No more cross-country plane rides for the Philadelphia Union, who begin a three-game home stand this Saturday against New York City FC.
The team was back at work on Wednesday morning with only a couple of personnel issues to consider.
Ken Tribbett was the only player not to take part in team activities. The starting center back is dealing with an ankle injury and did not take part in the 2-1 loss against Seattle.
Ilsinho, however, was a full participant and appears to be recovering nicely from the hamstring issue that kept him out of the past two games. Manager Jim Curtin told reporters at his mid-week press conference that the Brazilian veteran does not look rusty in possession drills, and only "notices" the hamstring when moving at full sprint.
Elsewhere in the midfield, Roland Alberg will serve his red card suspension on Saturday, opening the door for Tranquillo Barnetta to make his first start of the season.
"You have to trust your players"
When Alberg was sent off in Seattle, a cross section of Union fans and media wondered whether or not he should have been subbed at halftime.
It was similar to the red card in Chicago, where Warren Creavalle had been a tad aggressive through the first 45 minutes and earned his second booking just after halftime.
"We always knew Tranquillo was probably going to be going in around the 60-minute mark, depending on what the game needed obviously," said Curtin of the Alberg situation. "We talked about it all week – staying on our feet, not leaving our feet, not leaving it up to the referees. It's been a recurring theme. We bring it up every day. But sometimes in the heat of the moment, in Roland's case, he lost possession. I don't think he even sees Cristian Roldan in his blindside. It's a tackle that looks a lot worse than maybe what Roland intended.
"They did look at it further, and we got word that it's only going to be a one-game suspension. You think about it in hindsight; it's always tricky. Fabinho has had four yellow cards, so we've debated protecting him and taking him out. You have to trust your players that they can manage it. In this instance, it didn't go well, because we lost Roland and that was a negative.
"Playing with one less guy is obviously challenging. But if I had to do it over again, I'd trust him and leave him out there. I don't really believe in pulling a guy at halftime and changing everything for the sake of potentially getting ejected."
Learning from mistakes
Rookie Josh Yaro made his first MLS start on Saturday night, one week after scoring an own-goal just 13 seconds into a Bethlehem Steel game.
He performed well and did not look out of place going up against the likes of Clint Dempsey, Jordan Morris, and Andreas Ivanschitz.
Speaking after the Wednesday morning session, Yaro explained that it was important for him to keep moving forward.
"I’ve learned a lot throughout the season and preseason, and that was my biggest challenge - letting go of mistakes," Yaro said. "I think, as a professional, it’s going to happen sometimes, and sometimes when mistakes happen, you cannot go back and correct your mistakes. You just have to learn from it and move on. That’s something that Jim has talked to me about a lot, that when I make a mistake, to learn from it and move on and try to (make) the next play.
"That (Bethlehem Steel) game, I knew it was a bad mistake and we lost on the road. But it was a good lesson. I took my lessons away from that game and tried to stay positive and hopefully not repeat the same mistakes again."
Maurice Edu, Union scout
Midfielder Mo Edu continues to rehab the stress fracture that's kept him out since preseason.
He's been spending time on a stationary bike, which is brought out to the training fields to get him out of the gym and bring him closer to his teammates. Edu is still far away from participating in team activities but did have a very light and impromptu kickaround session with Tribbett while the two were off to the side on Wednesday morning.
Curtin later revealed that Edu has been helping to prepare scouting reports for opponents.
"(It) keeps him busy, keeps his mind on the game" Curtin explained. "I think it's always good to keep an eye on the rest of the league. It's good for me as a coach to see what he sees as the attacking and defensive strengths and weaknesses of our group and another team's group. It's good to see which players he rates and which ones he doesn't rate. So there's a bit where it's selfishly for me to get in his brain a little bit. It's been impressive and he's done a good job with it."
Warren Speaks
Warren Creavalle is a reserved guy who does most of his talking on the field.
He was a guest this week on the KYW Philly Soccer Show, and opened up a bit when asked a series of questions about his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia.
Here's a bit of the exchange:
KYW Philly Soccer Show: What do you order when you go to Waffle House?
Creavalle: Hmm.. double waffle... with sausage.
KYW: Do you get hash browns?
Creavalle: Uh.. if I'm really hungry, then yeah.
KYW: Chic-fil-A or Zaxby's?
Creavalle: Oh man... I'm going with Zaxby's. I miss that more.
KYW: How many streets have the name "Peachtree"?
Creavalle: Do they even have a number for that?
KYW: I'm not actually sure.
Creavalle: It's gotta be high (laughs).