Maurice Edu returned to training on Wednesday morning... sort of.
The injured Union midfielder watched his teammates practice while riding a stationary bike that was brought out to the team's training fields. Edu is rehabbing a stress fracture and not expected to take part in team activities until May or June.
Everyone else appeared to be a full participant, including Vince Nogueira and Tranquillo Barnetta. Manager Jim Curtin explained that Nogueira is feeling a bit of discomfort from his ankle injury and had a scheduled MRI later in the afternoon. Barnetta missed a few sessions after a slight "tweak" to his knee but is not restricted in any way. Both players will likely be available for selection on Saturday in Chicago.
Steel reserve
Bethlehem Steel came home a winner in last week's franchise debut against FC Montreal.
Not included in the gameday 18 was midfielder Derrick Jones, who manager Brendan Burke says was left at home due to a visa issue. Burke says Jones is healthy and available for Sunday's home opener against FC Cincinnati.
Friday night's starting XI featured a large chunk of players who could be considered Union "first teamers", specifically goal scorer Fabian Herbers and midfielder Leo Fernandes. It should be interesting to see how players are moved between the clubs this season, as there really isn't much of a prior precedent to explore.
In the past, the Union was limited to sending three or four players to Harrisburg for large chunks of the season. Last Friday, the personnel options were numerous, especially with the Union on a bye week.
"Some of that came from first team needs," Burke said about the large first team presence. "These guys need games. That was Fabian's first start and he handled it extremely, extremely well. I think that will be a week-to-week thing. You may see a handful of guys this weekend, but I think it will be more of a mixture, in terms of the front four. But again, it's going to be sort of a 48-hour window where we decide who's going where, each week, or, more importantly, where the first team technical staff decides who's going where."
Curtin used similar language when describing the process of assigning players for Bethlehem Steel duty. There doesn't seem to be much restriction in sending players "down" to Steel, but bringing players "up" to the Union is more difficult.
"For us, any of our players can go down," Curtin said on Wednesday. "Obviously, there are international (roster) restrictions, but we have that very well-managed and it's something that's monitored day in and day out. Conversely, it's not as fluid for, say we have three injuries at center back, to bring Mickey Daly up to us, as an example. It's not as fluid. We would have to have the cap space, the roster space, and we'd have to juggle things like that."
(Reporter interjects): So the restriction is more of a one-way street?
"Correct. Any one of our guys can go down there and play minutes."
Born in 1998
Teenage wonder-kid Christian Pulisic is officially a capped member of the United States men's national team.
The 17-year-old Hershey native made his senior team debut in Tuesday night's 4-0 win over Guatemala, playing 10 minutes of mop-up duty in a blowout result.
Pulisic recently debuted for Borussia Dortmund's first team, at the same age that most of us were trudging through our junior year of high school.
Hershey is probably close enough to be considered "local", and Pulisic did spend some time with the Union before heading overseas. The teenager crossed paths with Curtin before the latter took over senior team duties in 2014.
"Christian played for the Union in the Generation Adidas Cup," Curtin explained. "When I was there as a U18 coach, he played for our younger group, so yeah, I'm very familiar with him and very familiar with his father. He's a good guy, a former professional player himself and a very good indoor player. I know the family well. They're from right up the road, not too far away. He's a guy who, our academy was not fully up and running at that stage. If you remember, we were getting things going and we were in a stage where we were club neutral and we would call the guys in for the major competitions to play against MLS teams. Christian was a part of that group and a guy who trained with us a great deal. He's off to a heck of a career. Obviously, Dortmund is as high of a level as it goes; I don't have to speak for that. For him to get his national debut last night, that put a smile on my face, too. It was good to see."