Jim Curtin says the Union remain focused amid Alejandro Bedoya and Kai Wagner’s contract disputes
“Sometimes you have to put out some fires, but everybody’s fully focused now on the playoffs," Curtin said of Saturday's regular-season finale at New England.
Union manager Jim Curtin has been playing firefighter as much as soccer coach lately, trying to quiet his players’ discontent over the front office’s treatment of Kai Wagner and Alejandro Bedoya’s expiring contracts.
That discontent escaped the locker room’s confines last week when word emerged of a terse conversation on the field after a recent practice, where Bedoya asked sporting director Ernst Tanner about his status and Tanner responded that Bedoya would not return here.
On Saturday, Jakob Glesnes took to Instagram to post a message of support for Bedoya: “Look what he has done for this club over the last 7.5 years. Great player, great teammate and a great leader: A true leader that should end his career for this club and NO WHERE ELSE! Give his man the respect he deserves!!!!”
The post was shared by teammates including Wagner, Dániel Gazdag, and Bedoya, who responded with thanks: “I appreciate you min ven,” Norwegian for my friend, to salute Glesnes, who is from Norway. Bedoya’s wife is also Norwegian, and the Bedoya and Glesnes families are close off the field.
» READ MORE: It looks like Alejandro Bedoya and Kai Wagner’s times are up with the Union
Approached for comment at Tuesday’s practice, the Union’s first full session of the week, Bedoya politely declined. Curtin deferred comment until his weekly news conference, and on Thursday, he fulfilled that promise and shared his view.
“That’s the job of a coach,” he said. “There’s been a lot of contract stuff this year, as there is in any team, that gets talked about. Sometimes it remains internal; sometimes it goes outside.”
Having simmering contract issues with two popular veterans before the regular-season finale could easily derail a locker room. But heading into Saturday’s visit to the New England Revolution (6 p.m., Apple TV, free), Curtin said his players have stayed together.
“We have to navigate and manage that as professionals, and I give the players a ton of credit for doing that in their own way,” he said. “It’s a really strong group. It’s a locker room of players that all love each other, and have been in a lot of big games together, have won a ton of big games together.”
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A few more big games are on deck before the year ends, as the Union try to reach MLS’s title game for the second straight year.
“Sometimes you have to put out some fires, but everybody’s fully focused now on the playoffs and trying to get now to another MLS Cup [final],” Curtin said, “and this time, as close as we were last time, changing that outcome.”
He concluded with one last nudge about Bedoya and Wagner, even if it came across as wishful thinking.
“I’m still an optimist and believe that the right things will be done and pieces will remain in place,” he said. “So we’ll see what happens. We have opportunities to do the right things, and I trust that we will.”
» READ MORE: Jim Curtin hopes the Union can somehow find a way to keep Kai Wagner
Injury updates
Curtin revealed that right back Olivier Mbaizo “picked up a little injury behind a knee” while away with Cameroon’s national team over the weekend “that could take some time.” Then backup left back Matt Real rolled an ankle during Wednesday’s practice. So the defense will be shorthanded Saturday beyond starters Nathan Harriel and Wagner.
José Andrés Martínez also got banged up while with Venezuela for two World Cup qualifiers, but Curtin said the midfielder is fine. He also never was going to play at New England because he’s suspended for his latest yellow card accumulation.
Venezuela pulled off huge results in those games, a 1-1 tie at Brazil and a 3-0 home win over Chile. Martínez didn’t play in the first contest, then started and played 65 minutes in the second.
Curtin also cleared Jesús Bueno and Leon Flach to play amid their ongoing battles with wear and tear.
Any small injuries were put in perspective by the biggest news from the FIFA window, Brazilian star Neymar suffering a torn ACL and meniscus in his left knee in Tuesday’s World Cup qualifying loss at Uruguay. He’s expected to be out eight months, which means he’ll be returning to action right before the United States hosts next year’s Copa América.
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