Union-Inter Miami game prediction: Will Jim Curtin break a bad habit?

Jim Curtin knows he has to rotate his lineup now, but the rest of us can never be sure it will happen until we see it.

Union manager Jim Curtin (left) chats with Inter Miami counterpart Phil Neville (right) before kickoff of the Union's game in Fort Lauderdale last July.Read moreKim Ahrens / Philadelphia Union

Published March 4, 2023, 5:00 a.m. ET

This is the moment that many who have long watched the Union have waited for. With the deepest roster in team history, will manager Jim Curtin start rotating his lineup Saturday night at Inter Miami (7:30 p.m., Apple TV, free of charge), ahead of Tuesday’s Concacaf Champions League opener? Or will he run out his usual starters in Fort Lauderdale and rotate in El Salvador against Alianza (8 p.m., FS1, TUDN)?

Or will he do neither? For all of Curtin’s virtues, his biggest vice on the bench is a reluctance to rotate his lineup. He understands he has to do it now, but the rest of us can never be sure he actually will until we see it.

Curtin signaled his intentions this week when he said “first and foremost, Miami is the priority right now for sure,” and “we certainly will use the full squad in that [Alianza] game.”

If that comes to pass, fair enough. Miami should be the tougher test talent-wise, with Josef Martínez leading a Herons squad that is improved from last year — and encouraged by a season-opening 2-0 win over CF Montréal.

Interestingly, the Union have never lost at Inter Miami, with a win last year and a tie in 2021. Last year’s game was memorable because the Union purchased Julián Carranza’s contract for good a few hours before kickoff, after initially taking him on loan. Carranza, who was given little chance in Miami to prove himself, should be up for this game, just as Miami’s Shanyder Borgelin should be up to play against friends he grew up with in the Union’s academy.

The weather and the crowd won’t be allies of the Union this time, even if the location will make it easier to get to El Salvador quickly afterward. I thought the Columbus game would be a close result and it wasn’t, so the Union gain some benefit of the doubt from me now.

Prediction: Union 2, Miami 1.