Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

The games come thick and fast this week for Philadelphia Union in Florida.

Jim Curtin’s men take on the team closest to them in the table, Oscar Pareja’s Orlando City, on Thursday evening at Exploria Stadium, before traveling down I-95 to take cellar-dweller Inter Miami in Fort Lauderdale.

(Fans of either of those teams, if that description of how you drive from Orlando to Miami is inaccurate, feel free to keep it to yourself. I cannot emphasize how much I do not care if you have a secret, better way to get there.)

It’ll be a big challenge for a Union team that hasn’t played its best soccer — and is missing key pieces right now, due to the Gold Cup and injuries.

But it’s also an opportunity to pick up critical road points as the season reaches its halfway mark.

Here are three big questions I’ll be keeping my eye on for these two matches.

Who starts in midfield?

With Jamiro Monteiro returning from suspension, Curtin faces a good problem to have: five starting-caliber midfielders for four spots on the pitch.

The last time Monteiro, Daniel Gazdag, Alejandro Bedoya, Leon Flach, and Jose Martinez were all available — two matches ago, against New York Red Bulls — the manager squeezed all five onto the pitch, playing Gazdag as a striker alongside Kacper Przybylko.

But with that experiment mostly ineffective — and striker Sergio Santos scoring in each of the last two games — it would be surprising to see that lineup again.

So who sits?

Expect to see different combinations in each match. Bedoya will likely sit at least one. Although the club captain rarely leaves the lineup, Bedoya is 34, and he can’t reasonably be expected to start every match the rest of the way. (He’s missed one of fourteen so far this season.) I would guess he’ll rotate with Flach. The 20-year-old has been so much more than expected in his first MLS campaign, but he’s less essential to the Union’s success than either of Gazdag, Monteiro, or Martinez.

And — for my money — nothing is more important for the Union’s big-picture hopes this season than getting Gazdag integrated into the team.

Youth or experience at goalkeeper?

The last time we saw Matt Freese, the U.S. youth international was being sent off for a moment of madness, arm-tackling a Red Bulls attacker in front of goal after an ill-advised decision to try to play a weak backpass.

Now, having served his one-match suspension, Curtin must choose whether Freese will return to the lineup, or whether Joe Bendik will get another start in place of the internationally occupied Andre Blake.

There’s a strong argument to give Freese another shot. Freese is young, has more upside, and is probably the more talented player right now. If he was going to get these starts with Blake out — as it seems from his start in the Red Bulls game — it seems harsh to let one bad mistake cost Freese crucial developmental time.

But it wouldn’t be surprising to see Bendik in there tomorrow, either. Curtin does not like to change his defense, especially after wins, and especially for veteran players he trusts. (Whether Bendik is in that category is an open question.) If he thinks that Bendik gives the squad the best chance to win right now — if Freese is not in the right state of mind to contribute — then we’ll see the veteran in net again.

More late-game magic?

The defining characteristic of this season’s Union hasn’t been dominant play, sparkling attack, or even suffocating defense.

It’s been timely scoring.

In recent weeks, goals scored in the 70th minute or later have earned the Union six points — the difference between second in the East and tied for seventh. That doesn’t even count an 88th minute goal against New England that erased what would have been a Revs winner — a three point swing at the top of the conference table.

Ideally, the Union wouldn’t be in a position to need those comeback goals. In particular, Sunday opponent Inter Miami is a mess, sitting on just eight points through eleven games. An early goal could bury them, just as it would put the Union in a good position against Orlando City. And relying on late goals puts more pressure on the club’s bench, thinned out by injuries and international call-ups.

But if Philly finds itself in the hole again, will it be able to scrounge up another clutch goal or two?

There are no shortage of potential candidates to put one home, and the team’s late-game self-belief is at an all-time high.