The extended sabbatical between playoff games has given the Union time to consider who and what will be absent when they meet FC Cincinnati in Saturday’s Eastern Conference semifinal (8 o’clock).
The last two MLS defenders of the year and the league’s best left back will be among the missing.
But ever the hard-won optimist, Jim Curtin chose to see that as opportunity. Playoff wins, his team has proven, are rarely sealed by the most likely of faces. And absences, viewed in one particularly rosy manner, clear the way for unlikely heroes to emerge.
“While yes, there are a lot of players that will miss this game, there’s still good depth on both teams,” Curtin said Friday. “Oftentimes in playoffs, you need someone to step up, someone to surprise you. Maybe it’s a timely goal off a restart from a guy you don’t expect. That’s just how playoff runs go.”
The fourth-seeded Union and Supporters’ Shield winning Cincinnati will look different when they take the field than either coach would prefer for a game of season-defining magnitude. Pat Noonan, the former Union assistant named MLS Coach of the Year this week, will cope with changes on the Cincinnati backline after MLS Defender of the Year Matt Miazga’s frivolous red card in the first-round clincher at New York. Already with Nick Hagglund done for the year, Noonan has only two true center backs to work his preferred 3-5-2, a system so effective that he’s unlikely to deviate.
That means either of a pair of former Union right backs, Alvas Powell or Ray Gaddis, could be drafted into the center. The other may start anyway if veteran Santiago Arias doesn’t pass fit, as he and midfield destroyer Obinna Nwobodo battled for fitness in the 21 days since Cincy last played.
The Union’s 18-day hiatus has served to restore some fitness, though little tactical work with six players on international duty. Kai Wagner will serve the second of his three-game suspension for a racial slur in the first leg of the New England series. But Jakob Glesnes could be back, the 2022 MLS defender of the Year making the most of recuperation time from an Oct. 24 sports hernia surgery.
“Jakob’s a warrior,” Curtin said. “He wants to be on the field. He wants to help the team in any way possible, whether it’s as a reserve, whether it’s in the locker room to help the guys to keep them motivated. He’s a great leader.”
Falling to a similar procedure is Leon Flach, who exacerbated his core muscle in an eight-minute stint in Foxborough two weeks ago. Since missing eight games for treatment in Germany to ward off surgery, he’s played 33 minutes in the last three. Curtin said his procedure is less intensive than Glesnes’ and didn’t rule out Flach, whose goal decided a 1-0 playoff win over Cincinnati last year in Chester, from taking part in MLS Cup in three weeks.
The Union’s internationals returned from their duties without issue. All arrived Thursday, which gave the club a singular training session Friday to prepare tactically. It’s the final indignity of the MLS playoff slate, a lengthy break where little can be actually accomplished in the way of game-planning.
“We did our best to send video clips, to remind them while they’re away with their national teams that we have a big game coming up with Cincinnati, just to keep that in their minds and give little things to work on,” Curtin said. “… It’s not so much the length of time between games, it’s not having the human beings physically here to prepare.”
Fortunately, the meeting with Cincinnati is simple on paper, boiling down to well-worn matchups. Both teams will use two forwards to occupy the center backs. Both teams have an MVP-caliber No. 10 who will match wits with an elite No. 6 (Luciano Acosta vs. Jose Martinez, Daniel Gazdag vs. Nwobodo). The Union midfield, likely Alejandro Bedoya and Jack McGlynn on the outside of the 4-4-2 diamond, must account for late runners in the box, either Nwobodo’s midfield mate (probably Junior Moreno) or an underlapping wingback. All of it requires being steady on set pieces, and for the Union, not fouling near the box where Acosta’s dead-ball ability can punish them.
Curtin knows his team has to stay disciplined, not letting what promises to be a physical encounter boil over.
“I think both groups, and I think it’s a healthy thing, are really competitive guys, both players and staff,” Curtin said. “We want to win, and sometimes that can teeter right on the edge. The key is not taking that too far and picking up silly yellow cards. You still want good hard challenges in midfield. You still want big plays in both boxes. But you have to be right on that edge of not hurting your team.
“Finding that right balance of intensity, keeping a level head, yes having it be chaos for sure and trying to create chaos, but having it be a controlled chaos where we’re still disciplined and playing within ourselves, that’s a very fine line. It’s what both teams will be trying to execute.”
