Chester – While much of the focus for the weekend has been on their respective first teams in a showdown of development versus dollars and blue collar versus pink plastic, Union II takes on Inter Miami II at Subaru Park on Sunday, May 25. Union II enters the match in 5th place in the East with seven games played and 15 points, with three wins, no losses, and four draws. They have the second best goal differential at 10, only one behind Huntsville City. It must be noted that they have anywhere from two to five games in hand over all the teams sitting above them, including NYCFC II who has played 12 games. After a stretch that saw so many long breaks in play, Union II will be busier come June and have an opportunity to rise up in the standings. Meanwhile, Inter Miami CF II are in 12th place at 3-6-1 and a -7 goal differential (last in the East).

Most recently, Union II played the Ocean City Nor’easters in a friendly at the WSFS Sportsplex in Chester on Friday, May 16, in an effort to stay sharp amidst all the breaks, and also engage in some friendly competition with a local team that has ties to Union II. The One Team We Agree On’s Kyle Almoney caught up with head coach Ryan Richter at training this week to discuss lessons learned from that friendly, as well as topics related to the match against Inter Miami II.

Richter had related to this writer following the Nor’easters match that they could take a lot of lessons from that match, and also that the two halves were markedly different. The first half had featured better teamwork and cohesiveness, while the second half had more individuals trying to do too much. On how reviewing the film went and lessons learned, Richter noted, “Yeah, good. I mean, that’s how you get better, you know, as you got feedback on performance on how you play basically, but actually see it in live action, you can get really, really great feedback, so that was that was good and seeing if the guys can take that and apply it to their game.”

At the Next Pro and Academy level, it is normal for these young players to want to make themselves stand out to help further their career, and Richter described it well when further discussing the performances in the second half of the friendly:

“Yeah, that’s a constant conversation because these guys are chasing things individually, but they have to understand that it’s a team game, and if you don’t fit in a team, then you’re not a good player. So that’s what they have to remember- it’s like, it’s tough because when we’re a development team and they’re trying to take the next step in their life, in their career, they have to be focused in what they’re doing individually, but when they step on the field and play selfish, if you behave selfish, then you don’t play well and it sticks out immediately. So, you know… they’re young kids and at this point of their life, I think that’s a normal thing, so that’s cool.”

In personnel news, Stas Korzeniowski had a minor hamstring irritation and did not play in the friendly in an effort to rest it and should be fine, according to Richter. In a bit of good news for both the first and second teams, Neil Pierre, who has been out with a knee injury, is close to returning. “He’s back on the field, so we’ll see about this weekend, but it shouldn’t be too much longer than that if he is not available for Sunday.” That would be huge for Union II as he has been consistently impressive at center back, and the first team has been lacking depth at center back, so Neil could be another option if needed.

It is uncertain who will be in net against Inter Miami II, but Richter has a lot of faith in goalkeeper Mike Sheridan, who hasn’t seen much action yet this season with Andrew Rick and Oliver Semmle getting the minutes. He featured in the friendly, and Richter said, “Yeah, he did well. The goals- you can’t put any blame on him. I thought he managed the game well… a couple distribution moments that I think he could have done better on, but overall, he did great. We have total trust in Mike, so I think he did his job perfectly well.” With Andrew Rick getting the start with the first team over Inter Miami in their 3-3 draw Saturday night, expect to see Semmle or Sheridan.

While Inter Miami II have given up 24 goals this season, as with any opponent, Union II will not be taking them lightly. Richter spoke about their style of play and how his squad can attack them:

“Yeah, similar to a lot of teams in transition. In build up, they push their fullbacks really high, so we have to attack those spaces in transition when we could find ourselves around their back line. Same if we’re able to move the ball quickly when we’re in possession. We should be all try to be able to find gaps that we can try to play through. They’ve conceded I think the second most goals in the league, but that doesn’t mean the game is gonna be easy, so we’re ready for a tough game and see how we can break them down once we’re out there.

“They push the fullbacks really high so they can create the overloads in wide areas, and you see they score a lot of goals from crosses and the fullback getting in and playing this early ball. So just the communication from our back line to midfield of when their passing runner’s on, when the runners from deep can be picked up by the back line in the midfield, midfield can pass those guys on. That communication is critical in this game; this is some stuff we talked about today and it should be a good challenge for us.”

Union II play Inter Miami II at Subaru Park on Sunday, May 25 at 3:00 PM, and if you are unable to make it down to the stadium, catch them on MLS Season Pass on AppleTV.

Main article photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union II