Jim Curtin and the Philadelphia Union are in unchartered territory entering the Audi 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs. The Supporters’ Shield winners are a favorite to lift MLS Cup for the first time, which brings a new kind of pressure with heightened expectation.
But while Curtin hasn’t had to deal with this in his coaching career, Jesse Marsch has, leading the New York Red Bulls to the Shield in 2015. The club then bowed out to Columbus Crew SC in the Conference Final, falling one step shy of competing for MLS Cup.
While also checking in about Brenden Aaronson, who will join Marsch at Red Bull Salzburg next month, Marsch talked to Curtin about what it was like to handle that pressure with the rival Red Bulls.
“He mentioned they worked so hard all season, maybe as the underdog a little bit,” Curtin said in a conference call with reporters Monday. “When no one expected them, they win the Shield and all the sudden, all the pressure is on them and he said he felt sometimes the players maybe feel that pressure.”
That’s one of Curtin’s biggest challenges ahead of the Union’s playoff opening against the New England Revolution Tuesday (8 pm ET | TV & streaming info) at Subaru Park.
“That’s something that I'm trying to do my best on taking that off of them, telling them to do the same things that got them here, play with that same chip on their shoulder, that same underdog mentality, and that same intensity and energy that they've had the entire year,” Curtin said. “It's a hard thing to do because when the media starts to talk about us a little more, it’s hard to not get distracted. But I think this group has been really resilient and focused in that regard, in trying to play the exact same way we did all season, especially in Subaru park where we were pretty solid.”
Curtin said it’s that mentality of controlling the controlables and everyone doing their job that led Philadelphia to a first major trophy by winning the Shield and could lead to a December double.
“What's made this team so special and great is everybody takes the mindset of just doing their job, nobody tries to be great, or tries to be different or do more than they're expected in their position and role in the team,” he said. “If everybody is good, and all 11 players just have a good performance that we can all rely on each other, we usually come out on top and that's been the mindset and mentality of this group throughout this entire season as unique as it's been.”
The first step in an MLS Cup run is often the hardest and the Union face an unprecedented challenge in Bruce Arena’s Revs in this sixth meeting in 2020. Philadelphia are 4W-0L-1D thus far, but New England now have Designated Players Carles Gil and Gustavo Bou healthy and in good form.
They were instrumental in the Revs’ dramatic 2-1 Play-In win over the Montreal Impact and New England are certainly hoping to carry that recent momentum into a match against a Union side that haven’t played since Nov. 8.
“We've done a good job, every game has been very close, we respect them a great deal. And they're playing some of their best soccer right now with Carles Gil and Bou in very good form. So we have to do our best to contain those two guys, try to limit the amount of times they're on the ball," Curtin said. "But it did make for fairly easy scouting reports, a couple tweaks here and there to the film, a couple of the most recent performances, you add a few things in, but we certainly know each other about as well as two teams can can know each other.”
