Photo courtesy Philadelphia Union II communications

Who: An old prominent MLS player development academy’s professional second team, North Texas SC (FC Dallas’s farm team), and what is now probably the best academy’s second team, Philadelphia’s Union II.

What: A “winner-take -all” championship soccer game

When: 8:30 PM ET Saturday, November 9^th, 2024

Where: Toyota Field, Frisco, TX  (greater Dallas-Fort Worth).

How: Live streamed on Apple Plus TV’s MLS Subscription.

W H Y: Each team is playing for its first-ever league championship. Their philosophies contrast in one important way. North Texas allows use of older college-age players. Union II’s focuses on younger high schoolers. Both use individuals on first-team contracts extensively.

The two teams never having played each other before makes a conventional preview of the match difficult.

We have no idea how personnel will match up. Can Philadelphia right back Gavin Wetzel mark North Texas left winger Pedrinho, for example. Can North Texas double pivot Diego Garcia and Nolan Norris handle Philadelphia’s rotation of Cavan Sullivan, David Vazquez, and CJ Olney in the middle. Those questions exist all over the pitch.

We have gleaned the following.

Numbers

Regular-season team statistics.

Playoff results

Each team kept a clean sheet in its conference final.

End-of-year league awards

North Texas goalkeeper Daniel Collodi was voted MLS Next Pro Goalkeeper of the Year.

Collodi, 23, is a four-year college player from Columbia University. He sat FC Dallas’s first team bench for one preseason friendly January 22^nd but did not play.

Union II keeper Andrew Rick, 18.8, was one of four finalists for the goalkeeper award. He played in 2023 as an amateur for Union II, graduated from YSC Academy this past June, and has signed a homegrown contract with Philadelphia’s first team. He started six regular season MLS games for the Union in addition to 18 for Union II and was nominated for MLS Save of the Year. His finished the season as Andre Blake’s backup.

Also, only Philadelphia and North Texas had two players selected to the 15 honorees and honorable mentions of the MLS NEXT Pro 2024 Best XI

In addition to keeper Collodi, North Texas right center back Nico Gordon, 22, was North Texas’s other Best XI honoree. He serves as captain. He is from England, is part of the Montserrat national team in Concacaf Nations Leagues play, and has come through English League One team Birmingham City before coming to the Dallas organization.

Union II’s two Best XI honorees are left back Frank Westfield, 18.9, and left midfielder CJ Olney, 17.7. Together with striker Eddy Davis who was not eligible to be honored since he is not a signed professional, the pair were key to Union II’s left-channel-dominant offense.

Conference Final starting lineups from last week

 North Texas v St. Louis: Average age = 21.0

North Texas had nine first teamers starting or on the bench.

Philadelphia v Columbus: Average age = 18.7

Philadelphia had eight first-teamers starting or on the bench.

What we expect

North Texas has home field advantage and is statistically the best defense in the league. Union II is playing away and has tied for scoring the most regular-season goals of any team in the league.

The two teams have not played each because North Texas was in USL League One when Bethlehem Steel FC was in USL Championship. Philadelphia Union II has never played any western conference MLS NEXT Pro team. Knowledge of each other is restricted to film and third-party reports.

Pedrinho and Tarik Scott are tied for North Texas’s team lead in goals with 10 each. In the playoffs Pedrinho starts. Scott has come on as a substitute all three times.

The number of Texas players with double digit starts is 15, suggesting wide distribution of game experience and little drop-off in quality when substituting.

The biggest difference between the sides is their respective ages philosophies. North Texas believes in four-year college players. Philadelphia decides before and during the junior year of high school with occasional exceptions.

Video highlights suggest North Texas is good at getting goal-side of their defensive markers but remaining onside. And they make dangerous late runs into the box from deeper midfield and defensive positions.

Philadelphia will concentrate on doing what they always do.

• They will high press and counter-press defensively.
• They will play long balls directly to the strikers, often on the diagonal.
• When playing possession, they will create outside channel overloads in the offensive half of the middle third of the pitch, especially on the left side. They will bypass the space directly in front of the goal, i. e., the center backs and the defensive mid or mids, rather than trying to combination pass their way through the middle unless that space is vulnerable to a fast break.

North Texas will know all that from film study and chalk talk. But unlike New York City FC II, Crown Legacy, and Columbus Crew 2 they have not experienced it directly.

North Texas’s Brazilian coach and FC Dallas Alum Michel Gabrini, aka, Michel, would say the same of Philadelphia. Apparently his favorite saying to his players is, “Are you still hungry, or do you just want something to eat?”

One thing can be predicted with certainty. Marlon LeBlanc’s Philadelphia side will never say die.

Errata: Gleanings from Thursday’s practice

Pre-bookings around the NFL’s Eagles game in Dallas meant that Union II had no commercial flight options and had to fly to greater Dallas on a private charter.

Also, Kyle Tucker is an impressive young man.

In addition to having enough Spanish to belong in the article’s feature photo, after practice when the team had been told it had a limited period of time to shower, change, and collect themselves for the bus to the flight, the 25.3 years-old Drexel grad instead helped equipment manager Josh something gather up and pack all the balls, cones, vests, and other miscellany. When asked, Tucker, who must have gone to school with engineers, pointed out that they weren’t boarding their bus or later  their plane without their soccer balls.

Past experience, current observation, independent analysis, and the cogent evaluation of all three produced a logical and irrefutable program of action.

P.S. The picture

L-R: Jamir Berdecio, Bolivia; Leandro Soria, Argentina; Randy Meneses, Ecuador; Jose Riasco , Venezuela (holding trophy); Giovanny Sequera, Venezuela; Carlos Rojas, Venezuela; Kyle Tucker, England.