CHESTER, Pa. — The Philadelphia Union will be at a disadvantage Saturday night against Atlanta United with captain and midfielder Alejandro Bedoya suspended due to yellow-card accumulation.
Bedoya’s one-game ban is the latest in a string of adversity the Union have had to overcome in 2019. Injuries and suspensions have depleted the club’s depth at points, but it is still tied on points with the Five Stripes at the top of the Eastern Conference table. Atlanta currently holds the wins tiebreaker over the Union.
“I think we know Ale is a really good player for us,” Union defender Kai Wagner said. “We need him, he’s our captain. He’s very important for us.”
Without Bedoya, the Union will rely on Jamiro Monteiro to drop deeper next to Haris Medunjanin and Marco Fabian to be the playmaker in the center of the park.
“We have to play our game with Marco and Jamiro,” Wagner said. “I trust them two completely. Jamiro is having a very good season and Marco is getting better every day. I think it’s not a big problem to play without Ale, but we all know he’s important for us.”
Monteiro has flexed his muscle in a few different capacities since joining on loan from Metz, and on Saturday, his defensive prowess will be called upon more.
In order to frustrate Atlanta’s midfielders, Monteiro needs to use his speed, technical ability and ball-winning skill further from goal.
“I will try to just keep doing what I do, but I think I need to defend more,” Monteiro said. “With Ale, I was more in the front. We just need to keep doing the same things.”
“Maybe we can take them out of control,” Monteiro said. “Maybe we can frustrate. We just need to defend more so they can’t play how they play normally.”
The Union received a bit of break with Ezequiel Barco ruled out for the contest, but the in-form pair of Darlington Nagbe and Julian Gressel are still expected to be in Frank De Boer’s starting XI.
In order to choke out the channels to Josef Martinez, Monteiro must win the 50-50 balls and individual battles versus the pair of midfielders.
“We need to make sure they don’t get the balls and just press well and win every ball so we can make it difficult for them,” Monteiro said.
Since Atlanta should have a decent amount of possession, the Union could benefit from transition opportunities, similar to the 5-1 victory over D.C. United at the start of August.
But the visitors could also take advantage of transition moves when the Union commit a turnover, and that is something the home side’s defenders are wary of.
“We also have to be careful if we get too many guys forward,” Wagner said. “I think we have to be careful in every position in our game, but I think we have good opportunities moving forward when the wing backs go high. Then we can create our own chances.”
A win by the Union combined with an Orlando City loss or tie against San Jose would clinch a playoff berth. A victory would also boost Philadelphia back into first place, and it would make the Union the first Eastern Conference side to attain 50 points.