Jack McGlynn’s highlight-reel assist was his latest big play for the Union in a breakout year

HARRISON, N.J. — Jack McGlynn knew that he didn’t play his best soccer in the first half of the Union’s 2-0 win at the New York Red Bulls on Saturday, and so did Jim Curtin.

But after a halftime talk in the locker room lifted the team’s spirits, McGlynn lifted his game on the field. Fewer than three minutes had passed in the second half when the 19-year-old gathered the ball at midfield, flicked it over New York’s John Tolkin, and charged away to feed Mikael Uhre for the opening goal.

Curtin admitted that he might have prepared McGlynn a little too much for the occasion, and admitted it to the player.

“Maybe it was my fault, because I talked about Red Bull, Red Bull, Red Bull, and how quick you have to play, and let’s not lose any short passes — maybe I made him a little nervous in the first half,” Curtin said. “And maybe he didn’t realize how much time he had, and was a little bit safe. And then the second half, the play that he makes at midfield where he instead of playing just forward, he flips it over a guy’s head, brings it down and then slips the through ball, that’s a different level.”

» READ MORE: Mikael Uhre and Dániel Gazdag lead the Union to a 2-0 win at the New York Red Bulls

What were those magic halftime words? Nothing special, it turned out.

“We just talked about how we’re a better team than how we played in the first half with the ball,” McGlynn said. “So we all just knew we had to play more confident. We had more time than what we thought we were going to have, so it was just a confidence thing and knowing that we were able to play with the ball through them.”

That wasn’t McGlynn’s only contribution Saturday night. He also had 51 touches and six defensive recoveries, and completed 32 of 40 passes — sending six into the attacking third of the field.

The magnitude of the performance was further amplified in a few ways. One is that McGlynn spent the first 58 minutes of the game playing on the right side of the midfield diamond, instead of his usual place on the left. Curtin liked what he saw.

“On the left, it’s probably a little more familiar, just from the minutes that he’s played — he’s used to that vision, and when he scans, he sees that picture and it’s more natural for him,” he said. “But I actually like him on the right, where when we play narrow with the diamond, he can come in and he can play through balls, he can go against the grain with his left foot and find Mikael and Cory [Burke] and Julián [Carranza].”

» READ MORE: Jack McGlynn first became a Union sensation during last year's playoff run

McGlynn enjoyed the move, too.

“I like playing on the right, it gives me an opportunity to cut in and play with my left foot,” he said. “And when I drop in and Nate [Harriel] would go higher [from right back], it’s easy for me to just cut inside and play a ball over the top with my left. So I like it. I’m comfortable with either side.”

Second on the list is that McGlynn is a New York City native. Both the Red Bulls and New York City FC passed over when he was playing for famed youth club Blau Weiss Gottschee. He also has family in Scranton, and that helped when he moved to the Union’s academy in August 2019.

“Obviously, being from New York, I have a connection here,” he said. “Beating the Red Bulls is always a great feeling, no matter who I’m playing for. Especially being with the Union, it’s a big rivalry.”

He surely relished the roar that went up from the hordes of Union fans in the stands when Uhre scored. They looked and sounded like the largest Union contingent ever to visit Red Bull Arena.

And last — but definitely not least — McGlynn put on his show with U.S. Soccer Federation sporting director Earnie Stewart watching from a suite. McGlynn helped the U.S. men end a 16-year Olympics qualifying drought earlier this summer, and is an early candidate to go to Paris in 2024.

Stewart used to be Curtin’s boss, as the Union’s sporting director from late 2015 until mid-2018. Since then, he has watched his former team build a strong pipeline from Chester to the national team program.

“I know Earnie loves Jack, and the type of player Jack is,” Curtin said. “And so do I.”

» READ MORE: Four Union players led the U.S. men’s soccer team to end its 16-year Olympics drought