The top-seeded Philadelphia Union begin their MLS Cup Playoffs campaign by hosting an FC Cincinnati side with a few familiar faces in an Eastern Conference semifinal Thursday night.
Philadelphia received a first-round bye after finishing the regular season atop the conference with a 4-0 victory over Toronto FC in the regular-season finale.
That marked Philly’s eighth time scoring four or more goals during the second half of the 34-game schedule.
In that stretch, the Union scored 50 of their 72 total goals and earned 38 of their 67 total points. Three players posted double-digit goals as Daniel Gazdag finished the season leading Philly with 22, Julian Carranza had 14 and Mikael Uhre added 13.
The Union swept two major 2022 season awards on Wednesday, with Andre Blake named MLS Goalkeeper of the Year for a third time and Jakob Glesnes named the MLS Defender of the Year.
Manager Jim Curtin is confident that his side will have the necessary opportunities to advance at home, where it finished unbeaten (12-0-5) in the regular season.
“We know that we’ll create chances at home over the 90 minutes, so hopefully we can be clinical in front of goal,” Curtin said. “We respect the opponent very much, they’re a great team in the attack, but we also have a great defensive team, so it’ll be a really good matchup, but at home, it’s on us to play our way.”
There have been some recent hiccups for the Union, who have been without captain Alejandro Bedoya (hip) for more than a month. Philly was hammered 4-0 by Charlotte in its last away game, and settled for a scoreless draw in Atlanta to follow. Those opponents missed the playoffs.
The Union also lost in their last meeting against Cincinnati, a 3-1 away defeat in early August.
FC Cincinnati have modeled themselves after Philadelphia, with first-year sporting director Chris Albright and first-year head coach Pat Noonan hired from the Union organization.
And Thursday’s visitors are one of the few teams who can match Philly with three double-digit scorers. Brandon Vazquez and Brenner each had 18 regular season goals, and playmaker Luciano Acosta added 10 to go with an MLS-leading 19 assists.
“This should be fun,” Noonan said after Acosta and Vazquez scored in a 2-1, first-round win at the New York Red Bulls on Saturday. “This is a cool story in terms of my last job and our group getting to this point, not having been here before, and going against a very good team in Philadelphia. It’s neat.”
–Field Level Media
