Oliver Semmle will start in goal again for the Union vs. Saprissa

Union goalkeeper Andre Blake remains sidelined by an adductor injury in his groin, and will not play Tuesday in the Concacaf Champions Cup round of 16 series finale vs. Costa Rica’s Saprissa at Subaru Park (8:15 p.m., FS2, TUDN).

Blake wasn’t at Monday’s practice, and manager Jim Curtin confirmed afterward that he’s out. Oliver Semmle will start for the second straight game, after making his Union debut in Saturday’s 2-2 tie vs. Chicago.

“He still doesn’t feel 100%,” Curtin said of Blake. “We want to be smart with the injury. Andre knows his body as well as anybody who’s been through these types of games, and knows what they need, and he’s just not able to participate.”

Semmle saved as many shots as he let in Saturday, which isn’t ideal. His jump at Chicago’s first goal, a rocket from Brian Gutiérrez, was a welcome-to-the-big-leagues moment for the 25-year-old who previously played for Louisville City in the second-tier USL Championship.

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But Semmle made a highlight-reel stop moments after Dániel Gazdag’s goal in second-half stoppage time, coming far off his line to deny Chicago’s Tom Barlow in a one-on-one breakaway.

“Obviously, we’ll miss [Blake], he’s the best goalkeeper in MLS,” Curtin said. “But Oliver has now a game under his belt, a little more confidence, and I know he’ll step in and do a great job for us.”

It would also help if the rest of the Union’s defense didn’t get caught in a situation like that, or the helter-skelter scramble amid Chicago’s first goal.

“How do we work with Oliver, how do we try to help him, how do we limit chances, how do we limit balls in the box to make his first couple games as simple as possible?” Curtin said. “It’s a hard position, and I talked about it with Oliver the other day. A goalkeeper can not be involved for 88 minutes, and then has to make a big save — and he did that at the end of the game.”

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Jack Elliott’s return could help with that, and that seems set to happen after he dealt with his own adductor injury. If you’ve read the news the last few days, you know that’s been said before, but this time, Curtin actually meant it. Elliott was a full participant in Monday’s practice, and looked fine.

“He’ll play a big role in [Tuesday’s] game for sure,” Curtin said.

Curtin hinted after Saturday’s game that we’ll see a somewhat rotated lineup on Tuesday. Elliott’s return would be part of that. From the look of things at practice, Jesús Bueno is also likely to start as part of the midfield unit.

There’s likely to be even more rotation for this Saturday’s road game at Sporting Kansas City. The Union have six games in 25 days to start the season, and if they advance past Saprissa it will become eight games. The quarterfinal series against Mexico’s Pachuca would be played March 5 in Chester and March 12 in Mexico.

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A Western Conference road game early in the year is a prime candidate for major lineup shuffling if Curtin is willing.

“We have a pretty big group with a lot of depth,” said midfielder Quinn Sullivan, who has started both games so far and seems likely to start again Tuesday. “So I think the team is confident in putting a team out there that can get the job done.”

The Union enter the home half of the two-game, aggregate-scoring series vs. Saprissa with a 3-2 lead from the first game. Their advantage is amplified by away goals being the first tiebreaker. So even if Saprissa win Tuesday’s game by 1-0 or 2-1, tying the aggregate score, the Union will still advance because of their three away goals.

Only a 3-2 Saprissa win would send the series to penalty kicks. The Union practiced them Monday, as they always do, just in case.

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