CHESTER, Pa. – John McCarthy started a stretch of five games in the Philadelphia Union net during April and May before losing the spot due to an injury. He started a stretch of three games in August before again losing the spot. And through it all, he’s started all of Philly’s US Open Cup games as they’ve surged to the tournament final.
All of which is to say the rookie ’keeper knows how to be called upon in a pinch – which will certainly come in handy this weekend as he’ll likely get the nod to man the net Saturday in San Jose (10:30 pm ET; MLS LIVE) with Andre Blake gone for international duty.
Blake, who got the start in Philly’s last two games – his first two of the season – is currently with Jamaica for World Cup qualifying games against Nicaragua on Friday and Tuesday.
“Bouncing into the lineup and back out, it kind of stinks obviously,” McCarthy said. “You want to play as many games as possible, and since I got a taste of it, I want to play as many games as I can. But Andre deserved it. He deserved the chance, and now he’s off to the national team, so now it’s a chance for me to get some games under my belt. And I’m looking forward to it.”
Blake, the top overall pick in the 2014 SuperDraft, did well in his two starts, allowing just one goal between them. And Union head coach Jim Curtin was glad to see him get called into Jamaica, where he hopes Blake will regain his starting role after being relegated to third string in the Gold Cup because of a knee injury.
But his absence, of course, left Curtin with a decision to make – whether to go back to McCarthy or turn to Brian Sylvestre, who started 12x straight games before missing the last five with a hand laceration.
Although Sylvestre returned to training this week, Curtin said he’s leaning toward the more in-form McCarthy.
“When he’s called upon, he’s done a good job,” Curtin said of McCarthy. “Would you have liked for there to have been someone just grab a hold of it and run with it? Yeah, but we’ve had injuries, international duty and different things that have kind of affected that. You wish it was just one guy but we’ve had a bit of a merry-go-round at goalkeeper this year, to say the least.”
- Get more Union news at PhiladelphiaUnion.com
McCarthy, who’s also the frontrunner to start the Open Cup final on Sept. 30, doesn’t mind the competition and still realizes that he’s a “young goalie” that’s “just trying to be consistent.” And he’s eager for the chance to try to slow down a red-hot Earthquakes team that’s scored nine goals during their current four-game winning streak, including three from Chris Wondolowski.
“Wondo is a guy that I looked up to a lot because he’s been a big man in MLS for a while,” McCarthy said. “I’ve known for him for a while, and being able to play against him is a cool experience.
“San Jose is in pretty good form right now. They took it to LA, they took it to Kansas City a little bit in the last couple of games. We have to come out and bring our best game possible.”
Dave Zeitlin covers the Union for MLSsoccer.com. Email him at djzeitlin@gmail.com.
