‘Swiss Army knife’ Nathan Harriel steps up to help the exhausted Union in Columbus

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Chalk it up to the innocence of youth, perhaps, that the Union’s Nathan Harriel reads his own press clippings.

Not that we discourage him from reading The Inquirer, of course. Veterans usually stay away from what’s written about them, though, in soccer like every other sport.

Harriel said after Saturday’s 1-1 tie at the Columbus Crew that he knows there’s been criticism of his lack of attacking savvy. The 22-year-old right back doesn’t move up the flank as often as Olivier Mbaizo, and Mbaizo is a better passer when he gets there.

But just as the morning paper has many sections, a right back has many ways to contribute. Thanks to a tactical switch by manager Jim Curtin, Harriel played a game that earned him headlines.

» READ MORE: Union’s defense endures long night, but holds on for 1-1 tie at Columbus

Curtin lined Harriel up at right centerback in a 3-5-2 formation meant to lessen the burden on other regulars. It’s risky to back off a Columbus squad with an MLS joint-best 62 goals scored this year, but it was necessary amid seven games in 21 days — with home games vs. Atlanta and Nashville coming this week.

The Crew piled on attackers: Cucho Hernández, Diego Rossi, Darlington Nagbe, Christian Ramirez, and more. Harriel repelled them repeatedly, often smashing the ball halfway upfield to make sure of it.

“We sat back tonight, and we had to do anything we can do to survive,” Harriel said. “If it wasn’t safe to play it through the lines, the best thing to do is boot it up, regroup, step your lines up, and just get ready for the next wave to come down. When there’s time to play it through, you play it through, but if it’s not there, there’s no need to risk anything.”

Then came his perfectly-placed header off Kai Wagner’s 50th-minute corner kick for the Union’s goal. Harriel was surprisingly unmarked among the crowd, and he made Columbus pay.

» READ MORE: Julián Carranza cleared concussion protocols ahead of the Union-Crew game

“Teams still don’t mark me in the box, and I probably have the highest vertical on this team even though I’m one of the smallest guys,” Harriel said. “Everyone says I can’t contribute to the attack, and tonight I had a goal. So it’s just nice for people to be able to see I can contribute.”

Message duly sent. Curtin sent one too, with his postgame praise.

“To watch the growth of a player [to] play outside back, play center back on the right, play center back on the left, and do a lot of jobs for us,” he said, “he’s kind of become a Swiss Army knife. You can plug him in anywhere.”

Harriel wasn’t the night’s only hero. Goalkeeper Andre Blake was exceptional even by his standards, registering eight saves and two high claims in the air. But it raised alarms that he didn’t take goal kicks, a sign of a potential groin injury. Curtin and Blake confirmed that there’s a concern.

“It’s tight, it’s not pulled,” Curtin said. “With the amount of kicks he would have had to make tonight, you start to run the risk.”

» READ MORE: It’s good that the Union are rotating their centerbacks, even if it’s for a bad reason

Blake told The Inquirer that the pain started nagging him in pregame warmups before Wednesday’s 1-1 tie with Dallas. So this was precautionary, not reactionary. And it was clear from a lot of those saves that Blake wasn’t hurting too much overall.

“I’m just trying to be smart and see if I can calm it down,” he said. “If I can save my legs, I’ll just do that.”

Along with the Union’s three remaining games, Blake has two big ones coming with Jamaica in the mid-October FIFA window. The Reggae Boyz have Concacaf Nations League group stage road contests vs. Grenada and Haiti as they seek to win their group and reach the knockout rounds, which serve as qualifiers for next year’s Copa América.

Both the Union and Jamaica deserve to have Blake at his best for their games that matter most. If that means he doesn’t take goal kicks, it’s a small price to pay.

This was the Union’s 45th game of the year. Six more are guaranteed to come in the regular season and playoffs. If the Union return to the MLS Cup final, the total will be nine.

Playing 54 games with a 30-player roster is not right, and it’s not just the Union who are suffering. Saturday’s results across MLS showed there’s fatigue leaguewide: seven ties and two 1-0 games among the night’s 13 contests.

» READ MORE: American soccer was against artificial turf long before it became a big problem in the NFL

This can’t stand forever. If the Leagues Cup is to remain a summer insertion that causes traffic jams elsewhere, MLS must either expand its rosters and the salary cap significantly or suffer a lesser product.

If the league office and Apple think they can get away with the latter because Lionel Messi is hogging the spotlight, they’re wrong. Fans are smart enough to know where to put their money — especially when they’re being asked for ever more of it. Season ticket prices for next year are skyrocketing in Miami, D.C., and elsewhere.

Jack Elliot spoke for a lot of people when he shared his frustrations.

“I’ve lost count of what number game this is so far this season,” the veteran centerback said. “It’s the longest season we’ve ever had, and we see that now with the amount of injuries we’re getting from players who are playing a lot of minutes.”

There’s some relief coming. Curtin signaled that Jakob Glesnes and José Andrés Martínez will return Wednesday vs. Atlanta (7:30 p.m., Apple TV, paywalled). Kai Wagner will get a night off due to yellow card accumulation, even if it’s not how he intended to rest.

But that won’t solve the bigger problem. Only leaguewide changes this winter can.

“Everyone within the teams know something has to be done about that,” Elliott said. “I think there will be probably be some conversations about it with the amount of games that go on.”

A lot of people hope he’s right.