For Jim Curtin it’s ‘a heartbreaking loss,’ but he appreciates the Union’s all-time effort

LOS ANGELES — Jim Curtin tried to come up with the right words, and it took a while.

The Union’s manager has coached squads that lost three U.S. Open Cup finals, and also won the first trophy and reached the first championship game in team history.

He even knows about John McCarthy’s history with penalty-kick shootouts, having sent the Northeast Philly native into the Union’s net specifically for that reason in the 2015 Open Cup final.

And as a player, he was on the losing end of the last MLS title game to have both No. 1 seeds, 19 years ago.

So, how on Earth to sum up everything that happened in what surely goes down as the greatest MLS Cup final ever?

“Obviously, we did everything in our power and pushed as hard as we could, but it wasn’t meant to be today,” he said. “I’m gutted for our players; they obviously give everything for the badge and for the club and for the city. But, you know, kind of at a loss for words, because this is a heartbreaking loss, no question.”

» READ MORE: Union lose MLS Cup final heartbreaker to LAFC in penalty kick shootout after 3-3 tie

If it was the first time you watched a Union game and they choked, it was nothing of the sort. Yes, they blew a lead, but they only got it because they came back from 1-0 and 2-1 down to take a 3-2 lead in the 120th minute.

And the last two goals came from centerback Jack Elliott, one of the Union’s longest-tenured players and perennially one of the team’s most underappreciated players. Yes, Elliott got beat by Gareth Bale for LAFC’s 128th-minute equalizer to send the game to penalty kicks, but the big Scot has long deserved the kind of good headlines he earned Saturday.

Even the Union’s own staff didn’t nominate him for MLS Defender of the Year. Each team can put up only two candidates, and the Union chose Jakob Glesnes over Elliott to go with Kai Wagner. Nor did he make a MLS team of the season that had four Union players: Glesnes, Wagner, Andre Blake, and Dániel Gazdag.

“He got overlooked quite a bit,” Curtin said. “An incredible final from Jack.”

When it came to Curtin’s message for his players, he knew the locker room would be near-silent when he arrived.

“There’s not much you can say in a game like that where guys give everything for 130 minutes and penalty kicks,” he told the media.

But Curtin knew what to tell the Union’s bench after Maxime Crépeau had to leave the game with a red card and an injury in the 117th minute. Here came McCarthy, a North Catholic and La Salle grad, out to spoil the day for a Bishop McDevitt and Villanova alum.

“The soccer gods have a funny way of working,” Curtin said. “As soon as the injury happened, I started to half-joke with my staff that I can’t believe Johnny’s going to be in there, and this is probably going to go to PKs or something.”

» READ MORE: Another Philly team, this time the Union, loses to another Philly expatriate

At one point, Curtin started to say he would sit down and watch the tape of the game to study it.

“But I don’t know if you re-watch that one,” he lamented. “I think I lived through the 130 minutes and aged probably five, six years. It’s a great game, and unfortunate that we came out on the wrong end.”

From there, Curtin tried to be positive. He knows how amazing this season was, and that it took every ounce and more of what this team had in it.

Whether or not he ends up watching that tape, there’s no doubt that the Union could fly home with their heads held high.

“It’s hard, man, right now. It’s really difficult,” Curtin said. “I feel terrible for the players, because they put so much into the season, into the game, and they’re hurting right now, and that’s natural and normal.

“We’ll try to have a beer or two tonight, and then have some kind of way to put a smile on each other’s face, because they did accomplish something pretty amazing this year.”

» READ MORE: Jim Curtin knew the Union could be good this year. He didn’t think they’d be this good.