Jim Curtin faces up to his toughest test yet with the Union

Both literally and figuratively, interim Union manager Jim Curtin is in familiar territory right now.

Since taking the helm three months ago, the Oreland, Pa., native has steered his hometown club into the U.S. Open Cup final and the thick of the MLS playoff race. The Union have lost just one of Curtin's 10 league games in charge, and his only other defeat was in a meaningless friendly against Crystal Palace.

Curtin's success has come amid a near-constant swirl of rumors about whether he might eventually have the interim tag removed. Union CEO Nick Sakiewicz has repeatedly shot down reports that the club has already decided to give former Fulham manager and Manchester United assistant Rene Meulensteen the job.

Throughout this summer's maelstrom, Curtin has done his best to be as steady a manager as he was a player. In nine seasons with the Chicago Fire and Chivas USA, he only missed the MLS Cup playoffs once, and his Fire teams won the Open Cup in 2003 and 2006.

Now he faces his toughest test, with three huge games in an eight-day span. The Union will host the New York Red Bulls on Saturday, the Seattle Sounders on Tuesday, and the Houston Dynamo four days after that. In order: an arch-rival, a cup final and one of the most difficult teams to beat in September and October that Major League Soccer has ever known.

The sailing may not be smooth, but Curtin seems as ready as he can be. It helps that his team is in good health and high spirits, and is playing some of the best soccer that PPL Park has ever seen. He also seems to have won over the Union's fan base, even if he hasn't fully won over the front office yet.

It is in this context that I spoke exclusively with Curtin on Thursday. With his trademark honesty and candor, Curtin held forth in a lengthy conversation about how he's preparing for what's to come.

We started by looking back at that 2003 Open Cup final, which remains one of the most memorable in the tournament's modern era. On a frigid night at the old Meadowlands, the Fire eked out a 1-0 win over the New York/New Jersey MetroStars. Damani Ralph - known to Union fans as the agent who brought Brian Brown to PPL Park - scored the goal.

"Finals sometimes aren't the prettiest," Curtin told me. "There was a long feeling-out period of a lot of balls that were just kicked long, and I remember Evan Whitfield, our outside midfielder, getting in behind and playing the ball to Damani Ralph, and him finishing it off, and us kind of bunkering in and holding on for a 1-0 victory. It was a tough game, a hard-fought game, and any time you get to lift a trophy it is very special, with a group of guys that put a lot into it."

Within the crowd of just over 5,000 fans was the man who is now Curtin's boss. Sakiewicz was the MetroStars' president from 2000 through 2005. That Open Cup final was as close as the club came in his tenure to winning its first ever trophy.

I could not help asking Curtin whether he and Sakiewicz have done any reminiscing lately about that night.

"It's come up for sure," Curtin said - though he soon added that he's "smart enough to not joke about it too much, because it hurt Nick a lot."

Curtin acknowledged that the MetroStars were the better team for much of that season and much of that night. But few people remember that now.

"[Nick] talks about how we stole that one from him, and I'd agree - they had the better chances, they had the better team that year," Curtin said. "But any time you're on the road, you're kind of looking to smash and grab. It's a lot harder to win a final on the road, for sure, so we did bunker in after we got our goal and held on."

That prompted me to ask Curtin which team he thinks is the favorite this year. He has no doubts about his answer. Seattle, in his estimation, is "the best team in MLS."

"They're the favorite," he said, and he was just as unequivocal about why.

"Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins are the top two strikers in the league - they're the hardest two to shut down and the hardest two to contain right now," Curtin said. "It's the most dynamic attack there is, they're sound defensively [and] they have a great coach in Sigi Schmid."

The last of those three points is is especially worth highlighting. Schmid's 200 league wins are the most in MLS history by far, and he has two MLS Cups and four U.S. Open Cups on his résumé.

Curtin freely admitted that Schmid is "a guy that I look up to as a young coach, and a guy who I can learn a lot from." Though the two men have never been on the same team, they have crossed paths more than enough times to know each other well by now.

After casting Seattle as the favorite, Curtin added that the Union are happy to embrace the underdog label.

"We respect every team in the league, but we don't fear anyone," he said.

How can Curtin transfer the champion's mentality that defined his career to the men he now manages? It helps to have players in the locker room who have also been there before. Brian Carroll, Conor Casey and Sébastien Le Toux have all won either the Open Cup or MLS Cup. Maurice Edu brings a wealth of experience at clubs across Europe, and has represented his country on the sport's biggest stages.

"It's a tough thing to pass down for our young guys who haven't won trophies," Curtin said. "There is no way to really re-create that feeling after a game. You do your best to pass down the significance of it, and the fact that finals are crazy."

Curtin added that he "will call upon those guys to calm the nerves of the guys that maybe a little jumpy at the start of the game - whether it's a little conversation before they go out to warm up, whatever it might be."

And he admitted that "if you're not nervous before a final, you're a liar, because everybody's nervous and feeling some kind of emotion before a big game."

Curtin cited two particular aspects of playing in finals: "they fly by once that opening whistle goes" and "there's a high level of accountability that goes on."

To illustrate that point, he recalled the 2003 MLS Cup Final. Chicago headed out to the Home Depot Center to face the San Jose Earthquakes having already won the Open Cup and the Supporters' Shield. But within five minutes of the kickoff, Ronnie Ekelund smashed a free kick past Zach Thornton, and the Fire were down a goal.

"It kind of shocked us," Curtin said. "We never really recovered, and were chasing it the whole game. Little lessons like that."

Curtin had to wait three years before making another final. He knows he was fortunate to even have the chance.

"They're special, because you never know when you'll get back," he said. "You can say, 'Ah, I'm a young player and I'll be back in a final,' but eight to 10 years can go by where you don't get another opportunity. So savor the moment, and recognize that it is special."

Curtin gladly joins the chorus of those who consider this year's Open Cup final to be the biggest game in Union history. But he also hopes to temper his team's emotions as the big night draws near.

"It is still just soccer," he said. "It's a game that they know very well, so it's trying to find that balance of the importance of the moment, but to also reflect on the fact that they've been playing a lot of good games right now, and to just do more of the same."

Having the next three games at home is certain to help in that effort - and it will be especially true on Tuesday.

"Seattle has to come a long way to play us, and they play Saturday too," he said. "No MLS teams are deep enough to play two completely different teams, and they're still in the fight for the Supporters' Shield. They'll field a good team Saturday, as will I, because they're critical games in the regular season."

It is not lost on anyone in MLS that even though the Sounders are among the wealthiest and best-supported teams in the nation, they have yet to win the league championship. Still, they are known as a successful team both on and off the field.

Among the major factors in that perception is the club's three-peat of Open Cup triumphs from 2009 through 2011. Those were the club's first three seasons in MLS. The trophies helped to lay foundation for the team's continued success.

The Union are now in their fifth year of existence, and they have yet to win a trophy of any kind. This year's Open Cup final represents not only a chance to end that drought, but also a chance to start building a foundation of their own.

"You have to start somewhere, you have to get your first trophy, and I think that the respect falls in after that," Curtin said. "It's going to be our first step toward taking the training wheels off this thing and really getting going."

Curtin's remarks last month about how the Union will lack an identity until they win a trophy continue to resonate with the fan base.

I asked him Thursday to elaborate on that philosophy, and how he came to believe in it. He noted the particular influence of two of his former coaches in Chicago, Bob Bradley and Dave Sarachan. Both men come from Bruce Arena's coaching tree, which has roots spread across MLS and the U.S. national team program.

"I had good mentors," Curtin said. "Those coaches are big influences on what I believe in and the way I see a club being built. We're trying to build a club, not just a team - we're trying to get this whole thing right so that we're good for many years, not just as a one-off and then we break the whole thing up."

If Curtin can achieve that goal, it will help the Union as much locally as it does nationally. That may seem like an inversion of the conventional wisdom when it comes to soccer's growth in America, but the Union still have yet to truly establish a firm foothold in the Philadelphia sports market.

Consider the fact that as of Wednesday, the Union had only sold 12,000 tickets for the Open Cup final. It hasn't helped that the game is not included in season ticket packages, so the team has had to start its sales job from scratch. Still, here's a chance to see a Philadelphia team win a championship, and very few people in the region are talking about it.

"We have such die-hard fan bases for our four major sports that it's tough to crack into, and it will be for a little while " said Curtin, who very much counts himself as a member of those fan bases. "Obviously, winning a trophy brings some recognition and relevance, but we really want that long-term recognition. We don't just want that little blitz because we won our first trophy - we would get some attention and then it would go away."

Curtin has been successful enough so far that many observers have started to wonder aloud whether he might just be the best person to help the Union reach that level. It likely would not hurt the Union's attempts to become a bigger deal on the local landscape if a local native was to lift the team's first trophy.

The questions about Curtin's future have been relentless and unavoidable, he has done his best to separate the future from the present. He did so again Thursday in his weekly press conference, with eloquent remarks on how he has handled the matter in the locker room.

"The communication and dialogue has been open with Nick and I," Curtin said. He added that he's told by the Union's brass that "there's going to be a long-term commitment to myself and the current staff, so that is reassuring to have that in the back of your head, that it is something that is real and out there."

But for as much as Curtin tries to insist that the spotlight shouldn't be on him, it is. All he can do is try to not be blinded by it.

"I'd be a hypocrite if I started doing the self-promoting thing," he said. "I'm getting a lot of information from different people that I should be doing more of it, but I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to be a hypocrite and walk into the locker room and tell my guys to do our talking on the field, and then sit up here when I have a microphone and say that I'm the best."

How often in your life have you heard a coach say something like that, no matter the sport? I doubt you'll come up with many examples. Curtin is not one for coach-speak or clichés. He's plenty familiar with the phrase "time's yours," but as he told me in our interview, the way he presents himself is the only way he knows how to be.

"I guess it's just who I am" Curtin said. "I'm not going to change for anyone - I don't really do things by the book or in any special way that people tell me to. I'm kind of my own person, and I've kind of kept it that way."

He did admit to me, though, that it has been difficult to hear all the speculation of recent days.

"I'm not going to lie - there's a lot of moving parts going on right now, and a lot of things going on outside, but we've done a good job of controlling things in the locker room," he said. "I'm not going to talk negatively about any of the other candidates, I'm just going to keep carrying on and doing our talking on the field. The advantage that I have right now is that every Saturday, I put a team on the field, and that's kind of my interview, I guess you could say."

Curtin reiterated that he has "been assured that we're going to be around for the long haul in some capacity that we'll figure out. But he also admitted, "I don't know exactly what that is, it's for them to decide."

That was as close as he came in our entire conversation to admitting any kind of real worry.

Were it up to Union fans, Curtin might have less to worry about. They have taken to a person who sees himself as "a pretty down-to-earth, normal Philly guy," and he has taken notice of their support.

"It means everything - you play this game and you coach this game for the fans," he told me. "With the Open Cup final, I feel more responsibility to get this for the fans than anything else... I don't want to let down the city."

Curtin also has gotten help from his players. They have, as he put it, done "a great job of keeping things in-house."

More important than that, though, is how the players have backed Curtin on the field. They have played soccer that been both attractive and successful. One of the most important contributors has been midfielder Cristian Maidana, who has shown the full array of his talents since Curtin moved him from the left wing to the center of the park.

"He's the guy that can make the final pass and can get you a goal," Curtin said. "I hate to say it, but he's what the American soccer is lacking - that vision, that creativity. We have had some come through the system, but Maidana's a special player."

Curtin also highlighted Maidana's fitness level since his return from injury a few weeks ago.

"He's in very good form right now, " Curtin said. "He's really fit, and I'm proudest of his work rate defensively - if you watched him tracking [Toronto's] Michael Bradley, he really put a lot into that."

The remark on Maidana's work rate might raise a flag for Union fans who remember John Hackworth's harsh criticism of Maidana's off-the-field habits early in the season.

I raised that point to Curtin, and he said that Maidana really has changed his ways.

"There were maybe days early on where he would tire quickly, and that would be it," Curtin said. "Right now he's doing a lot in the weight room, he's doing a lot after [training] fitness-wise. He's always had the soccer and he's always going to have that, but he's gotten through some injuries and things like that."

With Maidana and the rest of the Union at full health, and with Curtin's inspiration from the bench, it's hard to not wonder just what it would be like to see the Union lift the Open Cup on Tuesday. In addition to giving the club its first ever trophy, it would open a door to the CONCACAF Champions League.

"It would be huge for the fan base to have a competition [where they'd] see us play internationally," Curtin said. "It's difficult to go to Portland, it's difficult to go to Seattle, but going to Guatemala on a Wednesday night - where they're throwing bags of urine at you as you're coming out of the tunnel - is something that makes you grow up fast as a player."

Curtin has been there, too. He was part of Fire teams that reached the quarterfinals of the old CONCACAF Champions Cup in 2002 - with a trip to Guatemala along the way. Two years later, Chicago reached the semifinals.

The CONCACAF Champions League does not enjoy the glamour of its European and South American counterparts, but it is gaining respect. Having games in a media market as big as Philadelphia would help continue the trend.

"When I was in Chicago, I think a lot of players didn't even know what the heck it was," Curtin said. "It's a prestigious competition, one that's growing and one that we'd love to be a part of."

It's also no secret that MLS teams in the Champions League get more allocation money and other resources. No team from the United States has won CONCACAF's biggest club tournament since the Los Angeles Galaxy did so in 2000, under a format that predates the current Champions League.

With a big-money new TV deal and a new collective bargaining agreement to come next year, American teams in the competition will have more resources than ever as they try to end the drought.

"Timing-wise it's perfect," Curtin said, "I don't know how the CBA is going to shake out, but it's not going to be less money that you're giving to players. The salary cap will go up, there's no question about that... and hopefully a significant amount."

Such an increase in the cap - perhaps to $5 million or $6 million a year from the current $3.1 million - would help the Union to not only bring in big stars, but also to improve their depth.

If Curtin can deliver the Open Cup and a playoff berth, Union fans will likely call for him to be given the privilege of leading the team into that new era.

And even though Sakiewicz has said that no decision has been made yet on Curtin's future, there clearly remains the possibility that achieving those two feats still won't be enough.

For now, all Curtin can do is try to keep the Union's run of success going. The rest, as he has admitted, is beyond his control.