CHESTER, Pa.— After an eventful friendly against the Côte d’Ivoire men’s national team on Monday in front of a spirited crowd at Subaru Park, Union II return to MLS Next Pro play on Sunday at the WSFS Bank Sportsplex’s Kinetic Field to take on NYCFC II for the first time this season.
Union II (5-6-2) currently sit in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, and are coming off a 1-0 loss to Crown Legacy where, for much of the match, they looked like the better team. NYCFC II (4-5-2) are in 12th, though they have played two fewer games, and their most recent match was postponed. Before that, they lost 3-2 to Columbus Crew 2.
Union II has had a bit of a rough patch where they have lost four of their last six matches, but have been in tight contests. They have also had several matches with a thin bench due to players being away for academy, national team, and first team duties, as well as injuries and suspensions.
One should expect the squad to have a deeper bench moving forward. I attended training on Thursday as the squad was preparing for the match with assistant coach Fred was leading the group. Several college players were also there training, Kellan LeBlanc and Jordan Griffin had returned, and Cavan Sullivan was training with them as well. At this point, Malik Jakupovic should have returned as well from his national team duty. Notably, Neil Pierre was in attendance (but not training) as he has returned from his loan at Lyngby, though what lies ahead for him is unknown at this point.
The vibes were positive, the energy was palpable, and the team looked ready. Putting in a solid performance against a squad heading to the World Cup can certainly build some confidence.
Theo Reed, up and coming striker
One member of the squad who seems to be playing with a lot of confidence and looking more comfortable in the pro environment is academy striker Theo Reed. Back on May 23, he not only scored his first pro goal, but it was the game-winner against Atlanta United 2.
“It was a great experience,” Reed said of his first pro goal. “I mean, I’m so thankful for the opportunity. We were low on numbers that game too, and everybody on the squad rose to the occasion. I mean, it was great, not just to have a comeback win, but just to keep building that momentum, keep building wins.”
Reed, 17, was then a starter against Côte d’Ivoire—a squad of grown men headed to the World Cup, and in a stadium packed with fans. He reflected, “Yeah, it was a great experience playing in front of the fans. I’ve never played in front of that many people, so, and a lot of us young guys, really, really grateful for that experience too. But it was just amazing to play at that level, and that competition with those guys that we watch on TV, so it’s great.”
Not only has he been getting more of a role with Union II, but Reed just finished a highly successful academy season with the U-18s that saw the squad win the Snow Bowl and the Dallas Cup, and compete in the MLS Next Playoffs. A rising senior at YSC Academy, he has committed to University of Michigan, where he will eventually join recent YSC graduate and teammate Andrew Craig.
On what his goals are, Reed shared, “Yeah, I mean, I’m going to Michigan in the next two years, but my goal is always to play at the highest level, and if you need to use that, if the first team’s that, I mean, my goals are to try to get as far as I can in this club, and that’s the first team. So I’m just grateful for the opportunity again to play with the second team as much as possible.”
Pierce Holbrook strong in his return
Both goalkeepers for Union II in the match also had strong performances with several big saves against Côte d’Ivoire. While JoJo Elliott was a guest player and played the second half where he had a big save on a penalty kick, Pierce Holbrook took the first shift and was impressive as well, including a big stop two minutes into the game.
“Yeah, such a fun experience for everybody,” Holbrook said of the friendly. “Like, to play against a World Cup team is an awesome experience, and a good comparison of where we want to be in the future. Like, that’s the level we want to pass, so I think it was a fun experience to play against the World Cup team, but also to see where we measure against them.”
The Naval Academy graduate has played five regular season games for Union II after returning a knee injury sustained last season. He had been called up to the first team bench for the first time, but was injured during warm up. He reflected on that and his time rehabbing.
“Yeah, obviously it’s not what you want to want to do your first time getting called up, but I think I think the people around me made the recovery process a lot better, like the coaches, the players, like the entire staff, the entire organization was all behind me, and I think that that motivated me to get back stronger and healthy, and I think the club did a very good job of making sure that they they helped me out in that process.”
A coach’s perspective
Leading the young men on Monday in the friendly were Henry Apaloo and Fred. The latter was running practice on Thursday, and shared his perspective of the pre-World Cup friendly as a coach. The Brazilian joked that it would have been better if they played Brazil, but was really positive about the experience.
“Well, it was a great feeling because it’s a World Cup team, and then especially for the players. But it was great to be on the side, you know, helping the players, especially that age, play against men in the high level, some players that play for a big club, so I think they will never forget that. So it’s great.”
He saw so much value for the players that he hopes translates to their MLS Next Pro matches.
“I think when you play with a higher level players, you raise your level too, you know,” Fred added. “I think if they do the same way they did against Ivory Coast, I think the level against MLS Next Pro level will be good, because what they did there, if you watch the game again, so they did so well, you know. We could score, tie the game 1-1, but it happens in the soccer game, so for them, if they play the level they play, they’ll be tough to beat.”
Fred also shared his thoughts on Anthony Fontana’s appearance with Union II. “It is [special]… I feel old— I played with Anthony when he was young. That was good to see him. I think he’s [had] another side, he’s helping the young players around the training, you know, like I did when I was growing up, when he was growing up through the academy, that was fun. So, Fontana, for me, is a good player, you know. And it was always good to see him play for us again. So that was special.”
Recent form and facing the Pigeons
One important aspect of the match against NYCFC II on Sunday is it will mark Chris Harmon’s first match as the interim head coach of Union II after Ryan Richter was promoted to interim first team head coach. Harmon was the head coach of the Academy’s U-18s, and with the Union’s shared philosophies from top to bottom, I heard from multiple people involved that the transition has been seamless. Many U-18s are also with Union II, and thus will know what to expect with Harmon. Reed is one of them.
“I think I think the continuity is great,” Reed said. “I think that everybody on the coaching staff has helped a lot of us. The transition has been really smooth with Fred, and then with Chris Harmon coming up with the 18s coach, really familiar with a lot of us. So I think the club’s handled it really well, and I’m thankful for that.”
Holbrook was positive on the team’s trajectory and looking ahead to the next match. “I think this team’s put together some very good performances. Obviously, the results haven’t gone our way, which we want to try and turn that part around. But I think, yeah, against Crown Legacy, we were the better team. We had the ball, we had them penned in. We were unfortunate to give up a goal early, but I think I think it just shows your resilience of the team and how hard we work in training.”
He added, “Like, we’re a solid—we’re a great team, like we do all the hard work, we look good, but it’s just that final piece, just putting balls in the back of the net, keeping the balls out of the net. I think we’re right there. I think it’s coming, and hopefully we just keep, keep training the way we do, and hopefully the results fall our way.”
Fred, who has been an important conduit in the whole transition phase, agreed that there has been no disruption in focus.
“We are always gonna [try] to keep the culture, you know, the way we’re training, the way you show for training, performance on and off of the field, because when you get on this high standard, you need to keep [it] there for the players to take a focus from.”
Fred was complimentary of Harmon, and has full confidence in him taking over. “So I’m gonna help him to do the same intentional training. I think he’s a great coach, for sure. He proved already with the 18s. He’ll keep the same standard.”
Reed added, “I mean, [Harmon’s] a great coach, he helped us a lot, came to the group and just had this philosophy about him that, like, we’re gonna give everything, and we’re gonna be the hardest team to play against, and that really helped us throughout the season. I mean, we had a really successful season, and I hope it translates to the second team, and I think it will.”
The team is confident heading into their next match, which will be the last one at home for a while, so it would be an ideal time to get back on track.
“Yeah, feeling excited for it,” Holbrook said of the match with NYCFC II. “Especially, like we’ve had two solid games to build off of against Crown Legacy and Ivory Coast. So I think I think we just go in with the same attitude we did against Ivory Coast, I think we’re pretty unstoppable, and hopefully we bring that to New York.”
Fred reiterated that, saying, “So, when you play at home, we need to do a job. We should be the team [that] is harder to play against every time we step here, for sure. Moments, and there’s a moment, and then we lose, but we need to keep them on the line to do the job.”
“The focus has been the same as it always been,” Reed said. “We’re gonna go and win the game. I mean, Chris’s first game, we want to want to get that first win for him, his first game. So, I mean, same as always. We’re gonna go out there and win. We’re gonna give it all.”
The match against NYCFC II kicks off at 3:00 PM at the WSFS Bank Sportsplex, and can also be viewed at mlsnextpro.com and OneFootball.
Main article photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union II.
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