Know Thy Enemy: Revs at Union It's Curtin's for New England Edition
While the curtains have proverbially fallen on the Revs' playoff hopes for sometime now, Philly could make it official Saturday.
It’s been a long week, only feels like a Tuesday…wait, that’s cause it’s the middle of my work week…
But for the New England Revolution, it is almost a brand new season. The weight of expectations are gone for now, despite the 11th place side clinging to a fleeting hope of making the play-in game. No, that is not making the playoffs, I don’t care what the league says.
Interim head coach Pablo Moreira is now faced with a near impossible task - win at the Shield leading Philadelphia Union on Saturday (230 PM EDT, Subaru Park, MLS Season Pass) or face official elimination, which could happen if the Chicago Fire win at Minnesota United anyway.
I think it’s great that Moreira is confident in his abilities, touting his 11-year experience in the league. He isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel in four weeks, but giving the Revs a chance to have anything that resembles a more free-flowing attack or open counters will be a significant development for a team that has struggled to generate chances. Also the prospect of signing the Hardy Boys as late game enforcing #6’s is intriguing…
Earlier in the week I mentioned the possibility of Moreira staying on with the Revs and just the initial vibes check post-Porter seems incredibly positive towards that being a legitimate option should the team and coach want to continue forward in some capacity. Yes, Jim Curtin should be the frontrunner for head coach, but Moreira staying on as a top assistant or leading Revs 2 can and should be strong options if the Revs play well down the stretch.
I gave Moreira three tasks to basically help the Revs 2026 preseason and it looks like one of them is going to be a three-week assignment. New striker Dor Turgeman has reportedly gotten his visa paperwork straightened out and once he’s stateside and training can hopefully feature in as many games as possible. I think a target of 200 minutes over three games would be great but might not be feasible so it limits how much the Revs can see of him with Campana up top or potentially as a lone striker.
Otherwise, this is a play your kids off the bench to end the season kind of stretch. Revs 2 is in blistering form and if the team can spare guys like Liam Butts or Cristiano Oliveira for some late-game minutes, I think that’s a great reward for a tremendous NextPro campaign. If not, the kids are pushing for the top seed in the MLSNP Eastern Conference Group A standings.
But when you’re playing Philadelphia the same week you’re contacting their former head coach for the job opening you just posted, that’s going to be the major storyline. I am fully onboard the Curtin train. I think he would excel with the Revolution as a program builder and help bridge the gap between Revs 2 and the MLS squad. He’s shown he can work on a budget and have enough tactical/man management fluidity to make it through the slog of an MLS regular season repeatedly.
Yes, Cup success is hard. New England knows that better than anyone. But you can’t have playoff success if you aren’t making it consistently to late October-November. Curtin got sacked for one bad year in a decade littered with Open Cup runner-ups and Top three East finishes. Sounds a lot like the Nicol era and we’d all sign up for that again, constant heartbreak and SuperLiga games and all.
As always, we are joined by not one, but two distinguished brotherly gentlemen in Matt Ralph and (the semi-retired) Joe Lister of Philadelphia Soccer Now. We’re getting both of their takes on the potential Jim Curtin hiring but only Matt is going to talk about that really rough week the Union just had…giving up a touchdown on the west coast of Canada, then a midweek Open Cup semifinal loss is true MLS brutality.
Be sure to head on over to their site for their half of the game coverage.
1) The Revs have contacted Jim Curtin for their head coach opening, what was the main reason Philly sacked him in 2024? I mostly remember a rift with ownership and a lot of injuries (especially Andre Blake missing time) but should New England be concerned about how quickly the Union bounced back without Curtin?
MR: The reason given was the Union didn't make the playoffs but the injuries and the fact that they sold two of their best players in the summer (Jose Martinez and Julian Carranza) didn't help matters and there was some talk that Curtin and Ernst Tanner didn't see eye to eye. If Curtin ends up going to New England he'd be a great hire because he had a lot of success in Philadelphia despite not always getting the resources needed to compete.
JL: I wouldn't be concerned about the bounceback for the Union this year. They've found out that while Blake is pretty often injured these days (it hurts my soul), this Andrew Rick kid is really good in net. They've made some good investment into the team. Quiet frankly, sometimes having one manager for more than a decade means eventually he'll lose his fastball, like everyone else. I attribute the Union's success mostly to money and a new point of view. Also, don't forget that Bradley Carnell got St. Louis running at full steam in his first year there, and he was on the unemployment line after his second season. This Union boost might just be the spike before the crash.
2) I think one of the biggest strengths Curtin had in Philadelphia was his connection to the academy, and while the Revs have hit on some great blue chip prospects (Peyton Miller/Esmir Bajraktarevic) they've also sold early on a few as well (Noel Buck/Olger Escobar). How good of a "program builder" would you rate Curtin if given the job as Head Coach and Technical Director?
MR: Curtin started out with the Union as an academy coach back when it was more of a training program than a full-fledged academy so from the start he had a close connection to some of the younger players he would bring into the first team environment. While he was credited for his connection to the academy, he also at times faced some criticism for not playing his younger players more. Like any coach he had certain players he preferred over others and was not quick to hand out minutes to players just because, which was great for some but not so great for others.
In terms of being a program builder, Curtin has always been a very strong communicator and has a good rapport with the staff and media so he is the type of person who could easily take on a larger role within another organization.
JL: To my previous point, Curtin also was probably good with younger players because he didn't always have a choice. Young players are cheap, and Jay Sugarman will be dead and buried before he spends Los Angeles money on a superstar.
If the Revs want a manager who can bring younger players into the fold, Curtin will be fantastic. I think that Curtin wins a championship in Philadelphia if ownership had just given him one more big signing to fit in with the kids who were still living with mom and dad. Or if Gareth Bale didn't have work authorization. Alas.
3) Okay, onto current Union happenings - it's been a brutal week giving up a touchdown in Vancouver (I hope that was squad rotation) and losing in the Open Cup semis to Nashville...what happened and how important is it to get back on track in Philly's next two games (vs NE/at DC) for the Shield run?
MR: No. 1 Vancouver is really far away. No. 2 They play on plastic and No. 3 A quick turnaround to play Nashville again on the road was a tall order for a Union team that is starting to show some wear and tear from a long season and a system that requires relentless pursuit. Carnell deserves a ton of credit for getting the Union this far - expectations were far too low to begin the year - but it's hard not to question how teams in his system will hold up into the long slog of the MLS postseason, particularly a Union team that has struggled against the higher echelon of teams.
Lineup/Injuries/Predictions/Etc.
MR: Andre Blake is still questionable for this one and Olwethu Mackhanya is suspended.
Andrew Rick, Kai Wagner, Nathan Harriel, Jakob Glesnes, Frankie Westfield, Jovan Lukic, Danley Jean Jacques, Quinn Sullivan, Indiana Vassilev, Tai Baribo, Mikael Uhre