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Philadelphia Union: A critical week lies ahead for Keegan Rosenberry

By Chuck Booth

Mar 11, 2017; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Union defender Keegan Rosenberry (12) and Toronto FC forward Jozy Altidore (17) chase a loose ball during the second half at Talen Energy Stadium. The game ended in a 2-2 tie. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 11, 2017; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Union defender Keegan Rosenberry (12) and Toronto FC forward Jozy Altidore (17) chase a loose ball during the second half at Talen Energy Stadium. The game ended in a 2-2 tie. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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While the Philadelphia Union are in the process of righting the ship, they have been doing it largely without one of their most impressive performers from last season.

In the past four games, Keegan Rosenberry has been relegated to bench duty due to his early season performances. While the entire back line left much to be desired for the Philadelphia Union, Rosenberry has been a liability, especially in possession.

He was turning the ball over in critical areas and also wasn’t helping the attack, leading to a well-deserved benching. But, I’m not sure that Rosenberry or Jim Curtin expected that he would have been out of the Philadelphia Union lineup for this long.

Much credit for that has to go to Ray Gaddis who has taken his chance at right back and run with it. He’s hardly put a foot wrong since stepping in and with the Philadelphia Union registering three straight clean sheets, there is no reason to make changes to the backline.

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That is, until the fixture crunch hits. With the team in the midst of a stretch of three games in seven days squad rotation will happen because everyone can’t play in that many games in one week. This means that either against the Houston Dynamo or the Colorado Rapids, Keegan Rosenberry will be handed the start.

While Rosenberry is the right back of the future, he will have to show that he deserves to play ahead of Ray Gaddis in extended minutes. Rosenberry’s cameo against New York Red Bulls was a good start but one performance isn’t enough to earn the position back.

It is clear that he wants the starting right back gig and hopefully the added competition will bring out the best in him. It’s similar to the fight between CJ Sapong and Jay Simpson which has Sapong in the best form of his life. The same competition is happening at center back as well where Jack Elliott and Oguchi Onyewu will make it tough for Richie Marquez and Joshua Yaro to walk into the starting lineup.

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Competition for the starting XI is a good thing but it has also caused Keegan Rosenberry to fall on hard luck. To turn his fortunes around, it’s up to him to perform well enough to give Jim Curtin a tough decision to make when the time comes.

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