CHESTER, Pa. – Philadelphia Union interim manager Jim Curtin has already had a lot of time to evaluate players heading into the offseason. But when the Union conclude the 2014 season against Columbus at Crew Stadium on Sunday (4 pm ET; UniMas), certain players will still be playing for contracts next year.
“You play for your job every day with me,” Curtin said. “There are no days off, no time to just relax. You’re judged every day. The guys are pros – they know that. So every day is an opportunity. I’ve been listening even a little closer to the different conversations to see who are the guys that are tuned out and thinking about offseason vacations and things like that.”
Although he’s still officially the interim for now, it appears that Curtin and technical director Chris Albright will get to assemble the roster in the offseason – a process that will begin as soon as they return to Philadelphia following Sunday’s season finale.
And one of the first steps will be finalizing which 11 players they’ll protect in the Expansion Draft on Dec. 10 – which is one reason why Curtin plans to play most of his top players even though the Union were eliminated from playoff contention two weeks ago following a home loss to Columbus.
“We have a lot of hard decisions we’re making,” he said. “We can’t really sacrifice games. I don’t want to be the team that does that. I still think every time you put your team on the field, you learn something from them.”
Curtin had the same philosophy heading into last week’s 2-1 win over Sporting Kansas City, but still gave youngster Brian Brown his first MLS start and Homegrown signing Jimmy McLaughlin his first MLS minutes since 2012. The manager said McLaughlin or fellow Homegrown Zach Pfeffer could see more time Sunday, but added that he won’t “just throw three or four out there to get their butts kicked by Columbus.”
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That means that most of Philadelphia’s starters will get to play one last game this season – and, for a couple of them, possibly one last game in a Union uniform.
“We’re all competitive players,” said midfielder Amobi Okugo, one of a few key players whose contract is up. “We’re all professionals. It stings a little bit because we would have had a chance to fight for something the last game. But we’ve got to move forward to next season.
“Columbus is a good test for us. They beat us at home. So if we can mess up their standings a little bit, make sure they have to play on the road [in the playoffs], whatever helps get us motivated we’ll use.”
Dave Zeitlin covers the Union for MLSsoccer.com. Email him at djzeitlin@gmail.com.
