Bradley Carnell says 'sometimes, the moment gets to' his Union players, and he wants to fix it

As dispiriting as the Union’s loss to New York City FC on Sunday was, something manager Bradley Carnell said afterward felt just as significant.

“We know we’re not quite where we need to be, and that’s totally understandable, but it’s no excuses either,” he said. “Obviously, the team’s not happy, and a lot of it is self-inflicted over the last two weeks, if you look at that — two red cards in two games. And this is something [where] when one guy’s disconnected, or when one red card happens, then we’ve created a mountain [for] ourselves to climb.”

He then added a believe that “we have a young, hungry, squad, and sometimes the moment gets to us a little bit. And this we have to learn, we have to grow [from], and we have to have these experiences.”

With no midweek game this week, Carnell had time to address that, and he said during his meeting with media on Thursday that he did so.

“We’ve expected more out of ourselves in terms of being sharp, mentally and cognitively,” he said in a news conference ahead of Saturday’s game against the San Jose Earthquakes at Subaru Park (7:30 p.m., Apple TV). “Just thinking about an ‘if’ moment or a follow-on from a set piece or a follow-on from an attacking sequence.”

There was some good news, as new left back Philippe Ndinga arrived in Chester. But he isn’t ready to play yet, and Carnell signaled it might be a few more days.

“He’s raring to go, but there’s a bit of paperwork to get through, a bit of medical stuff to get through,” Carnell said. “Push comes to shove, we can get him squad-ready, potentially. But I don’t want to just make a claim like that just yet.”

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So for now, the Union are going to have to sort things out with what they have. After hosting the Earthquakes on Saturday, Mexican power Club América will come to town Tuesday to start the Concacaf Champions Cup’s round of 16.

One step can come at the attacking end of the field. Carnell said he counted 20 instances in just Sunday’s first half “where we had a positive transition moment, where we turned over the ball and started a sequence in an overload [man advantage], and we don’t come to fruition [with] that.”

The other can come anywhere, but it starts in the head.

“Self-inflicted red cards, I would say, this is not the way that it should be done,” Carnell said. “Very cheap ways to let your teammates down, and, you know, I think [Olwethu] Makhanya’s learned a good lesson, I think ‘Eze’ [Alladoh]’s learned his lesson, and we can continue to grow as a team.”

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When former Union striker Julián Carranza joined Mexican club Necaxa in January, it felt inevitable that his new and old teams would cross paths. Right on cue, it will happen this summer.

Necaxa is one of three teams the Union will face in the group stage of the Leagues Cup, the annual tournament pitting MLS squads against those from Mexico’s Liga MX. The game is Sunday, Aug. 9 at Subaru Park.

The Union dealt Carranza to Dutch club Feyenoord in July 2024, as he wanted to raise his stock for Argentina’s World Cup team. But it didn’t work out for him, as he scored just five goals in 30 games.

Then he went on loan to English second-division club Leicester City, and that was even worse: zero goals in nine games, and a lot of time on the bench. Necaxa offered around $4 million to bring him to Mexico, and Feyenoord accepted. Carranza has three goals in six games there so far.

The reunion will be the Union’s second contest of the group stage. All three group games will be against Mexican opponents, and all will be at Subaru Park. The opener will be against traditional power Cruz Azul on Thursday, Aug. 6, and the finale will be Thursday, Aug. 13, against Santos Laguna.

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Leagues Cup groups are set based on a combined table of the 18 MLS teams that qualify (the 18 that make the playoffs) and the 18 teams of Mexico’s Liga MX. They are ranked by last year’s regular-season standings, then split in half based on geography.

From there, each mixed pot of 18 teams is ranked again, then split into three groups of six. Each group has one MLS team and one Mexican team from the top third, one each from the middle third, and one each from the bottom third. Each team then plays three games, all against teams from the other country. (The other MLS teams in the Union’s group are Chicago and NYCFC.)

Yes, this is complex, but we’re almost done. Tournament results are counted in one big table, similar to Europe’s Champions League. The top four MLS teams and the top four Mexican teams advance to the quarterfinals.

The point of it is to have as many MLS vs. Liga MX games as possible, since they’re more interesting than matchups of teams within each league.

For all the technicalities, the big prize at the end is clear. The top three finishers qualify for next year’s Concacaf Champions Cup, with the winner earning a bye into the round of 16.