The Union finally have some good momentum after two straight wins. Can they keep it?

“Soccer is fun again for the guys,” Union manager Jim Curtin said after his team’s 3-0 win over Nashville SC on Saturday at Subaru Park.

His voice seemed to have as much relief as happiness. A team that had won just one of 17 games over three months from mid-April to mid-July now has its first winning streak since April 6.

And after recently falling into the Eastern Conference’s basement, Saturday’s win alone raised the Union from 14th place to 10th in the conference’s traffic jam. A 6-10-9 record (27 points) is still far from a pretty sight, but you can be sure the rest of MLS has snapped to attention at the sight of the Union playing like they should.

“No one wants to play us in the playoffs if we get in, that’s a fact,” Curtin said, and it is indeed a fact.

» READ MORE: Dániel Gazdag’s hat trick powers the Union to their second straight win, 3-0 over Nashville

It only makes sense, then, that the regular season now stops for five weeks so Major League Soccer can run the second edition of its Leagues Cup tournament with clubs from Mexico’s Liga MX. And this time, with conquering hero Lionel Messi sidelined by an ankle injury, perhaps an event widely derided as a cash grab will be properly exposed.

Plenty of Union players want to play in the Leagues Cup, because they get a more palatable kind of cash grab. Last year’s prize pool was reportedly $40 million, with $2 million for the winning club. The top finishers also reach the Concacaf Champions Cup, as the Union showed with last year’s third-place finish.

Whatever happens for the Union in the Leagues Cup, they’ll have to switch their mindset back again when the regular season resumes on Aug. 24 at home against Columbus.

“Yeah,” midfielder Leon Flach said, hinting at more agreement than MLS’s marketing department might like.

“Obviously, the best way is to keep the momentum going by winning games,” he continued. “Because in the end, we want to win games no matter if it’s just the Leagues Cup or MLS. I think the more games you win, the more confidence you have, obviously, and I think Leagues Cup can be a great chance for us to go on a run, too.”

» READ MORE: Union teen phenom Cavan Sullivan drew a crowd of autograph seekers on a day off in Sea Isle City

Then again, having a few weeks off in late summer to prepare for the playoff run has its own benefits, so let’s see how many teams decide to … well, let’s politely call it play a lot of young prospects.

Flach knows as well as anyone that he and his teammates could do with — to put it another polite way — a lighter schedule for a bit. All those injuries and international tournament absences piled up during the winless streak, and Flach had to carry even more of the load on the field as a result.

“It’s a great chance to play, for the next two weeks, just Saturday-Saturday [with no midweek games], get some players back to 100%,” he said. “It was always like, ‘Who has two legs and can play?’ So I think it comes at the right time. But if you ask me, I would love to continue with MLS, because if you win two games you want to continue.”

Perhaps if the Union were having a better season, they’d think about easing off. Since they aren’t, the Leagues Cup might be this year’s best shot at a trophy.

“These last two games have changed so much in the team,” Dániel Gazdag said on a night when his hat trick delivered all the goals. “We really needed these two games, and I think we are ready for the Leagues Cup. Obviously, it’s going to be a different experience, as it was last year, but we would like to be successful as we [were] last year.”

» READ MORE: Cavan Sullivan’s record-setting MLS debut was big for the Union, but Tai Baribo’s hat trick vs. New England was bigger

Of course, fans at Subaru Park and most of the rest of MLS want to see the Union play their young prospects — and one in particular. Cavan Sullivan didn’t play Saturday, and that was fine. But let’s see whether MLS puts the 14-year-old phenom in its Leagues Cup marketing, especially with Messi out.

As wild as it may sound to you to read this, there are definitely people in the soccer world who, if you ask them who plays in MLS, will name Messi and Sullivan before anyone else. (If they name anyone else in the first place.)

» READ MORE: Is Cavan Sullivan really that good? Here’s what to know about the Union academy and its teen phenom.

Fortunately, for as much spotlight as Sullivan gives the Union off the field, they don’t need him to save them on it. The last two games have proved that.

“The Leagues Cup is different, it’s a different competition, but we can get confidence and everything out of that as well,” Gazdag said. “The most important thing for us is to get into the playoffs, and we are going to do everything for that.”