De George: With core all but unchanged, Union miss an opportunity to improve

CHESTER — Jim Curtin has been around Chester long enough to know that the question was coming.

The team he just put through its paces at training Friday is, by and large, the same roster that fell short of its goals in 2023. It’s the same one that regressed from a dream 2022 season that ended seconds shy of MLS Cup. It’s the same core that has won a lot of games and blazed a lot of trails but hasn’t added a trophy to the cabinet since the 2020 Supporters’ Shield.

And so, the query: What is it that makes him believe this year, with the same individuals, results might be different?

“Hopefully some guys can surprise us that maybe we aren’t expecting a ton from yet, can take a big jump forward,” Curtin said. “That’s our model, and it’s unique. And I will say, we’re still a good team.

“Sometimes it gets talked about as, ‘it’s the same group. It’s the same group. It’s boring.’ I still believe very much in this group and what we’ve accomplished and I’m proud of it, and I think we can be a team that can compete for trophies.”

The narrative has matured as the team’s identity has. No longer is the question for Curtin, overseeing his 10th preseason, if the club has a championship-or-bust mentality. That has become obvious. It’s now how to avoid the bust part.

After a quiet offseason with only minor alterations, there’s justifiable apprehension as to how that might happen. With the returning mainstays, the Union still possess one of MLS’s best rosters, one that could grow and— improve. But the club missed a chance to upgrade to the point of being full-stop the best in MLS. Instead of a platform for one or two strategic investments, the core’s strength has become a laurel for ownership to rest on.

It all comes with sizeable caveats, truths that while not banner-worthy are still laudably valid. The Union won 23 of 51 games in 2023, advancing in two others by penalties. They’ve accumulated the most points in MLS since the start of 2018, a six-season run now checking in at nearly 40 percent of the club’s existence. They finished fifth in MLS – plus third in Leagues Cup and reached the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals – with a wage bill ranked 25th among 29 clubs. Yet their players have the third-highest value on the global soccer site, Transfermarkt, and their club ethos has delivered on the promise to increase player value at any point in a career.

It’s not hubris when Curtin said after last season that more than 20 MLS clubs would love to be where the Union are.

But, fairly or not, the only place the Union wanted to be was Columbus Crew’s, in lifting MLS Cup. That’s the only standard to be judged by. Curtin knows it. Ernst Tanner does, too.

Whether or not those controlling the purse strings do remains a question.

“We’re in that window, and we recognize this with our fans, that the only acceptable thing is to win the whole thing,” Curtin said. “Everything else is going to be seen as a failure. It’s a challenge, but it’s also a challenge that we need to embrace.”

So you have an offseason of tinkering at the margins. The Union added a 19-year-old Danish international, a forward from the third division in Spain, a USL goalkeeper who won a national title at Marshall and a handful of Homegrowns. They retained veterans Kai Wagner and Alejandro Bedoya, and locked up a bunch of players to new deals. Their culture is capable of enticing sought-after players like Daniel Gazdag and Julian Carranza to spurn middling European interest to stay.

But instead of a new player for the matchday squad from Day 1, the plan was to bolster depth, rely on Curtin to deploy those players to keep the starters fresher for longer and hope the growth trajectories of a few young players continue and are replicated by others.

“We all know we want to win the ultimate prize and win the biggest game, which is MLS Cup,” Curtin said. “But it’s hard. And having these guys with another year and some young guys coming in and pushing them that will help change our roster a little bit is a good thing.”

While Tanner is the architect of this core, his transfer record has taken a hit recently because of the lack of outlay. He’s right in asserting that it takes a considerable investment to find someone to break into the lineup. When the funds aren’t there, the rewards are diminished in kind with the risk, and the chances of success diminish.

This winter, the Union didn’t so much as whiff as not step into the batter’s box. And for not the first time, you wonder – the “you” being fans, columnists, maybe even Curtin and Tanner themselves far from the record – just what a team so adept at doing more with less could do if just once it was handed a little less less.

Contact Matthew De George at mdegeorge@delcotimes.com.