The Union will be tested in their season opener — and fueled by criticism from a rival GM

For as much as Union fans would like to forget how last season ended, they might have forgotten how it started.

The team that scored the most goals of any team in MLS 2022 started the campaign with a 1-1 tie against Minnesota, then reeled off a five-game winning streak. But after that, the Union had a six-game winless streak, then won just two of their next six.

As manager Jim Curtin prepares his team for Saturday’s season opener against Columbus under the frigid lights at Subaru Park (7:30 p.m. Apple TV, free of charge), he wants to make sure the consistency of the team’s roster translates to consistency of results.

“The offensive part, I do believe does it takes a little bit longer to click,” Curtin said. “But if your principles are strong, and you defend well as a team and you don’t concede goals, you’ll be in every game, and that’s how we want to start the season.”

» READ MORE: The Union have rarely had must-watch players. Jack McGlynn is one right now.

Those words likely won’t satisfy the anonymous executive somewhere in MLS who told The Athletic’s latest survey of league front offices that the Union are “not even that [bleeping] good,” and “all they do is kick the [bleep] out of you.”

But Curtin knows he’s got a team that can kick balls better than it kicks people. All the key players are back, led by the attacking front three of Mikael Uhre, Julián Carranza, and Dániel Gazdag. And this year, Uhre had a full preseason with the team, after being hindered last year by an injury and visa issues.

There’s also a shot of dynamism in new signing Joaquín Torres, who can play multiple positions and will help Curtin to deploy multiple formations.

Columbus will be a good test. The Crew have a big-time striker in Juan “Cucho” Hernández; one of the league’s best midfield trios in Lucas Zelarayán, Darlington Nagbe, and U.S. national team prospect Aidan Morris; and a new manager in Wilfried Nancy, who led CF Montreal to second place in the East last year before a falling-out with his bosses.

» READ MORE: Joaquín Torres goes from foe to friend in move from Montreal to Union

But no team in the league has the expectations that the Union do. Curtin’s team has racked up the most regular-season points leaguewide over the last four years, and each year has gone a step deeper in the playoffs. Now there’s only one step left.

“We just had a film session [on Wednesday] where I point-blank said in front of the group, all the players and technical staff: everybody’s picking us to win, to be in first place now, which is uncharted territory for us,” Curtin said. “It’s a dangerous thing. So we have to block out and not read our headlines and not get too high in this game, because it has a way of humbling you.”

It’s a safe bet, though, that his team read that Athletic headline — and won’t soon forget it.

Fans who have ignored the Union since last November may have missed the news that there are no games on PHL17 anymore. While we’d like to think everyone has been reading The Inquirer’s coverage of MLS’ big move of its broadcast rights to tech giant Apple’s streaming platform, there always are new followers. So here’s what to know.

Every game this year will be on Apple MLS Season Pass, with broadcasts in English and Spanish and French when there’s a Canadian team involved. You can buy the package through any Apple device or AppleTV.com for $14.99 a month or $99 a year. If you already are a subscriber to AppleTV+ — the home of shows such as the popular Ted Lasso comedy — you can subscribe at a discount, $12.99 a month or $79 a year.

And if you have T-Mobile for your cell phone service, you can sign up for free through the T-Mobile Tuesdays app on your phone.

» READ MORE: How to watch Union games in the new Apple MLS Season Pass streaming package

You don’t have to have an Apple device to watch games. The Apple TV app is on Roku, various smart TVs, Google Chromecast, and Amazon Fire Stick. There’s also web browser access at tv.apple.com, and that works on Android phones (which don’t have the app) along with computers.

This weekend, all of Apple’s streaming of MLS games will be available free of charge. The broadcast of the Union game will have some local flavor: Danny Higginbotham, the last analyst on the team’s local TV coverage, will call the action with former New York Red Bulls and ESPN play-by-play announcer Steve Cangialosi.

There’s also the debut of a much-anticipated whiparound show called MLS 360, which will be like NFL Red Zone for all the MLS games on Saturday nights.

The only MLS games on traditional TV this year will be on Fox’s national TV channels. The Union will have three later this season. This weekend’s national TV games are Nashville vs. New York City FC on Saturday (4:30 p.m., Fox29, Fox Deportes) and Seattle vs. Colorado on Sunday (9 p.m., FS1).

All games on national TV also are available on the Apple platform — with different broadcasters from Fox’s.

For more details on MLS Season Pass, including how to sign up for it and what more is in it, check out The Inquirer’s Q&A page at inquirer.com/applemls.

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