direction with thatand Toronto was a no show, but
it played really well against LAFC.For it's at least eighty percent of those
(33:17):
two games. I'd probably bump itup to eighty five or ninety. And
they played that well for that longagainst the league's best attack. So that
translates to Red Bulls Minnesota, Colorado. Um, they may just win these
games one nothing because the defense isso good. Um. But to me,
(33:37):
I think it's just a you haveto wash away Champions League, And
I think that the stink of ChampionsLeague ends up lingering if you win one
nothing and chances go by the wayside, and you know, some of the
old habits from earlier in the season, like I want to see any close
(34:00):
to an exact replica of the Torontogame. Well that is it for the
Union Soccer Podcast again. Subscribe,but wherever you get your podcasts, just
search up the Union Soccer Podcast AppleStore, Google play Store, wherever you
get your podcasts, you can getit and find us right there. And
that's Joe Tanzy at Jay Tanzy ninety. Subscribe to the Union Soccer Blog Union
(34:22):
Soccer Blog dot substack dot com andalso follow Joe again at j Tanzy ninety
me John Jansen at j Jansen thirtyfour. We'll be back with more Union
Soccer next week on the Union SoccerPodcast
Welcome back to the Philadelphia Union SoccerPodcast, part of the Union Soccer Blog
dot substag dot com. You canget this podcast anywhere where you find your
podcasts, Google play Store, AppleStore. Wherever you find your podcast is
where you can find the Union SoccerPodcast. This fine program hosted by myself,
John Jansen. You can follow meat j Jan's thirty four and Joe
(00:21):
Tanzi who runs the show over atthe Union Soccer Blog sub stack. You
can follow him at j Tanzy ninety. Joe, I imagine this is going
to be a what are the Vibesfor the Union type of podcast. They
end up losing in pretty not sogreat fashion against LAFC in the semifinal of
cock Cafe Champions League, and obviouslythey have not been too impressive so far,
(00:44):
not bad, but not impressive sofar in league play. So,
Joe, we got a lot ofquestions that I'm sure we have to answer
here. Yeah, Jim Curtin hasa lot of questions to answer too.
When she was actually very reflective andmaybe poignant is a way to describe the
press conference today, which is whichis why I'm actually kind of happy we
(01:07):
waited to do this until Thursday night, because I think I don't know if
it's more of a vibe check moreof just like we have to hammer the
hell out of the reset button rightnow and flush Cocky Cafe Champions League from
our system. As as depressing asit maybe after the way Tuesday night went,
(01:33):
I mean, if the best casescenario emerges, the Union could be
a few wins away from another trophy. They could be competing for top spots
in the Eastern Conference pretty quickly.So this is something where it really has
(01:55):
to be just a hard reset mentallyand physically, not just from the players,
but from you know, the fanbase as well. Yeah, it's
got to be just Champions League isout the window. We had our day
of morning, we had our dayof depression. But it wouldn't it be
nice if they went and beat theRed Bulls on Saturday. It would be
(02:19):
nice if they did that. Iwould like that and maybe feel better about
you know, league play. Certainly, I mean, what does this because
this was a goal, or thiswas the Union seemed to be taking next
step after next step after next step, and I felt like the next step
was getting to a conker Caalf final, and they didn't get there and fell
short and fell short of gets theteam that's been blocking their path through a
(02:42):
few notable achievements that they could get. It's frustrating, I think as a
fan, right frustrating that they werethere at MLS Cup, they lose to
LAFC. They get there to aCounty CAF semifinal, have a chance to
get onto the final and they losein very bad fashion. Would say to
LAFC again. So, I mean, losing to Las LAFC twice is one
(03:05):
thing, but does that just sayanything about the union And maybe this team
does have a ceiling, even thoughvery high ceiling understandably. I mean,
they got the MLS Cup in semifinal, I get that, but are
they starting to hit that ceiling?That's a good question. Um. I
haven't read Kevin Kinkad's piece, butI think that was his his kind of
(03:25):
thing too. I'm crossing broad today. Um. I did not steal that
then, and let it be known, I had no idea Kevin posted that.
No, no, no, no, no, we go. I
do not steal from Kevin sometimes,no, we like Kevin. Yeah,
that's kely his question. I didnot did not steal that. That's just
(03:46):
too good journalists. Okay, that'sall it is. Kevin Kinkaid is number
one on our on our best friendslist on the Union. That's so funny
because he literally that's in the titleof his headline. Oh my god,
you can tell who's been in thestudio doing a three hour afternoon radio show
talking about the Sixers and you who'sbeen who's been sitting on his ass watching
(04:10):
baseball all day? Um? Um, maybe I can't say no to that
because lafc it's just his shoulders andhead and shoulders above everyone. It's not
just the Union, and it's it'sfrustrating because now you've gotten the taste of
(04:30):
it twice. You've had the MlesCup Final. Where were you so close?
And let's be honest, like,if this thing goes differently on Tuesday,
you're in it for the final thirtyminutes. Um, And that's really
all you could ask for. Imean, look, positives from this,
and there are very few positives.But the positive from like the single game
(04:54):
performances themselves is I dare you tofind two, three four opposing defenses out
there, even Club Leon in thein the Champions League Final. We're going
to do a better job than CarlosVela and Danny Bolonga for ninety plus minutes
(05:15):
and then say, let's let's sayseventy five because everything kind of went out
the window in the final ten orfifteen a second leg. If we're grasping
for the positive straws, I'm not. I'm just saying that's the one thing
that I'm kind of taking away fromthat, and on a positive regard is
yeah, they can play with them. They've played with them twice. And
(05:39):
that's the frustrating part is it didn'tcome together on a night where everything needed
to come together. You had theyou know, we've I don't want to
call it the LAFC propaganda machine,but it kind of feels that way where
and you and I fall back fromtoo and everyone falls with them to it
that like they're going to score threefour goals on you every single game and
(06:00):
just demolished teams, which they have, but they've adapted now, you know,
they've found ways to win one nothing, two nothing type games that let's
be honest, it's the way itwas heading on Tuesday, and that's why
everyone was so frustrated with the lackof adjustments because it was very clear what
(06:23):
the game plan was. UM,And and you know we talked on Twitter
spaces on Tuesday night that the Unionare gonna miss those Martinez, but they
didn't miss them in the conventional waythat we think they're going to miss him.
UM. Usually we think it's it'sdefense and plugging all the holes in
front of the center backs. Inthis case, it was offensively and moving
the team forward and playing those ballsthrough that. Not to pat myself on
(06:46):
the back, because I'm not asoccer X is an os guy, all
right, So I felt like whenI was making that point about the midfield,
I was like, oh, maybeI'm wrong here, but yes,
that was the one thing I wasworried about. He's the one that pushes
them forward, and it just itwasn't opening in that way. There was
a disconnect between Flock and gos Daggthe LAFC purposely caused like that was that
(07:09):
was their tactical adjustment to the firstleg. Um. I was, you
know, sitting in the in thepress conference with UM with Jim, Jim
Cretis, Steve Tremundolo, uh lastWednesday, you could tell he was very
disappointed and like in just the stylein which they played. He was very
(07:29):
complimentary of the Union's game plan,but also like LAFC did not play the
way we're used to seeing them playfair enough, you know, it's uh,
that's again part of the whole thingwhere the Union were so close,
like you could touch, how closethey were to getting this done, and
(07:55):
it's it's one mistake in the firstleg and it's just borderline in competence on
in the second lake. Because andthis is how we're going to kind of
transition from what this Champions League glossmeans to the rest of the season and
(08:16):
have just this month alone because there'sa three game and eight day stretch coming
up. But you've got to beable to make those adjustments that Jim Curtain
didn't. I understood the Harrial whatchange because you needed to have defensive structure
(08:37):
to at least contain LAFC and makesure they didn't score a second one immediately
after buys I went off, whichI don't have to spend too much time
on this too silly just idiotic plays. And that's why Buysos such a frustrating
character within this Union lineup, becauseyou see the good, but you see
the bad in a span of oneweek in two major games, and it's
(09:00):
just a net neutral at this point. So I mean, what are you
gonna do there that that's that iswhat it is. But we're where Jim
is at and where he's his faultsor as a manager, is he's too
loyal to his guys. And I'veactually think this probably was the most reflective
(09:24):
kind of point Jim Kurt and we'vegotten in a long time, because there
hasn't been much losing, because therehasn't been many opportunities for this to happen.
But this afternoon during his pre matchpress conference for Red Bulls, which
UM, I don't know how muchwe'll get into that match, but UM,
(09:45):
I think this is more a episodeabout the state of the union.
UM to use our favorite pon here. Um, he's very reflective and pointing
about wanting to use more guys,and I don't know if this was if
something he realized after he you know, he took away. He took a
(10:07):
step away from the heat of thebattle on Tuesday night, because you can
get very little from from those pressconference. I know everyone wants those answers
immediately to do the inside baseball thinghere that copycaff runs this thing the Union,
don't. They're calling our reporters whowho shouldn't be asking questions, and
it become it becomes, you know, five generic questions later about l Jim
Curtin feels about LAFC. The pressconference ends and we can't go into detail
(10:30):
about how do you feel about raisingJim Curtin? Right, And it's like
basically like the the first three orfour questions of the press conference to night
or while Jim you lost to LAFCagain hawk Um, the questions were more
eloquent. Obviously that was kind ofjust a bit. So I think today
was actually very informative. Midweek pressconferences outside of injury updates can be very
(10:56):
boring, which is a good thing. But I think in this case,
at least to what I can remember, Jim was very kind of uh,
he did take that step back.I'm playing whether it was you know,
it's a day off to kind ofchill and reset um about using his guys,
about not wearing them into the ground. And you know, part of
(11:16):
this is, yes, the circumstancesare going to force that if Jack mcclenn
and Quinn Selden ninety nine percent offof the U twenty World Cup along with
Brendan Craig. That is nothing new, that's not breaking news. They've been
in that U twenty squad forever.Um and tax the Narran's is most likely
going with him as well as nota Union player but a former union player,
so a lot of representation there,and Jim was very poignant on that
(11:39):
that topic as well today. Butwhat I what I see here is someone
who's acknowledged his his shortcomings now thereare but how do that? How does
that change then? How did he'sSo he's recognized, but what's what are
the changes then that that he couldmake for himself that obviously would write reflect
(12:01):
in the line up. So whatwas I was about to say is there's
let's say ninety five to one hundredpercent of you guys that are listening,
UM are going to say, yeah, right, Jim's said this before,
and we've been through I know,we've been through this sum and dance so
many times them correct, So thiswill this whole thing has been said before.
(12:26):
He's just going to play the onflock ninety minutes. I've already seen
him, I mentions, and look, everyone is completely justified for for that
to be the case, because hedoes have a track record. Now,
it's kind of a actions speak louderthan words type thing. You can say
all you want about not wanting torun your guys into the ground actually using
the depth you have, but itneeds to be done and not just in
(12:48):
an open Cup game. Not justin an open Cup game on Tuesday,
because that's where we'll see it.Like, let's be honest, we'll see
that there. Um So I'd liketo see it. I'd like to see
some variety. I'm not saying drasticallyoverhaul the squad, but maybe there's a
game, maybe say Saturday, becauseJosie Martinez is still on the men from
(13:13):
his hamstring injury. I'm most likelynot playing on Saturday. Jim Curtin didn't
didn't give a timeline, but Iwould maybe say after the Colorado game because
there's a lot of travel involved.You want to make sure he's one hundred
percent, don't want to rush himback, and you have ample central midfielders.
So maybe this is the time wesee Andre's perea. Maybe this is
the time we see ay Sus Buenoor Joaquin Torres and just maybe is switch
(13:39):
things up, make it a littlefresh. However, which way you want
it, I think that's we're notasking for Jim Curtain to drastically overhaul the
squad banks Dag. But what we'reasking for here is to Hey, recognize
that. And I know this isgoing to feed to the twitterati out there,
(14:03):
but um Alhandubadet, Yes, Iget the point that at sixty minutes
he should be the change, notMichael. I get it, And um
I think from a long term thing, I agree with it more than just
a short term in game you know, a game by game basis. I
think from a long term you wantto protect him so that way when we
(14:24):
do get to playoffs an MLS Cupor like even League's Cup, if that
matters to a lot of people,you want him fresh. You want him
fresh for the bigger games and beable to rotate him out because Andre's Perey.
We've been saying, is he thelong term replacement for Doi? Well,
if he is, and he's thattalented, but I'm out there.
(14:45):
Or maybe make yourself a little vulnerableand play walking tours with Daniel Gostag,
you know, or whatever. Maybeor maybe play Jesus put on the sides
of the diamond or to go tothe three, whatever the alteration may be,
we're waiting for that. So Ithink that's the big talking point here,
and I think everyone will kind ofagree with with where we're at is.
(15:07):
You got to give these guys abreak. You traded for these guys,
You spent allocation money on pray andtourists. Specifically, You've developed Bueno,
who it took a huge step forwardin preseason, but we haven't seen
much of since the the Conker CafeChampions League. What the first leg and
in what was a Honduras al Salvador. I can't the country escapes the top
(15:28):
of my head right now, butround the sixteen first leg? Um.
So you want to see these guys, You want to see them developed from.
You want to see a little moreDamian Lowe, who's who's been dealing
with a few knocks here and there, which I get that's that's why he's
not in the field, but youwant to see more of him. Uh.
You know, we already see enoughof Nathan Harrol to to satisfy our
(15:50):
concerns here, but there's got tobe variety all that this tactical flexibility and
depth that was talked about in preseason, and we've seen glimpses of it with
Torres and Pereia, but then we'vekind of reverted back to the old Jim
Curtain and we need to find thebalance. You can still have that in
(16:12):
big games. You can't run theseguys into the ground, especially what this
may they have coming up. Ifthey do that, then yeah, I
think are if they go out thereand lose. But so I understand getting
guys involved, and I think we'vetalked about this a lot Joe before two
is not only tactical flexibility and likelineup changes, but formation changes and trying
(16:37):
different ways. What I mean whatbecause Pereia, you know, Torres all
kind of new, as you justsaid, and I think there are ways
obviously you can plug him in,but always there's not a one to one
plug in. I think that theUnion just have because I think they do
have kind of versatile different players anddifferent skill sets. So how do they
implement this? Does this mean Curtain'sgot to get out of his comforts for
(17:00):
the first time, because we've beentalking about this before and it never got
to the point where I think theyreally had to. I don't know if
it's getting to that point now.But what I mean, what do these
changes look like? What do thehow do they implement what Kurtin is saying,
you know, hey, that's aflaw of mine. I need to
get these guys involved. Just howcan that happen? Oh right, Um,
looks we've we've talked about it fora few different episodes. Here eight,
(17:26):
it's assumed at least that Andres Pereyais a right side of midfielder,
that Um walking tours is a ten, that Jesus Bueno is a six,
could be an eight, So that'sdefined. So the way Jim Curtin's kind
of done it in the past isif the guy in front of the reserve
(17:47):
is playing so well, then it'shard to take that position away from from
Saya Gosdag say, you know lastyear with Leun Flock and Jack McGlinn.
But I think the point that Jimmade in it was it was the Tuesday
or today where the defensive work thatthis team requires from those positions may not
(18:10):
be completely up to par yet withKorea and Taures. And this is because
you have a center of former centerback as your head coach. This is
where the stubbornness comes in a littlebit because Jim wants the defensive structure to
be sound at all times of thegame. And yeah, he never wants
(18:33):
to compromise that, right That's wherethe union you're built on. He doesn't
want to compromise any So if ifJoaquin Torres isn't doing the proper back pressing
or any type of fresher and defensivework with Daniel goazdag Brings, then why
why I start him on a consistentbasis or rotate him. Same with Andres
Perea and the work on the rightside with with al Hentrepredeura and his combination
(18:57):
with the right backs. They haveto be able to feel confident in those
guys, you know. He Ieven asked him today like how confident do
you feel in Hayess Bueno popping inbecause Glenn going to the EU twenty World
Cup and a Latin is very confident. So look, those are the three
guys we're going to point to asas depth. Maybe maybe this this month
(19:22):
coming up with Quinn Suldan being awayfor the U twenty World Cup, opens
up more playing time for walking towhereas not just ten but as as a
Ford. You know, how howdoes that operate? Um? The same
thing with Andre's poya. Does heget maybe a little more run sand the
left instead of the right, oreven at the six or maybe in a
(19:44):
double pivot of some sorts in roadgames? So yeah, well, like
what's the goal of these of thesethree games? So you obviously want to
advance out of UM Minnesota with anOpen Cup victory. So there's there's one
goals three. You don't need toput us through enough crap already, w's
wins. I think the realistic targethere should be, yeah, right,
(20:11):
bare minimum draw at Red Bull andthen get out of Minnesota with a spot
in the round of sixteen, andthen beat Colorado because I think Colorado is
there for the taking. Um.I assume they're going to travel straight from
Minnesota the Colorado because that's what they'vedone in the past. So you can
adjust to the altitude whatever you needto there and then you come home for
(20:33):
I think it's DC in New England. So look, I think that's the
I think that's the way to approachit. I mean, you're you're ten
points back in the league of NewEngland, who's been dealing with injuries Cincinnati
is going to lose Brenner to SarahAtlanta. They're kind of influx here.
(20:56):
Thiago Alado has been hurt. Solike if if we're looking at the Eastern
Conference and kind of breaking it downand removing our ourselves some Champions League now
and looking at the league table,it's gettable. I mean, look at
the teams in front of them.Yes, DC has improved, Orlando's the
middle of the pack team, Columbushasn't completely hit their stride. Nycfcs there,
(21:18):
but they're all kind of bunched togetherand they're only one point beyond Toronto,
which is hilarious to me because howToronto has twelve points is just just
really funny because if you seldom comein here, they were just absolute crap.
So look, everything's there for thetaking this month. I mean,
you have so the full schedule isat Red Bull Saturday, and you have
(21:41):
the Open Cup on Tuesday at Colorado, and then you're home for DC,
New England at NYC at City Fieldand home for Charlotte and then your home
for Montreal as well. To startJune. The opportunity is there. I
mean, we could be sitting hereon June fourth because the Montreal games June
third. We could be sitting hereon June fourth with a completely different perspective
(22:04):
on things like the time is nowto again, Like I said, hit
the hard reset button and really goafter this thing. It may not show
in the two road games, butyou can beat DC at home. You
can beat New England at home.You've done it many times. There's no
longer the bugaboo of not being ableto get points against NYC and baseball stadiums.
(22:29):
And you can beat Charlotte and youcan beat Montreal. So it's there
and I think that's the positive thing. Now how you get there is the
whole fascinating part. Because Jack mglenn and Quinn Sullivan will be off to
the U twenty World Cup. Ibelieve that that cut off data is next
week or the report date is nextweek. It's very soon. And they're
(22:51):
going to Argentina, not Indonesia,so travels a little less rough, at
least on the U twenty squad asa whole. So you're losing your what
you've been using as your third forward, you're losing a starting midfielder. The
good news is the three guys thatwe've talked endlessly about in Bueno, Pereya
(23:11):
and Taures fill those roles. Soyou would think, you would think with
this depth, with this tactical flexibility, all these buzzwords that we've been using
for man how long this season?This second? I mean you right,
(23:32):
So there there's a way where youcan play Kranza, Gozdagg and Tourists together,
or Tauris and Godsdagg together. Maybeyou can give gas Dagga a night
off, no oh, nights offfor God's dag Um. Not that he
needs it, but you know,And the same thing with Damian. Damian
(23:52):
lows gonna get to full fitness.He's been dealing with with little knocks here
and there that's been been keeping himout. So you need him to step
up because he is your depth centerback and you can't run Elliott and Glesness
for all of these games. Yougot to have some variety in some capacity.
So yeah, that's that's that's howit sets up, like it sets
(24:14):
up for the two guys in TourismPrey and then with Bueno, the guy
we've also been waiting to see umthat we want to see on the field,
there's ample opportunity for them to geton the field. All right,
let's get to on the field,and let's get to a game that the
(24:36):
Union, as you just said,bare minimum at least come away with the
draw. How do they match upagainst the Red Bulls who have not done
much lately and have Corey Burke andof Corey Burke scoring said which is weird
because that that's gonna be That's gonnabe really weird to see Corey Burke in
the in the Red Bulls niver judgingbased off of former Union player doing things
(25:00):
to the Union. I mean he'sgonna score like three goals against them?
Yeah, probably. Um, justlet's keep up with a trend, let's
keep happening, right. Well,the Casper Shabelko hasn't done much of them,
I mean well, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, that's fair.
I not say anything bad about Wecan say plenty bad like they they
(25:22):
traded him when the value was remarkablyhigh. Um, so the Red Bulls
man there, they're bad. Imean, look, it's this whole situation.
It was about three weeks ago nowwith Dante von Zier there um their
new offseason forward signing um using theracial remark um in the San Jose game,
(25:45):
getting suspended for way too short ofa time that he should have been
suspended for. Um Gerhard Strouper,the head coach, offered up the equivalent
of a nothing burger when it cameto his response and his statement um to
that incident. And I don't thinkthey've said it publicly, but I wouldn't
(26:07):
be surprised if this is kind ofjust a reaction to everything that's gone on
internally where it's no one's happy,it's not working. I don't know.
I don't know the inner workings ofNew York Red Bulls, but if I
see these results here, a homedraw against Houston, who's improved, but
you could you should still be Houstonat home, and then a road lost
to Montreal, a draw with Chicago, and they've scored three goals in their
(26:32):
last five games. I may I'mgoing to revise my goal here that i'd
set like five minutes ago. Gointo Red Bull and get a win and
show yourself get a win. Iwas a dude. I once you said
that, I'm like, Joe,come on, man, come on like
and it's not you know, ifthey come on with a draw, I
don't think it's it's the worst thingin the world because we're in May and
(26:52):
we know June damage. But like, that's come on, man, let's
let's get this going. You justyou didn't reach a goal, and MLS
league play has not been great.You know, I don't think this is
a wake up call. I thinkthere were multiple wake up calls, but
this is certainly a let's get agoing here. Let's let's finally the effort
in the league play. I knowyou just said Maya is going to be
(27:14):
rough for them, so I dounderstand that, but I mean, let's
let's get this going finally, Like, let's this is a winnable game,
take a road win, get thethree points, and get this back on
track. This is the perfect opportunityto say, and we say, I
think we've said this cliche countless timesover the years. This is where you
take your frustration out and actually dothat, take your frustration out from the
(27:38):
LAFC games and really just humble theRed Bulls. I think Jim's gonna start
the majority of the starting eleven androtate for Open Cup. I don't even
want to go that far. Idon't even want to go stop of the
Red Bulls come away with the winif it has to be grinded out good.
But like we're getting to that pointwhere they're they're not even able to
(28:00):
grind out wins right now. Ifit has to be the ugly ass one
nothing Union win, I'm fine withit. Just show us something, get
that win, get it like,just get that done, get that result.
That okay? That maybe how youfeel, But is that that's not
how everybody else feels, or maybeeven the Union. I don't even know
that's how If that that's how theUnion would feel, I think Jim Curtin
(28:22):
would be more than comfortable with aone nothing victory because that's just the way
he he does things. But man, I don't know. I I don't
know if one nothing is is sufficientenough here. I may be completely completely
off base with with where I'm whatI'm saying here, And a win is
(28:47):
a win is a win at thispoint. But I would love to see
the Union just destroy the Red Bulls. Yes, it still is a rivalry
game. Even though the Red Bullshave taken a back seat to NYC and
LAFC on the rivalry power rankings,it's still the Red Bulls and you would
(29:08):
still love to pummel them in frontof a half full stadium if that,
whatever, whatever their tendencies these days, you would love that. I think
the fan base book about that,and it goes in line with the hard
reset that I've been talking about.Look, I'm sure after the fact,
(29:30):
if they win one nothing limit thechances have a well worked goal and get
three points. I'm sure the teamwill take that, and a lot of
people will take that. But there'sa lot of people out there, myself
included, that just want to seethem erase everything about Champions League now.
Leave any lingering doubt not that thatlass affect them in any way possible,
(29:55):
and go after it beyond the RedBulls from the start, similar to the
Toronto game, and just go afterthem and pumble them, put three four
goals on them, and make astatement. Go out and make a statement
to the rest of the league thatyeah, you're lost to LAFC. There's
one loss. It's it's done andover without there's nothing you can do about
it. Go out, pumble yourarrival. You know, maybe Major League
(30:18):
Soccer Soccer dot Com will right anice headline piece about you, because they
haven't yet this year. Do it. Just go out and be the old
version of the Union that that wecame to know and love last year.
Put put four, hell, putfive past the Red Bulls. It's doable.
Just go out and be yourselves,play loose, play to have some
(30:38):
fun and be the ever living snotout of the New York Red Bulls.
Do you think they do that?I had like a sixty percent chance,
the sixty percent confidence level here withthat. I know I said that with
a ton of condiction, but Ithink sixty percent chance believe they do that
because the second you said one nothing, like, Man, I know exactly
(31:00):
what we're going for here. Ithink they from Morale's sake, a win
is a win is a win.But god, it would be so nice
to see them win three four nothing, just to be like this is the
Union that you remember. It'd benice to see that. But I don't
(31:22):
know by and now I feel likeI'm the one that's a little optimistic.
I would say to them, Iam my results shaming you. John,
You I think you are results shamingme because I just want the win.
It's it's may you know. Iwant the Union playing their best in July
like we saw last year. OnceI get to the July and if they're
still you know, just squeaking bywins, then I'd be like, yo,
what the hell is going on here? Um? But I think that's
(31:45):
when hey pile up the five nothingwins, six nothing wins, but get
seven nothing wins for all I care, you know, pile those up then
just right now, just I wantresults. That's all I do is just
want get me results. Get threepoints where you should be getting it,
and then I think that kind ofstatements like they were talking about. I
(32:06):
remember the Union loss to Miami earlyon, and they're like a statement win
from Miami. If your statement winis in like April or March, I
don't want that. I want statementsin July and August when we start getting
to a we're getting ready for playoffsand MLS Cup. I don't need statements
now. I just need wins.And I think that is the bare minimum
for me. At least. You'retaking it a step further than me,
(32:28):
which I was not expecting you todo. Yeah, I know, I
know. I feel like we're switchingswitching roles here and I just wasn't ready
for that. But maybe you areright that it's just it's needed more for
It's not like, you know,get five nothing and then Union or right
back where they were. But it'sat least a statement for themselves. I
think it just a confidence to remindthemselves of, hey, this is what
(32:52):
you were, this is what youstill can be, and just prove it
to yourselves. I think we're bothI think we're both in agree. Meant
that a clean sheet is like therequirement here, the clean sheet for sure,
it needs to be which they whichthey To their credit, they've been
trending in the right direction with thatand Toronto was a no show, but
it played really well against LAFC.For it's at least eighty percent of those
(33:17):
two games. I'd probably bump itup to eighty five or ninety. And
they played that well for that longagainst the league's best attack. So that
translates to Red Bulls Minnesota, Colorado. Um, they may just win these
games one nothing because the defense isso good. Um. But to me,
(33:37):
I think it's just a you haveto wash away Champions League, And
I think that the stink of ChampionsLeague ends up lingering if you win one
nothing and chances go by the wayside, and you know, some of the
old habits from earlier in the season, like I want to see any close
(34:00):
to an exact replica of the Torontogame. Well that is it for the
Union Soccer Podcast again. Subscribe,but wherever you get your podcasts, just
search up the Union Soccer Podcast AppleStore, Google play Store, wherever you
get your podcasts, you can getit and find us right there. And
that's Joe Tanzy at Jay Tanzy ninety. Subscribe to the Union Soccer Blog Union
(34:22):
Soccer Blog dot substack dot com andalso follow Joe again at j Tanzy ninety
me John Jansen at j Jansen thirtyfour. We'll be back with more Union
Soccer next week on the Union SoccerPodcast
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