CHESTER, Pa. — As Jim Curtin walked into the media room for his postgame press conference following the Union’s 2-2 draw with the L.A. Galaxy on Wednesday, he playfully ribbed defender Keegan Rosenberry, who was headed in the other direction after sitting at the podium himself.
“Nice shot from distance,” the head coach said with a laugh, referring to Rosenberry’s game-tying goal on a shot just inches from the goal line.
Rosenberry, of course, just smiled and played it cool — just like he does with everything else.
And the next day from training, Curtin marveled at how adept the rookie has been dealing with all the challenges of his first professional season.
“I knew he was a good player,” the Union head coach said. “Did I think his success would be this quick? No — probably not as quick as it’s come. I knew he was capable of playing in MLS games right away and holding his own. But he’s doing more than just holding his own. He’s impacting the game, which is the next step in any player’s development.
“It’s one thing to be out there and be unnoticed. That’s a good starting point — for a defender not to be noticed. But then to actually leave a mark on the game, whether it’s a goal or an assist, or putting out a lot of situations 1v1 defensively, that’s really good for him.”
The only Philly field player that’s played every minute this season, Rosenberry has certainly shown promise ever since the Union swiped him with the No. 3 pick in this year’s draft. But the former Georgetown standout took his game to a new level Wednesday vs. the Galaxy, scoring his first MLS goal while making big defensive plays vs. an attack that featured the likes of Robbie Keane, Giovani dos Santos and Steven Gerrard.
He did an especially nice job with the game tied in the final 10 minutes to dispossess Keane and contain dos Santos at the edge of the box. Earlier in the second half, he stepped in front of a Galaxy pass to start a counter-attack that nearly led to a Chris Pontius goal.
“He’s playing against three legends of their club and he’s a kid from Georgetown,” Curtin said. “He’s done great. He’s a young player but at the same time you’re seeing him develop. His confidence is growing. He’s very good with the ball. He’s comfortable.
“I’m happy for him to get his first goal. That’s always a good confidence-builder. He has a real willingness to play out of the back. He did a very good job in his 1v1 battles, I thought. When you get isolated with a dos Santos or with a Keane, it’s not an easy task. But I think he plays wise beyond his years, for sure.”
What was it like for Rosenberry to go against a star like dos Santos with the game on the line in the waning minutes?
“It’s one of the challenges of the game,” he said. “That was our goal tonight, for us to limit their chances, with all the special players they have and all they can do. I think I did a relatively good job with that. Obviously, they capitalized on a couple of our mistakes and scored a couple of goals but I think there were a lot of positives to take away from that.”
Perhaps predictably, the levelheaded Rosenberry was equally humble about his goal, calling it “thrilling” but also admitting, self-deprecatingly, that there “wasn’t much on the finish.” He also showed plenty of maturity by saying the result was not one the team wanted — even though the Galaxy had blown the Union away in their last three matchups.
“To be honest, the way the game flowed and the way we performed, it feels like we lost,” he said. “We generated a lot of chances and I thought we were the better team tonight. I guess that might surprise people but I think the fans can tell as well — we had the momentum at the end and looked like we were going to score.”
To sum up: a 22-year-old kid from Ronks, Pa. just scored his first MLS goal while shutting down some of the most well-known soccer players on the planet … and still wasn’t entirely happy.
And something says he’ll feel the same way if the Union don’t win this Saturday when they take on another one of the league’s biggest stars — Didier Drogba — and the first-place Montreal Impact.
That all plays into why Rosenberry's been surprising even his coach through his first nine professional games.
“I would say he’s ahead of pace,” Curtin said. “I don’t want to say like I didn’t know he was good. But, at the same time, it's happened a lot faster.”