August 14, 2016
Kevin Kinkead/for PhillyVoice
Midfielder Alejandro Bedoya went 72 minutes in his Union debut, a 4-0 win in New England.
Alejandro Bedoya was quiet in his Union debut, but quiet in a good way.
The American international midfielder started and played 72 minutes in Saturday night's comprehensive shutout win.
He slotted in as a number eight alongside Warren Creavalle and kept a good defensive shape while helping to shuttle the ball between Union lines.
"I think it went well," Bedoya said of his MLS debut. "There's nothing to complain about when you win four to zero. But for me it was nice to be out there. This is obviously my third week – of preseason really – so I'm still trying to get match fit. But yeah, I felt good out there. I was playing the role the coaches want me to play, which is kind of like a number eight, but in this game, (the instructions were) just to sit in front of the back four and combine with Warren and help link play between the back and the forwards. I can see already that me and Barnetta and the front three, we can combine with each other and play off of each other."
That one shot attempt came on a clever late run following an Ilsinho steal and dummy. Bedoya arrived to the box without a marker but skied his shot over the bar.
Otherwise, he kept it simple and made smart and short passes to keep his team in possession. He also got into a pair of heavy challenges and looked to assert himself in a two-way role.
"I think you saw times when we were able to play well, and combine, and keep it on the ground," Bedoya said. "It'll take some time to create that chemistry, but I could see already from training this week that this team has the players for some good, attractive soccer, (that can) do some damage to other teams."
Bedoya's going to do just fine in MLS. pic.twitter.com/4hGs8qtIZ8
— Total MLS (@TotalMLS) August 13, 2016
For the Union, this clobbering ended a four-game winless streak and pushed the team up to fourth place in the Eastern Conference. Philadelphia is seven points above the playoff line with 10 games left to play.
And maybe most important was the way that Jim Curtin's club kept a foot on the gas, instead of letting New England hang around.
"With this game, we spoke at halftime about how we have to kill the game off early and not let them back into the game," Bedoya added. "That's what we did and we got the result we wanted. Hopefully, it's the start of a run into the playoffs. Getting into the playoffs is important."
