After two weeks off for a scheduled international break, the Philadelphia Union are back in action this weekend, kicking off a stretch of 3 pivotal matches in a 9 day span. With just 7 games remaining in the MLS season and DOOP still trying to claw their way into a playoff spot, Jim Curtin’s team can’t afford to drop points in many more games, and Saturday’s test is one of the most difficult on paper – on the road against Inter Miami.
When: Friday, September 14th @ 7:30pm
Where: Chase Stadium – Fort Lauderdale, FL
Where to Watch: Apple TV+
Philadelphia Union: +425
Draw: +360
Inter Miami: -210
Jim Curtin’s Union fly down to South Florida with a record of 7W-9D-11L for a total of 30 points, which currently has them sitting in 11th place in the Eastern Conference. Earlier this season, the blue and gold suffered their worst stretch of form in team history, where they managed to win just once in 17 games. Since then, the Union have managed to win 3 of their last 4 in MLS, with the only loss coming to a highly rotated Columbus Crew team.
Inter Miami come into Saturday’s match against Union boasting Major League Soccer’s best record of 18E-5D-4L and 59 points. According to Inter Miami, a point earned against Union on Saturday would make them just the 4th team in MLS his https://www.intermiamicf.com/news/match-preview-inter-miami-cf-set-to-host-the-philadelphia-union to achieve the 60 point mark within 28 games played(1998 LA Galaxy, 2019 LAFC,2021 New England Revolution).
All 3 of the teams to achieve that feat in the past also went on to win the Supporters Shield the same season. Inter Miami come into Saturday’s clash against the Union with an 7 point lead on the LA Galaxy
In the first meeting between these two sides at Subaru Park back in mid-June, Union got off to a dream start after Mikael Uhre converted a breakaway opportunity after just 3 minutes. Just 80 seconds into the second half, Inter Miami drew themselves level when Julian Gressel fired a bouncing ball into the top corner.
Despite both David Ruiz and Tomás Avilés receiving red cards in the second half for Inter Miami, Union failed to take advantage of the opportunity and were unable to find the winning goal. Instead, it was Inter Miami’s Leo Afonso who found the back of the net in stoppage time on a 2-on-1, giving the home team all 3 points at Subaru Park
Unfortunately for Union, who need everyone fire on all cylinders if they want any chance of making the playoffs, multiple players picked up knocks while away on international duty. At the time of writing this, Major League Soccer’s official Availability Report for Matchday 32 hasn’t been released yet, but here’s an update from Jim Curtin’s press conference on Thursday afternoon on all that were effected over the break:
Tai Baribo: Hamstring – Will be available and looked good in training the last few days. Curtin continued on to say that Baribo will play a part in Saturday’s match
Andre Blake: Groin – started feeling discomfort in his last game for Jamaica. “Some tightness, really felt some pain when kicking balls at the end of the game, which is obviously a huge part of he game for a goalkeeper so that hurts, so he’s day-to-day“, Curtin said.
Later in his press conference, Curtin wouldn’t tip who would start if Andre wasn’t feeling up to it after receiving treatment on Thursday, but did end his press conference by saying “Let’s hope Andre’s ready”, which means he’s still not 100% ruled out, as of Thursday afternoon
Danley Jean Jacques: Curtin notes Danley took a tough tackle on Astroturf after a strong first game of the window in which he scored in. Since returning to Chester, Danley has received treatment but hasn’t trained and Curtin won’t rule him out completely, as of Thursday.
Daniel Gazdag: Daniel Gazdag picked up a knock against the Red Bulls that kept him from heading out on International Duty with Hungary. Curt said Gazdag was given about a week off, and since then has been able to train and looks sharp and confident and will be available on Saturday night.
4-4-2 Diamond:
GK: Andrew Rick
RB: Nate Harriel, CB: Jack Elliott, CB: Jakob Glesnes, LB: Kai Wagner
CDM: Leon Flach
RCM: Ale Bedoya, LCM: Jack McGlynn
CAM: Daniel Gazdag
ST: Tai Baribo, ST: Mikael Uhre
Union are in a really tough position with Andre Blake. Is it worth rushing him back just to make a push at the 9th spot in the playoffs, risking an even longer-term injury? As much as I know Jim Curtin and the Union want to make the playoffs, part of me says no.
Maybe it’s time to give Andre Blake some serious time off to recoup so he can come back fully rested to start 2025, but we’ll have to see how serious the injury really is. Either way, I’m leaning towards Andrew Rick starting in net with this being a quick turnaround from International break.. Most of the rest of the team will be the usual, with the exception being the possibility of no Danley in the lineup – which I lean towards Leon Flach being the replacement there.
Union need points in their final 7 games of the season, but Jim Curtin still has optimism that his team can grab points in tough fixtures.
“In our league, the beauty is you can beat anybody on any given day, I think everybody recognizes that. You also have to recognize, Miami is the best team not only in our league this year, but maybe ever. We still want to go down there and be brave, we want to try and get points. We have to recover quickly because we go to New York as well, which is another tough conference game, and then a home game against a DC United game which is as close to a must-win as possible”
-Jim Curtin on facing Inter Miami on Saturday
Inter Miami on the road was already a tough spot for Union to get points from, but now that Lionel Messi is back for the first time since the Copa America final, the job just got harder for Jim Curtin’s Union. Despite that, DOOP’s head coach knows his team will still have opportunities to make Miami pay, and to earn crucial points on the road.
“Like every team in our league, they’re going to give up some chances too. We have to be clinical and ruthless in our finishing. I think we had that against Red Bull – we could have been a little more clinical if I’m being critical at the end of the game, but we took our chances early, scored them, and then defended really well as a team, so that needs to be the same mindset because you don’t get many chances on the road, especially against Miami. When we get those chances, we have to finish them off.”
Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
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