No more "No Mo" questions. (DFM file)

A lot of things happened at Union training Thursday, a lot more than you’d expect before a finale between eliminated teams that carries little meaning. Brian Carroll’s retirement after 15 seasons deserves a share of the headlines, as does stunning news of Keegan Rosenberry’s tweet-inspired suspension for Sunday’s game against Orlando City.

That’s all to say that many of the lesser items won’t see the light of day in Friday’s Delco Times. So let’s round them up.

- First place for brevity goes to Jim Curtin. Two weeks ago, a report surfaced from Metro NY’s Kristian Dyer that Ilsinho’s contract included a vesting option triggered when the Brazilian hit the 75 percent threshold for appearances (which he has). Curtin’s response: “It doesn’t exist. … False.” Previous reporting indicated that Ilsinho is out of contract at the end of the season but a club option exists.

- Big day for tweets: Curtin had little to say about a tweet by Sports Illustrated’s Brian Straus earlier this week, in light of the reports about Columbus Crew shipping to Austin, about changes in USL for next year that could include the shuttering of Bethlehem Steel. The club released a vague statement via Twitter this week. Curtin added nothing to that: “The statement that was released is as much as I know.”

Below is a statement from the Philadelphia Union in response to last night’s USL rumors. pic.twitter.com/malG3KqeBb

— Bethlehem Steel FC (@BSteelFC) October 18, 2017

- Oh yeah, soccer. That Union are playing some Sunday. Carroll will be on the field, Curtin said. But more time Thursday was devoted to who won’t be. That includes long-term injury problems to Fabian Herbers (spots hernia) and Maurice Edu (leg/quad). “No one will be coming back in that I hoped,” Curtin said. “Herbers has been much longer that I anticipated. … Warren Creavalle is a possibility. … Maurice, obviously out.”

- Also not taking part, most of the young players that have toiled with Bethlehem Steel this year, with Curtin’s preference clear to have the young players contest a playoff game Friday night in Louisville rather than an all-but-meaningless MLS game in Chester. Here’s Curtin’s answer in full.

“We’ve waited with certain guys that have now played a ton of minutes with the Steel and earned this playoff game. Developmental wise, what’s best for them? Is it to play in a meaningless game against Orlando, a game without consequence, or a game that they’ve fought all year to claw and fight their way into the playoffs? I think it’s best for a lot of the guys that were there a lot of the season to have the opportunity to win a playoff game on the road. Playoff games on the road are different; the intensity is higher. For a few guys – and you’ll see as the roster comes out – they’ll be on the field fighting Friday night. Brendan (Burke) has done an incredible job arranging that team because the thing people don’t realize with an affiliate like that where training every day is difficult, how many guys am I going to have? If we steal one away, we can be a real pain in the butt for Brendan each and every day with the selection of his roster. When a late injury happens on a Friday for us and we pull guys back or send guys down, he has to adjust on the fly to that. So that is really challenging. It’s a testament to our academy as well that we’ve played a ton of young academy kids in that game, and they’ll all get a really big opportunity on Friday night in a playoff atmosphere against a really good team to show that their season and their body of work shows that they’re going to be ready for the first team.”

Specifically on names most often clamored for, Homegrowns Auston Trusty and Derrick Jones, Curtin said: “While people want to see them on this field for 90 minutes, Earnie (Stewart) and I feel their trajectory is exactly on schedule and exactly on point to move forward and then affect the first team this year. But this game for them is really important for their development and I think they can get a result and learn from it.”

- An interesting point of debate has been brought up on the left back front with Fabinho and Giliano Wijnaldum, where each player has had long runs of play. Fabinho started 14 of the first 16 games of the season while the Dutchman settled into a new league. Then Wijnaldum started 12 of 13. Since, Fabinho has started five straight and appears poised to make it six Sunday. Curtin:

“(Wijnaldum) had a good run of games. If you go back to even the stretch where we had a little winning streak early in the year, he was a part of that, had some good performances. I would say put Giliano in the category of, he never played a bad game but never grabbed a hold of it and didn’t let it go. There were some games where he came out with little different injuries and different things like that that he’s battled, so it just hasn’t been a consistent run of games. I could never really say he had a glaring error or a big drop off, but still wanted more in terms of grabbing a hold of the position. A young player that has talent and has ability and you see if every day in training and has a high ceiling, but how do we challenge to squeeze even more out of him?”

Fabinho’s contract is up at the end of the season, and Curtin was non-committal on any futures for either player beyond the standard “discussions have started.”