After being off for the international break, the Philadelphia Union and Union II return to action this weekend on the road. With both squads coming off road wins in Cincinnati where they both clinched playoff spots, they will look to build on their momentum as they near the postseason.
On Saturday, the Union visit BC Place in Vancouver for the first time since 2019. The Union (57 points) leads the Supporters’ Shield race and is atop the Eastern Conference and are 7-5-2 on the road. They are coming off a 1-0 win at Cincinnati. The Whitecaps (49 points) are third in the Western Conference and have been strong at home, going 8-2-3.
The Union, according to Bradley Carnell in his press conference on Wednesday and the MLS player status report, are healthy and ready to go. Carnell mentioned that goalkeeper Andre Blake was back in training and doing well. It appears they have three goalkeepers on the trip with Blake, Andrew Rick, and George Marks.
Having a full squad will be huge, though they will be without center back Olwethu Makhanya due to his red card suspension (and he will miss the match on September 20th due to yellow card accumulation). Nate Harriel, the Swiss Army knife of the Union, has been the go-to for filling in for center back, though Neil Pierre also traveled with the squad. His brother, former Union forward Nelson Pierre, is now with the Whitecaps, though he has been with their second team mostly. With Vancouver’s Brian White being out—a huge loss for them—there is the potential for Nelson to be in the matchday squad.
Vancouver, of course, is where Milan Iloski scored four goals in 12 minutes while he was with San Diego, so perhaps the return to BC Place will be fruitful for the Union’s new attacker. He has made a splash so far with the Union, scoring two goals in all competitions for the team.
The Whitecaps had a good run earlier in the season, encountered some adversity, but have remained in the hunt. They picked up Thomas Müller to bolster their squad. Carnell does not take them lightly, and was complimentary of what new head coach Jesper Sørensen has done with the squad.
“They can be really lethal in the transition and then they can find ways to break you down with with [Sebastian] Berhalter. We’ve seen it, you know for him playing with the national team. We’ve seen it for him playing with with the Whitecaps. So, it’s a tough uh nut to crack. But it’s an exciting challenge coming up against a really good player like Thomas Müller, a world star, all these guys. And we we want to forget the name on the back of the jersey for a change and then focus just on our crest not worry too much about the opponent.”
The match kicks off at 9:30 PM and can be viewed on MLS Season Pass on AppleTV.
Main article photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Union
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