‘We don’t care about possession’: Union’s tactics triumph in first win at Yankee Stadium

Jim Curtin and his players are used by now to the Union not having a lot of possession of the ball in their games. So are Union fans, albeit sometimes grudgingly, as they know it’s how counter-pressing teams around the world achieve success.

But there are still some times when the box score makes for unsightly reading, and Saturday’s 2-0 win over New York City FC at Yankee Stadium was one of them.

Yes, Curtin’s team had a measly 27% of the possession in the game. And yes, the Union completed just 111 passes to New York’s 497, as big of a difference as you’ll ever see in a win.

Among the stats that mattered most, though, beyond the score? New York had 18 shots to the Union’s 13, sure, but the Union had the better expected goal figure: 1.79 to 1.11.

(For anyone new to soccer analytics, “expected goals” measures the likelihood that each shot taken will be scored, and tallies a sum for all of a team’s shots over the course of a game. There won’t be a quiz later, but the stat is increasingly popular in soccer, so keep it in mind.)

Curtin did not hide his satisfaction at all of this.

“Here in Philadelphia, we don’t care about possession,” he said. “Possession without purpose is meaningless, and we’re OK with teams — I think in probably every game we’ve played so far, they’ve led in the possession numbers, but possession doesn’t win games.”

» READ MORE: Union finally earn first win at Yankee Stadium over NYCFC

Any fan of Lionel Messi’s former Barcelona dynasty, or even a fan of Pep Guardiola’s current Manchester City dynasty (which was built on Barcelona principles), might have just recoiled in disgust. Fair enough.

But any fan of Liverpool, or Brenden Aaronson’s Red Bull Salzburg in this season’s Champions League, might know exactly what Curtin is talking about.

Even a fan of German juggernaut Bayern Munich might admit the club stole the playbook from Red Bull-owned RB Leipzig when it poached Leipzig manager Julian Nagelsmann last summer. Bayern then adapted the system to its truckload of world-class stars. Now it’s charging toward a 10th straight Bundesliga title, and is in the Champions League quarterfinals with a decent shot at a seventh all-time European Cup.

This doesn’t mean the counter-pressing system is perfect. In fact, it’s got a big flaw, and the Union know it well: push the tempo too hard early in the season and there’s a danger of running out of gas at the end. Curtin is well aware of this, which is part of why he spent last week playing down the significance of the Union (3-0-1, 10 points) being off to the best start in team history.

» READ MORE: The Union recorded the best three-game start in team history

He’s going to have to deal with the hype this week, though. The Union took out the reigning MLS champions on their home field, earned their first win at Yankee Stadium, and now stand atop the Eastern Conference after four games.

And they kept a clean sheet Saturday through two unusual circumstances: New York’s four-man front line for much of the second half and a brawl that erupted in the 70th minute next to Andre Blake’s net.

New York’s Valentín Castellanos took exception to Blake holding on to the ball after it had gone over the end line for a corner kick. Castellanos got in Blake’s face, and within seconds Castellanos and Kai Wagner were going at it in front of the Yankees’ dugout.

The benches didn’t clear, as they might have back when Phillies manager Joe Girardi played for the Yankees and was part of a few such gatherings. (For one thing, the soccer benches at Yankee Stadium are far away in the baseball outfield.) But almost all the players within the sidelines joined the fray, and it took a while for referee Ted Unkel to settle things down.

The Union’s Sergio Santos and New York’s Nicolas Acevedo might find their wallets lighter this week, and don’t be surprised if there are suspensions for hands-to-the-face contact.

“It’s New York, it’s Philly, we don’t love each other during the 90 minutes ever,” Curtin said. “It got a little too out of hand, I think, from both teams.”

He later added: “We’re going to be respectful of every team, but we’re certainly not going to fear anybody and back down from anybody. That’s the way we’re all built, that’s the way we’re wired, and that’s the way the city of Philadelphia is — and I think we represent that pretty well.”

They’re representing pretty well in the standings, too. And after Saturday’s win, that’s as clear in the Bronx as it is around here.