After starting 11 out of 13 games, Philadelphia Union striker Jack McInerney understood exactly why he wasn’t put in the lineup for consecutive contests against Houston on Sept. 23 and Columbus on Sept. 29.
“I wasn’t scoring,” McInerney told MLSsoccer.com by phone following Friday’s training session. “I wasn’t doing my job.”
How quickly he made amends for that.
Breaking out of his slump in a big way, McInerney came off the bench to score against Columbus and then followed that up with a one-goal, one-assist effort in Philly’s 3-1 victory over Chicago on Wednesday.
GOAL: McInerney puts Philly up 1-0
Heading into Saturday’s game against New England at PPL Park (7 pm ET, watch LIVE online), McInerney now leads the team with six goals (along with Gabriel Gómez) and is second on the club in assists with three.
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“It’s a streaky game,” McInerney said. “I broke my little streak there, and hopefully I’ll get back into good form until the end of the season.”
It’s not only McInerney who has increased his offensive production of late. As a team, the Union have scored eight goals over their past three games – the same amount they scored in their 11 previous contests.
And McInerney believes they’ll be able to keep finding the back of the net this weekend when they go up against the banged-up Revs.
“Usually when we play New England – I know not the last game but the couple of times before that – it’s a pretty high-scoring game,” McInerney said. “We usually get a lot of chances. So I think we have a good shot.”
If nothing else, scoring a lot of goals over the final month of the season could excite a fan base discouraged by the team failing to get back to the playoffs. Saturday’s game marks the second-to-last contest at PPL Park, a point that’s not lost on the Union players, who are eager to put on a show.
“It’s been a tough year for them, so to end on a little win streak, I think it will be good for them, especially going into next season,” McInerney said. “Unfortunately, we’re out of the playoffs. But we’re playing for ourselves, our club and our fans. And we need to keep it going through the end of the season.”
Dave Zeitlin covers the Union for MLSsoccer.com. E-mail him at djzeitlin@gmail.com.
