CHESTER, Pa. – When the Philadelphia Union gathered in the locker room during halftime of Wednesday’s game against Columbus Crew SC, head coach Jim Curtin implored them to find their killer instinct and extend their 1-0 lead.
They listened.
And what transpired was a convincing 3-0 victory at PPL Park that Curtin hopes is a sign of big things to come.
The Union, who sputtered out to the worst start in franchise history, have now won three of their last four heading into Saturday’s home tilt vs. New York City FC.
“I think something special is starting to happen,” Curtin said. “It’s only four good games we’ve put together. We need to keep going. In a lot of ways, it’s a good thing to have a quick turnaround and get New York City. We’re in a good way right now.”
The Union’s three wins in their last four have some common threads. All were shutouts as the club has been riding the surprise emergences of Brian Sylvestre in net, Richie Marquez at center back, Fabinho at left back and Brian Carroll at defensive midfield.
And against Columbus, Sebastien Le Toux, C.J. Sapong and Vincent Nogueira all scored their second goal of the stretch while Cristian Maidana continued to tie everything together in the midfield.
“I think it’s first and foremost confidence,” said Sapong, who’s scored twice off the bench in the last three games following a three-game suspension. “That first win that we got, the big win over D.C. [on May 17] gave us confidence. And my own situation coming back, I had a little bit more appreciation and a little bit more hunger. And I think that emanates through everyone else on the team, and you can see that. Everyone has the hunger and desire to play and play beautifully, too, so it’s something we can continue.”
For fullback Sheanon Williams, whose brilliant run set up the third goal of the game, it all came down to the players not getting too down on themselves during their 1-7-3 start when seemingly everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Now, the Union are not only playing well but also catching some breaks as their first two goals Wednesday came after Columbus giveaways.
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“For me, MLS is a [league] of runs,” Williams said. “How quickly can you get out of a bad run? How quickly can you sustain a good run? Right now, we’re in a good one and hopefully we can continue to sustain it.”
Can they sustain it Saturday against NYCFC? Le Toux knows that it will be hard to match the dominating display they put forth against Columbus. But he also knows that, given everyone’s confidence level right now, it’s certainly possible.
“It only happens two, three, four times a year when you have a game like this,” Le Toux said. “It’s good for the fans. Maybe we can have another against New York.”
Dave Zeitlin covers the Union for MLSsoccer.com. Email him at djzeitlin@gmail.com.
