Inside Doop: 5-point offseason plan for Union

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The Union’s 2014 season ended just like how it began: with the team giving up a very late goal to drop points.

Of course, by the time Bernardo Anor scored in the 90th minute to give the Columbus Crew a 2-1 victory over Philly in Sunday’s regular-season finale at Crew Stadium (see story), the Union’s fate had already been sealed. The same Columbus team had made sure of that when they scored three times in a six-minute stretch to officially knock the Union out of the playoff race two weeks ago.

So whether or not they won, lost or tied Sunday’s final game, the Union’s goal of making significant offseason upgrades to avoid these kind of late-game collapses and make the playoffs in 2015 would have remained unchanged.

How they can accomplish that, however, is easier said than done. In the final installment of the Inside Doop this year, we’ll lay out a five-point offseason plan that the Union should follow to get the franchise back on track.

1. Keep Jim Curtin but get him some more help
At this point, it seems like it’s only a formality that Jim Curtin is still the interim manager. And despite the team’s late-season struggles, you’ll get no arguments here about the looming decision to keep him in charge on a permanent basis. But Curtin, for all his promise as a manager, needs more than just first-year technical director Chris Albright by his side when he scouts the world during the offseason and assembles the 2015 roster. Ever since the midseason firings of former manager John Hackworth and Rob Vartughian, the Union have had a very lean technical staff -- not to mention confusion over the organizational hierarchy in light of Union CEO Nick Sakiewicz’s recent comments that he has “not signed or traded a single Union player in the history of the club.” If that really is the case, Sakiewicz should have no problem hiring someone in an executive role beneath him to oversee some of the big soccer decisions and help groom Albright, who was still a player as recently as a year ago.

2. Acquire a big-time striker
Whether or not the Union could have signed a quality scorer during the summer transfer window is a question only the Union coaches can answer. But this much seems clear: the fact that they didn’t was probably one of the biggest reasons why they stumbled down the stretch, as Sebastien Le Toux and Conor Casey -- the two players they leaned on for goals during their scoring summer -- cooled down in a major way. It would be, nice of course, if the Union could open their wallet for a big name like Jozy Altidore. But if that’s not realistic, they’ll need to get creative and try to find at least one piece that can help score goals in front of a revamped midfield that showed a lot of promise this year.

3. Bring back Maurice Edu and have him anchor the backline
Speaking of big names, U.S. national team veteran Maurice Edu lived up to expectations as one of the biggest signings in club history. But because he was brought in on a one-year loan from Stoke City, his future in Philly is hazy. The Union have the option to purchase his contract, and while it would be very expensive to do so, they should try their best to make it happen. Not only that, they should see if Edu would be willing to play a full season at center back, where he used his athleticism to excel for much of Curtin’s tenure. The idea of a Maurice Edu-Carlos Valdes center back tandem, behind Vincent Nogueira, Amobi Okugo (if they can re-sign him) and Cristian Maidana has the potential to make the Union a very good and possession-oriented team in the center of the pitch next year.

4. Secure key young players for the long term
Heading into the 2014 season, it seemed the Union had a great young foundation in Jack McInerney, Okugo, Zac MacMath and Sheanon Williams. But McInerney was traded early in the season, Williams struggled with injuries and inconsistent play, MacMath was relegated to a backup role following the summer signing of Rais Mbolhi (but still asked to start all but five games), and Okugo changed positions and wasn’t offered a new contract. Add all that together and there’s a chance none of those guys will be with the team next year -- which is not exactly a promising strategy for building a winning franchise from the ground up. Granted, there are other young players like Andrew Wenger (who came over in the McInerney trade), Ray Gaddis (who led the team in minutes and was locked up to a long-term deal) and teenager Zach Pfeffer (who scored his first MLS goal on Sunday) that could make up a new young core. But the Union should still try to make a good offer to Okugo -- the last franchise original -- so he doesn’t flee to Europe and keep as many young pieces as they can, so the fans can feel like they’re a part of something and not just continuously saying hello and goodbye to a rotating cast of newcomers.

5. Figure out the goalkeeping situation
As mentioned above, the Union didn’t treat MacMath particularly well by stripping him of the starting job but still leaning on him when Mbolhi was away with the Algerian national team (or staying overseas with his pregnant wife). And the fact that they had three starting-quality goalies in Mbolhi, MacMath and top overall 2014 draft pick Andre Blake is not sustainable for next year. As much as some fans might not want to hear it, Mbolhi will probably be the starter in 2015 considering he signed a long-term deal. But if that’s the case, the Union need to find a way to get something back for MacMath (rather than just lose him in the expansion draft), as well as a way to get Blake some real game experience if he’s the backup. Considering Mbolhi and Blake will also leave for international games at the same time, the Union will also need to bring in at least one more ’keeper if they lose MacMath -- and grow some faith among the fan base in a position that's seen far too much turnover.

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