Photo: Paul Rudderow
A new MLS season brings many things. New schedule, new uniforms, many years including this one there’s new teams. Even teams that have been in the league for decades can feel new; with new players, new coaches, new stadiums. Set all of this newness in springtime’s theme of renewal and most of MLS takes this time as an opportunity to write a new chapter in their team’s history, or maybe a whole new book in the cases of some of the more dramatic changes teams have made.
Against all this change and refreshment the 2022 Philadelphia Union are something of an anomaly. For the most part this is the same old Union we saw last season, a sentiment all too familiar to many Union fans. The difference is that this time it’s a good thing.
Stability
In the past the Union have been rightfully accused of stagnation. Of refusing to adapt in the face of obvious limitations. It’s been an ongoing source of frustration especially in the context of an ownership group who has never been quick to throw cash at a problem.
However there’s no denying that the Union are now cashing in on the product of all that intransigence- stability. Jim Curtin is the second-longest tenured head coach in MLS, and while Ernst Tanner is a relative newcomer by team executive standards he wasn’t such a departure from Earnie Stewart that his arrival necessitated a complete overhaul of the system. Add in the Union’s serious investment in talent development, producing viable options for the first team at a rate unimaginable in MLS just a few years ago, and it’s hard to say the Union’s long game hasn’t started to pay off.
That constancy of vision, that stability, has tangible benefits on field. Andre Blake and Jack Elliott have been playing together for five years. Alejandro Bedoya, practically the definition of a “glue guy”, has been sticking the midfield together for six. Cory Burke, despite his immigration-induced walkabout, has been on the team’s roster for four years. None of this means the mentioned players are the best in the league at their position. Other than Blake those players aren’t the kind that make highlight reels, but they’re part of the foundation of this team. And you can’t pull out part of a foundation, replace it with something else, and expect everything else to keep going on like normal.
And there’s plenty of “everything else” going on. That foundation is where Brenden Aaronson and Mark McKenzie were launched from. It’s where Jack McGlynn, Quinn Sullivan, and Paxten Aaronson are preparing for launch, whatever heights they eventually reach.
Change
That doesn’t mean the Union sat on their hands in the offseason. Mikael Uhre rightly gets a lot of the attention, being the team’s newest record-price acquisition and a resume that suggests very very good things to come. But it will take time to see those things, as every incoming player must be given some time to adapt to the realities of MLS play (and travel). Even the other big signing up front, Julián Carranza, is going to need some time to gel with the rest of the team in order to fully realize his offensive potential.
So the “new” is coming, it’s just hadn’t fully arrived by the time the 2022 MLS season kicked off three weeks ago. Which gives the Union a unique flavor this spring. While every other team has a narrative about new the Union are continuing, hopefully finishing, what they started several seasons ago. The team was great in 2020, and quite good in 2021. There’s still a lot of 2022 left to see, but it already feels like this team is a continuation, an extension of the previous success. While everyone else is starting the Union are building on what has come before in a way they never have before, and it could lead them to new heights before the season is over.
“The team was great in 2020, and quite good in 2021.”
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This brings up a question that I think might lead to some debate here on PSP. Which season was a better season for the Union, 2020 where they were consistent throughout and won the Shield but lost early in the playoffs or 2021 when they got hot at the end and were a COVID outbreak away from playing for the MLS Cup?
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My personal feeling is that the Shield season is the more impressive of the two since maintaining a high quality of play for a long period is more impressive than getting hot for a few games, but I’m guessing I’m in the minority.
2020 is definitely my favorite of the two. Had they won MLS Cup in 2021 there would be an argument, but honestly it would still be an argument, not clear cut.
2021. No question. That stinker to New England sullied the otherwise strong season. Both seasons have Covid fingerprints all over them…. but last year, in my mind they got jobbed.
2021. They were consistent all season, and also played in multiple competitions. All while losing two key players from the 2020 season. Along with having to shuffle the lineup weekly due to international call ups, injuries, and their best player wanting out of town.
Also going with 2021. Coulda, shoulda won the whole thing.
VISION.
PHILOSOPHY.
PLAN.
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It was a ‘call to arms’ by me for nearly 18 months… and here we are.
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As mentioned in the most recent game recap, I struggle with stuff still… but there is no question… there is a very clear VPP.
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For this I am grateful as a lover of the game.
I think we have a group of players capable of changing their formation and possibly style of play. The coach has had more options the last few years and team performance has improved. I think the counter attack is useful to help the new pieces blend? Build up out of the back is more enjoyable to the eye. Do we think that’s gone because of Monterio?
I’ll say 2021 season. Longer period of better play. And it is water under the bridge, but if NYC had asked for a postponement they may have gotten it. Thats also my only conspiracy theory!
I read here religiously but don’t often post – I just like the banter and analysis. I felt like commenting here on the paradox of El P’s (I’m forgetting the past pseudonym during the cliff of despair) comments. If I can sum up, the U now have VPP, which is admittedly good, but it seems like you hope for a different (jogo bonito) style. I love this team, especially as they’ve been such a Philly style underdog for most of their existence. But I think, and El P may agree, it is kind of like a good relationship with your spouse. In the beginning, and from time to time, things bother you about how they go about things. Ultimately you accept them as who they are and these idiosyncrasies become lovable even if not your preference.
2021.
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2020 had all kinds of scheduling anomalies that favored the Union, given injuries on other teams. A finally healthy Carlos Gil made a difference.
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2021 saw a more evenly distributed schedule, less mistake-saving speed in the back, and a credible playoff presence for the first time, all done on the back of the CCL requirements.
I don’t know that it’s fair to say the 2020 schedule favored the Union. I think they had the hardest schedule of any team that season, and Gil getting healthy helped – but also at the same time Brujo got hurt and the team got caught flat-footed after a bye week.