Winners of three in a row, Philadelphia Union return to Chester to begin a three-match home-stand while sitting comfortably in second in the Eastern Conference table.
A home stretch like the one that sits in front of Philadelphia
won’t happen again until late August. By then the Eastern Conference table
could shuffleboard teams up and down at will. But tomorrow, when Seattle Sounders
FC appear on the pitch along the river at Talen Energy Stadium tomorrow
evening, Philadelphia will still have a strong grasp to the number two spot,
just one point behind regional rival DC United.
With continued success comes continued expectations. But not
many predicted the Union’s dominance in the East this early in the MLS calendar
year. So technically the Union have nothing to lose and everything to gain. If
nobody expects greatness, the pressure is leveled. However, in the Philadelphia
sports scene, winning is always priority which makes Saturday’s contest against
a perennial Western Conference powerhouse an ‘ultimate test’ of sorts for Head
Coach Jim Curtin and his club.
Philadelphia welcome a Seattle team with two straight wins and
a neat five match unbeaten streak with three draws prior to the winning streak’s
inception. Safe to say, both clubs are in good form. Seattle enters the match
in second place in their own conference with 25 points (Union have 23 points.)
Despite the two points in hand for Seattle, Philadelphia are
never an easy test when they play in Chester. They’ve lost just once in their
six home matches this season so far, continuing to make Talen Energy Stadium a
fortress along the Delaware River. But Seattle is a team which can never be
taken lightly. They always contend. Hopefully, Curtin and his staff have been
reminding his club of that fact over the past few days in training.
Last match, Philadelphia saw the return of superstar midfielder
Marco Fabian from an ankle injury. Along with the Mexicans reemergence in the
starting XI came the reappearance of the traditional midfield diamond and 4-4-2
formation. Philadelphia would win 2-1 at Toronto FC behind a Toronto own goal
and a Jamiro Monteiro goal thanks to a beautiful assist from Kacper Przybylko.
A road win in Toronto should provide extra momentum ahead of Saturday night’s
home clash.
Seattle posses some dangerous offensive weapons in Jordan
Morris and Raul Ruidiaz, both forwards with team-leading four goals each. Luckily
for Philadelphia while also disappointing for Morris, the American goal-scorer
suffered yet another hamstring injury and did not travel to Philadelphia. Score
one for the home side.
Morris’ absence will most definitely provide a sigh of relief
for Philadelphia. A high-octane offensive athlete will not be on the pitch
making life a bit easier for all eleven Philadelphia starters. Seattle now
begin a grueling four match road stretch following their 2-1 home win against
Orlando City SC Wednesday night. For them, this match at Philadelphia is of the
upmost importance as they hope to squeeze points out of this difficult stretch
of their schedule.
Expect a high intensity match Saturday night. If the weather remains dry and sunny, an offensive explosion from both sides could delight fans. Philadelphia should come out victorious and hopefully will continue the best start to a season in franchise history with a seventh home win in 2019.
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Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
