Don’t expect any trash talk from Haris Medunjanin as he lines up against his former team when FC Cincinnati host the Philadelphia Union Wednesday (7:30 pm ET | TV & streaming) at Nippert Stadium.
The veteran midfielder, who scored a spectacular Olimpico in a 1-0 win over the New York Red Bulls on Saturday, has nothing but respect for the Union, where he was an integral piece of their midfield for three years. Last November he wasn't offered a new contract with the club and was selected by FC Cincinnati in the Waiver draft.
Medunjanin called Jim Curtin an “amazing guy, amazing coach,” and said it will be nice to see his friends on the team, including Kacper Przybyłko, Jamiro Monteiro, Alejandro Bedoya and Brenden Aaronson, who he called “my son over there.”
“I'm gonna be very happy to see them in Cincinnati,” Medunjanin said in a post-match video conference call Saturday.
Curtin was equally appreciative of his former player in a Tuesday conference call, describing him as "probably the best passer in MLS" and "a true professional, somebody I was lucky to work with."
Curtin and Union midfielder Anthony Fontana also praised Medunjanin's work with their current crop of Homegrown players, such as Brenden Aaronson and Fontana himself.
But make no mistake, the friendship ends when the whistle blows to start the match.
"Just as former teammates, he is someone we all really looked up to and I still look up to him," Fontana said. "He will always be a player that has helped me and helped a lot of the Homegrowns, but I feel like if we play our game and our style, we can defeat Haris."
“The emotion will be high in this game because I want to win,” Medunjanin said. “I play for Cincinnati right now. It’s nice in the beginning and you can say hi but when the game starts, it’s finished. I don’t know them anymore. I want to win this game and after the game we can talk when we take the three points.”
