Union head coach Jim Curtin preaches patience as March struggles persist

With Sunday’s 2-0 loss to Sporting Kansas City, the Philadelphia Union’s all-time record in March dipped to 8-14-8.


Considering the team’s slow starts have often doomed their entire seasons — and the club has still yet to win a playoff game since their 2010 expansion campaign — head coach Jim Curtin was understandably asked by the Philly Soccer Page about fan frustration following the game.

Curtin pointedly responded that he “understands the patience dating back to 2010 is thin,” but he tried to keep things in perspective because “it’s two games so far” with this year’s new-look team.


“I still think that if you take a perspective of what our team accomplished last year, the pieces that we added, I think we still have a strong group,” Curtin said. “Obviously they’re going to be impatient because we didn’t get a result today. That’s the nature of sports. We understand that. But I’m still proud of the group and I think our fans should be proud of the team in the way that they played today.”


The Union, who have yet to score a goal from the run of play in two-goal losses to Toronto and SKC, have their toughest test yet with a road matchup vs. Atlanta United next week (Sunday, 7 pm | MLS LIVE on ESPN+). And they’ll have to figure out a way to beat the defending MLS Cup champs without Marco Fabian, their new DP who was shown a straight red card in his second MLS match.


“We do have a sense of urgency to get our first points of the year,” Curtin said.