Photo: Paul Rudderow

His name on a Union lineup card results in instant vitriol on this and other websites.

His face in the Philadelphia locker room produces a very different result. Following a spectacular three-goal turnaround that earned a 4-4 tie against the Revolution, Sebastien Le Toux said with a laugh, “My teammates joke around with me, especially Stefani Miglioranzi, that in the last ten games I’m going to score every game and help the team the best I can like I didn’t do at the beginning of the season. I hope this is the case.”

His role

The veterans on the Union roster have their roles to play: Faryd Mondragon as the passionate one in goal, Danny Califf as the quiet hero who glories in a hard day’s work, Sebastien Le Toux as the hardest worker on the shift who somehow still has time for a good joke. Jordan Harvey was the free spirit who just loved to play.

What about Migs? What is his role?

The man who spawned the term Migserable was not in Philly’s inaugural starting lineup. A midfield of Jacobson, Mwanga, Torres and Orozco-Fiscal was preferred. In forty-five minutes the Union were down two goals and one Toni Stahl. Peter Nowak needed a calming presence, and in Miglioranzi he got it.

The veteran d-mid would go on to start twenty-five games for Philadelphia in 2010.  The team went 8-12-5 when he played. 0-2-2 when he didn’t.

His own words

“Success all comes down to your work ethic,” Miglioranzi told PSP recently. With the team’s woeful 2010 record, that must have been a tough sell to the Union’s young core. But coming from Migs, they bought it.

“Working hard comes down to repetition and rehearsal,” Miglioranzi said with the assured manner of a true believer. “Doing what you do in practice during games.”

The way he says it would force even the most hardened Migs-hater to accept that—at minimum—the guy belongs on the roster. There is a professorial air about Miglioranzi when he offers cliches like, “Don’t doubt yourself” and “have a presence in the midfield.” He says these things playfully, as though they were not throwaway media lines but caves of wisdom that he is daring you to explore. Even on the phone, Miglioranzi is calming and, it must be said, a little inspiring. Maybe Miglioranzi’s role is The Enlightened One, a teacher of mental strength.

Obi-wanglioranzi?

If Migs is a Jedi master of inner toughness, he must often practice what he preaches. Despite either starting or coming on as a sub in five of the Union’s eight wins this season, Miglioranzi is scapegoat number one for fans. The Union are 4-4-4 when Migs starts this season, but number six has gotten plenty of low ratings from the PSP and the Union faithful.

That the team’s record with him in the starting eleven is as even as Miglioranzi’s voice describing the difference between striking a pass and a shot makes sense. And it isn’t jarring that Migs doesn’t prepare differently to play center back or midfielder. “Adjusting to one versus the other, it really doesn’t factor too much personally,” he said, “other than having to watch some games.”

So does it make sense that this guy could be brought in as a place marker for Okugo, get replaced by former teammate Brian Carroll, end up so far down the depth chart that he’s filling in other positions, return to his normal spot only to have such a howler that he gets pulled at the half, and still, still, be the name that two-goal hero Le Toux mentions with warmth during his post-match interview?

Maybe the task set out here is impossible; perhaps Miglioranzi’s role is too intangible to define. The team treats him as though he were a great player on the back end of his career, still a valuable asset even if he isn’t the world beater he once was. But we know that Miglioranzi never was a world beater, and his best years came in the 2007 MLS Cup with the Crew and in 2009 with LA. For Philly’s faithful, he has never been more than a stopgap until Okugo matures.

Scapegoats: Gotta have ’em

The fans love the team unconditionally. And while this is commendable, it means individual players must take the blame for poor performances. It is odd how, in loving a team, we reserve the right to declare some players unworthy of our love. How ruthless we become when a guy who signed our stuff on Thursday misplaces his first pass on Saturday. Migserable, we say. And we think we mean it.

But deep down, we know that the players don’t make the lineups; there is no picture of Peter Nowak holding a sign that reads, “I LOVE THE MEDIA” that Migs uses to blackmail the coach into putting his name in the starting eleven. And nobody has ever accused Miglioranzi of not giving it his all. He is at best a smart player who controls the air and holds the midfield shape while playing quick, short passes. At worst he is a cerebral player who has watched the pace of MLS pass him by.

Whether you think of him as the worst player on the roster or as the guy the locker room can least afford to lose, you have to admit that Stefani Miglioranzi is one of those players who probably means a lot more to the team you love than he means to you.

Source of the smile

As the media watched Freddy Adu’s first practice with the Union, Migs jumped in behind Adu every time the team ran a lap in front of the photographers. That famous Adu smile first appeared at PPL Park because of number six. The little midfielder, brought in to turn a middling team into a contender, was playfully welcomed by the guy commonly held up as a paragon of the Union’s mediocrity.

Adu, the media darling with a history of controversial me-first comments, needed a bridge between himself and his new teammates. In Miglioranzi, he got it.

If the Union are going to survive their current rough patch and make the playoffs in their second season of existence, they’re going to need something more than Danny Mwanga scoring again or Faryd Mondragon returning to health. In Miglioranzi, they have it.