When the Chicago Fire visit PPL Park tonight for a US Open Cup semifinal matchup against the Philadelphia Union (7:30 pm ET; YouTube.com), they’ll be trying to move one step closer to capturing their first USOC title since 2006.
Interestingly enough, the opposing coach, Jim Curtin, was on that 2006 team -- the second of two Open Cup championships he won while playing for the Fire.
And now, as he vies to become just the third person to win the US Open Cup in the modern era as both a player and a coach, Curtin has tried to explain to his Union players just how special it feels to end the tournament on top.
“The things that I learned in Chicago would just be that there’s no better feeling than lifting a trophy with a group of guys,” Curtin said. “It’s why you play the game and play the sport.”
Curtin doesn’t have too many secrets as to why the Fire lifted the Open Cup trophy in 2003 and 2006. It all came down to a group of talented and dedicated players -- many of whom have since gone into coaching -- taking the tournament seriously.
And that’s one of the main organizational philosophies he’s tried to bring to the Union since taking over as head coach in the middle of the 2014 season. That's when he immediately began an Open Cup run that resulted in Philly hosting the tournament title game.
“You want them to be students of the game and recognize the history of the trophy, the importance of the trophy, the meaning that it would have to your city like it did to Chicago,” Curtin said. “Everyone in this town is hungry for a trophy -- whatever spot it’s in, that’s what the city wants. They want winners and we are two games away from it.”
The Union found themselves only one game away from it last year, before losing an extra-time heartbreaker to the Seattle Sounders on the latter's home field. Curtin naturally felt devastated at the time, but he still made sure his players stayed on the field to watch the Sounders collect their medals.
Seeing that, he believes, has helped the team scratch out some unlikely wins in this year’s tournament as they’ve tried to adhere to one motto: “Unfinished business.”
“While I decided it was the classy and right thing to do, I don’t think some guys wanted to,” Curtin said of the players watching the Sounders celebrate at PPL Park. “But I think you have to watch and remember it because you don’t want to feel that way ever again. I think our group got that and I think that’s part of the reason we’ve gone through some of the adversity in this Open Cup.”
Can the Union fight through more adversity and win the franchise’s first-ever trophy? That’s the only thing Curtin will be thinking about Wednesdy night as he sits on the opposite sideline of his former team.
For the Union head coach, it’s no longer about the old memories but about making new ones.
“It’s not about me in terms of the old team,” Curtin said. “What I want is for our guys to have the feeling of winning a trophy. This is something I can’t teach. I can’t coach it. But once you have it with a group of guys, it’s permanent. It’s forever. The guys that I won with are all close because of it. I want our guys to feel that.”
Dave Zeitlin covers the Union for MLSsoccer.com. Email him at djzeitlin@gmail.com.
