This preview is part of a three part series on the Philadelphia Union.

This preview will take a deeper look at the Union goalkeeping situation ahead of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final on Wednesday September 30th against Sporting Kansas City.

For Wednesday’s final, Philadelphia coach Jim Curtin has a difficult decision to make on who will be his starting goalkeeper: John McCarthy or Andre Blake.

On Monday in his pregame press conference, Curtin said of his choice that, “It’s a good situation because both of them have played well; John recently in Houston and gets a shutout, and Andre played what was a pretty darn impressive performance against New England….I’m confident that both of them can get us a win, whichever one I decide.”

To start, most of the Union fan base and causal fans have clamored for Andre Blake to be the starter for this game and with good reason. All anyone has to do to see Blake’s talent is watch last Saturday’s game. Against New England Revolution, the young Jamaican goalkeeper had a ten save performance where he repeatedly made great save after great save.

In his three MLS regular season starts after returning from injury, Blake has only conceded two goals and made an impressive 19 saves. In addition to his exploits in the MLS Regular Season, the University of Connecticut goalkeeper started two games in the fourth and fifth (Harrisburg City Islanders and New York Cosmos) last year in the U.S. Open Cup.

Blake’s athleticism is easily the clearest advantage he has over McCarthy. When watching his old MLS game film, this athleticism consistently allows Blake to dive to his left or right or react quicker to make saves that the average MLS goalkeeper cannot reach.

Despite all of the positives of Blake, it would be foolish to discredit or discount John McCarthy. McCarthy has made 11 MLS regular season starts, given up 18 goals and made 22 saves. In comparison to Blake, that is only three more saves in eight more starts. 

However, this is not the MLS Regular Season, this is the U.S. Open Cup where McCarthy has been great. In this year’s tournament, McCarthy has only conceded two goals in four games, including leading Philadelphia to wins in two penalty shootouts.

This situation is very similar to last year’s Open Cup Final where Curtin had to decide between Zac MacMath, the goalkeeper who got the team there, and Rais Mbohli, the (supposedly) more talented goalkeeper. In the end, Curtin chose the goalkeeper who got his team into the finals and MacMath put in a decent performance in a losing effort.

In the end, the decision comes down to two things. The first is whether Curtin feels that McCarthy has earned the right to finish what he started. The second is whether the Philadelphia skipper believes that Blake’s athleticism and game-changing ability is something that cannot be left on the bench in such a big game as the Lamar Hunt U.S Open Cup Final.