100 appearances, the century mark. It's a number that isn't hit often in soccer and when you're a team as young as the Philadelphia Union, it makes that even more of a rarity.
On Sunday against the Seattle Sounders, Philadelphia Union left back Fabinho notched his 100th appearance for the team. Fabinho joins Brian Carroll, Sebastian Le Toux, Sheanon Williams, Ray Gaddis, Zac MacMath, and Amobi Okugo as the members of the century club. While the team has had some weird transfers over the years, this club is full of guys who were able to have solid careers for the Boys in Blue.
Fabinho joined the Union in 2013 from Syndey FC and made his debut versus Chivas USA on July 12th of that year. In that game, he notched his first assist on a Conor Casey goal playing as a left midfielder. While shuttling between left mid and left back, Fabinho has notched two goals and 14 assists.
He has had an underappreciated career with the Philadelphia Union but Fabinho has risen to be one of the best left backs in MLS (it's not a deep position in the league) and he has become an important part of the back line playing next to Richie Marquez (or Oguchi Onyewu this year).
Versus the Sounders, Fabinho exemplified how much of a tightrope it can be watching him play. He got forward to cause issues for the Sounder's while also locking down the left side of the field defensively. Nicolas Lodeiro is a terror for left backs league wide but Fabinho didn't just shut him down, he silenced Lodeiro. Lodeiro was limited to two key passes the entire game, one of which was from a corner.
"When he's aggressive and stepping and not thinking too much and just being proactive & not reactive he's a very good defender. I felt that his ability to read balls that were switched on the diagonal in certain situations… being proactive helped him put out those fires before they became issues." said Curtin, "It was an all-around aggressive performance by an outside back, also made Loderio have to defend for the whole game which is a real bonus."
His moment of the match was in the 12th minute when he was 1 v 1 with Loderio but made the tackle in the box to stave off a sure goal. It may not always be pretty, but Fabinho get's the job done and that's how you get to 100 appearances with a team. It will be interesting to see what happens during the offseason as his contract is set to expire. If this is his last season in Philadelphia, Fabinho should be remembered for the good things that he has done in Union blue and gold.
