Union’s Jim Curtin gets another win over his critics, including Atlanta United’s Gabriel Heinze

While the Union and Atlanta United were battling to a 1-1 draw Tuesday night at Subaru Park, there was another contest taking place on the sidelines.

Union manager Jim Curtin and Atlanta manager Gabriel Heinze already weren’t on the best of terms after the Union’s 3-0 first-leg win at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, but the frostiness between them went to another level in Chester. Heinze chirped at Curtin late in the second half, and the men had another forthright conversation after the whistle.

They were not, as Alejandro Bedoya sarcastically suggested afterward, discussing where Heinze should go to get a late-night cheesesteak on the way back to the hotel.

» READ MORE: Union advance to Champions League semifinals with series win over Atlanta United

“I went to shake his hand after the game in Atlanta, and it was a little touchy,” Curtin said. “And then I went again [Tuesday night], and I shook his hand, and, you know, he was kind of dismissive a little bit. I said, ‘You weren’t going to shake my hand again,’ and then we had just had a discussion about the game.”

To say the least.

“He thought our players were diving and faking injuries,” Curtin said. “I get that, but I don’t think that’s what we’re about. I think we’re about doing our talking on the field.”

Specifically, Heinze — who didn’t bring up the subject in his postgame comments — was annoyed that Sergio Santos took too long for his liking to leave the field when he was replaced by Cory Burke after cramping up. But Curtin was right to point out that just about every professional soccer team on the planet has done that at some point.

“He’s certainly been in games where his team was winning, as a player or a coach, where, yes, there are some tactics, and there [are] some things where you’re not as urgent to get off the field,” Curtin said.

Then came the cherry on top.

“He’s an incredible coach. He’s an incredible player, but you can still be also a sore loser and be an [expletive] at the end of the game,” Curtin said. “I still think there’s a right way. I think you should shake hands like men after the game. He’ll probably have something to say now that I’ve said that. But again, I’m not going to just sit here and take it anymore.”

That moment revealed a deeper truth. While Curtin won MLS coach of the year last season in a landslide, he knows plenty of people out there still think the Union winning the Supporters’ Shield was a fluke. He also knows some critics still think his lack of a big-time resume as a player and manager makes him a not-big-time coach.

The contrast was especially stark on Tuesday. Heinze was a star player for clubs, including Real Madrid, Manchester United, Roma, Paris Saint-Germain, and Marseille, and earned 73 caps for Argentina, including at two World Cups and two Copa Américas. After hanging up his cleats, Heinze managed three big-time Argentine teams before moving to Atlanta. Curtin was a third-round MLS college draft pick who played for two teams in the league, one in the lower-division USL, and not at all for the U.S. national team.

» READ MORE: Jim Curtin calls Union's Champions League win in Atlanta ‘one of our biggest’ in team history

“I think there’s great American coaches in this league. There’s great foreign coaches in this league, and I don’t want to make anything more of it than that,” Curtin said.

Fine. But forgive anyone outside the teams’ locker rooms who’d say Curtin outcoached Heinze in the series.

Sure, the Union got a big serving of luck in the first game from Andre Blake’s outstanding saves. But Curtin had the Union ready to absorb Atlanta’s high-octane offense in the first half and hit on the counterattack in the second. In the second game, Curtin’s players flew out of the gates, taking 12 shots and creating nine chances in the first half. In the second half, they dialed it back, battled through Atlanta’s attempt to rally, then put the series away with Kacper Przybylko’s late goal on a counter.

“Over the two legs, while we weren’t three goals better than Atlanta, I think we did deserve to advance,” Curtin said. “It was a little more nerve-racking and dicey than it needed to be. I thought we had a lot of transition moments, especially in the second half [Tuesday] that we could have finished things off a little bit earlier.”

But it’s done. The Union are in the Champions League semifinals, set to face either the Portland Timbers or Mexican superpower Club América when the tournament resumes in August. The second game of that series is Wednesday night in Mexico City (10:15 p.m., FS1 and TUDN).

“We’re into the final four of this continent, which sounds crazy, and I think everybody kind of has to pinch themselves in the locker room and in the stands,” Curtin said.

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