Curtin praises Union’s belief and fight in eastern conference final

Jim Curtin is the best coach in MLS. He’s gotten the most out of his team and helped guide them to great success on the field in 2022. After his team triumphed to make their first-ever MLS Cup, Curtin praised the belief and fight in his Union team!

Curtin and this Union team are ready for MLS Cup

Jim Curtin talks about improving every year
2018: playoffs (just 3rd time in 9 years)
2019: first playoff win
2020: first trophy
2021: 2 playoff wins, EC final
2022: 2 playoff wins, MLS Cup final (at least)
Can't overemphasize how difficult that linear progression is
— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) October 31, 2022

When you look at Philadelphia’s success over the last five seasons, you see the job that Curtin has done to bring this team from mediocre to great. Curtin alluded to this year-over-year progress in his post-match press conference. He said that this will be a great memory for his group, the club, and the fans.

As Curtin was peppered with questions about the emotion of the night. He was asked why he seemed to be very calm at the final whistle, the answer should surprise no one. Curtin said he was calm after winning the biggest match in club history so far because this team still has work to do. The attention turns to LAFC, but that doesn’t diminish how this Union side was able to get their revenge on NYCFC.

The crowd and big-time save kickstarted a comeback

Union advances to first-ever MLS Cup Final; beat NYCFC 3-1

Curtin reflected on his team’s belief and fight in the eastern conference final. After going down a goal, past Union teams might have folded, but the 2022 version of this team did not. Curtin said there were two keys to the comeback victory. The first was the fans not going silent after the NYCFC goal. The second was Andre Blake making a huge save to keep the game at 1-0 for the visitors.

The atmosphere was truly special at Subaru Park, and Philly’s coach mentioned the fans never quit on the team. After Philly went 1-0 down, Curtin said that it’s easy to think “oh no, here we go again,” but the fans kept the energy up. The singing and chanting and belief that the team could come back helped push Philadelphia on. The goalkeeper of the year, Andre Blake, matched that energy just minutes after Philly went behind.

Blake made a save that most goalkeepers don’t make to keep the game at 1-0, and helped wake the Union up to play their game moving forward. The rest is history as the Union scored two goals in two minutes to retake the lead and then found a third to kill the game off to make MLS Cup. This team is special, and Curtin sees that they have the chance to make more history by winning MLS Cup.

A special group that is humble and hungry

"It's a special time in Philadelphia for a lot of reasons"

🎤 @Kyndrasports catches up with the @PhilaUnion's head coach Jim Curtin after his Eastern Conference Final victory! pic.twitter.com/bWNlgLC70q
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) October 31, 2022

Jim Curtin loves that his team mimics the grind and fight of the city of Philadelphia. Curtin’s from Philly, and he knows that if teams from Philly work hard and do their best to win, that the city will embrace them and love them. That is what this Union team does, and Curtin spoke about how it frustrates opponents. He’ll hope that this style will be able to frustrate LAFC enough to beat them in the 2022 MLS Cup.

“This group is special, but we still have work to do. We’ll celebrate this one for sure, but we need to stay humble and hungry to make it as hard as possible on LAFC.”
Jim Curtin after winning the eastern conference title

Curtin and the Union have their work cut out for them this week. The team will travel to Los Angeles Tuesday afternoon to get ready to prepare to actualize their goal. The 2022 season has been MLS Cup or bust for this Philly team. They’ve made it to the final, now all that’s left is to plan well to go out there and compete to win the whole damn thing!