1 week Ago By Matthew DeGeorge
Jim Curtin will pick his starting lineup for Saturday’s visit from Real Salt Lake knowing that the one for the next game is already selected for him. That’s the unusual predicament that Curtin finds himself in thanks to Tuesday’s reschedule against Seattle, rained out on March 9. That game will resume in the sixth minute, when unplayable fields occasioned its postponement, with the same 22 on the field.
Curtin will take that into account when RSL visits (7:30 p.m., AppleTV).
“It does make it complicated when you know you have a set lineup,” Curtin said Friday. “You’re almost, not working backwards from Tuesday, because tomorrow is most important. But there are some things that are kind of set and you have to adjust and adapt accordingly.
” The last game was shoehorned into six games in three weeks for the Union, then alive in CONCACAF Champions Cup. Kai Wagner didn’t start against Seattle, nor did Julian Carranza. Markus Anderson did, though he might not otherwise have been in Tuesday’s selection plan.
Curtin will push some different buttons Saturday, lest the Union want to burn subs early against the Sounders. Some wiggle room will be made for injuries or roster changes – Matt Real has been loaned out, for instance, and Damion Lowe’s ankle knock might get the Union leeway to swap him out. Xavier Arreaga, who started for Seattle at center back, has also been dealt.
That sets the confines of how the Union (3-0-4, 13 points) approach RSL (4-2-3, 15 points.
