Union’s Jim Curtin salutes fired friend Chris Armas, and gives thanks for his own job security

Jim Curtin and Chris Armas played together with the Chicago Fire for seven years in the 2000s. They won a Supporters’ Shield and U.S. Open Cup double together in 2003, then another Open Cup in 2006.

The two men are still close friends, even though they’ve stood on opposite sides of the field for the last few years as managers of the Union and New York Red Bulls. Sunday was to be their sixth time coaching against each other, until Armas was fired Friday morning. Top assistant C.J. Brown, who also played on those Fire teams, was dismissed too.

Armas leaves Red Bull Arena with a 33-27-11 record and a Supporters’ Shield trophy from 2018, when he succeeded Jesse Marsch midway through the season. His ousting was surprising only because the Red Bulls’ global parent in Europe -- the same company that runs Germany’s RB Leipzig and Austria’s Red Bull Salzburg -- seemed to not care much about how its New York outpost is doing these days.

But the results have been bad enough lately to get the bosses’ attention. After failing to get out of the group stage at Major League Soccer’s summer tournament, the Red Bulls have won just one game since the regular season resumed, though it was notably over rival New York City FC.

A 1-0 loss to D.C. United, the Red Bulls’ longest-standing rival, on Wednesday night was the last straw.

“I can’t speak to the goings-on behind the scenes at Red Bull ... but I can speak to the quality of person that Chris Armas is,” Curtin said. “I’m saddened by it. Chris is a guy who taught me so much, and was such a great leader and great captain in my time in Chicago.”

While the Union view the Red Bulls as their biggest rival, it might say something about New York’s view of the series that Armas wasn’t fired after his team blew a 3-1 lead in last year’s playoff game in Chester, leading to the Union’s first-ever postseason win. Nor did the ax fall after New York’s loss at Subaru Park a week and a half ago.

The Red Bulls didn’t announce their interim coach, Bradley Carnell, until Saturday afternoon. When Curtin spoke Friday, he didn’t know whom he’d be up against Sunday night. But he does know what he’ll be up against. New York’s high-pressing style won’t change just because the person setting the lineup will.

“It’s in the Red Bull DNA to play with a similar intensity, a similar style,” Curtin said. “We don’t think that they’re all of a sudden going to change formations or anything too crazy or drastic. It’s up to us to be ready, and up to us to perform and try to get three points.”

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Curtin’s six years at the helm of the Union makes him the third-longest-tenured manager in MLS -- and coincidentally, the top three are all from the Philadelphia region. Curtin is from Oreland, D.C. United’s Ben Olsen is from Middletown, Pa., and Kansas City’s Peter Vermes is from Delran, N.J.

Curtin is widely popular among fans, even more so among players, and the team has had its best seasons under his watch. But there’s still a loud minority of fans who want him fired, for everything from disagreeing with his tactics to disagreeing with his unabashed support of the Black Lives Matter campaign.

He isn’t going anywhere, certainly not for now. Sporting director Ernst Tanner has seen to that by vouching for Curtin publicly. And even Curtin’s critics might admit that while he hasn’t won a trophy, he’s a much better tactician than he used to be.

“I’ve learned every year, I think I grow every year, and I try to improve every year,” Curtin said. “I don’t take things for granted here at all.”

As for the barbs, well, Curtin has probably called for an Eagles or Flyers coach’s head at some point in his life.

“It can still happen where you make a sub this weekend and it costs us a goal, and then it’s back to I don’t know what I’m doing,” he said. “I get the fickleness and the fine line of things.”