CHESTER — The top two teams in the Eastern Conference will meet Saturday night at Subaru Park. Count Union coach Bradley Carnell among those skipping the hype.
The second-place Union will host East-leading Columbus Crew (7:30, AppleTV+), with the MLS powers dedicating as much of their non-Lionel Messi-allocated hype toward the game as possible.
On Friday, Carnell asserted it’s a bit too early in the season for all that.
“It’s still early,” he said. “We can say that. You know, we haven’t even got through the middle of May yet.”
The Union (7-3-1, 22 points) are in a good place, relative to their expectations at the beginning of the year under a new coach. That much Carnell was comfortable saying. More pressing is a stretch of nine games in 29 days, including the proximate challenge of Wilfried Nancy’s Crew (7-1-3, 24 points).
Among that group is, of course, Daniel Gazdag, the Union’s all-time leading scorer who was traded last month. Gazdag missed last week’s game with a last-minute injury, but he is fit this week and fresh off a new contract through 2027, a deal the Union didn’t want to give him, precipitating the trade.
“Danny was a great human being to work with, exceptional footballer, exceptional person,” Carnell said. “It was fun in the time that I had with him to work together, and I hope the feeling is mutual. And it’ll be great to have a matchup against them.”
Columbus, reloading after the loss of Cucho Hernandez to Europe in the winter, is collecting points at a steady clip even as it’s reorienting itself. The Union are doing the same without Gazdag and while integrating Carnell’s changes to their system. They’re two of four teams in the East averaging at least 2.00 points per game, the first time a conference has had four such teams at this late a date.
The Union are trying to stop the Crew’s dominant team soccer by focusing on their own execution. The same goes with the rhetoric about the standings.
“The order of the day is to be competitive and compete in every match and build a platform and a foundation to be successful,” Carnell said. “And I think that’s in the process.”
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The Union have a new face in Ben Bender, the former No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 MLS SuperDraft signed off waivers from Charlotte.
The Baltimore native spent a year in the Union’s academy in 2015-16.
He played for two years at the University of Maryland, named the Big Ten midfielder of the year as a sophomore. The 24-year-old scored seven goals in 51 appearances (32 starts) with Charlotte. He was loaned out to the Tampa Bay Rowdies in USL last year before being waived last month.
“I think as we go through these summer months, we need a lot of bodies in and around our training environment,” Carnell said. “We need a lot of bodies in and around game day environments. And he’s come in and he has a certain skillset, and we think he has something to offer that maybe could be lacking in our roster.”
Bender helps fill the midfield void left by Gazdag, though his position is usually a little deeper on the pitch. He fits the Union’s development-at-any-age ethos.
What his arrival might mean for others is less clear. Cavan Sullivan got his first start for the Union and went 120 minutes Wednesday night in the U.S. Open Cup.
David Vazquez got a start at left back. CJ Olney, whose skillset is most similar to Bender’s, didn’t feature at all. Bender’s arrival seems to push him further from meaningful minutes.
“I think everything has to be earned, and everyone develops at different rates,” Carnell said. “And I think CJ has great abilities and a great profile. He hasn’t appeared for us yet, and I say that ‘yet,’ I think it’s just a matter of time until he gets to that point. He’s on the right track, and that’s up to us in terms of how we develop him around the around the field with Union II and when he does train with us and the first team. So, you know, there’s a definite pathway and a plan.”
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Mikael Uhre and Olwethu Makhanya both trained Friday and are available. Carnell listed Andre Blake (adductor) and Olivier Mbaizo as questionable. Mbaizo left Wednesday with cramping. Blake was rested.
Ian Glavinovich (knee surgery) is running but has yet to progress to on-ball work or change of direction. With Neil Pierre (knee) also out four to six weeks, the Union have two available center backs.
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It’s been a fairly busy week, as the Union on Thursday announced a June 7 friendly with Mexican club Atlas FC. The Union defeated the Liga MX side in the 2023 Champions League quarterfinals over two legs.
The press release announcement carried slightly less pomp and circumstance than for the Aug. 2 friendly against German Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt.
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In addition to Bender, the Union received $50,000 in general allocation money for each of the next two seasons from Real Salt Lake for the Homegrown priority to forward Diego Rocio. There is up to $250,000 in incentives available if Rocio hits performance metrics, and the Union retain both a future trade percentage and a future sell-on percentage.
Rocio, 17, has signed with Real Monarchs in MLS Next Pro. He played four matches and 59 minutes for Union II last year with an assist. The San Diego native has dual Mexican citizenship. He was part of the Union U-17 team won the Generation adidas Cup last year.
Source: Berkshire mont
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