For the second time this season, Philadelphia Union II will face Columbus Crew 2, this time on the road at Historic Crew Stadium. Going into the match in tenth place (7-8-3, 26 points), they take on the first place Crew 2 (9-4-5, 36 points) who have yet to lose at home. Could Union II be the ones to spoil that streak?
In their first meeting back on May 17, the two squads battled to a 1-1 draw after Stas Korzeniowski tied it up in the 30th minute after a 26th minute goal from Crew 2’s Zach Zengue. Union II then fell 8-7 in penalty kicks, despite Andrew Rick making two saves—usually enough to get the job done. Crew 2’s keeper, Luke Pruter, made three saves, however, to help them earn the extra point.
Fast forward to the next time Union II had a draw: their most recent match, a 0-0 draw against Huntsville where they prevailed 5-3 in PKs. Union II have been in decent form as of late, despite the lack of scoring last Sunday. Coach Chris Harmon saw a lot of success on the right side with Giovanny Sequera and Matheus De Paula linking up, and he wants to see the squad continuing to really play together and understand each other.
“Obviously, we want to score more goals,” Harmon shared at training this week. “You know, you go from scoring four goals [against Revolution II] to no goals [against Huntsville] through the run of play. So that’s a big emphasis again. How do we get into these spaces? How do we get into higher percentage areas? Arrive into the box more, more touches in the box. So yeah, that’s what that we’ve been working on.”
Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union II.
He also pointed out the positive that they had two clean sheets in a row, for which he praised his squad’s defense of the box. Who will be in goal Saturday is anyone’s guess as it has been a combined effort of George Marks, Pierce Holbrook, and Andrew Rick—all of whom have been solid.
Now they face the top team in the conference and a match with clashing styles of play. Crew 2 are also coming off a draw—two, in fact, in which they won both shootouts, and are unbeaten since May 10.
“For us, we go against a team that wants the ball,” Harmon said. “So for us, it’s going to be all about how aggressive we can be against the ball to create turnovers and to get in behind them. I think it’s going to be a great game. In terms of us, I’m going to continue to point back to us. This week has been about our game, our collective idea, and how we can continue to get better at that. I think for us to be successful, we have to do what makes us good. We have to do that really well, and we have to be locked in for the whole 90-plus minutes because, for sure, they’re a team that can hurt you with the ball. But we’re really confident in terms of what we can do in transition.”
One player Union II will not have to contend with this time is Crew 2’s top goal scorer and third overall scorer in the league, Zach Zengue (10 goals). He was loaned one week ago to St. Louis CITY. Still, there are other dangerous players in the attack like Kevin Gbamblé, who has nine goals on the season. He has scored one goal each match in the last six out of seven matches. There is also Chase Adams, who has seven goals on the season, though he has not played in a match for Crew 2 since June 21.
Union II, ranked second in the East for fewest goals allowed at 21 (just behind, surprisingly, Revolution II, who they put up a four-spot on recently), but also are third-worst in goals scored at 21 (so yes, a goal differential of zero). Crew 2, in contrast, score a lot of goals (33) but also concede a lot (29). Union II’s stingy defense, anchored by captain Rafael Uzcátegui, will need to keep that up, but Union II also need to get the goal scoring on track. Eddy Davis, Malik Jakupovic, Sal Olivas, Theo Reed, and so on… there are options, but other players have the chance to step up.
While there are the names that get a lot of recognition from being a first team player, scoring goals, or chance creation, some players—ones that Harmon knows very well from coaching the U-18s—are improving and making contributions.
John Ruf, the 17-year-old striker from Ojai, California, was a key cog in the U-18 squad’s attack (and from what this writer heard, it is also worth noting an exceptional student at YSC Academy). He has made nine appearances with Union II, with two starts for 266 total minutes. While he has not yet scored at the Next Pro level or had as large of a role yet, the potential is there.
Ryan Richter said back in February during preseason, “John has surprised a lot of us. You know, he surprised the entire coaching staff, just with his physicality, his work rate, his effort against the ball, his runs behind. He finds a way to make an impact in almost every game that we’ve played through preseason and every training session. He trains like an absolute animal.”
Richter had shared that Ruf had some things to clean up, but added, “He has a lot of the qualities that we like in a striker, and he has some time here to develop, and he’ll be one that certainly gets the opportunity with Union II.”
Now in July, Ruf has been getting opportunities, and played most of the friendly against MLES Academy last week, scoring a goal and pressuring the MLES keeper quite a bit. Harmon shared his observations on Ruf’s growth:
“Yeah, really happy with John’s development and his opportunities-it was a point of emphasis to get him a lot of minutes midweek. Yeah, I would say for him, and he knows we talk about this all the time, is he needs to be able to do more with less. He got a lot of opportunities in a game like that. But once he steps into Next Pro, you’re probably only going to get two, three moments a game, and being able to to really make sure you take that chance because at the higher levels, you get less and less chances. So for me that’s been the emphasis with him taking less touches in the box and realizing that he really has to take advantage of his chances.”
Another Californian, member of the U-18s, and residency housemate of Ruf, the just-turned-17-year-old Isaiah “Timo” Mendoza, is also making an impact and showing great growth. The Salinas native has started the last three matches, playing the full 90 minutes. The midfielder has appeared in eight matches, starting six, for a total of 518 minutes.
Richter had praised his efforts earlier in the season, saying after the March 8 match, “I thought Timo Mendoza had a great game, and he was always an option in build up, and we were able to play through him. It opened up so much in the field, which I didn’t really see last week. So I was proud of him.”
Mendoza, like Ruf, was important to the U-18 squad’s success, including making the decisive PK in the the Dallas Cup semifinals. This writer has noticed the growth between watching the Academy and Union II, and asked Harmon what he has seen:
“Yeah, a lot of growth is right, for sure,” he said. “He’s taking a big step right now. I think he has capacity to continue to to grow. He’s one that I think has a bright future. He’s special in terms of what he can do with the ball. But I would say the the biggest thing and area of growth I’ve seen is against the run of play. The way that he has defended the box, the way that he has pressed and then put himself about physically. He just turned 17 this week. It’s not easy for him to to do, and with his stature. But all we ask is that he continues to push himself, continues to be brave, and again, yeah, I think there’s there’s plenty more to come from Timo.”
Tune in to the match on Saturday, July 18 on mlsnextpro.com or OneFootball at 6:00 PM to see what promises to be a battle, and if some of the young up-and-comers like Ruf and Mendoza can make an impact.
Main article photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union II.
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