Andre Blake is back, which will give the Union a huge boost against New England Revolution
Andre Blake has only appeared in five games so far this season for the Union as he's dealt with a groin injury, a concussion, and most recently a knee injury that forced meniscus surgery.
Chester, PA— It’s been two months since the Union have last won a game, and funny enough that win came against Wednesday night’s opponent New England Revolution. The last time the Union won a game at Subaru Park is even longer than their last win in MLS, March 30th against Minnesota United in a 2-0 win. That win against Minnesota is the only win this season at Subaru Park for the Union in MLS play, where they have a record of 1-6-4. After their match on Wednesday, the Union will have five more home games at Subaru Park.
New England (7-13-1, 22 pts) has been in much better form than when they last played the Union, winning five of their last nine games. Though, it is worth noting that New England have lost their last two matches, most recently a 3-1 loss to Orlando City at Gillette Stadium. Giacomo Vrioni has been in fine form, scoring six goals in his last six matches. Carles Gil has missed the last four matches for the Revs with a lower leg injury, Tomás Chancalay is out for the remainder of the season with a partial right ACL tear, and Dylan Borrero has missed the last two games with an injury. Jim Curtin during his Tuesday press conference was quick to point out the injures that New England have been facing, but with the form of Vrioni, and the threat that Brandon Bye and Dejuan Jones cause going forward won’t make this an easy game for the Union.
“Vrioni's come to life, but some of the injuries they've had to a great player like [Carles] Gil, like, [Tomás] Chancalay, [Dylan] Barrero, they've been hurt and they've been missing,” said Jim Curtin.
“So it's tough when the guys aren't there to just find ways to win. So they're missing some talent for sure, we're missing a couple of guys as well. But you certainly see a group that is dangerous. They have great attackers in the outside in [Brandon] Bye and [DeAndre] Jones, who are defenders, but will get forward and get into your boxing and create some problems. They have really good wingers that are comfortable coming inside, so it's a team that has some real weapons.”
Injury updates
Jesús Bueno is battling a “pretty serious ankle injury” that has been heavily taped up, but that still hasn’t stopped him from training this week, making him available for selection. José Martínez has returned to training this week after returning from a short vacation after Copa América, and Jim Curtin knows for this team to be successful, they’re going to need Martínez playing at the level he was playing at during the Copa América with Venezuela.
“It’s a little bit surreal when you look at a lot of the selections to players of the tournament,” said Curtin.
“He’s in the [starting] 11 on a lot of them, with a lot of player that are world class, so it shows the level that he can play at. Again, he’s a guy that when we’re going good he’s dominating that center part of the field, and you know the challenge is, as good as he was in the Copa América, now can we take that, and just give us that in the middle of the field. Win the ball, connect his passes because there’s no one better when he does the simple things perfect, and we’ll need that tomorrow.”
But the biggest news of the day came when Jim Curtin gave an injury update on Andre Blake, using just two word’s, “Andre’s back”. Andre has missed the last 14 games with the Union as he recovered from meniscus surgery, and listening to Curtin explain just how much it means to have Blake back, you get the sense that maybe this was the spark this team needed.
“So again, you can feel a little more of a buzz, a little more energy at training, a familiar voice behind them, and that gives confidence,” said Curtin.
“That's not a knock on the other goalkeepers at all because Andre's the best that we have in this league at what he does. Not dissimilar, like I say to you guys, to [Denis] Bouanga or [Hany] Mukhtar or [Federico] Bernardeschi, you know, when we get him back, he's one of our best players, and we've been without him for a very long stretch. So to get him back, I think the confidence that gives, not just the backline, but the whole group that you're never out of a game is really, really valuable.”
Curtin has mentioned it multiple times this season that at times it’s felt like the defense has played “too conservative”, with Andrew Rick and Oliver Semmle in goal. With Andre Blake, this defense can take risk with how aggressive they are with stepping up and trying to make a play on the ball because they know behind them is a three time goalkeeper of the year that has been one of the best shot stoppers in MLS since he’s been in the league.
Cavan Sullivan set to be in the match day squad
During Saturday’s game against Toronto FC, both the English and Spanish broadcast mentioned that Cavan Sullivan was supposed to travel with the Union, but as Jim Curtin said in his post game press conference, that didn’t happen due to child labor laws in Canada. With Nathan Harriel and Jack McGlynn both at the Olympics, and David Vazquez with the U.S U20’s at the 2024 Concacaf Men's U-20 Championship in Mexico, the Union’s bench is a little short handed. With his performances with Union II this season where he has two goals, one assist in 479 minutes, Cavan Sullivan WILL be included in the match day squad against New England.
“Tomorrow he will be in the 20 because he's earned that,” said Curtin. “If you look at his performances in the Union II games, the goals that he scored, we are missing a few guys. Obviously [David] Vazquez goes away, you have [Jack] McGlynn and [Nathan] Harriel away as well. Cavan’s earned the right to be in the 20 if you just go through the numbers and he'll get that opportunity now.
And the next step is working hard to get your first minutes. And sometimes that might be one minute, that might be 15 minutes, that might be 90 minutes, but you have to earn it. And I think Cavan understands that and recognizes it. You know, when we're at training, there's still two or three moments during a training session where he does something where you go, okay, I can't teach that. That's something that's ingrained in a young kid that his talent is elite. Whether it's a little side volley pass that goes right into space for a guy or finishing a play around the goal, he's doing that now against top pros. Still has a ton to do to work and improve but again he's earned the right to join the group in the 20 and you know we'll see how tomorrow goes.”
If Cavan Sullivan does make his debut tomorrow, he’ll be the youngest ever to do so in MLS at 14 years and 293 days. The current record is held by Freddy Adu when he made his debut with DC United on April, 3, 2004 at the age of 14 years and 306 days.
What formation: Diamond or three in the back
We’ve seen the Union play three in the back the last two games due to who’s been available and Jim Curtin trying to get his best players on the field. They kept a clean sheet against New York Red Bulls, and conceded two goals against Toronto over the weekend— but you can’t blame the formation for that because of two self inflicted errors that led to those goals. The Union’s press was super effective against Toronto— I’d argue the best we’ve seen it this season, and the defense had two blocks, and forced a ton of shots off target, clear indications that the positioning was right on the night. But as we know, it’s not the Union’s preferred formation, and when players are healthy, they always opt for the 442 diamond. With enough positives the last two games with three in the back, is that enough to make Jim Curtin think about continuing the formation?
“I think when I say back to basics, I think you guys know what I mean by that, and the formation, and the personnel that we'll use there,” said Curtin. “Damion [Lowe] has a little bit of an ankle issue as well. We do have three games this week, so we'll have some rotation in the group. We'll have some fresh legs in the group as well. But we'll worry about Nashville after tomorrow, but we have some ideas and a plan in place for each game.”
There’s no point in risking Lowe if his ankle isn’t right, as he played last Saturday, it would make sense to rest him against New England. If Lowe is healthy enough, you could start him in the 442, or if Curtin wanted to opted for a three in the back like they did earlier against Nashville, that could be a possibility as well. Though, it’s worth noting that the Union were trailing 1-0 against Nashville, and in the second half they brought on Alejandro Bedoya and Olivier Mbaizo, and switched back to the diamond, where they went on to win 2-1.
Series History (MLS Play ONLY)
The Union currently lead the series with a record of 20-9-8, and have a record of 13-4-3 at Subaru Park. When these two teams met two months ago at Gillette Stadium, the Union won 3-0. New England’s Ryan Spaulding was sent off in the 14th minute after he brought Mikael Uhre down, who was through on goal. Julián Carranza opened the scoring for the Union in the 38th minute thanks to an assist from Jack McGlynn. Dániel Gazdag would score two goals himself in the second half, as he and Carranza become the first duo in MLS history to both score in the same game 16 different times. Oliver Semmle got the start in goal, making three saves to help the Union earn their second clean sheet of the season (Semmle’s first career clean sheet in MLS).
There are three current Union players with goals against New England: Dániel Gazdag (5), Jack Elliott (3), and Mikael Uhre (2). For New England, they have four current players with goals against the Union: Matt Polster (2), Tommy McNamara, Brandon Bye, and Andrew Ferrell (1).
Player availability Report:
Philadelphia Union
Isaiah LeFlore - Knee (Out) Nathan Harriel - Olympics (Out)
Jack McGlynn - Olympics Out)
New England Revolution
Emmanuel Boateng - Hamstring (Out)
Dylan Borrero - Hip (Out)
Noel Buck- Quad (Out)
Tomás Chancalay - Knee (Out) Carles Gil - Leg (Out)
Nacho Gil - Knee Out)
Nick Lima - Groin (Out)
DeJuan Jones - Hamstring(Questionable)
Mark-Anthony Kaye - Hip (Questionable) Tommy McNamara- Hamstring (Questionable)
Peyton Miller - Thigh (Questionsable)
Giacomo Vrioni - Calf (Questionsable)
Video Credit: Philadelphia Union