Photo Kyle Grantham
Since taking over the Philadelphia Union’s interim head coach Ryan Richter has with 100% consistency refused to answer questions publicly of any scope broader than the game immediately in front of him. By so doing he models the mental discipline he expects his players to display.
But, while Richter and his players may refuse to talk about the Union’s positive trends since the World Cup break, their refusal does not erase such questions from existence in the minds of outside observers. The questions exist, they are being thought about, and Philadelphia Union fans are intelligent enough to do such thinking.
Therefore below we look at the rest of Philadelphia’s regular season. That schedule contains two acute challenges within its remaining eight games, five of which are at home.
- The first challenge occurs this Saturday when they will play surging Orlando while missing five starters for international duty (goalkeeper Andre Blake, right center back Neil Pierre, right back Frank Westfield, defensive midfielder Danley Jean Jaques, and attacking midfielder Cavan Sullivan).
- The second challenge compounds consecutive quality opponents with midweek games. It comprises the 15 days from Wednesday, October 14th at Soldier Field against fifth-place Chicago through and including Wednesday, October 28th at Geodis Park against first-place Nashville. During that timespan the Union play four games against four of the five teams currently ahead of them in their conference.
The Union have already played third-place Miami since the World Cup break, a 2-2 draw at Subaru Park on Wednesday, August 19th.
Here is the Union’s remaining regular season schedule charted into a table for those who assimilate information more easily via visual formats.
|
Opponent |
Day Date, Venue | Points & Record (W-L-D) |
Current place (Sep 24) |
| Orlando City* |
Sa, Sep-26, Subaru Park |
34 pts, 10-12-4 |
7th (E) |
| Real Salt Lake |
Sa, Oct-10, Subaru Park |
29 pts, 8-13-5 |
12th (W) |
| Chicago Fire |
We, Oct-14, Soldier Field |
39 pts, 11-8-6 |
5th (E) |
| Charlotte |
Sa, Oct-17, Subaru Park |
43 pts, 12-7-7 |
4th (E) |
| New England Revolution |
Sa, Oct-24, Subaru Park |
46 pts, 14-8-4 |
2nd (E) |
| Nashvillle |
We, Oct-28, Geodis Park |
57 pts, 17-3-6 |
1st (E) – x |
| FC Cincinnati |
Sa, Oct-31, TQL Stadium |
33 pts, 8-8-9 |
9th (E) |
| Toronto |
Sa, Nov-7, Subaru Park |
29 pts, 6-9-11 |
12th (E) |
A strong finish would legitimate Philadelphia as a dark horse contender for MLS Cup.
One thing worth noting about the unbeaten streak is that Miami is the only team they played during the streak that currently has more points than they do. 4 of the remaining 8 games (Orlando, RSL, @Cincinnati and Toronto) are also against teams below them, although as you point out, the Orlando game presents its own set of challenges thanks to MLS thinking it is a good idea to play games when it’s known when the schedule was made that top players won’t be there.
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It’s the other 4 games (@Chicago, Charlotte, New England, and @Nashville…with RSL and @ Cincinnati bookending those to give 6 games in 3 weeks) that will show whether the Union are for real or just benefiting from weaker opposition.
I’m too lazy to do my own research – how many starters (if any) are Orlando missing due to call-ups or other reasons. Philly missing 5 sounds bad, but if Orlando is missing something close to that, it’s less concerning.
It’s kind of irrelevant how many players are missing since there’s a certain principle being violated where MLS is scheduling games and charging customers full price when they know at the time of scheduling that top players will likely be missing. Across the league, almost 150 players have been called up. New Jersey is missing the most with 10.
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The Union technically have 7 players missing as Ndinga was called up by Gabon (removing one possible replacement for Westfield) and Jakupovic is with the U-17’s meaning he won’t be available off the bench.
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Orlando has 5 players called up (I have no idea on injuries or suspensions).
I am hopeful that the schedule flip may solve this issue.
The Orlando injury that matters is Griezmann. He did not travel for their last match and was listed day to day. They did sign a new left back who will be available. (Nogueira).
misleading title….where’s the analysis?
Would be awesome if Nashville clinched the shield right before our game with them. They’d probably rotate the squad and be half hungover too.