CHESTER, Pa. — Coming off a dominant performance in the opening leg of the Concacaf Champions Cup first round, the Philadelphia Union return to MLS action Sunday for their regular season home opener against Eastern Conference rival New York City Football Club in a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference Semifinals.

“I think in the tightest of margins, in the tightest of games, when there’s quality opposition on both sides, those margins are crucial,” said Union head coach Bradley Carnell speaking to the media on Friday.

“It’s normal in any game where two good teams go at each other. We’ve had a couple of good battles with New York City, we won the Shield game here in Chester toward the end of the season, and then we hosted them in the playoffs. It was a tight game, and they got away with it with a couple of Matt Freese heroics. That’s what I remember. But again, it’s a new season. It’s a new team. They’ve had challenges.”

That, however, is in the past. The Union fell 1-0 to D.C. United on Saturday, but that does not give Carnell or his staff any concerns at this time.

“Just in terms of the standards we’ve set, the short term success we’ve had over the last 12 months, we’ve kind of set the benchmark of what a team looks like and the quality that comes with it, and ultimately winning some silverware,” Carnell said.

“Starting in preseason, we’re a target. We did a lot of things that teams respected us for, but also weren’t happy about. So coming into a new season, all of that starts again from zero.”

On the flip side, NYCFC played to a 1-1 draw against the LA Galaxy in Carson, California last Sunday evening.

The Galaxy struck first in the second minute off a João Klauss goal to give the home side the early lead.

A Nicolás Fernández penalty kick in the 66th minute helped the visitors leave with a point, something they did often last season while riding a strong run into the playoffs before falling in the Eastern Conference Final to eventual MLS CUP champion Inter Miami.

Even with rotation in the Champions Cup, players such as Bruno Damiani, Milan Iloski, and Indiana Vassilev were either limited or not featuring. Carnell emphasized that rest alone does not guarantee results.

“Just because you rested doesn’t mean it’s only an ingredient for success,” Carnell said. “It doesn’t mean the success is there. We have to work really hard at it, and we have to make it count. It was great seeing everyone who hadn’t been getting minutes get up and running with the team and competing again against a different opponent. To change the roster up, to play the way we did and score the goals the way we did, I thought it was an awesome exercise.”

Now the focus turns fully to Sunday night in Chester, where the Union will look to secure their first three points of the MLS campaign in what promises to be another tightly contested showdown between two Eastern Conference contenders.

The match is scheduled for 4:30PM from Subaru Park, and if you cannot make it to the match, you can watch it again on Apple TV.

Main article photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Union