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Rais M'Bolhi benched

According to Kevin Kinkead, Jim Curtin has benched Rais M'Bolhi ahead of the Philadelphia Union match against New York City FC.

Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

We all knew it was coming, didn't we?

When Nick Sakiewicz announced that the Philadelphia Union had signed Algerian goalkeeper Rais M'Bolhi last summer, we all saw it coming. This was a move that was destined to fail from the start, regardless of the "little tournament" that M'Bolhi had done so well in.

And while everyone - and I mean every one - from fans of other teams to journalists to Union die-hards got their licks in about the Union collecting goalkeepers as if they were match scarves, the fact remained that this was a ticking time bomb that just blew up in our face.

There was no other possible ending for this. Union goalkeepers - and goalkeepers where Sakiewicz may or may not have had a hand in selecting - don't tend to last very long. M'Bolhi's stint was destined to be short. And on a team that has made a habit of overpaying terrible players (Freddy Adu, Juan Diego Gonzalez) and overpaying bench options (JDG, Roger Torres, Kleberson), the writing was on the wall. This was the epitome of hubris, and it could only end with the near-Designated-Player being sat in favor of either a guy in Andre Blake who's been out of college for a little over a year and has seen exactly one MLS match, or a guy in John McCarthy who last year was toiling away in the third division of American soccer with the Rochester Rhinos.

And maybe this will spur M'Bolhi to play lights out for the rest of the year. Maybe he'll pretend like he actually gives a shit about his teammates, or at very least his career. Maybe things will turn around and the guy that did so well in that "little tournament" - the guy who held the World Cup champions scoreless into extra time - will be able to beat even the worst of teams in a league that isn't even first in its confederation.

But we all know how that story is going to go.