It’s no secret the Philadelphia Union have had their struggles this season.
But after a wild 4-2 road victory against FC Cincinnati in the Leagues Cup Round of 16, head coach Jim Curtin is ready to flip the script.
“When everybody’s here, we’re still a really good team,” Curtin said after the Union’s win. “We have a confidence right now, a belief.”
"Perfect" road performance
Philly are now six games unbeaten following the triumph over Cincinnati – a well-timed run of form as they battle for a Leagues Cup trophy and gear up for the stretch run in MLS.
Yet nothing came easy in their rollercoaster ride of a win over FCC.
After a goal was disallowed in the first half due to offside, Mikael Uhre opened the scoring in a wild six-goal second half. Red-hot Tai Baribo struck for a brace, increasing his total to five Leagues Cup goals and 11 goals in his last 11 games, and Quinn Sullivan fired home an insurance tally six minutes from full time to negate lifelines by Pavel Bucha (66') and DeAndre Yedlin (80') that sparked the TQL Stadium crowd.
“In the hard moments, that's when you learn what your culture really is,” Curtin said. “How guys respond tells you a lot about them. This is a group that’s together. Do we play perfect soccer? No. But on the road, this is as perfect as you can play.”
Back on home turf
The win sets the Union up for a Saturday quarterfinal clash at home with Mazatlán, who scraped past Cruz Azul in a penalty shootout. They'll look to erase the memories of their early-season setbacks.
“We still have a hard road to go in the regular season,” Curtin said. “We want to make another run at a Leagues Cup. We want to build confidence, and go into the final nine games with that confidence.”
The Union sit 10th in the Eastern Conference standings, one point below the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs line. Now, they have a shot at securing another deep Leagues Cup run, a year after finishing third.
“It's an important win for our group,” Curtin said. “We'll continue to try to survive and advance.”
