John Hackworth Midweek Press Conference 9/25

This week's press conference stuck true to the usual format and condensed from the usual 19minutes to a brief 12 minute affair. Hackworth tells us the refs are terrible, we're still in the playoff race and Roger Torres is still not going to play (neither is Kleberson).

The Union head down to Kansas City today, coming off two losses and a by-week. "Some teams are getting some breaks and we're certainly not one of them." Yet, Hackworth believes, "In the big picture, we're still in the playoff race." With 5 games left, that picture isn't looking so big. "I feel really good about the way we're playing, I know the perception is that we're having a slide." Record of the last 5 games: 0-3-2. 1 goal scored in 5 matches. Hackworth mentioned that the team "scored three goals that the head of officials said should have been goals." Unfortunately should-have-been doesn't bring home three points.

In regards to Roger Torres: "In reality, I don't think we're in a desperate situation and if you start to reach for straws and start to play guys who haven't really represented your team at this point in the year, you're getting in desperate times."

And Kleberson: "I think every guy on our roster has a very important role to play but similarly to how I talked about Roger, I wouldn't expect us to go to "desperate lengths" and play guys that haven't been part of what we did all year. This is the first time in the entire season that we've lost two games in a row. We've been a team that bounced back. That's consistency"

And what should we expect on Friday? "Going away to Kansas City is going to be a huge difficult game for us, but I don't think it's one that people are gonna say Philly has to win this one in order to put themselves back in the race. If you look at the home games and the rest of the schedule, there's a better chance to do that."

Keon and LeToux have small injury issues but they have not been limited in training.