For Jim Curtin, every game is ‘must-win’ for the rest of the Union’s season

Of the four games left in the Union’s regular season, Saturday’s home contest against Atlanta United (7:30 p.m., Apple TV) should, in theory, be the easiest.

It’s the only game left against a team below the Union in the standings. It’s also the first game in a three-game week, followed by road games at Orlando on Wednesday and Columbus next Saturday.

That would, in theory, make the Atlanta game a must-win — certainly by any Philadelphian’s definition, right?

“Every [game] is must-win now,” Union manager Jim Curtin said at his pregame news conference Friday. “There’s no margin for error for any team that’s not above the red line comfortably, or clinched, right now.”

The Union are riding a two-game winning streak, which counts as lengthy if you’re going off this year, and have won five of their last seven regular-season games. (The first two came in July, before the Leagues Cup break.)

But how much of the Union’s current form is for real, and how much is a mirage?

» READ MORE: The Union are in the thick of a real playoff race for the first time in eight years

Their 9-12-9 record (36 points) is good enough for ninth place in the Eastern Conference, in a format where nine of 15 teams make the playoffs. So that isn’t much of a compliment. (It’s even worse in the Western Conference, where nine of 14 teams qualify.)

“Somebody who you think is out of it now is probably going to get in, and somebody who you think is completely safe is going to get knocked out,” Curtin said, delivering perhaps the logic when it comes to MLS playoffs. “That’s the nature of nine teams being able to make it.”

The Union are tied with eighth-place Toronto on points, but Toronto has two more wins — the first standings tiebreaker. If it were goal difference, world soccer’s usual standard, the Union would be ahead by a mile, on plus-10 to Toronto’s minus-17. That also would improve the odds of getting above eighth place, since sixth-place Charlotte and seventh-place New York City FC have 41 points and 11 wins.

“Whether that’s right or wrong, you can discuss,” Curtin said, and plenty of people around the league do. “But it’s the rule, and we certainly have to push as hard as possible to get those wins.”

It helps to have defensive midfielder Danley Jean Jacques back in the starting lineup, and Curtin said that is set to happen.

“He’s all the way back,” Curtin said, “I would say these last couple days is the closest to 100% that I’ve seen [him]. Ankles are tricky — that last 5%, it takes a little bit of time — but he looks like himself now, and, certainly, he’ll be starting one of the coming games.”

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

After months of delays and international controversies, FIFA finally is set to announce the venues for next year’s Club World Cup in the United States, and it looks like Lincoln Financial Field will be one of them.

Though no one around town has been willing to confirm it yet, there have been rumors on the subject for a while. Last week, The Guardian, an English newspaper, reported that Philadelphia will be a host city, and on Friday, ESPN said the venue would be Lincoln Financial Field specifically.

FIFA’s official announcement will come on Saturday at the Global Citizen Festival, a music event in New York’s Central Park, at around 5:50 p.m. Philadelphia time. The event will be streamed live on YouTube, Facebook, and via various online music platforms.

The other venues expected to be announced are northern New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium and Red Bull Arena, Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, Orlando’s Inter&Co Stadium, Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Seattle’s Lumen Field, and the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. Games will take place from June 15 to July 13.

Five of the eight venues are home to MLS teams, and two are soccer-first venues (Red Bull Arena and Inter&Co Stadium). Those two also are the smallest venues involved.

» READ MORE: FIFA makes open call to Pennsylvania artists to design Philly’s World Cup poster

There will be 32 teams in the tournament, with 30 berths having been claimed so far. Headline teams include England’s Manchester City and Chelsea, Spain’s Real Madrid, Italy’s Juventus and Inter Milan, Germany’s Bayern Munich, Brazil’s Flamengo, and Argentina’s Boca Juniors.

Four Concacaf teams have qualified, all through winning the continent’s Champions Cup: MLS’s Seattle Sounders and Mexico’s León, Monterrey, and Pachuca.

There are two spots left to take. One will go to the winner of this year’s Copa Libertadores, South America’s club championship, which currently is in its semifinals. (Argentina’s River Plate is the favorite to win).

The other is reserved for the host country, and U.S. Soccer hasn’t said yet how it will be awarded. In theory, it would go to this year’s MLS Cup winner. But there’s a widespread belief that if Inter Miami wins the Supporters’ Shield for the league’s best regular-season record, as it’s on track to do, Lionel Messi’s club could get the nod so he can be featured.

If that sounds cynical, know that there’s a lot of cynicism about the Club World Cup as a whole. There’s no broadcast deal for the tournament anywhere in the world, including the United States, after negotiations between FIFA and Apple for a worldwide deal fell apart earlier this year.

Nor is it clear where FIFA’s claimed $50 million in prize money will come from because sponsors haven’t put it up yet. Saudi Arabia’s vast wealth — which it loves to spend on sporting events — could bail that out. But if it doesn’t and FIFA has to pay out of its pocket, that will annoy smaller countries that get distributions from FIFA’s revenues to fund their national federations.

Global players’ union FIFPro also threatens to protest the tournament because of how much work it will pile on the world’s top players. Those from European clubs like Manchester City and Real Madrid will have just come off their seasons when the Club World Cup kicks off.

» READ MORE: Cavan Sullivan got to meet his ‘idol’ Lionel Messi, and got a photo with him to treasure