March 23, 2016
Kevin Kinkead/For PhillyVoice
Tranquillo Barnetta and Vincent Nogueira (far left) were full participants at Wednesday's training session.
After a deserved two-day break, the Union went back to work on Wednesday morning.
It was the first session since Sunday's 3-0 win and midfielders Tranquillo Barnetta and Vince Nogueira were full participants. Barnetta looked sprightly in short-sided games, while Nogueira seemed unhindered by the ankle injury that kept him out of the previous two matches. If both are healthy for the April 2nd trip to Chicago, manager Jim Curtin will have to choose five starters from a pool of ten first-team midfielders.
The Union missed two penalty kicks on Sunday, which was really one of the only blemishes on an otherwise excellent performance.
Ilsinho earned the first kick and took the first kick, which was parried away by New England goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth. C.J. Sapong earned the second kick and Sebastien Le Toux's down-the-middle effort was knocked away.
Until that moment, Le Toux had never missed a penalty while wearing a Union shirt.
"When Seba's on the field, I think his 13 for 13 takes (precedence)," Curtin said at his weekly press conference. "I'm a big believer in that it's about 'feel.' I'm not a coach who designates who the [guy taking the penalty] is before the game. You can have an instance where -- say Ilsinho, on the play where he takes the first penalty -- say he gets killed (on the challenge) and maybe he's not feeling quite right, so I would never say it's just one person who does it. I trust my players in that situation.
"It's unfortunate that we missed two, but I don't think that will happen again. It's a unique one. There's a discussion maybe of C.J. taking it since he's on the hat trick, but at that point you want your best guy taking it. At the end of the day, I still think that's Seba when he's on the field. Alberg came up to me after the game and said he's on penalties from now on (laughs). When there's a mistake, everybody wants to jump up and grab ahold of it. We had a good laugh about it after the game with Ilsinho and Seba, but that's an opportunity to have that killer instinct and it could have been over at halftime if we get that third goal there. I'll leave it up to them but hopefully it doesn't happen again."
Sapong spoke about the penalty issue on this week's KYW Philly Soccer Show.
"Oh man, you know, as a forward you always like the opportunity to get another goal, especially if it's from the spot," Sapong said. "But, at the end of the day, two class guys ended up stepping up to the spot, guys who, if they took the next one, I'd have my money on anyway. Unfortunately they didn't go in that day, but we got a check in the win column and we also didn't concede any goals. So we reached our objective in that match."
Warren Creavalle put in another gritty shift this past weekend.
"He's fearless. He's physical. And he does a lot of those little things that don't show up in the stats... He's a guy who maybe doesn't get the credit he deserves over these past two games."
Plugged in again at the No. 8 spot, he won three of four tackles and conceded just three fouls. He added five interceptions, two clearances, five recoveries, and an assist on the second goal.
Creavalle's form creates an interesting choice for Curtin going into April if Nogueira is 100% healthy.
"There's a reason he played a year with Dominic Kinnear in Houston on a pretty good team with Ricardo Clark in the midfield, a two man midfield," Curtin said of Creavalle. "We have an extra guy in there with him now, so he probably doesn't even have to run as much. But he's shown a real commitment to break plays up.
"He's fearless. He's physical. And he does a lot of those little things that don't show up in the stats, but he was fortunate enough to get on the stat sheet in this game with a good assist. I'm happy for Warren. He's a guy who maybe doesn't get the credit he deserves over these past two games."
Curtin said Union are working on a 3-5-2 for end-of-game situations when they're trailing or against 3-5-2 when leading. Interesting.
— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) March 23, 2016
PhillyVoice spoke with Roland Alberg on Wednesday afternoon. The Dutch midfielder, who has lived in the United States for about five weeks, shared his recent experience from a Sixers game.
PhillyVoice: Before coming here, did you know anything about American sports, like baseball, or football?
Roland Alberg: "A couple weeks ago I went to a Sixers game. I think it was against Charlotte. It was fun. It was my first NBA game and I liked that. Baseball, I haven't been to yet, and I haven't been to see ice hockey yet but that will come."
PV: Do you understand the rules?
RA: "No (laughs). I only know the three points and two points (Alberg gestures as if he's shooting a basketball). Other than that, I don't understand. But I'm going to learn."
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