The big news for Philadelphia Union is that the club is in first place in the Eastern Conference as the summer months of the MLS season get underway. But when Jim Curtin spoke to media on Friday ahead of his club's showdown with 12th place New England, the big focus was on who would be available for the head coach when his conference-leading team took the field on Saturday.
Curtin said he will have a couple big names back in the lineup, but he admitted his team will miss a couple players that have helped the club climb the standings in recent weeks.
Santos and Fabian
"I think he will play a role in our game tomorrow," the head coach said of Sergio Santos. "I would say that Sergio has looked really good in training and is itching to get back and help." Santos is now the only Union striker on the roster that has not scored this season. The Brazilian did, however, notch a gamewinner for Bethlehem Steel against Swope Park Rangers this season and he has shown a lot of speed and danger in substitute appearances for the Union.
Santos isn't the only attacking option returning for Philly, but he might be the only one ready to start. Creator Marco Fabian does not look like he's quite ready for a full match but Curtin indicated that New England may need to prep for the Mexican international to play a role on Saturday. "He’s looked sharp in training but at the same time isn’t quite 100 percent yet," the head coach said. "I think that is fair to say so we are weighing do we use him as a reserve, do we use him as a starter but another guy we want involved in the match tomorrow because he healed quickly and we want to get him going again."
Getting two of the Union's big offseason acquisitions back in the mix will add depth to a roster that has handled the first two months of the season well. Losing Cory Burke, however, means Philly will need their returning options to stay healthy going forward. "He’s been one of our top strikers so we miss him on the field and hopefully everything can get resolved as quickly as possible," Curtin said. "But [this] presents an opportunity for Kacper [Przybylko] who stepped up. We have Sergio coming back who looked really good in training now but first and foremost we want to help Cory out in anyway we possibly can and get him back as quickly as possible."
Ernst Tanner also spoke to media about Burke's situation and said that the striker would be unavailable to be a part of the Union's roster in the near future.
Goalie questions and answers
With Matt Freese sidelined for 4-6 weeks, the Union have turned to an emergency option and called on Charlie Lyon from the MLS goalie pool. Lyon has a MLS Cup title with Seattle Sounders from 2016 and has previously joined Portland Timbers 2 in an emergency capacity this year. "At some point but there is also a possibility of adding someone on a short term official loan rather than pool goalkeeper," Curtin said.
Until then? "It’s an opportunity for Charlie to step up and if he does well and shows well, this game has a funny way of presenting opportunities," he continued. "We’ll monitor that but we are exploring other opportunities as well because we know that the Gold Cup is coming I’d imagine Andre [Blake] would be part of that with Jamaica."
The opportunity for Lyon comes after Curtin announced Matt Freese has a partially torn oblique muscle and will be out for up to a month and a half. "Matt Freese went to the hospital, was rushed to the emergency room because there was some concern that it could have been his spleen that was involved," Curtin said. "That was not the case which is good news.
"Unfortunately Matt will not be in the picture, he will be rehabbing for a little while."
McKenzie makes progress
It will also be a while before Mark McKenzie is back in training. "I would hope in the next week and a half, two weeks," Curtin said. "Obviously he has his eyes on the U-20s as well. It’s important that he heals as quickly as possible but also in a smart and safe way."
McKenzie may not be part of the group, but Philly will still be looking for a big performance on May 4th as they take on New England Revolution in a match presented by ACME.
Tickets for this Star Wars Night showdown are available here.
