Photo: Kyle Grantham

Who: Philadelphia Union (2nd place, 22 points, 7-1-3) vs. Columbus Crew (1st place, 24 points, 7-3-1)
What: 2025 regular season game
Where: Subaru Park
When: Saturday, May 10, 7:30 PM
Watch: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+, Listen in on 97.5 FM

The Philadelphia Union host the Columbus Crew in a crucial battle atop the East. The 2023 MLS Champions are once again amongst the best teams in the league, so expect a tough battle for the Union tonight, especially coming off short rest after their USOC victory earlier this week.

Scouting Report: Columbus Crew

Columbus have been one of the best teams in the league over the past few seasons, and are off to another hot start this year. Columbus have just one loss in MLS this season, when they “hosted” Inter Miami in Cleveland. Wilfried Nancy is perhaps the best coach in the league, and he has one of the best rosters in the league to support him.

Of course, the newest member of that roster is very familiar to Philadelphia fans: Union all-time leading goalscorer Daniel Gazdag. This will be Gazdag’s first time facing the Union since his April 11 trade. Gazdag has yet to score his first goal for the Crew in three appearances.

Gazdag is not the only dangerous member of the Crew’s attack. Diego Rossi, Darlington Nagbe and Jacen Russel-Rowe are also names to watch out for.

• Player Availability: Rudy Camacho – Thigh (Out), Andres Herrera – Thigh (Out)

Scouting Report: Philadelphia Union

The Union are coming off two consecutive nervy wins over inferior opponents. Last weekend they felt lucky to squeak by with a win in Montreal. And a heavily rotated squad battled to penalties midweek in the US Open Cup before ultimately advancing over the Indy Eleven. Bradley Carnell might have hoped to get his starters rest in Wednesday’s game, but many key players ended up going 60 minutes or more as the game went to extra time.

With that in mind, it’s hard to be sure who will line-up for the Union this week. Center-back presents a particularly interesting question, where both Nathan Harriel and Olwethu Makhanya have given strong performances in recent weeks alongside Jakob Glesnes. Harriel is perhaps the more consistent player at this point, but it might be worth it in the long-term to keep getting the promising Makhanya minutes and experience.

An unfortunate addition to the injury report this weekend is Andre Blake, who is officially questionable with a knee injury. Blake often seems to be battling something, but if he can’t go, at least backup Andrew Rick is coming off a strong performance in the Open Cup, where he made a crucial penalty save to secure the victory.

• Player Availability: Ian Glavinovich – Knee (Out), Neil Pierre – Knee (Out), Andre Blake – Knee (Questionable), Olivier Mbaizo – Knee (Questionable)

Prediction: Union 2 – 2 Columbus

With the Union coming off a harrowing midweek game, and against a tough opponent, I think a draw would be a good result here.