Danny Califf won an MLS championship in Los Angeles, a Danish championship in Aalborg and two CONCACAF Gold Cup titles with the U.S. national team. He wasn?t used to losing. So despite the pass most people give to expansion teams, the Philadelphia Union?s 2010 season wasn?t easy to take ? either for Califf or for area fans with a notorious lack of patience.
?It didn?t matter that we were a first year team. It maybe gave us a little bit of an excuse at the beginning, but losing still hurt every time,? the defender said of the club?s 8-15-7 inaugural season.
As for the Philadelphia faithful: ?There was a little bit of lenience. But you could tell if things continued in the way this year, we were going to hear it. A lot. That?s the nature of the beast,? he told Sporting News.
With the pressure to contend ramped up this spring, Califf and the Union have, like the one Philly sports icon who never disappointed, answered the bell. And they?ve done it with the sort of fight Rocky Balboa would have appreciated and which, according to coach Peter Nowak, will serve the team well if they qualify for the MLS Cup playoffs.
The Union is 4-1-1 heading into Friday's match at the Portland Timbers, meaning the team has reached half of its inaugural season win total after only six games.
All four victories have been by 1-0 scores, and Philadelphia has yielded just two goals ? impressive improvement for a defense that was the second worst in MLS last year.
?It feels even more sweet after all the adversity we went through last year, how many goals we leaked, to really come in this year and shut things down has been tremendous,? Califf said.
Califf?s improved play (including his game-winning goal in the opener) is just the start of the Union?s defensive revolution. The critical key has been the addition of veteran goalkeeper Faryd Mondrag�n and Carlos Vald�s, Colombians who?ve added real professional pedigree to the back line. Mondrag�n, 39, a veteran of the Argentine, Turkish and German leagues, has taken over the captaincy from Califf and proven to be a top-class shot stopper and tactical organizer. The Union relied heavily on younger goalies in 2010, to its detriment.
?Faryd just exudes confidence, which is something that we really lacked last year,? Califf said. ?If there?s a mistake that he?s going to be there to iron things out and bail us out and keep us in games and that?s a huge, huge factor as a group defensively.?
The development of former minor league Sheanon Williams, 25, who joined the Union late last season from a third-division club in Harrisburg, Pa., has been an additional key piece of the defensive puzzle, along with the acquisition of veteran midfielder Brian Carroll, who may well have the best personal winning percentage of any player in MLS history.
All those good influences have led to a change in locker room culture that Nowak said was critical to the Union?s improvement.
?I think we always believed, even last year, that this kind of stuff was in this team, but because of our acquisitions this year, we can achieve it. I think that?s the main point,? he told Sporting News. ?Even the last game against San Jose (on April 30). We come into the locker room, we have a red card, and in the locker room it?s ?piece of cake.? The game isn?t different playing 10 vs. 11. We just need to make a little more effort, a little bit more heart and a little more running. They?re ready for it.?
The irony of the Union?s sudden stinginess is that the players who were the story of the inaugural season, S�bastien Le Toux (14 goals in 2010) and Danny Mwanga (seven goals), have had quiet starts. Le Toux scored his first of the season in the win over San Jose, and Mwanga is adjusting to a new role now that striker Carlos Ruiz has joined the club.
Ruiz, a teammate of Califf?s on that 2002 Galaxy championship team, left MLS in 2008 but returned this spring after stints in Paraguay, Mexico and Greece. The scrappy player that Califf called ?the guy everybody loves to hate? has two goals in a Philly uniform.
?He?s always going to attract defenders, and I think that once S�bastien and Danny find their groove a little bit, they?ll have more room and space to operate,? Califf said.
Meanwhile, the revitalized Union will be content to continue winning very tight games. Califf said that every victory gives the group more and more confidence, while Nowak said that winning ugly may pay dividends in November.
?Even in ice hockey, where the game is so fast, all the (playoff) games are very tight. It?s 1-0, 2-1. You?re not going to have many chances to win the game,? the former U.S. Olympic coach and Polish national team star said.
?In the playoffs, every single game is going to be like that. If you?re the team who can do it early in the season, you can always come back and say ?This stuff worked before we had the playoffs.? So, we?ll have the same feeling if we get to the playoffs.?
football news cricket news golf news baseball news soccer news
No comments:
Post a Comment