CHESTER, Pa. — When the Philadelphia Union suffered a brutal loss to Real Salt Lake July 13, captain and midfielder Alejandro Bedoya pointed out the next three games were the most important of the 2019 campaign.
“After the Salt Lake game, I wasn’t even mad,” Bedoya said. “You always have one of those off games each year, but I’ve said that these next three games were the most important of the season.”
The last of the trio of contests occurs Sunday versus D.C. United at Audi Field, and it follows the club’s second 4-0 defeat of the season to the Montreal Impact.
“We beat Chicago, we didn’t get the result we wanted in Montreal and now D.C., who is a team that is going to contend with us toward the top,” Bedoya said. “We need to get back on a winning streak away from home and I think this is the perfect game to do that.”
Philadelphia should get a boost for the crucial first-versus-third matchup with Jamiro Monteiro expected to return from the ankle injury he suffered against Orlando City on July 3.
Monteiro was upgraded from out to questionable on the team’s injury report, and even if he is available for 45 -60 minutes, he can make a difference spreading out the D.C. defense.
“Midfield has been a strength of our team,” Bedoya said. “Jamiro surprised a lot of people, even our own team with the type of player that he is. He’s able to create something out of nothing. He’s got an engine too. He’s got that bite to him defensively. He does a lot and covers a lot for our team. I think the last games without him I think we’ve been missing that energetic engine that keeps going when he is on the ball and able to create things.”
With Monteiro in the fold, the Union are able to add more width to their squad, with him and Bedoya shifting out to the flanks and receiving help from the outside backs, which has been a concern in the two blowout losses due to the absence of Kai Wagner to injury and suspension.
“But even then I think we just haven’t gotten enough with our outside backs either,” Bedoya said. “The way our system is, the 4-4-2 diamond, when I’m the No. 8 in the middle, we need width, we need guys that can get out and cross the ball and create more overloads. I’ve been able to do that with my movement, but even though we attack more on my side, we still don’t get the outside backs high enough where they are creating stuff.”
Unlike the disappointing performance versus RSL, the Union did show some positives in attack against the Impact, but just lacked the finishing touch and were dominated on the counter by Remi Garde’s side.
“I looked at halftime and we had 65-35 possession against Montreal so I don’t think we were too stretched out,” Bedoya said. “After their first goal, which was an out of nowhere thing it caught us by surprise, we began dominating the play, creating chances, half chances, unlucky not to score and then they run down again and there’s miscommunication between our back line and it’s 2-0 at halftime.”
“It’s about us playing better,” Bedoya said. “Salt Lake was a bad one overall from front to back, but Montreal offensively I think we were doing some good things, putting passes together. It was typical Montreal play. They were sitting back and they killed us on the counter. Plays that I feel like defensively we could have done a lot better. I think even (Andre Blake) could have done better on the first two goals.”
In their final 10 games, the Union play seven matches against Eastern Conference opponents, with five of them coming against the four teams directly behind them in the standings, including a pair of August clashes with D.C. United.
“We do control our own destiny,” Bedoya said. “We have a lot of games against Eastern Conference opponents. That’s going to decide everything.”
In order to attain the most points possible, the captain believes his side needs to play with an extra bit of motivation, and there is no shortage of that entering August.
“I hope guys are ready,” Bedoya said. “We just have to have that underdog mentality. Even now with the All-Star Game, some of them have to be pissed they weren’t in it. We’re the first place team in the East and we only had one player, our goalie, and has this been his best year? I think there’s other guys that deserved to be at the All-Star Game representing us. The first-place team in the East and we only get one guy in the All-Star Game. I hope we play like we got a chip on our shoulders. That’s when we’re the best.”