WASHINGTON – As the Philadelphia Union’s playoff hopes fade, interim manager Jim Curtin is questioning his team’s commitment to getting numbers in the box.
For Curtin, that’s the main reason why the Union were shut out for the second straight game Saturday, dropping a critical 1-0 decision to D.C. United at RFK Stadium that puts their playoff hopes in serious jeopardy.
“Conor [Casey’s] up there fighting with two center backs and that’s not good enough,” Curtin said. “We have to have more commitment from Chaco [Maidana], from Vincent [Nogueira], from Amobi [Okugo] to get in the box late. You saw today there were probably ten crosses that get knocked down around the 8- to 12-yard-line and we don’t have anyone there to get on the end of it. That’s a commitment to getting in the box.”
A big reason why the Union were able to storm into the playoff picture in the first place was because of a rejuvenated attack that, at one point, poured in three goals in five out of six games.
But the Union have now gone five straight halves without scoring in all competitions, despite generating what they believe are enough chances. Against D.C. United on Saturday, the Union had nine corner kicks – none of which proved to be particularly dangerous.
“It’s just not finishing off our plays,” Casey said. “That last pass, that last ball, just let us down.”
Along with Sebastien Le Toux, Casey had been on fire for most of the summer. But after misfiring on some golden scoring chances in last week’s scoreless draw against Houston, the burly center forward again came up empty against D.C. United.
And it certainly didn’t help when Le Toux left early in the game with a sprained ankle – although Curtin was pleased with the energy Danny Cruz brought off the bench as the Union began to eventually put more pressure on the hosts.
“In the first half, we didn’t get a lot of numbers in the box,” said Cruz, who replaced Le Toux in the 22nd minute. “It was Conor fighting guys by himself. We were whipping balls in but there weren’t enough people in there. In the second half, I really think we did a better job. We just didn’t finish.”
Curtin emptied his bench to try to find the equalizer, brining in Brian Brown for Casey in the 63rd minute and then rookie Pedro Ribeiro for defender Carlos Valdes in the 82nd minute.
But they, too, didn’t do enough to get in the box for a Union team that needs to break its offensive slump in a hurry if it wants to have any chance to make the playoffs.
“Nine times it doesn’t come to you but the one time it does,” Curtin said. “That’s why Frank Lampard scores a million goals – because he has that commitment to run in the box. Those are the plays I’m talking about. It can’t just be Conor in there fighting on his own. You can look at the stats and it will tell you – we get a ton of crosses from open play. We just have to do a better job getting guys in there to finish them.”
Dave Zeitlin covers the Union for MLSsoccer.com. Email him at djzeitlin@gmail.com.
