Jim Curtin wants the Union to win the Leagues Cup, but some fans are protesting it

What you hear about the Leagues Cup tournament and what you see with your own eyes at Subaru Park over the next few weeks might not be the same thing.

Major League Soccer would like you to believe that its summer tournament with Mexican clubs — for which it has stopped its season for over a month for the second straight year — really matters. The league then would rely on the casual fan who is enamored with the game nationwide, to buy game tickets and Apple subscriptions, especially Mexican immigrant fans of Liga MX clubs who have long made that league more watched than MLS.

It would also ensure that MLS teams and players take the Leagues Cup seriously. MLS reportedly put a $40 million prize pool on the table last year, with $2 million for the winner. This year’s prize pool isn’t known yet, but Union manager Jim Curtin said Friday that there’s “a financial reward for the players that is fairly significant.”

Most importantly, MLS needs its star in Lionel Messi to play in the Leagues Cup. He arrived at Inter Miami last year right when the inaugural edition started, seized worldwide headlines, and helped his team win the title.

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But this time, Messi is sidelined with an ankle injury he suffered in the Copa América final. And even before that happened, fans of many MLS teams sniffed out a cash grab and turned up their noses.

That has led to protests and boycotts by many supporters’ clubs across the country, including the Sons of Ben. During Saturday’s game against Charlotte FC (8 p.m., Apple TV, and note the later-than-usual kickoff time), many of its members will walk out of the River End stands after the traditional singing of “Four-Leaf Clover” at the 20:10 mark, and not return through the gates until the tournament is over.

(The Sons of Ben took up the song, a traditional Mummers standard when it helped bring the Union into existence. 2010 was the team’s first season.)

The Union, meanwhile, are caught in a bind — and not just because of a report in the Mexican media that MLS will fine players and coaches who criticize the tournament’s existence up to $25,000. (That number might have been a little higher than reality, but let’s see what is and isn’t said from the podium.)

Because of this year’s poor regular season so far, the Leagues Cup now looks like the Union’s best shot at winning something this year. So instead of using the time to rest veterans and play the team’s promising young prospects, Curtin and his players have a reason to try to win it.

“We’re going to go after every competition the same,” Curtin said. “We know this year has been frustrating for us — for the players for the fans, it hasn’t gone how we had hoped. … Our reality is, in our last two games at home, we’ve looked like us: we’ve scored eight goals, we’ve conceded one. You start to see buzz and confidence with the group.”

It also helps that the Union will have a home-field advantage for a while. Last year’s fourth-place finish in the Eastern Conference earned the club the No. 9 overall seed in this year’s tournament out of the 47 teams in the field. That should lead to home games in the opening knockout round of 32 and potentially the round of 16.

“We want to keep momentum,” Curtin said. “You could argue, do you wish we were continuing with league play right now, maybe pick off some more points and wins? I’m OK with going into a competition like this, because if we do our part at home, we’ve earned home field in the competition, and we kind of control our own destiny if we continue to win.”

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After Saturday’s game against Charlotte, the second and final group game is against traditional Mexican power Cruz Azul on Aug. 4 (8 p.m., FS1, UniMás, free on Apple TV). Cruz Azul visits Charlotte on Wednesday.

“Whatever motivates you, the Leagues Cup has something for you,” Curtin said, “and it’s a real opportunity for us to improve as a team and go into the final stretch of the season.”

Curtin also said we might “maybe see a new idea or player in our group, which is I think important, too.” The Union’s tournament squad includes academy-bred reserve team midfielder CJ Olney and left back Frankie Westfield, and Curtin confirmed that Westfield will be on Saturday’s game day squad.

But Curtin wasn’t as open about how much Cavan Sullivan will play. The 14-year-old phenom became the youngest player in MLS history earlier this month and already has gotten piles of marketing hype from the league. He even made a promotional appearance for a fried chicken chain on Temple’s campus this week.

For some casual viewers, Sullivan might even be one of the most recognizable names in the Leagues Cup, since Messi is out. That’s a remarkable thing to say, but there really isn’t much competition right now.

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Who else comes close? Miami’s Luis Suárez, sure — and some fans will watch Miami just to see Messi in a suite — but he’s also injured right now.

Los Angeles FC’s new signing, Olivier Giroud, is on the list, but the French World Cup winner hasn’t played for the club yet since he just finished playing at the European Championship.

Then add this being the time of year when big European clubs are on their annual U.S. summer tours. English juggernauts Arsenal and Liverpool will play at a sold-out Lincoln Financial Field on Wednesday (7:30 p.m., ESPN, ESPN+), and the Union are lucky they’re off that night. (They weren’t when the Premier League’s six-team showcase came to town last summer.)

Should such considerations factor into Curtin’s roster selections? It shouldn’t be, as a principle, but principle isn’t always the only factor.

A more practical concern is that the Union’s reserve team has a game at the Columbus Crew’s reserves on Sunday, and Curtin said that will weigh some into which prospects stay in town for the weekend.

“Is five minutes with us in a first-team game more valuable than 90 minutes down there?” Curtin said. “That’ll apply to a lot of different guys.”

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