With their backs against the proverbial wall, Union still has a chance of making the playoffs

The Union has reached the purely mathematical part of its season. Jim Curtin put it in his unique coaching terms Wednesday night.

The Union did not deserve a point for their performance in the 2-1 defeat in Orlando, explained Curtin. He had too many mistakes and too many poor performances to make that argument convincingly. Whether deserved or not, his team had chances late on, a few golden goal chances were wasted to steal anything.

Broadly speaking, that’s the story of their season. Regardless of whether the Union looks like a playoff team or not, they may be just one result away from being one. And that's Curtin's entire remit as they travel to Columbus (7:45 p.m., AppleTV+) to face the reigning MLS Cup champions on Saturday.

“It's not a situation we ever want to be in again, but we are where we are because of us and we have to try to fix it,” Curtin said Wednesday night. “There are two games left and the very simple question is: How badly do we want to be in the playoffs?

“Whether we deserve it or not at this point is something you can argue about, and you could probably say that none of the teams that probably have eight or less right now deserve a whiff of the playoffs, but our reality is that we always nor determine our own fate.” . So I hate where we are. I’m not happy with where we are, but we still have a chance to get in and anything can happen from there.”

With just one point from the last two games, things are looking bleak for Union (9-13-10, 37 points). They fell out of a playoff spot and sit in 10th place, three points behind eighth-place Montreal and tied on points but two wins behind Toronto. DC United also has 37 points, although the Union owns the tiebreaker. They still have two games left – at second-place Columbus and at home against third-place FC Cincinnati on decision day in two weeks, after the international break. Curtin's hopes of making Decision Day academic are dashed after a home draw against 12th-place Atlanta and a loss to Orlando City. Four points from the last two games will almost certainly secure the Union's place in the play-offs, but it is a wall that Curtin had warned his team not to let stop them.

The Union can be eliminated from playoff contention if it loses in Columbus and wins both Montreal and Toronto, which are idle on decision day.

As has been the case all year long, the Union has chosen the difficult path. They couldn't maximize their points against Atlanta. They got nothing from Orlando, thanks to two moments of brilliance from Luis Murriel, who only seems to play well against the Union, and Nathan Harriel's defense of three completely open headers from set pieces, two of which were harder to miss. Curtin described his team, who were outplayed from kick-off, as “lucky to get into the game 0-0 at half-time”, and then they saw that gift in their mouths, with a sluggish second half that ended in the 57th and 64th minutes . Playing time led to concessions.

Quinn Sullivan's 72nd-minute goal provided a glimmer of hope, but Harriel's misses and poor bench options left the Union fighting for their playoff lives.

“If you go through every guy, we didn’t have a lot of good performances,” Curtin said. “We win as a team and we lose as a team, but we needed more people in the game that Orlando will invest heavily in at home.”

Now their playoff hopes are limited to a result against Columbus, holders of the MLS Cup and Leagues Cup. In the latter competition they beat Union 3-1 and won 1-0 in Chester a week later. The Crew could be vulnerable to something similar on Saturday after prevailing in a 3-2 defeat against Inter Miami to secure the Supporters' Shield for the visitors. At least they have to do without Rudy Camacho, who was shown the red card.

Columbus is one point ahead of Cincinnati and in second place with a game to go, although this falls within the international window. Like aesthetics, these circumstances play little role for Curtin and the Union.

“We’re at a point in the year where all that matters is points,” he said. “These don’t have to be nice points. They don't have to be ugly. You can see how big the Atlanta two were that we lost and even tonight where it was terrible from us but we were still able to steal a point at the end and that point would be huge. So we have to regroup quickly.”

Originally published: October 4, 2024 at 8:41 p.m