CHESTER, Pa.— The Philadelphia Union continue on their road trip Saturday evening as they visit ScottsMiracle-Gro Field to take on Columbus Crew. The Union enter the match coming off a 3-3 draw in Toronto that saw their lead disappear on the last play via a goalie goal. With a record of 1-6-2 and only five points total for the season, the Union sit in 14th place—second to last. Meanwhile, Columbus are at 2-4-3 and at nine points in 9th place, and most recently defeated LA Galaxy 2-1.

Though giving up the lead in the final moments of the match was not ideal, the Union still are unbeaten in the last three matches, and trending better in many areas. Head coach Bradley Carnell saw positive moments in the Toronto match, but also areas to improve.

“You know, you have ups and downs within a 90 minute game, and you have ups and downs in a month’s schedule, right?” he said. “And I think these are some of the things that we’re dealing with. We’re trying to control what we can control. We had a tough stretch in terms of four out of five away games. And now we’re in the like, in and amongst it, now, in the thick of it. So things to grow, things to learn.”

It was the first time in MLS play that the Union scored first in the match, and did not concede first, which were certainly positives. “I love seeing the fighting spirit from the guys. We finally get our goal before half time. We finally get to go take a lead.”

However, there were also plenty of learning moments. “Disappointing we give up a two goal lead. Obviously disappointing on that front,” Carnell continued. “And, you know, seizing our key moments or trying to finish off the game in in a certain way. With 20 seconds on the clock, which then goes two minutes over time, which is pretty frustrating. But these are nothing, you know, that we can’t control, that what we can control is where the ball is and where we’re making a foul and where we’re doing what. So, these are all the discussions that we’re having now, and we’ll proceed to move forwards with as well.”

In facing Columbus, the Union will have to contend with dangerous players in the attack like Diego Rossi, who has four goals and one assist on the season. He scored the winning goal against the Galaxy, with the other goal coming from Daniel Gazdag, formerly of the Union and their all-time leading goal scorer. Gazdag has struggled to find playing time, and the goal was his first of the season. Still, he poses a threat in the attack as well.

“I just think you can talk about his caliber as a player,” Carnell said of Rossi. “Through the clubs he’s played for here in the league, he has been an excellent example of what good players in the league are in any shape or form and in any game model. So he’s a quality player. He comes and finds the game really well. He runs it behind really well. He’s on the move. He can dribble at you at pace, or is very technical, and he can find the final pass. So he’s a bit of everything, and he pops up everywhere.”

Rossi and others will certainly test the Union, who aside from the Toronto and Atlanta matches, have been very stingy defensively. “Yes, it’s a tough matchup for us,” Carnell shared. “And you know, you go through the names on that team. This is an established team that have a couple of superstars on there. So, you know, we just have to fight combative and be us and compete and get numbers around the ball and try and make their life chippy, you know, try and take away their passion, as we’ve done on the road.”

Carnell will have what appears to be an almost fully healthy squad per the availability report from MLS, as well as from what Carnell said in his pre-match presser. Quinn Sullivan is still recovering from his injury, and Olivier Mbaizo picked up a hamstring injury. One player off the injury report as of Wednesday’s match was Agustin Anello, however he did not see any minutes as he is still making his way back. Carnell was very positive about how he is training, though he noted he did not think Anello was ready to start a match.

“We’ve all been excited about what he’s offered at training in the small sidee games, in the match day plus ones yesterday, he looked really good, and certainly is an option. But you know, we’ll see,” Carnell said of Anello.

The match is slated for 7:30 PM on Saturday, April 25 and can be viewed on AppleTV.

Kyle Almoney contributed to this article.

Main article photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Union.