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Union aim to shake off Champions League hangover on visit to Chicago Fire

As well as the Union have played in the CCL, they’re 0-2-1 in MLS regular-season play this year. It’s time to fix that.

Cory Burke (right) traps a ball against New York City FC in the Union's loss at Subaru Park last Saturday.
Cory Burke (right) traps a ball against New York City FC in the Union's loss at Subaru Park last Saturday.Read moreCHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

It’s easy to get caught daydreaming about what it will be like when the Union face Club América in the Concacaf Champions League semifinals later this year.

Sometime in mid-September, the team that’s Mexican soccer’s equivalent of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys and MLB’s New York Yankees – the biggest team in North America, really, not just in its own country – will come to Subaru Park. It will be a spectacle unlike any the Union have ever seen.

Before then, in early August, the Union will take their first trip to Mexico City’s legendary Estadio Azteca, a colossal soccer temple that is one of just two venues on the planet to have hosted two men’s World Cup finals (1970 and 1986). The venue’s towering stands, 87,000-seat capacity and 7,200-foot altitude create an atmosphere with few equals. It will be a lifetime memory for the Union’s players, especially their young academy products.

OK, now snap out of it, not least because the Union have to. For as well as they’ve played in the CCL, they’re 0-1-2 in MLS regular-season play this year. It’s time to fix that, starting with Saturday’s visit to the struggling Chicago Fire (1 p.m., 6ABC). The Fire also are 0-1-2 to start the season but had nothing to distract them.

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“I think we’ve had good performances in the league but performances that haven’t gotten the results that we wanted,” Union manager Jim Curtin said. “We have to change that now and find ways to pick up points on a busy stretch here.”

It’s no shame to have a Champions League hangover. Plenty of MLS teams have suffered from it over the years because the league’s limited roster sizes mean teams don’t have the depth to play well in two competitions at once. But the accounting for it does have to come at some point, and that point is now for the Union.

“It’s no secret, over the years now, it’s shown this competition is great to be a part of. But it does take its toll on the clubs that are involved. There’s no two ways about that,” Curtin said. “There is a mental rest and relief that we’ve moved on in the Champions League, which was a very tough and daunting task. ... But now we have to pick up points [and] again put together as fresh a group as we can have in Chicago without sacrificing getting a result.”

That group will not include José Andrés Martínez, who’s suspended due to the red card he received for elbowing New York City FC’s Valentín Castellanos in the head last Saturday. To no one’s surprise (including the Union’s), on Friday MLS suspended Martínez for two additional games.

“Ernst [Tanner] and I have spoken with him about eliminating that part of things from his game while still being an aggressive physical ball winner, finding that balance,” Curtin said. “We have to have a plan in place to play without him for a few games here and deal with the consequences because there’s no excuse for it.”