Curtin eager to take on role as Union manager

ONE HUNDRED seventy-two times from 2001 to 2009, a 6-4, mop-haired defender from suburban Philadelphia took the field for a regular-season MLS game. Almost 14,000 minutes were logged in that span, along with several more in various postseason appearances.

Tomorrow, in a 7:30 p.m. match at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., Jim Curtin will man the sideline for the first time as a team manager in an MLS game. Seventeen days have passed since the Union fired manager John Hackworth and promoted Curtin in the interim, but the league's 3-week World Cup break has limited the Philly club's action to two Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup contests against clubs from lower-level leagues.

For Curtin, who starred at Villanova from 1997 to 2000 and spent most of his professional career with the Chicago Fire, the trek onto the pitch will be a familiar one. The other aspects of the game, such as constructing the lineup and deciding whom and when to substitute, are newer to him.

"You get the same chills that you did as a player," Curtin said this week. "You start to hear the noises even when you walk out the tunnel and you hear the click of the metal studs. Something kind of triggers in your blood. It's almost like kind of a gladiator - sick, weird, twisted, primal-type feeling - but it's different as a coach, because you know you can't go out there and kick anybody . . . You have to kind of ease back."

An assistant to Hackworth since November 2012, Curtin has experience coaching, just not at the helm. Technically, the Union's June 17 overtime win against its farm team, the Harrisburg City Islanders, marked the interim manager's debut, but the significance of managing his first MLS game is not lost on the former longtime player.

"It's a big one," said Curtin, who turned 35 on Monday and is less than 2 months older than his oldest player, midfielder Fred. "New England's a team we're very familiar with. They're a big rival of ours. And it seems like any time we play in a tight game with them, we win, 1-0. If we let it get open end to end, we struggle mightily . . . We don't want to get into an end-to-end battle with them, because they have some special guys who can get on the end of stuff."

Tomorrow marks yet another crucial night for the Union (3-7-6), which enters the post-World Cup break portion of its season in eighth place in the 10-team Eastern Conference. Five teams from each conference qualify for the postseason, and although it trails the fifth-place New York Red Bulls by only three points, Philadelphia has played more games than all but one club in the East.

The Union's first MLS match in 21 days is its third meeting with New England, which is 7-5-2 and in second place in the conference. These teams split their first two meetings, both at PPL Park. The Union took its March 15 home opener, 1-0, before it was dominated, 5-3, on May 17.

After entering the 3-week break with a come-from-behind 3-3 draw with Vancouver, the Union won both its U.S. Open Cup games - it will play in the tournament's quarterfinals, also against New England, on July 8 - as well as a friendly against Reading United.

"We're going to stick to the things that we have stuck to over the past 2 weeks, which have been win your individual battles," Curtin said after Tuesday's victory over the New York Cosmos. "I still think that we have a group that can go on the road in two tough games in New England and Dallas [on July 4] and pull out results."

Since taking over, Curtin also has made efforts to appeal to the Philadelphia fans. The day he was introduced to the media, the Oreland native made a point to rattle off the vast roots of his Philly sports fandom.

While playing for Chivas USA in Southern California, he attended the 2008 Matt Stairs home run game at Dodger Stadium, sporting a powder-blue Mike Schmidt throwback in seats behind home plate. Years earlier, Curtin witnessed Scott Stevens knock out Eric Lindros and Joe Jurevicius torch the Eagles, and was also a season-ticketholder for the 76ers' 2001 NBA Finals run. Curtin's 2004 wedding weekend coincided with the Eagles' fourth-and-26 game.

"I think that in this city, more than any, respect isn't really given. You have to earn it. So I think that is the first starting point for them to know that I'm one of them," Curtin said. "I think that goes a long way. Listen, they don't really give a [crap] unless you win in this town, either. I get that part as well. So it's nice to be from the city, but you're reputation is earned here."

For Philly soccer fans, leading a turnaround to this struggle-filled Union season would surely count for something.