Even if the Union keep playing this well, they still might run out of time to make the playoffs

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The adage is true in any sport, soccer included, and it’s surely been said about all the other Philadelphia sports teams over the years. Now it applies to the Union, too.

If they keep playing this well, surely they’re going to make the playoffs.

It’s unquestionably true about how the Union played in Saturday’s 3-1 loss at Inter Miami, despite the score.

On a night when Lionel Messi scored two brilliant goals in his first game back from a two-month injury absence, then assisted Luis Suárez for the late third, the Union outshot the Herons by a shocking 21-9 margin, including 8-4 in shots on target.

So how did they lose 3-1? Easily. One team had Mikael Uhre (whose opening goal was terrific), Tai Baribo, Dániel Gazdag, Quinn Sullivan, and Sam Adeniran and Jeremy Rafanello from the bench. The other had Messi and Suárez, both age 37 but still superbly clinical, and some clutch plays by goalkeeper Drake Callender.

» READ MORE: Lionel Messi had a grand return from injury at the Union’s expense as Inter Miami remain MLS’ best

If you know the Union’s history, you can guess pretty quickly how things went. And you can guess what Union manager Jim Curtin had to say about it, because he’s said the same thing for so much of his decade in charge. And as ever, the root cause — having lesser top-end talent than MLS’s elite teams — isn’t his fault.

“They gave us a couple real opportunities and clear-cut chances, it just was a night where we didn’t finish them off,” Curtin said. “To go on the road and have that many looks is frustrating, but that’s the strongest team in our league, and you can’t let those chances slip. You have to be kind of ruthless, and we weren’t tonight.”

It’s even more remarkable that the conversation here is about the Union’s attack, when at the start of the night the defense looked so thin on paper that a 3-1 loss would have felt easy. Andrew Rick was the right choice to start at goalkeeper with Andre Blake injured, but the 18-year-old academy product still has a ways to go before he’s an MLS-level player.

» READ MORE: A potential meeting of Cavan Sullivan and Lionel Messi was too tempting to ignore

Defensive midfielder Danley Jean Jacques was just as big of an absence, though at least he was able to pitch in a late substitute’s shift amid his own injury recovery.

If you thought watching at home that Leon Flach had a rough night, consider that he had to cover not just his ground, but all the ground that Jack McGlynn and Sullivan weren’t covering because of their defensive weaknesses. Of course, Flach was going to get caught out at some point, and he duly was.

But the attacking side is the bigger talking point from this game, because of two players at that end of the field who wrote themselves into negative headlines.

Up first is Adeniran. He subbed in for Uhre in the 63rd minute, which is plenty of time to make an impact, and he certainly had opportunities. But after 17 shots in 253 minutes over 11 games with the Union so far, Adeniran has yet to score a goal for the club, and some of the misses — including two Saturday — have been glaring.

» READ MORE: Andre Blake, Tai Baribo, and Danley Jean Jacques land on the Union’s injury list

It was a smart move for the Union to take a flier on Adeniran when they traded for him in July. They knew he’d be out of contract after this year, and wanted to bet on himself after a falling-out at St. Louis City SC. But so far, he hasn’t shown he should get a new deal.

The other player to spotlight is Sullivan, for a reason that isn’t as easily quantifiable. On too many occasions Saturday, it felt like he made the wrong decision with the ball when he had it. This wasn’t the first game when that happened.

In some circumstances, this would be cast as an effect of Sullivan still being young at 20. But he’s one of only two players who’ve played in all 38 Union games this year. (Kai Wagner is the other.) When that’s the case, expectations go up.

Curtin has never liked to criticize his players in public, and he tried to avoid it when discussing Sullivan after Saturday’s game. He let a little bit out, though, and hit the right note in doing so.

“He’s a guy this year that, if you take his stats, I think they’re good,” Curtin said, referring to Sullivan’s five goals and seven assists. “But a half-inch here and there, or a quicker decision here and there, and you could be looking at a 10-goal, 10-assist type season already, because he’s created that many chances. Really good from him, but again, against the top teams, it has to be almost perfect.”

» READ MORE: Mikael Uhre hits a scoring milestone for the Union, and maybe this time his critics will notice

Now there are just six games left for the Union, in 11th place in the Eastern Conference (7-12-9, 30 points), to save their season. The next three are perhaps the most important: Wednesday’s visit to New York City FC at Yankee Stadium (7:30 p.m., Apple TV), then home contests against ninth-place D.C. United on Sunday and 10th-place Atlanta United on Sept. 28.

If the Union play as well in those games as they did Saturday, they could win all three and move up the standings fast. There’s still a lot of work to do, though, and not much time to do it in.

A lot of people tuned in Saturday to see Messi play, but a fair few also wondered if Union teen phenom Cavan Sullivan would see the field.

Sullivan ended up not playing, but he got a moment in the spotlight after the game when Messi posed for some photos with him. That surely thrilled the social media mavens out there, especially at MLS headquarters. (Probably at adidas too, since both players are clients.)

» READ MORE: The upside of the Union's struggles is their young talent can now see what it takes

There are definitely games with too much physicality to send a 14-year-old into, but this game didn’t feel like that. So while it wasn’t surprising Curtin sent Jeremy Rafanello in as the late attacking midfield substitute instead of Sullivan, it was a little disappointing.

Curtin would like to get Sullivan his second first-team appearance at some point, and if the Union’s season really falls apart it could come soon. But it hasn’t come yet.

At least Sullivan was set to play for the Union’s reserve team against Miami’s reserves on Sunday, and hopefully afterward share how it was to meet Messi.