CHESTER — Once upon a time, when Jim Curtin was in the first two years of his playing career, he faced the challenge of navigating MLS Cup playoff series. It’s been two decades since those best-of-3s were retired after the 2002 season. But in MLS’ ongoing quest to stock Apple TV with content and give everyone a home game, they are back this year for the first round of the postseason, which means Curtin and his staff are dusting off strategies that have been dormant for years.
The fourth-seeded Union embark on the playoffs starting Saturday when they host No. 5 New England (5 p.m., AppleTV+). It opens a best-of-3, with Gilette Stadium’s nuisance tenant getting the keys from Robert Kraft to use the field on Nov. 8 before an if-necessary third leg on Nov. 12 at Subaru Park.
The next round of the playoffs, in which the Union would face No. 1 Cincinnati or No. 9 New York Red Bulls, returns to single-game elimination, lest the playoffs extend past Christmas.
The Union are last year’s Eastern Conference champion. They reached the semifinals of both the CONCACAF Champions League and Leagues Cup this year. Whatever the new format may entail, they hope their history of knockout soccer will serve them.
“We’re battle-tested for sure,” Curtin said Friday. “We had a Champions League elimination competition. We had a Leagues Cup elimination competition where there’s penalty kicks involved, things that could come up in this best-of-3 series. You take those lessons, you take those games of consequence, I call them – games where you lose and it can be over and over fast. We have a lot of those games under our belt.”
These playoff series are a little different than what Curtin dealt with as a young defender for the Chicago Fire. Then, it was first to five points (i.e. at least two three-point wins or a win and two draws). Penalties would only be eventuated if each team had four points after Game 3. Now, games tied after 90 minutes go straight to penalty kicks, and every game will have a designated winner.
So a team could completely punt one game and lose it 10-0, but if they draw the other two and win PK shootouts, they’re through. It gives a coach lots to think about and puts immense pressure on getting a 90-minute win in the first game.
“What the conversations are, that I imagine are going on in all the MLS locker rooms, for the home teams, you’d better be proactive and go for wins at home,” Curtin said. “Because if you leave it to chance in penalty kicks in Game 1, now you’re going on the road where you know how hard it is in this league to win. It makes it very different strategy wise. If teams go down two or three goals, you might call the dogs off and sub guys out to save legs for the next one. There’s no punishment for losing 5-0 or 6-0 in this.”
“It’s a good thing that we start at home,” Daniel Gazdag said. “Our fans can help us a lot as well. In the last three years, I think we’ve been a much better team at home, so I think we have to show that again tomorrow.”
There’s familiarity here. The Revs claimed a 2-1 win on Decision Day in rainy Foxborough. The Union approach the game as healthy as they’ve been in weeks. That’s probably because it’s just their second game in 20 days after seven in the previous 21 days.
With the exception of Jakob Glesnes, everyone trained fully Friday. That includes Olivier Mbaizo, who returned from international duty with Cameroon with a knee issue the team feared could cost him 4-6 weeks. Jesus Bueno is recovered from a knee injury the kept him from international duty, and Jose Martinez, who was suspended on Decision Day, had time to recover from his knock.
Glesnes is day to day with his core muscle injury.
“It’s a good thing that we have more time to prepare for the game,” Gazdag said. “Obviously we played the last game against them, so it’s a unique situation. But I’m pretty sure we’re ready for the playoffs.”
The Union advanced through two playoff rounds at home each of the last two years. This year, they didn’t lose any of their three CCL games at Subaru Park, and they prevailed in four of five Leagues Cup games at home.
That’s the headwind the Revs face in coming to Chester.
“We know they have to beat us at least once in this building to move on, and that’s something that’s tough to do,” Curtin said. “We know that Subaru Park is a very special place as we look to go on another memorable MLS Cup playoff run.”
Source: Berkshire mont