Kacper Przybylko overcomes back spasms in time to play in Union’s Concacaf Champions League debut

Kacper Przybylko will be available to play for the Union in their Concacaf Champions League debut Wednesday night at Costa Rica’s Saprissa (6 p.m., FS1 and TUDN).

Przybylko, the Union’s top striker, has been battling back spasms for the last few weeks. He took an injection a few days ago to try to ease the pain. Manager Jim Curtin said Tuesday that Przybylko is ready to go, but Curtin was coy about how much time Przybylko can go for — which was no surprise, not wanting to give anything away to the opponent.

“He’s been able to train the last three training sessions, which is good,” Curtin said. “We’ll be able to field a strong starting lineup, but at the same time, we just don’t know exactly how much game fitness certain players have. … There certainly will be some younger players on the field at the end of the game, especially in a Concacaf setting.”

» READ MORE: An analysis of the Union’s roster at the start of the 2021 season

Curtin said forcefully that his team isn’t the favorite, and he wasn’t just playing the underdog card. Nor was he shy about his plans to have the team focus on defense, try to not concede, then come home to Subaru Park next week to try to win the series. He’ll hope, too, that Cory Burke and Sergio Santos can finally overcome the injuries that have left them sidelined for much of the preseason.

Saprissa is one of Costa Rica’s most famous teams, with 35 titles and a roster full of former MLS stalwarts. Defensive midfielder David Guzmán played for Portland and Columbus, winger Christian Bolaños for Vancouver, and towering centerback Kendall Waston for Vancouver and Cincinnati.

Keep an eye, too, on forward Ariel Rodríguez, a Saprissa veteran who has scored seven goals in 13 career Champions League games.

Saprissa is having an off year, third place in Costa Rica’s domestic league and mired in a seven-game winless rut. But Curtin knows well that games like this offer an opportunity to clear the mind and start fresh.

“The New York Yankees can have a bad season, that can happen, but at the same time, when you say New York Yankees, everybody knows who they are,” Curtin said. “When you say Saprissa to Americans, in the United States they know that they’re one of the top teams in Costa Rica, if not the top.”

That reputation has been forged as much by the wild atmosphere of the stadium, nicknamed the Monster’s Cave, as by the talented players on the field. Saprissa has lost just four of its 22 Champions League home games in the tournament’s modern era, which dates to 2008, and just one of the losses was to a MLS team.

» READ MORE: A year after winning their first trophy, are the Union good enough for an encore?

In the previous era, when the tournament was called the Concacaf Champions’ Cup, Saprissa won the title three times, last in 2005. It was runner-up in 2004, when Curtin played there with the Chicago Fire.

U.S. men’s national team fans also know the stadium well as a house of horrors. The Americans went 0-7-1 there in World Cup qualifying over the years before a more modern venue was built across town in the nation’s capital, San José (and Costa Rica is unbeaten against the U.S. there, too).

The Union will catch a break with no fans in the stands due to the coronavirus pandemic. But between the travel to foreign soil and the quality of the opposition, it will be a terrific lesson for the team’s young players no matter the result.

“The people are incredibly friendly and nice, and it’s a beautiful place — I’ve been on vacation here as well and I can’t say enough about how beautiful the country it is — but I also know the other side,” Curtin said. “You do want them to feel what a full stadium would be like as well, but I’m also not naive and silly as a coach. I want to win. So I know that stadium being empty probably gives us a better opportunity for success.”

» READ MORE: How to watch the rest of this week's Concacaf Champions League games