Photo Marjorie Elzey

Philadelphia Union and Union II had five players still rostered to the organization who were away on loan at the end of the season.

• Homegrown center back Brandan Craig, 20.6 years-old, spent the whole season on loan to El Paso Locomotive of the division 2 USL Championship.
• Homegrown left back Matt Real was loaned to the Colorado Springs Switchbacks also of the USL Championship on April 18^th.
• Homegrown Striker Nelson Pierre, 19.6, was loaned to Swedish second division side AIK Skovde on January 11^th. After he was recalled, he was loaned to Charlotte independence of USl League One.
• First team attacking player Joaquin Torres, 27.8, was loaned to Universidad Catolica FC of Chile’s top division late in preseason until the loan was announced as ended by mutual consent on October 11^th.
• And Union II striker Jose Riasco, 20.8, continued on loan to Boston River of the Uruguayan highest division until his loan expired on August 5^th. He then rejoined Union II, getting his first game minutes on September 23^rd.

We will briefly discuss each player’s year as best we can. We append the year’s unofficial collected data at the end.

Brandan Craig:

Craig missed two stretches of the season because he was hurt. He missed six games from late March until early May with what was reported in the press as a high ankle sprain. The injury’s occurrence was caught on video tape, and he had to come off immediately.

Then he missed the last eight games of the season. The tape of the match in which we think he was hurt shows him being heavily spiked on the top of the foot towards the end of the first twenty minutes. He finished the half, but came off at halftime.

He was “not in the squad” for the rest of El Paso’s season.

Wilmer Cabrera replaced Brian Clarhaut as head coach on May 24^th. After a game or two assessing his squad, Cabrera shifted the Locomotive to three center backs. Craig was almost always one of the three until his presumed foot injury.

By eyeball only, Craig seems to have added some muscle.  He will need to come to preseason ready to prove he deserves an opportunity. He must impress a new head coach.

Matt Real:

We think the last time Real dressed for the Union was April 7^th against Nashville. His first match in Colorado was April 23^rd. Philadelphia announced the loan April 18^th. We do not know which team first called which.

Switchbacks’ Sporting Director and General Manager Steve Hogan was an assistant coach with Bethlehem Steel FC when Real played there and then signed as a Bethlehem Steel professional. Switchbacks’ head coach James Chambers was captain and defensive midfielder when Real began.

Real’s arrival corresponded to the Switchbacks beginning a run of better play. He is the only one of the loan aways still playing at this writing. Colorado Springs has made the USL Championship’s Western Conference Final this coming Saturday, November 16^th in Colorado Springs.

Given Real’s age we expect Philadelphia to decline his contract option. We expect Frank Westfield and Isaiah LeFlore to compete to replace him as the backup to Kai Wagner.

Nelson Pierre:

Pierre was loaned to Swedish second division side Skovde AIK on January 11^th. He did not play from the beginning of April through the end of June, the beginning of that league’s summer break. He did dress three times in May but did not play. We do not know whether the inactivity was injury-related or the coach’s decision.

We do know that after the summer break the club went into a tailspin. Skovde did not win a match in the last 13 games of its season, finished last of 16, and has been relegated to the Swedish third division.

Probably sometime  after June, Pierre left for Haiti’s U20 camp to prepare for Concacaf’s U20 championships in Mexico from July 18 to August 4. Pierre started Haiti’s first two games and came on as a late sub in the third. Haiti did not advance beyond the group stage.

The Union announced August 14^th that Pierre had been recalled from Skovde and loaned to the Charlotte Independence of USL League One, a division 3 league in the United States. The Independence finished sixth and made the playoffs but were eliminated in round one.

Pierre had eight appearances, one of them a start, for 98 minutes total. He scored a goal and was credited with a key pass.

He is 19.6 years-old and has a guaranteed Union contract for 2025 at a salary that builds from the 2024 reserve roster minimum. His contract is guaranteed through 2026 with an option for 2027. We suspect he is a candidate to be loaned away again, or perhaps sold outright.

Joaquin Tores:

Torres was showcased during preseason and then loaned to Universidad Catolica FC of Chile’s top division on February 22^nd. The loan had a purchase option.

Universidad Catolica changed managers two weeks later.

Torres seemed to dress and substitute regularly with occasional spot starts until June. Then for reasons unknown he stopped being in the squad.

On October 11^th the Union announced his loan had been ended by mutual consent. The Union hold an option on Torres’s contract for 2025.

Given that his return would complicate first team development opportunities for the young teenage midfielders who have signed homegrown contracts this year, and that in previous seasons in spite of his courage and effort he showed that he was physically ineffective on the defensive side of the ball, we expect he will be loaned away again for 2025, even if Jack McGlynn were to be sold and Leon Flach were not to return.

Jose Riasco:

In December of 2023 at the end-of-season press conference, Ernst Tanner said he wanted to sign Riasco. We could not tell then whether he was being literal or boosting the price of a possible future transaction. It now seems more likely that he meant it.

Riasco had left Chester on loan to CA Boston River of Uruguay’s Primera Division – the top flight – some weeks before the Union announced it on September 9^th. We presume he was trialing at first. Boston River uses dual strikers.

As detailed in earlier posts, during the fall of 2023 Riasco was treated as Boston River’s third striker.

Then three things changed.

• In December the club changed coaches, bringing in club alumnus Brazilian Jadson Viera.
• Riasco left in January to join Venezuela’s U23 squad for the CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic qualification Tournament. They advanced to the final four thus playing their last match on February 11^th.
• And January 16^th Boston River secured the loan of striker Bruno Damiani from Nacional. At this writing Damiani is tied as the league’s leading scorer with 13 goals, and his strike partner Emiliano Gomes is tied for fourth with 9.

During his absence Riasco was displaced by somebody better.

Since the 27^th of April, after Damiani and Gomez had proven themselves, Riasco’s only opportunities for minutes were the two times Boston River played Nacional. Probably Damiani could not play against his owning club. Otherwise Riasco was no longer even in the game day squads.

We think we know Riasco’s loan ended August 5^th although that has never been officially confirmed. We think we know he began practicing in Chester sometime in mid-September.

He appeared as a substitute in Union II’s last three regular season matches.

We presume MLS NEXT Pro granted a Union II request for an exemption for him to be on its playoff eligible roster. He had not played four 2024 regular season games, one having been an away game. That was the minimum to be playoff eligible.

He dressed but did not play in the NYC FC II playoff match. He substituted into each of the next three, playing 43 minutes against Crown Legacy FC because of extra time.

In his joint press conference with Principal Owner Jay Sugarman Monday morning November 11, Ernst Tanner commented that Jim Curtin had needed to provide more hope of opportunity to younger players. He made me think of Riasco, as well as the other Union II strikers Eddy Davis, Markus Anderson, Sal Olivas, and Leandro Soria.

Appendix: PSP’s compiled data, unofficial

2024 Loan-aways’ records for players on the Union’s books as of Monday, November 11, 2024.

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