Union at San Jose Earthquakes: Can Andrew Wooten spark Philadelphia back to life?
Wooten has only played five league games since arriving in Philadelphia in mid-July, but with Sergio Santos out, he might be about to get a shot.
You can spin the Union’s recent form in a lot of ways if you want to. If you want to say they’ve only lost two games since the start of August, you can do that. If you want to say they’re in a two-game winless rut, you can do that, too.
And you could probably go from either case to saying that Wednesday’s contest at the San Jose Earthquakes (11 p.m., WPVI-6.2/Live Well Network) matters a lot.
That’s chiefly because of the standings, to be sure. But it would be pretty hard to see any momentum from a loss in the third-to-last game of the regular season.
Who might be able to stop the Union’s funk from getting any worse? The answer might be Andrew Wooten.
The 29-year-old forward has played only five league games since arriving in Philadelphia in mid-July. His last appearance came on Sept. 7, when he scored his only Union goal so far in a meaningless exhibition game against Mexico’s Pumas UNAM.
But since Sergio Santos is out two weeks with a hamstring injury suffered late in Sunday’s loss at the New York Red Bulls, now might be Wooten’s time.
“It’s a big opportunity for Andrew, [and] it’ll be a big opportunity for a couple other guys to step up,” Union manager Jim Curtin said on a conference call Wednesday from San Jose.
Wooten has been especially effective in a forward partnership with Kacper Przybylko. The Union have won both games they’ve started together: 5-1 at D.C. United on Aug. 4 and 2-1 over Houston at home on Aug. 11.
It’s a small sample size, but it’s big enough to have been in the Union coaching staff’s mind over the last few days.
“Andrew has done well with the limited minutes that he’s gotten,” Curtin said. “I think that partnership is a good one."
As for the “other guys” Curtin mentioned, one of them will be centerback Aurélien Collin, who will stand in for the injured Mark McKenzie. Fortunately, it’s likely to be the only game McKenzie misses. Curtin said the hamstring injury McKenzie suffered Sunday turned out to be minor. Auston Trusty is likely to be on the bench, returning to the game-day roster for the first time since Aug. 12.
Curtin also said, “We’ll have a change or two in our midfield." But he implied that Haris Medunjanin won’t be rested even though the veteran has played every minute of the season so far.
“We have a certain core group of guys that can handle three games in a week no problem, [and] I’d say he’s in that category more than others because he does take care of himself so well," Curtin said. “We have enough time to recover for Columbus. ... I don’t want to go looking back on things and saying, ‘Man, if we would have just went for it in San Jose, we’d be playing on the last day for the possibility of a 1 or 2 seed.’ "