"It certainly is five for five now," said Anthony Gargano today when speaking with Union head coach Jim Curtin on 97.5 The Fanatic's Gargano & Myrtetus.
"You know, it’s funny, because I created the ‘four for four,’" Gargano continued. "And when I did it was just more for, a euphemism for – and this was years ago when I was at the other station – but this was just a euphemism for ‘hometown.’ You guys didn’t even exist. It was a euphemism for ‘hometown.’"
Curtin has been pushing for Philly to be known as a 5 for 5 town all season. He believes it's time his Union are recognized as part of the sports landscape in the city that he has called home for most of his life.
"We have a lot of local talent and homegrown players that have stepped up in a big way, we have our experienced guys playing well so it's been clicking right now," Curtin explained. "We are a team that fears nobody in the Eastern Conference. We're playing exciting soccer, scoring a lot of goals and it's a great atmosphere at Talen Energy Stadium, Philly loves a winner and we're winning right now."
One of the biggest highlights of the interview came with Curtin talking about the growth of the fanbase in the city. He gets compliments when the team wins, but residents of the City of Brotherly Love pass on some brotherly criticism and challenge the head coach when they think the team needs to improve.
Curtin also chatted about the growth of the club and the home atmosphere as the Boys in Blue battle for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. One of the topics discussed was the feeling that the Union are a hometown club that Philadelphia can embrace.
Curtin also spoke on the importance of the crowd that played a huge part in the club's recent 2-1 victory against Houston on August 11th.
"(The crowd) push us on when we need them and when we're not playing our best soccer, they get things going and make it a really hostile environment for teams coming in," he said. "Speaking with other coaches in the league, they don't like coming to Philadelphia and that's what you want."
The Union begins a pivotal stretch of the season this weekend with home matches against D.C. United, Atlanta, Pumas UNAM and LAFC over the next four weeks.
"This is when the real season starts," Curtin said. "We've set ourselves up to hopefully host a home playoff game which is a huge advantage in this league."
