Chester — After a grueling nine-match schedule in the month of May, the Philadelphia Union finally see light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. With two more matches left this week to wrap up the month, Philadelphia Union head coach Bradley Carnell is pleased with the club’s results so far.
“If you looked at just the results alone, you would say, can we not play this for 12 months a year? Because it’s been pretty astounding — the way the team has the balance of maximum, all-out, ruthless, chaotic, and then how much of it is poise, balance, moments, triggers. So I’ve enjoyed this process, you know. And I don’t know if I’ve ever experienced a lot of busy months, but I’m not sure I’m going to experience this one for quite some time, but I’m enjoying it.”
“Every coach, every player — if you speak to them — all they want to do is play games. And I think the way that we, you know, are distributing the minutes, the way that we’re rotating, I think the health within the group is very good. So right now, we feel like we can be competitive wherever we may go. I know it’s two games left in this stretch instead of one, but do you let yourself feel like there’s a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel?”
First up for Philadelphia is a trip north to Toronto, Canada, to face Toronto FC, who are coming off a 2-1 defeat at BMO Field on Saturday against Nashville. Toronto is struggling through 15 matches in the MLS regular season under new head coach Robin Fraser, with just 3 wins, 8 losses, and 4 draws — and only 1 home win in 8 MLS matches this season. But Carnell knows that this Toronto side will still be difficult to play against come Wednesday.
“They’re an aggressive team. They have a very competitive midfield. Osorio brings a bit of experience there too. And they’re very dangerous on the flanks. I know they have a couple of suspensions now, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are dangerous. They’re very good in transition — I would say probably one of the most transitional teams that we’re going to face now. So in terms of managing both boxes, we’re going to have to be on high alert and aware of that.”
While Fraser’s side has only two wins in their last five matches, the Union are just 3-11-4 all-time at BMO Field, including a 2-1 loss there last year. So the Union will have to be on high alert.
But good news for Union fans — Andre Blake has been cleared and added to the roster for this week’s matches, Carnell said. He added that the team will be traveling with a big squad as well. Notably, during Tuesday’s Union II training session, there weren’t a lot of first-team contracted players who usually appear with the second team — so it will be interesting to see who ends up on the bench tomorrow outside of the usual suspects.
Regardless, the Union have reached 30 points in 15 games for the first time in club history. Another week of getting points will go a long way in helping Carnell and company stay atop the MLS Eastern Conference standings.
Main Article Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia
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