Photo courtesy Philadelphia Union Communications

The Philadelphia Union’s MLS regular season record after the results of May 31^st are: 10 Wins, 3 Losses, and 4 Draws. They are in first place in the east and second place over all at the halfway point.

Because the data supporting them are striking, we develop long-time Philly Soccer Page reader Andy Muenz’s comment on the Union’s record emphasizing against whom the wins have come.

Starting from the top of each column, we list the Union’s wins, losses, and draws to date, in the sequence in which they occurred. An listing without a prefix means the game occurred at Subaru Park in Chester. The prefix “@” indicates the game was away. The final score follows the opponent’s name.

The column immediately to the right of opponent/score indicates the place in the standings the opponent occupied after May 31^st.

Note the standings place of each opponent in the wins column for wins three through ten. Draws two through four and wins seven through ten occurred in May. The other two May games were wins against USL Championship (Division 2) opposition in the U. S. Open Cup.

No one questions the Union’s achievement going undefeated while running the schedule gauntlet that was the month of May, seven MLS games and two U. S. Open Cup ones in 29 days. But the accomplishment must take into account the frequency of weaker opponents. Philadelphia beat teams they would have been expected to beat.

Full marks to the squad for doing so while playing every 3.2 days.

But the challenge for the rest of the season will be to win against opposition of equal or greater quality. Philly has shown they are better than the bottom feeders. The two wins against playoff caliber opponents came in the first two games of the season when the Union enjoyed obvious hard-earned conditioning advantages over their opponents. They had gone to Spain to play higher caliber, mid-season ready opponents and had endured intense conditioning during training camp. It showed.

The rest of the season

The rest of the season will be harder. The challenges they face in the second half after the June break are several.

• They must play the rest of June and perhaps the early part of July while missing four starters:
  • Goalkeeper Andre Blake
  • Center back Nathan Harriel
  • “Box-to-box” defensive mid Danley Jean Jacques
  • Attacking midfielder Quinn Sullivan
• Their top two strikers are currently down with injury.
  • Mikael Uhre (probably soft tissue; vs. Dallas)
  • Tai Baribo (uncertain)
  • So are a starting center back and a reserve one, with the reserve only just having returned to a game pitch (2^nd half v Club Atlas Saturday, June 7^th).
    • Ian Glavinovich (knee)
    • Neil Pierre (knee)
• The second half of their schedule has at least one more away game than it does home (see below).

Here is the Union’s remaining schedule divided into home and away using the same conventions as above, except the place in the standings is as of June 9^th.

Regarding future Open Cup games, CBS Sports (click here) has published the possible scenarios should the Union make the semis and the final. Except for an “act of god” natural disaster forcing a venue change, there is no chance whatsoever that Philadelphia would host either match. They placed fourth of four in the semifinal draw, and the west won the coin flip over the east to host the final.

Future developments

Does coach Carnell have another rabbit to pull out of his hat to boost his side’s competitiveness against the conference’s better teams? Does Ernst Tanner?

• Are any of the youngsters besides goalkeeper Andrew Rick ready to positively impact the outcomes of first team games, to provide something beyond just effective participation within Carnell’s principles?
• Does Carnell have any tactical wrinkles ready that might deliver advantages against this or that opponent? Save when constrained by roster absences he has not stepped away from the “four triple two” until constrained by end-of-game demands to enhance defending or increase scoring.
• Is Ernst Tanner willing to ask ownership to act on ownership’s stated willingness (Last summer at Union Yards) to add an impact player to the roster in midseason? Tanner said last winter that he would wait to assess such needs until this summer. Summer is here.

The first half of 2025 has been and excellent start, a credit to all involved from Sporting Director to the ball boys. What will the second half bring?