Andrés Perea shows the Union’s depth and street smarts in the Champions League

In his first Union start, Perea contributed well in both directions. He's settling well into his new team, with fellow Colombian-American Alejandro Bedoya as a role model.

Andrés Perea (right) on the ball during the Union's Concacaf Champions League game at El Salvador's Alianza FC on Tuesday.Read morePhiladelphia Union

by Jonathan Tannenwald

Published March 9, 2023, 3:45 p.m. ET

Jim Curtin admitted Thursday that the lineup he rolled out in Tuesday’s Champions League game in El Salvador was “the reserves.” But the group had quite a bit more pedigree than the term might imply — especially when it comes to the street smarts required in continental competitions.

Andre Blake and Damion Lowe have many years of experience with Jamaica’s national team, including two previous trips to the same Estadio Cuscatlán where they faced Alianza.

Blake is one of 11 players on this Union squad who played in the 2021 Champions League run. Joaquín Torres played in last year’s edition with CF Montréal. Julián Carranza played in South America’s famed Copa Libertadores with Argentina’s Banfield in 2018, two years before debuting in MLS with Inter Miami.

Andrés Perea played for the U.S. under-23s in qualifiers for the 2021 Olympics; McGlynn, Sullivan, and Craig helped the U.S. qualify for Paris 2024 and end a 16-year Olympics drought.

And in Curtin, those players have as streetwise a manager as you’ll see on American shores, from Concacaf runs with the Chicago Fire to roller-coaster years with long-defunct MLS team Chivas USA.

So while the scoreless tie to start the round-of-16 series was undoubtedly boring, it was also professional — the very definition of the adage for Concacaf success, “Win at home; tie on the road.” The series is in the Union’s control, and they should be able to finish it off next Tuesday at Subaru Park (8 p.m., Fox Soccer Plus).

Of the many players who deserve credit, let’s take a moment to spotlight one whose work wouldn’t naturally get much: Perea. His name wasn’t called often on Tuesday, as he worked quietly in central midfield where Bedoya normally starts. It was Perea’s first Union start, and really his first major minutes at all after late-game cameos in the first two regular-season contests.

A player in that position is expected to contribute in both directions, and Perea did: 56 touches, two shots that were blocked, 14 passes into the attacking third, six defensive recoveries, nine of 12 duels won, and only one foul committed. The big downside was his passing, just 21 completions from 46 attempts on the rough field.

“We tried to play,” Perea told The Inquirer after a windswept Thursday morning practice at Subaru Park. “The field was a little bit difficult to play [on], but it was a really nice experience. We got a really good result, and now we have 90 minutes to win the game.”

It’s not a given that a player will fit in seamlessly with a new club. It certainly isn’t a given that said player will make his first start in a Champions League road game and look like he’s been around all along.

But that’s the kind of midfielder the Union wanted as a depth signing this offseason. After Perea fell down the depth chart at Orlando City last year, the Union pounced, paying a healthy $750,000 transfer fee for a known quantity. Plenty of observers around MLS thought it was good business.

Asked how he’s been settling in, Perea said it’s been “a little bit cold, but actually pretty good with my teammates, with the team.”

That was no surprise to hear from a 22-year-old who lived in Colombia and Central Florida before coming here. Perea was born in Tampa to Colombian parents, moved south with them at age 5, then played for Atlético National in Medellín, the nation’s second-largest city. He also played for Colombia’s under-17 and under-20 teams.

Perea kept his U.S. passport, and after he joined Orlando City at the start of 2020, he played so well that he impressed U.S. national team scouts. They convinced him to switch allegiance, and he made his senior U.S. debut in February 2021 before joining the under-23s.

Given Perea’s age, he has plenty of time to earn another shot at making the national team. And coincidentally, that’s another reason why Perea fits well with the Union. The guy he’s backing up is a former U.S. stalwart whose parents immigrated from Colombia to this country and settled in Florida, albeit with a spell in New Jersey first: Alejandro Bedoya.

As role models go, he’s as good as they get.

“We talk a lot in Spanish,” said Perea, whose childhood made him more fluent in Spanish than English. “He’s showed me a lot of Colombian restaurants. It’s nice to have a guy like Ale with experience who’ll talk to you … [when] he has a lot of your culture too. It’s really nice to share everything with him.”