Injured Union captain Alejandro Bedoya says he’s ‘doing better’ as he aims to return Sunday
Bedoya has played just 16 minutes in the Union’s last four games, and they all came in the regular-season finale on Oct. 9.
Union midfielder and captain Alejandro Bedoya is making progress in his fight to recover from a hip flexor strain before Sunday’s Eastern Conference final against New York City FC at Subaru Park (8:25 p.m., FS1 and Fox Deportes).
“I’m doing better,” Bedoya told The Inquirer as he left the field after Tuesday’s practice. “Day by day.”
Bedoya has played just 16 minutes in the Union’s last four games, and they all came in the regular-season finale on Oct. 9. He suffered a groin injury while scoring a goal in the Sept. 11 home win over Orlando, recovered from that, then suffered a hip flexor strain in practice a few days later.
» READ MORE: Before the injury, Alejandro Bedoya was having a late-career renaissance with the Union this year
Bedoya didn’t play in the Union’s next two games, a scoreless tie at Atlanta on Sept. 17 and a 4-0 loss at Charlotte on Oct. 1. Then came the Toronto game, and it looked like he was making progress. But he suffered a setback in the days before last Thursday’s playoff game against Cincinnati and didn’t even make the bench.
On Tuesday, Bedoya participated fully in practice drills, then stayed out of the intrasquad game portion of the morning. That was progress, since Bedoya worked off to the side pretty much all of last week.
Asked if he thinks he can make it back to game shape by Sunday, Bedoya said: “I hope so. That’s the game plan. So I’m going to do everything I can to be back for that.”
Jack McGlynn has stood in for Bedoya during his absence and generally has done well. The 19-year-old isn’t quite the same kind of player as the 35-year-old Bedoya. There is one area of Bedoya’s game that is more developed in comparison to the younger player: a shooting instinct.
» READ MORE: The Union signed Alejandro Bedoya to a one-year contract for next season
It’s not a coincidence that one of Bedoya’s finer goals this year came against FC Cincinnati’s five-back defense. They sat relatively deep, which took away some of the spaces that Mikael Uhre and Julián Carranza can run into behind four-back lines. But that created space at the top of the 18-yard box.
When Cincinnati gave Bedoya that space in June, he ran into it and scored. When McGlynn played last week’s playoff game in Bedoya’s place on the right side of midfield, he took two shots — one blocked, one saved.
“I’ve obviously learned a lot from watching him,” McGlynn said of Bedoya. “He’s a great, great role model for all of us. So I think just imitating things he would bring to the team, that’s what I’ve tried to do in his absence.”
Cincinnati left Leon Flach alone on the left side, since he wasn’t supposed to be much of a shooting threat. McGlynn played on that side before Bedoya’s injury, and if those two had played Thursday, Cincinnati would have had to account for both of them. The visitors felt they only had to account for one, and Flach booted that theory into their net.
New York City’s preferred formation is a 3-4-3 in which the wingbacks retreat on defense to make a 5-2-3. But they press high instead of sitting deep. That could give Uhre and Carranza more space, as Montreal’s front line had in the conference semifinal. Montreal also was helped by veteran centerback Maxime Chanot exiting early with an injury. His status for Sunday is unknown.
That all said, New York’s defense stood up when it mattered in the Pigeons’ 3-0 win.
“They’ve been playing really well,” McGlynn said. “They’re been flowing with confidence. So I think we just need to start the game good, get a goal early, and then take it from there.”
Words spoken just like a veteran would.
» READ MORE: Want Union-NYCFC hype? Sean Johnson won’t give it to you, and that’s just how he likes it.
Controversy over kickoff time
It wasn’t a surprise that the decision to put the Union-NYCFC game in Sunday’s prime-time TV slot wasn’t well-received by fans who’d rather not deal with a late kickoff on a school night. But the decision itself wasn’t a surprise, either.
Fox and ESPN split the broadcast rights to the conference finals and alternate rights to the championship game. Whichever network doesn’t have the championship game gets first pick of the conference finals. As Fox will televise the MLS Cup on Nov. 5 on its broadcast network (right before a potential Phillies-Astros Game 7), ESPN had first pick of the conference finals for a 3 p.m. broadcast on ABC.
On one hand, ESPN had a Western Conference final with LAFC stars Gareth Bale and Carlos Vela, and an Austin FC team whose fan base delivers significant TV viewership for one of the league’s smaller cities. On the other, ESPN could put the Union and NYCFC up against 1 p.m. Eagles and Jets games, and a 4:25 p.m. Giants game.
The choice was clear, and ESPN made it.
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