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TABLE TALK: Philadelphia Union Season Assessments · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:21
Welcome to this installment of Table Talk here at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show,
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the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world, that's right
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over ten years strong. We've got a great discussion coming your way. I'm
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so excited to get into this Philly sports team because it's the first time we're
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getting into this team here on our Table Talk interview show. We're gonna be
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getting into the Philadelphia Union. That's right. Yes, as you all may
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know, longtime listeners would know this for sure that I have been trying to
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get really into soccer, understand this game a little bit more. I know,
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I know, late to the party, right late to the party,
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but still I'm here. I am here for soccer MLS soccer, the Philadelphia
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Union. Really been following this team and what has been happening with them as
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well. We're gonna get into a great discussion, so let's just do that
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right now. It is great to have on the podcast for the very first
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time as we get into this Philadelphia Union team for the very first time and
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what this soccer organization means to the city of Philadelphia and the fan base we
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have coming to us on the Twitter dot com at fly guy Josh ninety one,
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and you can also find he and his buddies their material over at Philadelphia
1:27
Soccer Now. We absolutely love that site. I've been reading a lot more
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content over there to familiarize myself of the Philadelphia Union. We've got the one
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and only Josh Schuster. How are you doing, Josh, I'm doing good.
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And Jeff, you said my last name right, so most people say
1:44
Schuster, so kudos on that. Really, I mess up names constantly on
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this show. I'm glad that I got it right. Buddy. Yeah,
1:49
you got it right, and you got it right. Hey, look,
1:53
I appreciate you coming on to talk about this Philadelphia Union team, you know,
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just for our lists, if there's any new listeners here. Going back
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a bit a few months, I'm on the podcast with my buddy Len,
2:06
and we're talking about the fact that this Philadelphia Union team at some point may
2:09
end up actually becoming the fourth Philly sports team, like fourth like most important
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Philly sports team that we all follow, And you know, I step back
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a little bit and I was like, you know what, I think Len's
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right about this, because we know what's happening with the Philadelphia Flyers. It's
2:24
going to take some time before they get back into any sort of contention.
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But the soccer world is really growing here and I kind of wanted to get
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into that first with you, and particularly one particular gentleman whose last name is
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Messi. He's now officially a Florida resident here, and it's amazing what his
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presence in Major League Soccer has meant to the brand overall here in the United
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States. And he hasn't even really done much of anything yet on the field,
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for God's sake, he hasn't done any match play yet, really,
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you know what I mean, And it's astonishing to me what one sports figure
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can do, not just for a team, but an entire sporting organization like
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Major League Soccer. Josh, So, what do you think his presence over
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here in America is going to do for the game of soccer and the MLS
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brand in general. Yeah, so we knew it had started talking about soccer
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kind of maybe overtaking the Union, maybe overtaking that fourth spot. Yeah.
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Last night the game was on Apple and one of the great things that they've
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done is the audio is so much better and you can I mean, they've
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been filling up Subaru Park for a couple of years now and you can literally
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hear it through the TV, which you never used to be able to,
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and so it is really a fun environment. It's very family friendly environment,
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which I think is where the Flyers are trying to do again. But really
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the Union kind of have a stranglehold on that. It's far cheaper to go
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to a soccer game than it is other sports. But in regards to MESSI
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I have some numbers that I'm going to lay out because you had mentioned him
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making an impact and I think that it's important. So Miami's Instagram since he
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joined is at nine point one million followers. Gosh, so let me let
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me just give you some ideas of other some of the big soccer markets here
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in the MLS, the Union have two hundred and fifty seven thousand, LAFC,
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who just won the championship, is a seven hundred and eighty seven thousand.
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The Galaxy, the long standing LA team, is at one point five
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They have the largest following pre Messy in the MLS. The Seattle Sounders have
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three hundred and seventy four thousand, Portland has one hundred and eighty three thousand,
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and the New York Red Bulls have two hundred and twenty seven thousand,
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so he has blown their numbers through the water. Now, in considering that,
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you know, you can say that soccer really isn't one of the top
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four yet. Here's the Philadelphia sports teams. The Eagles have two point six
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million, the Sixers have four point one million, the Phillies have one million,
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and the Flyers have seven hundred and five thousand. So just by him
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going there, it blew out of the water really any of the Philadelphia teams.
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And in the big markets, the Yankees have three point five million,
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the Lakers have twenty two point nine, which is higher, but the Cowboys
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have four point five. I mean, what he has done has just really
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put MLS soccer on the map. And so I'm actually genuinely concerned about his
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first match. I'm glad it's on Apple because I think they can handle it.
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Yeah, it may crash. I don't think they've ever they will ever
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have that many people worldwide watching again. And it's kind of amazing. All
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the tickets for Miami games moving forward are all sold out, home away everything.
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It's really wild. And he tried to go to Public's the grocery store.
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They talked a little bit about it last night during the game, and
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it was madness. So he can't go grocery shopping here in America. So
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that'll give you a bit of an I can't believe he's going grocery shopping.
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You gotta you're that popular and within the world, you gotta use a grocery
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service. You just have to. Yeah, very true, very true.
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Alright, Well, let's get into this Philadelphia Union team a bit here,
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Josh, because this past week the Union the man they were in danger of
6:15
their first three game losing streak in quite some time, I think, possibly
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since twenty eighteen, perhaps as they took the field without Jose Martinez, and
6:28
there's been some unexpected play I think with this team as of late, for
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sure, But since they made it to the finals last season, it's been
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a rather i would say emotional up and down season for the Union here as
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we're in the middle of twenty twenty three here, basically a little bit over
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the first half of the season in MLS. So overall, when you look
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at the Union season thus far from a more macro standpoint, what's the one
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word that you would use to describe their season, how it's been for them
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and why the word I use is perplexing. Okay, I know when you
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as a podcast that talked about the union very early on in the season,
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there was concern about where they were in the MLS table, where the standings.
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The one thing that I would have liked to point out is during that
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time is the Champions League. So it's perplexing in the sense of scheduling with
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soccer. We are so accustomed in America that the playoffs happening at the end
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of the season. That is not what happens in soccer. And so you
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know, if you're new to listening this, you're trying to understand what's going
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on. There's this thing called the Champions League do you have to qualify for
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and you don't qualify every single year, and so it's one of those things
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that they really wanted to try to do that, and so they were resting
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a lot of players for league games in order to try to make it further
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in the Champions League. But then what happened was it kind of all came
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off the rails, and that's where it also is perplexing. They've had a
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lot of injuries that have hit them, and I'm for it. Hasn't been
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in one set stretch where you have three or four players out for four games
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then everybody comes back. It's been one after the other after the other.
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The Deya hasn't been able to play. When your captain can't play, that's
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a problem. Andre Blake missed a number of games and in that stretch,
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which is the time frame that you were talking about, and a couple of
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extra games, they really saw how much he's valued. I mean, I
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think around the league people know who Andre Blake is because he is the best
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goalkeeper that there is an MLS. I don't care what other people say.
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He's absolutely the best. But the problem is they just have had a lot
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of injuries and the injury buck has really hit him and it's just been a
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really inconvenient times where players have had to leave for the match, which really
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hurts as well. And they put a lot of reliance, like they normally
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do, on their homegrown talent, which I'll talk about in a little bit
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later on. But the problem is, I think what they were banking on
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didn't really come to fruition during that time, and so it was just it's
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perplexing and I think some of Jim Curtin's lineup, so that he's put out,
9:09
that would be a good word to use. I know, we'll talk
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about him in a little bit here. Yeah, but you know, I
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think perplexing is a good word because I think we're still trying to figure out
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what's going to happen. I mean, this team is one of the first
9:24
teams in MLS history to win, not to just get points, but to
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win seventeen of twenty home matches. Yeah, that's something significant, and so
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they're obviously a very good team. It's just a little perplexing. It is.
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It absolutely is. And there's one particular player who really has been I
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don't know if you want to call it developing, but just getting better and
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better and stronger and stronger seems throughout the season. That's Julianne Carranza, like
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I said, getting better and better as the season is going, been a
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key component to this Union team. And of course, with those red cards
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that were doled out this past week, Julian getting one of one of the
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three in that matchup against Nashville. He missed this past Saturday's game here,
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So how would you describe his particular season what he has meant to the team,
10:09
what his play on the field has meant, not just for his teammates
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but the Union overall. What do you think about Kranza's play at this point?
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I think I can speak for anybody who is religious with the Union in
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saying that Carranza is better than anything I think they had hoped. Yeah,
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really say that? Yeah? Yeah. I mean he was signed on loan
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because Miami was in financial trouble, right, and that's the only reason they
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got him, And so he has turned into I mean, what Ernest Tanner
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and Jim Curtin are able to do in terms of development is unmatched. I
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would I would rival anyone to find an organization that is able to do that.
10:56
It's a double edged sword. But one of the things is red cards
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are not uncommon, and cards are not uncommon, especially for the Union.
11:07
They at the end of the year inevitably will be within the top three of
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red cards yellow cards. For whatever reason. One of the markers of a
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Jim current team, and I think it's because they're more physical than the other
11:20
teams that they play against, they get a lot of cards. However,
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circling back to Kranza, I'm kind of a stats person because I think that's
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that's sometimes can paint a story absolutely, So I just want to highlight a
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little bit about Kranza and how incredible he's been. He's easily the team's leading
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scorer, he's leading in shots taken, easily the leader, and shots on
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target. Almost fifty percent of his shots are on target, which is really
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good. I equated to kind of like hitting three hundred in baseball. There's
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not a whole lot of players to do it anymore. Hitting close to fifty
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percent of your shots on target is pretty good. But one of the greatest
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things about Carranza that never gets talked about is that he is one of the
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league leaders in foul's drawn. What that means is when he is on the
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pitch and he's out there running, teams have no option but to foul him,
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and so he generates a bunch of free kicks, penalties. There's there's
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a lot, and his speed is unmatched. So I mean, he really
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has just been anything better than anything they ever could have hoped or dream.
12:28
Yeah, yeah, he absolutely has. It's fun watching him, I get
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from my understanding, Josh, I mean, there's gonna be there's gonna be
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some teams in Europe that are gonna be looking at him to possibly bring him
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over. And that's what I don't hate to call it like a concern,
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but losing a talent like that for what this team is, what it needs,
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it's it's a little concerning for the future because he's gonna be targeted buys
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some European teams for sure. Yeah, we'll get into that in a little
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book one of your other questions that you sent me. All Right, if
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you're going to really fall in love with the Union, you better get used
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to players you love being sold. Yep. Yeah, it's just kind of
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what happens. It's the way they run things. I'll get into that in
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a little bit, but yeah, I would definitely not be surprised. Right
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now, they're entering the transfer window. Yeah. In soccer, for those
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who aren't aware, there's only two times a year that they're able to buy
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and sell players. Yeah, yeah, there's They've entered the All Star break
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now, which is a great time to record this. This team may look
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different when they come back from the break. Okay, all right, we're
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gonna be following it for sure here at the PSD podcast show, and again
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we are talking to Josh Schuster from Philadelphia Soccer now and be sure that you
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are following him on the Twitter dot com. Fly guy Josh ninety one again
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on Twitter here, and let's get into some some signings that recently happened here
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with regard to this Union team and an organization here. Jim Curtin, as
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you mentioned, and the Union's longest tenured head coach. He's gonna be sticking
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around for a bit here, Josh. He signed an extension. Yeah,
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he's going to keep him around and in Philly until two twenty six. Has
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a tons of he has a ton of stats to prove that he's the coach
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that essentially this team needs, at least in my opinion. I mean you
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even outlined like how a developmental coach, how much of a developmental coach he
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is, and I think overall what he has meant to this team. So
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what were your initial thoughts when this extension was announced and like, really,
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how it's going to make an impact for the future. Yeah, so I
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always have to offer this disclaimer with Jim Kurtin. Okay, I don't know
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if Jim would ever like me if if if he saw me in one of
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his press conferences, gotcha, I Jim Curtin had worn on me. I
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call it the Andy Reid syndrome. There you go. He kept getting them
14:50
to a certain point and not getting passed. But then two years ago things
14:54
really changed, and it was about the time that Ernest Tanner came into the
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pag Sure, and I'm gonna work Ernest Tanner, who is the scouting director
15:03
for the Philadelphia Union, because I think these two individuals go hand in hand.
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Part of the problem with Jim Curtin and why some people give him a
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hard time and why I didn't have a lot of successes he was not given
15:13
pieces to be able to use, which is really problematic. Any coach in
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any sport is going to need players you can't. It's just not possible.
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However, the players that he was given that had high upside that were underdeveloping.
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He really has a knack of being able to do that. Ernest Tanner
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is able to find players who are being underunilized. We're going to use Kranza
15:37
as an example, Gozdag as an example, moreno as an example, like
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there are a bunch of examples that I can give. Martinez is another excellent
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example of people that we're being underunilized, undervalued. They bring them in and
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Jim Curtin is able to turn things around. And so one of the things
15:58
that has really developed over the last year for Jim Curtin has been the defensive
16:03
system he uses. Now I'm a big Liverpool fan as well, and his
16:07
defensive system is very similar to clop where you need two things really on defense.
16:12
You need your wingbacks, which are kind of the people that would essentially
16:17
be cornerbacks on defense in the NFL. They need to be very athletic,
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they need to be very physical, and they need to be very fast and
16:25
aggressive in the offensive zone. Not many squads in the MLS will play it
16:29
because it is very hard to find players for that and when you do,
16:33
looking at somebody like Kaive Wagner, you generally get sold pretty quickly because that's
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how teams in Europe play and they are desperately needed. But he's developed this
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system and implementing them in the last two years that have just been absolutely incredible.
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I mentioned Ernest Tanner, he has been amazing. One of the gripes
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I have about the Union is that they are a bottom third payroll. They
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are what I equate to the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Soccer because they
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don't have a large payroll. Ua, who was their largest signing. He's
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one of the people I'm going to get into with disappointments. But they don't
17:14
pay for players to come and play in Philadelphia, and so you have to
17:18
have a good team of a scouting director and a coach that's able to find
17:22
diamonds in the rough for cheap because ownership doesn't want to pay, and for
17:29
basically the coach to be able to develop them. So they've they've done a
17:33
great job and it's I remember very very slim years of the Union because they
17:38
don't spend on players, but they've they've really turned it around. It Est
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Tanner and Jim Kurtin had both done an excellent job. So I think long
17:47
term this is great. Yeah, it's interesting to me, you know,
17:51
getting into that discussion of professional sports teams and the ownership that decides that,
17:56
you know what, we're actually not going to spend a lot of money.
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You know, it's it's always baffled me. I don't people don't necessarily need
18:04
to be or I should say owners of sports teams don't necessarily need to be
18:08
the Dallas Cowboys or the Philadelphia Phillies where that she's just gonna or the dodgers
18:12
're just gonna spend bookoo bucks and who cares, you know, we're gonna
18:15
pay you know this, this type of quote, fine or whatever, and
18:21
whatever the case is. But like a team like the Pittsburgh Pirates, who
18:25
are notoriously known for not paying and not doing a lot of spending. You
18:30
mentioned the Tampa Bay Rays as well, Josh, and it makes me think
18:33
that being in a market like Philadelphia, which I believe is the sixth biggest
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or actually I think it's the third largest media market in the United States,
18:44
it really is perplexing that that type of money would not be spent to enhance
18:48
the brand and to get more of that following of individuals where you can help
18:53
to create a foundation of loyal followers and team lovers in the future. Stuff
19:00
is going to take time to manifest itself in terms of that, but you
19:04
have to be willing to pay, You have to be willing to utilize your
19:07
resources in order to really get that ground swell of sports fandom and support for
19:15
your team and organization. And I hope that they do that in the future.
19:18
I hope there's more of a willingness to spend by the union organization and
19:22
leadership in the future. Well, you're right, I mean it is.
19:26
Seeing how electric Subaru Park is is just if you haven't been there, I
19:33
can't express enough that people need to get down there because it is the best
19:38
family friendly environment it is. There is chance the whole game. I mean,
19:42
it is just absolutely electric. You know, going in, it's only
19:45
going to be two hours, so if time is a problem, you know
19:48
ahead of time. But the one thing I will say that they've spent money
19:51
on is their farm system. I mean, they rather than paying the money
19:56
it would take to get messy here, their philosophy is we're going to invest
19:59
in homegrown talent. Yeah, and that's fine, Like I have zero issue
20:03
with that. It just would be nice to have a player that's signed for
20:08
more than two million dollars as your highest highest purchase. Right. UM's that's
20:15
kind of where where I sit. Because young talent is great. Young talent
20:19
needs veterans around them to understand. Absolutely Well, let's get into some like
20:26
what we would call and describe as some local homegrown talent. And I saw
20:30
this past week on the Philadelphia Union's Twitter account that they just signed local kid
20:37
Kyle Tucker to a contract through the end of two thousand and twenty three and
20:41
an option for twenty twenty four. It was a five year contributor to the
20:45
Drexel team. And it's just it's always cool to see when local sports talent
20:52
they get to play for their teams in the city of Philadelphia. It's awesome
20:55
to see that. We've seen it countless times with some of the other professional
20:59
sports teams in Philadelphia. Josh, so like, what were your thoughts on
21:02
this signing? And I guess, you know, going back to that local,
21:06
homegrown talent that we're seeing with regard to this team, I thought it
21:10
was pretty cool. What were your thoughts. Yeah, so, in one
21:14
word, it was shocked, to be honest, It's not because I think
21:17
Kyle Tucker is going to be incredible. It was more shocked because he's frankly
21:22
older than most of the people that they invest in. Most people that play
21:29
college soccer, if they're going to make it in the MLS, are drafted.
21:33
Another way that the MLS is very Americanized with soccer is they have a
21:38
draft. Yeah, there's really no other club. There's no other leagues that
21:41
do that, which is fine, So I was I was shocked that because
21:48
he's he's older. But to give people an idea, I figured using a
21:52
quote from the head coach of the Union too was probably a good idea to
21:56
explain who Kyle is. Says. Kyle's a promise young midfielder who has the
22:00
potential to make an immediate impact on the field. He's a box to box
22:03
midfielder who is good with both feet, and his dedication to team first mentality
22:08
fits well into our philosophy. That last part is very key. They are
22:12
a team focused organization. But the other reason why I was kind of in
22:17
shock and I'm a little intrigued by this is the Union. As much as
22:21
they have struggled developing a forward or a striker, they have developed gold in
22:26
the midfield. The Ironson brothers both are playing overseas. Goz Dog who before
22:32
he got here, he's been like the celebrity here because he's taking all these
22:36
penalty kicks and he's been incredible, but he has never played like this before
22:38
in his life. Yeah, there's Jack McGlynn, Quinn Sullivan and Leon Flock.
22:44
These are all homegrown kids that are now playing on a regular basis.
22:48
They've had zero problem developing midfield and on the back end as well. So
22:52
I was a little shocked because of his age, but I'm also very intrigued
22:56
because they just have a really, really great way of developing midfield, especially
23:03
UM and I trusted Jim Kurtin and Nurnest Tanner. All right, very good,
23:07
Well, got one more topic, technically two topics here to close us
23:11
out on this table talk podcast. Here, Josh again, two part question
23:17
here. We're gonna talk about some disappointments with this team and most improved aspects
23:21
of this Philadelphia Union team. So first and foremost, let's we'll get the
23:25
crap out of the way first. Okay, what's been What's what's been the
23:29
most disappointment or biggest disappointment during this first half of the season when we look
23:33
at this Philadelphia Union team. So for me, it's really two players that
23:40
have really been very disappointing. UM. I am a huge Alejandra Bedoya fan.
23:44
In fact, my Twitter thing I think is like Bedoya supporter forty four.
23:48
Obviously, I love I love Alejandra Bedoya. I think that he's great.
23:53
He had a renaissance yere last year. I was so optimistic. He
23:59
really is Jim Curtain's manager on the pitch and it was incredible to watch and
24:03
he just had this incredible renaissance season. But he's playing fewer games this year
24:11
because he's been injured, definitely starting fewer games. His past percentage, which
24:18
when you play in the midfield, a past percentage is a really good number
24:22
and metric in terms of how well you're playing and seeing the field. It's
24:26
basically how often are your passes completed? Right now, his past percentage is
24:30
the lowest that's ever been in his career, at sixty eight percent, which
24:36
is fifteen to twenty percent lower than his normal And that's just not great.
24:41
And he doesn't look like the same captain out there. He doesn't look as
24:45
sure of himself. The other players they're looking more towards Martinez and that's fine.
24:53
It just it was kind of eye opening. And the second disappointment is
24:59
Ua. I mean, his name is spelled u h R, but his
25:02
name is just frankly fun to say. Yes, I'm like, oh,
25:06
And he's been frustrating since he's come over, and this is more of a
25:10
disappointment in terms of I had mentioned he was the record signing for the Union
25:15
and he just has not. It has not gone how it was planned.
25:21
They had let Sergio Santos go, which honestly I was fine with, was
25:26
not a big Santos fan at all. He had too many missed opportunities to
25:30
get the ball wide open front of the net and would kick it over.
25:32
That's not really good from your forward who's trying to score. But I was
25:37
supposed to be this quick, physical forward and he's put up some numbers,
25:45
but it hasn't been what was expected. And I'm beginning to put him in
25:48
the category of what I say, the Union can't find a striker outside of
25:52
Carranza and La two within their history. It's just every for years it was
25:57
the Phillies bullpen, right they could ever put a bullpen together. This year
26:00
is different. But every organization has one blind spot for whatever reason. It's
26:06
scoring goals. With Carranza, which you had mentioned, who is out the
26:10
last game, what was almost invisible. Yeah, and that's not good.
26:14
If one of your main two forwards and strikers are out, that's not that's
26:17
not great. All right, Well, let's end on a positive note.
26:22
Here in talking about and dissecting the most improved part of this team during the
26:27
first half of the season. What do you think that is? So?
26:32
The first is the continued development of the youth movement and Jim Curtain's coaching abilities.
26:38
Um, they've they have this ability to be able to replace players that
26:44
they sell off. Um, which I could go off on an hour long
26:51
tangent. Do that one next time, yea. Um. But they they
26:56
continue to be able to plug in pieces and Jim Curtain comes up with these
27:02
crazy ideas that like this past the game last night, it was all going
27:07
through Martinez with the offense. I'm like, what is going on? Yeah,
27:11
Martinez hasn't like scored at all. I mean he scored once four games
27:15
ago. But this is crazy, but it works. He just has this
27:18
magic touch that's developing. And the second is the back play. The play
27:23
on the back end with the defenders having Andre Blake back there is an incredible
27:30
blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because he is hands down the best
27:34
goalkeeper in all of MLS and he likely will set every Union record and every
27:40
MLS goalkeeping record, which is great, but it's also a curse because the
27:45
four individuals playing on defense know that Andre Blake is back in ned and when
27:48
he was out for those five games, you really began to see the problems
27:53
developed. However, they have really really improved since the beginning of the season
27:59
and even last season. Last season, at the beginning of this season,
28:02
there were people flying down the wings or the sides of the pitch, and
28:06
that's just problematic. You can people running clean. So I think they had
28:10
said they've only given up like six home goals this year, which is incredible.
28:15
So the defense is really really improved. Yeah, defense has improved for
28:18
sure. And again, folks Josh Schuster at fly Guy Josh ninety one on
28:25
Twitter check out everything that he and his colleagues over at Philadelphia Soccer Now dot
28:30
com are doing great, great content there. Josh Man, it was great
28:33
to talk to you for the first time on this podcast about the Philadelphia Union
28:38
on our table talk show. And I'd love to have you on down the
28:41
road, my friend come back and join us. Absolutely, I've said in
28:45
questions and you've answered him. I've listened for a while, so it's an
28:47
honor to be here. Jeff, Thank you a great conversation. I absolutely
28:52
loved having Josh on the show and this Philadelphia Union team. You know,
28:56
as we're talking about, you know, as soccer continues to grow throughout the
28:59
United States. We know it's one of the most popular, if not the
29:02
most popular sport within the world itself. I think it's going to be interesting
29:07
to see how the Philadelphia Union continue to grow within the Philly sports fan base
29:12
in general. It's gonna be fascinating to watch over all these years. So
29:15
it's gonna do it for us here on Table Talk. Hope you enjoyed that
29:19
discussion. Again, I'm still familiarizing myself with this team with various players,
29:25
just how this sport is intertwining itself into the fabric of American life here.
29:30
So, if you're not following us on the Twitter dot com at Philadelphia PST,
29:33
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29:37
to implode. You can certainly follow me on threads at mister jeff Warren.
29:41
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