CHESTER — The eyebrows went up as soon as Nathan Harriel’s name was drafted into midfield Saturday night. The Union right back is not a midfielder. His skillset isn’t one that easily grafts onto midfield. He’s excellent at defending backward, as any outside back must be, but defending forwar d and pressing is a completely different set of responsibilities. And so, Harriel as one of the dual No. 10s in the Union’s 4-2-2-2 formation against St. Louis City SC Saturday night counted as a big tactical swing from new manager Bradley Carnell. “I’m not going to lie,” fellow Homegrown Quinn Sullivan offered, “I thought it was hilarious.” That it paid off in the Union’s controlled 1-0 win certainly made it a tad more tickling. But it offered the latest indication of the building blocks Carnell has put in place. Ian Glavinovich’s eighth-minute header stood up, a generally poor St. Louis team unable to generate much offensively even before a second yellow card banished Edward Lowen on the hour, at which point neither team did much attacking to speak of. That suited the Union (4-1-0, 12 points) just fine. The club sits atop the Eastern Conference in both points and goal differential. They are maximizing points against inferior teams, even one that entered having not allowed a goal in the first four games to prop up an attack that looks short on creativity. The latest result required change. The Union had used the same 11 starters in each of the first four games under Carnell. They were without eight players on international duty plus the red-card suspension to Olwethu Makhanya and a family-related absence for Alejandro Bedoya. So with a bench full of guys who had yet to play in MLS, Carnell had to get creative. Starting Glavinovich and Bruno Damiani for the first time were one-for-one switches, as was reintegrating Olivier Mbaizo at right back. Indiana Vassilev shifting deeper in midfield took a little flexibility, but not much. Harriel for Daniel Gazdag, though, meant subbing one drastically different player for another and changing the role to fit. “Bradley gave me a job to do early in the week, and at the end of the day, there’s no excuses,” Harriel said. “You get put in position, and it’s nice to know that a new coach has trust in me this early, and my second game back, as well. So we just had to get the three points at home and do whatever you have to do.” Harriel did the job for 71 minutes, at which point Glavinovich’s fitness gave out and Harriel shifted to center back, Jeremy Rafanello taking over. Harriel completed 16 of 20 passes, one a chance-creating key pass, two into the final third. It’s hardly the volume of Sullivan (21-for-33, three key passes, five into the final third) or Kai Wagner (16 final-third entries). But that wasn’t Harriel’s remit. His execution was reflected in the zero that remained next to St. Louis’s name, in the fact that its 54.9 percent share of possession resulted in five shot attempts and only one on target. “All of us have a good relationship on what each one’s supposed to do,” Harriel said, admitting it’s his first and possibly last turn at such an advanced position. “And also being behind that in a normal game when I’m playing right back, knowing how to direct the 10, it’s kind of a give-and-take with what they’re supposed to do and what I do when I go back in there.” “I’ve never seen Nate in a 10 position,” Sullivan said. “Obviously, it was a little altered based on the system. But I think we took care of business.” In the first examination in 2025, the Union passed a test it too often failed in 2024. Lineup changes were rampant last year, and the level of play often dropped depending on who was in the side. That didn’t happen Saturday – with the proviso that doing it for 90 minutes and 20 games is very different – thanks to adaptation like Harriel’s. He wasn’t alone. Sullivan was a volume chance creator in a way that he isn’t required to be next to Gazdag. Vassilev, in his first start, effectively shifted deeper. “I’ve used him in the six before, and I know he can do it,” said Carnell, who coached Vassilev in St. Louis. “I thought he was vital. Indy and Jovan (Lukic) have a good relationship on and off the field, so I just think there was a connectedness in the group. We had to dig deep.” The “connectedness” is the key. Whether it’s Harriel turning his perspective on midfield from observer to participant or Vassilev making tactical changes, the Union know what they want to do and how to do it under Carnell. They’re collecting points, but more important is the grasp of that identity. The reserves’ ability to do that offers a statement to returning starters, and it ramps up the competition to keep it going. “We know we’re in a good way,” Carnell said. “We know we have a good group. And I’m glad that they could put on a performance from the players that you don’t usually get to see, and they can just show why the other group was doing so well, because everyone’s pushing each other every single day in training. And I think today was a true testament to that.” ...read more read less