CHESTER, Pa. – Philadelphia Union interim manager Jim Curtin knows that over the past month his team has dropped valuable points that could end up costing them a playoff spot.
But, with the postseason still within in reach, he also knows he can’t let those recent hiccups cause a rift amongst his players heading into Saturday’s pivotal game against the Columbus Crew at PPL Park (7 pm ET; MLS Live).
“The biggest thing we’ve stressed this week is not branching off into little groups of twos and threes and passing blame on who’s at fault with different things and mistakes that have happened on the field,” Curtin said. “That’s what losers do. That’s for losers.”
The Union will try to prove they are in fact winners by snapping a four-game winless streak and winning their final three contests, which would put them in good position to sneak into the playoffs.
Working in Philly’s favor is the fact that they play Columbus twice, including the regular-season finale at Crew Stadium. The Crew currently hold the fifth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, three points ahead of Toronto FC and four points ahead of both the Union and Houston Dynamo – which means Philly can pass Columbus by beating them twice.
“It has an old best-of-three playoff style feel to it where you become very familiar with the team in a very short window,” Curtin said. “This will be a little different though because they are missing a couple of guys in the first one and will most likely be back with their full-strength team in the final game.”
The Crew will indeed be without leading scorer Federico Higuain and fullback Waylon Francis, both of whom are suspended for yellow cards they picked up in the last match.
And Curtin hopes the Union can use those absences to their advantage and pounce on the shorthanded Crew early and often.
“We’re going to need a killer mentality,” he said. “We know where we’re at physically. We know we can run and compete and do all that with everybody. Mentally, getting past that hurdle of thinking, ‘Is something going to go wrong?’ You have to push through that. We cannot be a team that goes there hesitant and is afraid to make a mistake. That is no way to play this game.”
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Curtin admitted the team looked tentative at times last week against Chicago, before goalkeeper Rais Mbolhi made a huge mistake to allow the Fire to tie the game in stoppage time and steal two points.
But the Union manager doesn’t want anyone to point the finger at anyone else.
“If we want to fight through this and win our final three games, we’re going to have to do it together,” he said. “We’re going to have to stick together.”
Dave Zeitlin covers the Union for MLSsoccer.com. Email him at djzeitlin@gmail.com.
