Hackworth questions Maidana's conditioning, lifestyle

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When the Union signed midfielder Cristian Maidana as a designated player, the expectations were high that he would join the club as an impact addition. Instead, after nine games of spot work, unable to make the full 90 minutes in any of his six starts, Maidana’s lifestyle is in question and the Union are scrambling for answers.
 
“Cristian, first and foremost, has to adapt to the level of fitness of players in this league,” the manager said. “There’s a reason why he hasn’t gone 90. And we’re working on his fitness and have been since he arrived. That has been an issue.

"And not just his fitness, but his nutrition, his sleep habits. It’s a different culture. In Argentina, I think you eat dinner somewhere around 11 o’clock, 12:30 or 1 at night. His kids when they first moved here, were bouncing off the walls at 12:30, 1 o’clock. So all of these kinds of cultural habits have to be adjusted. Fitness is certainly something that we have indicated to Cristian that must improve.”
 
Hackworth credited Maidana for working on his issues, but continued his honest roast of the Argentinian, who is undoubtedly the Union’s top playmaker.
 
“At the same time, his awareness, his work ethic on both sides of the balls has to get a little bit better,” Hackworth said. “He has been a guy that we all recognize some of the qualities he has, but he’s got to put them together.”
 
Despite his issues, the Union haven't, and can’t, give up on Maidana just yet.

“We just want to put Cristian in a position where he can be successful,” Hackworth said. “There are some good things that he is doing, and there are some parts of his game that need to improve for him to be an impact player of us. He’s a guy that we believe in and certainly will see a lot more of, but certainly he has areas of his game that he has to improve.”

The Union (1-3-5) are set to play the Sounders (5-2-1) in Seattle on Saturday night at 10 p.m. (see preview).

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