Looking ahead at the final stretch of the Philadelphia Union season

Tonight’s visit to Charlotte will be the 28th match of the Philadelphia Union’s Major League Soccer campaign. Jim Curtin’s side sit fourth in the Eastern Conference, and with seven games in 31 days, the final month of this season will be nothing short of pure chaos.

The Boys in Blue have a 98% chance to make the playoffs, according to FiveThirtyEight.com, leaving the final month to decide just how many postseason games will be played in Chester.

FC Cincinnati has just about wrapped up the top spot in the East as well as the Supporters’ Shield; however, from second place to sixth, just five points separate the rest of the Eastern Conference’s elite from one another. Philadelphia’s fourth-place standing is slightly misleading, as a win in the rescheduled match against Dallas next week would propel the Union into second.

The first of the final seven matches is a perfect storm of MLS chaos, being a mid-week trip to play on a turf field with NFL lines. We are all indeed in for some world-class soccer tonight. Despite last season’s catastrophic performance in North Carolina, I think Curtin’s rotated side should manage to handle what is simply not a very good Charlotte team. I expect a rather lackluster display, with a chance for the Union to steal two extra points via clinical finishing.

Saturday brings an out-of-form LAFC to town for a long-awaited MLS Cup 2022 rematch. LAFC ended a three-game losing streak this past weekend with a derby victory but face Conference leaders St. Louis CITY SC in a much more crucial affair on Wednesday. Add in a Campeones Cup Final (yes, that still exists) back in Los Angeles next Wednesday against Tigres, and I doubt LAFC will put their strongest 11 on the field in Chester. Regardless, beating the Black and Gold seems to be an impossible task for the Union, so my excitement and confidence for Saturday are lacking.

Next Wednesday’s home match against FC Dallas is a make-up of the game postponed for last month’s Leagues Cup third-place match, meaning that Philadelphia is one of just seven sides in action across the league. The aforementioned Campeones Cup Final, U.S. Open Cup Final, and Colorado vs. Vancouver are the other matches on the midweek slate. The
second-consecutive Western Conference foe should make for a great chance at three points, as the Union’s excellent home form and Dallas’ abysmal road record indicate.

This three-match stretch is crucial for Jim Curtin’s side, with the opportunity to play twice at home against teams amidst significant travel and once visiting a club with the league’s fifth-worst home form. I expect the immense fixture congestion and rotation to get the better of most teams in this stretch, which is why the Union manage two wins from these three and likely a draw in the other.

The final four matches of the regular season, however, will provide a gauntlet like no other. The Union faces Columbus, Atlanta, Nashville, and New England, who currently sit between third and seventh in the conference. These matches will be playoff previews, with all four sides being possible foes in the postseason.

A trip to visit an explosive Columbus side on short rest fills me with doubt, and the Union will need to have their shooting boots on to ensure any chance of a result. If the standings froze at this moment, Columbus would be Philadelphia’s first-round opponent in the playoffs, so outperforming Wilfred Nancy’s team would be crucial.

Two consecutive home matches against Atlanta and Nashville will undoubtedly be challenging but are imperative for the Boys in Blue if they want to host multiple playoff matches. With almost the entire Eastern Conference playoff field battling with one another in the closing weeks, winning home games is necessary for seeding success.

A decision day trip to Foxborough to face the imploding Revolution is hard to predict this far out, considering the front-office chaos that has ensued in the past month. Nevertheless, a second-place finish may likely be up for grabs, which spells out a home stand through to the Conference final.

In summary, the upcoming three matches on the Union’s schedule are odd fixtures, to say the least; however, they are crucial to provide a cushion for the challenging final four opponents. With a Champions Cup berth and playoff place not necessary to challenge for, the last month of the season requires securing as many home-field postseason games as possible and picking up the form needed to excel in knockout soccer.