Countdown to Kick: Defense eager to impress

Philadelphia Union ended 2019 with a +8 goal differential, tied for fifth best in MLS. They gave up eight more goals than Eastern Conference champs NYCFC, the team with the fourth best defense in the league.

When Ernst Tanner and Jim Curtin reflected on the Union’s best season in club history, they immediately agreed that the defense, while strong given its age and experience, needed to improve. Hence the arrival of active midfielders like El Brujo, and the recruitment of Jakob Glesnes.

In preseason, El Brujo and Matej Oravec have used minutes at the No. 6 position to help protect the center of the field, and Glesnes has shown his size and ambitious long balls can give opponents pause about…