Philadelphia Union on fire after gutsy road performance in fourth straight win

Don’t look now, but Philadelphia is one of the hottest teams in Major League Soccer.

After such a long stretch of dropping points, Philadelphia has now amassed a four-match winning streak. All four opponents have been Eastern Conference opponents.

“Another gutsy performance in a really hot, difficult environment to play in,” head coach Jim Curtin after their most recent win in Orlando.

In typical Curtin fashion, he was quick to praise the Union’s effectiveness on defense. Despite surrendering a majority of the possession, Orlando maintaining 63%, the Union were able to deter scoring opportunities.

“Oscar’s (Pareja’) teams are always well coached. They throw a lot at us.” Curtin said of the Orlando manager. “It’s the whole team for sure, but look at the job Andre (Blake) has done. The center backs, that should be on the all-star teams, just the work and tireless commitment from from every guy to get three points at all costs. I’m really proud of the group. That’s a lot of wins down the road in really hard places to become a four-game winning streak.”

Daniel Gazdag had the winning goal, his 39th minute strike enough to give the Union the win. It is his 10th of the season making him the first Philadelphia Union midfielder to hit double digits in goals.

In typical Curtin fashion, his coach praised his hard work on defense the most.

“If you really watch tonight, though, I mean, the amount of running he did on the defensive side of the ball dealing with teams two sixes he’s done it week in and week out for us, so incredible player.”

With everything clicking for the Union in recent weeks, Philadelphia sits atop the Eastern Conference table. They are a point ahead of New York City currently. Philadelphia will return home on Saturday night against Western Conference foe Houston.