The injury bug has bitten the Union early in the season

There shouldn’t be too much to worry about at Subaru Park on Thursday in a Concacaf Champions Cup game against Defence Force FC of Trinidad (7 p.m., FS1, TUDN), with the Union bringing a 5-0 aggregate lead into the second leg. But that doesn’t mean all is well.

Outside back Frankie Westfield, centerback Finn Sundstrom, and forward Agustín Anello are dealing with minor injuries at the moment. Westfield is the biggest concern, both because of how his absence impacts the starting lineup and because it’s a hamstring tweak.

“Frankie’s still working on the side, getting closer to the team day by day, and I think that’s his status: day by day,” manager Bradley Carnell said Wednesday. “It’s pretty much all day-to-day stuff [with the trio], and hope to have them back pretty soon.”

Although the Union have a commanding lead in the series, Carnell isn’t taking this game lightly, especially after a loss Saturday at D.C. United in the MLS opener. Another game also quickly follows this one, against rival New York City FC at Subaru Park on Sunday (4:30 p.m., Apple TV.)

“Tomorrow’s halftime of the series, and we have to be fully focused,” he said. “We have a lot of things that we need to work on, and we have a lot of things that we are still not really happy with right now, with our own performance and putting things in our own control. … Regardless of opponent now, we have to take the baton in the hand and really focus on ourselves right now.”

Milan Iloski, who sat next to Carnell on the podium, concurred.

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“I think we’re never going to be where we want to be,” Iloski said. “We’re always going to be chasing perfection, but soccer’s a game where it’s never going to be perfect, I think we’re working every day to improve and to get better — of course, there’s still a lot of good faces, and we’re building chemistry and we’re building relationships every day.”

Carnell also said he has spoken with Ezekiel Alladoh about the striker’s red card on Saturday, and with officials who confirmed it was for “inappropriate language.”

MLS teams can appeal direct red cards, and can lose twice in a year. The Union aren’t appealing this one.

“We’ve addressed the issue internally, and we’ll learn and grow from that and move on,” Carnell said.

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