Happy Monday, friends. Today is the first day of summer camp for many folks around the region but it’s also another day of mourning for Philadelphia Union fans who are no doubt angry and perplexed by the fact that the Union lost a game when they were up two men and had an eternity of stoppage time to do something about it.

In the email today:

1. 🪨 Is This Rock Bottom?

Julian Carranza is gone and the Union can’t beat Inter Miami without Messi and Suarez while up two men. Is this rock bottom?

Somehow thanks to the dreadfulness of teams like New England and others this season the Union aren’t in last place but for a team that was seconds away from winning MLS Cup in 2022 Saturday night felt about as close to rock bottom as it has felt since the days when Ernie Stewart’s post-season press conferences were full of PR spin about how the team had improved.

It’s officially halfway through the season now but with international departures and that damn Leagues Cup nonsense still to play there are a whole lot more ways this team can disappoint. Yes, believe it or not things could get worse. Or they could temporarily get better only to set up another massive failure.

If you are reading the history in real-time, however, the defeat to Inter Miami along with the soon to be official news of Julian Carranza’s departure is a marker of a new era, one filled with far less expectation than the one preceding it.

2. 📣 Fan Frustration Turns to Anger

I’ve been covering the Philadelphia Union long enough to know that there is far more engagement with content when the team is playing poorly than when they’re winning. So it wasn’t surprising to see the level of engagement on social media hit higher than it has since pre-2019 after the whistle blew on Saturday night’s 2-1 loss to Inter Fort Lauderdale. Still, it was a bit shocking to see so much pent up vitriol come spilling out all at once after, as Kevin Kinkead succinctly put it, “one of the worst Union home losses ever.”

There was plenty of anger directed at Jim Curtin but also at Jay Sugarman for not spending the money and some attaboys for Kai Wagner speaking out in the post-game (despite some obvious irony). Ernst Tanner’s role in all of this was largely missing from many of the “close the Curtin” sentiments I saw and outside of blame being pointed at Jakob Glesnes for being caught in a 2×1 breakaway the players escaped blame.

The consensus seems to be that the lack of investment in the squad is the issue but also somehow at the same time the answer in some circles is to start more teenagers.

For Curtin’s part he keeps hinting that there aren’t any reinforcements coming and that they need to find their way out of this mess with the players they have (or don’t have depending on call-ups and injuries).

It’s a strange place to be but also a place that has been teased repeatedly this year with the disaster in Pachuca and games that were rescued with valiant comebacks despite large spells of sloppy play.

Curtin said recently that the breaks haven’t gone the team’s way but when your opponent gets two red cards and you lose it’s hard to keep saying that. The team is in a deep funk and the fans have every right to be angry about it. The question now is how far are fans willing to take that anger and at what point does it become a lost season?

3. 🏟️ Tweet of the Day: One of the Worst

4. 💧 Water Cooler: Who Do You Blame Most?

5. 🔗 Link Roundup

• Amit Maliik summarized last night’s loss for Philadelphia Soccer Now.

• Todd Lewis broke down the goals, including that dagger of a winner from former Philadelphia Union Academy forward Leo Afonso.

• Both FC Delco and Philadelphia Union are into the quarterfinals of the U-16 MLS Next Cup.

• I was a guest last week on a Swedish podcast that covers American soccer and had a great time talking with host Johan Dykhoff about the Union and Philadelphia soccer.

Philadelphia Raccunion T-shirt available now at Teepublic.

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