Still-shorthanded Union host New York City FC with first place at stake

It's just one game in a Union season that still won’t be half-done after Sunday night’s final whistle. But manager Jim Curtin is treating it as “a huge match.”

New York City FC's last visit to Subaru Park was last year's Eastern Conference final, the farthest the Union have ever gone in the playoffs.Read moreELIZABETH ROBERTSON / Staff Photographer

by Jonathan Tannenwald

Published June 25, 2022, 1:31 p.m. ET

The Union’s first hosting of New York City FC since last year’s Eastern Conference final was set to be a big deal the moment the Union’s schedule came out. Now it will be an even bigger deal than that.

If the Union win, they’ll jump over first-place NYCFC and have at least a share of the East’s top spot at the end of the weekend. And if the second-place New York Red Bulls lose on Sunday at Los Angeles FC, the No. 1 team leaguewide, the Union will have a shot at sitting atop the standings alone.

That is a pretty good place to be heading into the last weekend of June. It’s a pretty good place for the league, too, with both of this weekend’s big games set for national TV. The Union-NYCFC contest is Sunday at 6 p.m. on FS1 and Fox Deportes, and the LAFC-New York Red Bulls game is Sunday at 3 p.m. on 6ABC and ESPN Deportes.

(And as a bonus, veteran Union and Fox play-by-play voice JP Dellacamera will have FS1′s call with former Union midfielder Maurice Edu.)

It is, of course, just one game in a Union season that still won’t be halfway done after Sunday night’s final whistle. But manager Jim Curtin is treating it as “a huge match.”

“It’s the team that won MLS Cup last year, it’s a team that’s playing the best in our league right now in terms of, you know, the recent form,” Curtin said of an NYCFC squad that hasn’t lost a league game since April 2. The Pigeons (8-3-3, 27 points) had a 12-game winning streak in all competitions snapped Wednesday in the U.S. Open Cup with a 3-0 loss at the rival Red Bulls.

As for his own team, Curtin said he knows it “can play a little bit better — collectively, that’s all of us, from the staff to the players. We can all do a little bit more.”

But he pointed to the Union’s 2-0 win at Yankee Stadium on March 19 as evidence of what is possible for a team with eight ties in 15 games this year (6-1-8 overall, 26 points).

“After a loss, you have a real urgency, and an anger almost, that we maybe haven’t had,” Curtin said. “We almost have to re-create [it] in our brains now, because we’re still tying games. Which we’re sick of, but at the same time, we maybe don’t have that sense of urgency that we need to create to make sure that the next performance is that much sharper and that much better.”

It will be another shorthanded night for the Union, with the four U.S. under-20 team players still away. But the good news is they’re all playing well for their country.

Brandan Craig started the last two group stage games at centerback. Paxten Aaronson has played every game so far in midfield. Jack McGlynn scored a breathtaking goal in a 2-2 tie with Canada, and Sullivan had all the tallies in a 3-0 win over Cuba.

The Americans start knockout-round play at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, facing Nicaragua in the round of 16 (TUDN and youtube.com/concacaf). If they reach the semifinals, they qualify for next year’s under-20 World Cup in Indonesia; if they reach the final, they qualify for the 2024 Olympics.

“They’ve done a great job in all the games there,” Curtin said. “Again, we really believe in supporting the national team.

“When they do come back, our group gets a big boost with not only the numbers that come back, but also the confidence of the players, the fitness of the players.”

Sergio Santos is also still in Chile waiting for his U.S. green card to be processed. Because he had to surrender his passport to complete the final paperwork, he cannot leave the country.

“To not have him in training for four weeks now really, really hurts,” Curtin said. “Every timeline that we hear tends to change, so it’s not even worth throwing out days or any projections.

“It’s gotten to a point where if he had his passport, we would have just had him fly back without the green card, because at this point it’s been so long.”