Skip to content
Sports

New roster but same old Union

    by John Smallwood
    Published 
Maybe I’m just caught up in the negative vibe around all the teams in this city, but watching the Philadelphia Union in their Major League Soccer opening game was déjà vu all over again, all over again and all over again.
It wasn’t just that the Union lost 2-0 on Sunday at FC Dallas. It was that they looked the same as they have pretty much looked for most of their first six seasons of existence – mistake-prone, non-creative, and not dangerous.
I know it was the first game.
I know the Union has undergone a dramatic roster turnover since last season.
I know it’s only fair to give it a bit of time for things to come together.
FC Dallas finished tied with the most points in 2015 and is one of the favorites to win the 2016 MLS Cup. The Union losing to them at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, was not a surprise.
Again, however, it was not the loss but the quality of the loss that bothered me.
The Union defenders looked disturbingly slow, the midfield did a poor job of holding possession, and the offense, well, were there any offensive players out on the pitch?
It must be noted that the Union was without projected starting midfielders Maurice Edu and Tranquillo Barnetta, which presumably would have helped things.
The only bright spot was the play of goalkeeper Andre Blake, and that wasn’t really a team bright spot because if your keeper has to perform like Blake (8 saves) did to keep you from surrendering four or five goals, you had some serious issues over 90 minutes.
It’s kind of damning when Union coach Jim Curtin has to admit that “(Blake) bailed us out a lot,” and we “hung him out to dry far too much.”
The Union is 1-4-2 all-time in season openers. The only time the ZOLOs have made the playoffs was in 2011, when they beat Houston 1-0 in their opener.
I know that the transformation of the Union from the visions of former CEO Nick Sakiewicz into those of new sporting director Earnie Stewart is a process that won’t be completed overnight.
I know it was the first game.
I know the Union has undergone a dramatic roster turnover since last season.
I know it’s only fair to give it a bit of time for things to come together.
Frankly, I don’t know for sure what I wanted to see from the Union in the opener on Sunday.
I just know it wasn’t what I saw because that was the same thing we’ve seen from the Union before and before that and before that. ​
    JS
    John Smallwood
Join The Conversation
Community Guidelines