Philadelphia Union to host Swansea on Saturday in friendly
The international friendly will take place at 7 p.m. Saturday at Talen Energy Stadium.
The Union will host Swansea FC, a Welsh club from the Premier League, in an international friendly Saturday. The game fills the space of the MLS midseason break, providing strong competition for the club following a short rest after the Sporting KC game on July 6.
For head coach Jim Curtin, the annual international friendly is an opportunity to look ahead and size up his team's future. The game gives Curtin a chance to experiment with under-utilized and younger players, giving first caps to Bethlehem players. Last year's friendly against Crystal Palace marked the debut of Derrick Jones, a staple of this season's midfield.
Curtin predicted that few if any players will spend a full 90 minutes on the field on Saturday to spread playing time. This effort will be aided by the absence of midfielders Chris Pontius and Alejandro Bedoya, along with goalkeeper Andre Blake, who continue to compete in the Gold Cup with their national teams.
The friendly comes after the team was given three days of rest following the 1-1 tie at Sporting KC last Thursday. Coming out of this break, Curtin believes the game will offer a difficult yet low pressure match for the team to ease back into MLS play.
Swansea FC was the first Welsh team to join the Premier League and finished last season ranked 15th overall in league play. Facing an opponent from the Premier League will provide the team with a distinct type of competition, Curtin said, offering different challenges than an MLS opponent.
"To test themselves against these guys is a big opportunity for them," Curtin said. "You always want to test yourselves against the best."
Without the pressure of league rankings or scrapping for points, the game against Swansea will instead give Curtin a chance to look at the depth of his personnel, including players from Bethlehem. One up-and-comer who might see action on Saturday is midfielder Anthony Fontana, who saw five games with Bethlehem FC this year as a 17-year-old high school junior.
An aggressive, relentless attacker, Fontana came up through the YSC Academy and trained with the Union in the preseason. Curtin hinted that the young player might see minutes in a Union jersey soon.
"He's a young kid that fits the mold of what we want a Philadelphia Union player to look like," Curtin said. "He's a guy that does a lot of things right, does a lot of simple things with high intensity and certainly is a guy we've talked about being in and around the first team a lot."
With a mid-season pause, the two-week gap between MLS games has given Curtin the opportunity to analyze what his team must improve to make a shot at the playoffs. The Union maintains a positive goal differential and rests only five points below Columbus Crew, the lowest team above the red line.
To find success in the second half of the season, Curtin believes the team must create a higher volume of offensive chances and shots on goal. But he feels that the club's defense-oriented approach is beginning to click, with the club going 6-3-1 in its last 10 games.
"When our guys step on the field, they want to show that they belong," Curtin said. "The margins in soccer aren't as far off people think."
Game preview
Records: Union (6-5-7); Swansea (12-21-5, finished 15th in English Premier League at end of 2016-2017 season)
Coaches: Swansea, Paul Clement (8-9-2); Union, Jim Curtin (34-45-26).
Union at home: 5-3-2
Swansea on the road: 4-13-2
Last game: Swansea fell 1-0 in a friendly on the road at Barnet on July 12. The Union tied Sporting KC 1-1 in a challenging road game in Kansas City on July 6.
About the Union: Midfielders Alejandro Bedoya and Chris Pontius and goalkeeper Andre Blake will miss the game due to national team duties for the Gold Cup … Fabian Herbers is questionable with an abdominal injury and received an MRI on Wednesday… Curtin said that Saturday's game will be an opportunity for younger or less-used players to see minutes, and said that few, if any, players will play a full 90 minutes.
About Swansea: The club finished 15th in the Premier League at the end of the 2016-2017 season… Saturday's game is the first in a tour of American club teams, with matches against Richmond, North Carolina and Birmingham scheduled for July.