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Five Thoughts on the Union Reclaiming First Place After Complete and Utter Annihilation of Hapless Chicago Fire
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Well well well, what do we have here?
The Philadelphia Union, who lost a stinker in New York last week, are top of the table once again with a 4-0 thrashing of the Chicago Fire at Subaru Park on Saturday night. This game wasn’t even remotely competitive, with the U outshooting the Fire 23 to 9, holding 50% of the possession despite not being a possession team, and attempting 468 total passes at 85.7% accuracy. Chicago could barely get out of their own half in the first 45 minutes and finished with a 0.6 expected goals number.
Then, the dagger on top of the first several daggers:
Bang bang! What a hit.
Some thoughts on the game, the team, and the Shield race:
1) The number one trait of this Union team is that they just work harder. There’s nothing really profound in that observation, but I can’t think of a single game this season in which I thought that the effort wasn’t there. They’ve had a couple of clunkers, but nothing they haven’t recovered from, and their relentless pressure wave punishes mistakes and buries teams that don’t come ready to play. That’s a product of buy-in, and a credit to the coaching staff and front office for creating the environment in which is thrives. You watch some of these other MLS teams play and those dudes are just going through the motions, collecting a paycheck, hesitant to get stuck in or make a lung-busting sprint or get back in transitional defense. Not the Union, and it’s the main reason why they’re in first place.
2) Milan Iloski on the wing works. Indiana Vassilev has had some nice moments opposite Quinn Sullivan this season, but that wide position was the obvious one to improve, and you stick a natural forward in there and let him work and it looked good the other night. It looks 4-2-4ish when the Union are pressing, so kind of a tweener blur in those wide spots, but as long as the forward in that position is willing to get back and defend, it will be okay. The only issue with doing it this way is that three of your top four forwards are on the field at the same time, and the bench options are limited to Mikael Uhre and Chris Donovan. Absent a double swap at striker, the way to shuffle it would be to bring Vassilev off the bench and let Iloski move up after taking off one of Bruno Damiani or Tai Baribo, assuming they’re the starters.
3) The second Union goal was a big fat joke. Chicago has five guys in the wall, plus a dude laying on the ground behind the wall, and it breaks down in a fashion so comical that Kai Wagner just hits a low daisy cutter into the corner. Look at the goalkeeper’s justified reaction:
4) The Union are currently on 54 points through 28 games. It’s a 1.93 points-per-game number, and they can win the Supporters’ Shield by ripping off a six-game winning streak that would see them finish with 72 points and a 2.11 PPG.
That is highly unlikely, that scenario. Where they need to be to win the Shield is typically in the 2.00 to 2.10 PPG range. They won it with 2.04 PPG back in 2020 and finished in a first-place tie with 67 points and a 1.97 number back in 2022.
Ideally, they really need four points from this crucial Cincinnati/Vancouver stretch here. One draw, one win. Cincinnati is right on the Union’s heels with 52 points. Vancouver is five points back, with a game in hand. If they come through that with 58 points, they’d have four games left to win the Shield – vs. New England, at D.C., vs. NYC, and at Charlotte. If you can get 9 or 10 of those 12 points, you finish with ~68 points and a 2.00 PPG. That SHOULD be enough to get it done, but you never know if someone else goes on a heater. They can probably settle for one more draw and one more loss if the challengers keep playing at their current form, which hasn’t been amazing. Cincy, San Diego, and Nashville have all dropped points over the last two weeks.
5) MLS plays an unbalanced schedule, which means the Shield comes with an asterisk on it. Back in 2020, the Union only played Eastern Conference teams post-COVID, and racked up points against teams like New England and both New Yorks.
This season, as it stands, only five of the Union’s 16 wins are against teams currently in playoff position. They’ve largely taken out the garbage while picking up February and March wins against Cincy and Orlando. So they could use wins here against Vancouver/Cincy and Charlotte down the stretch to really solidify their resume. They did not have San Diego, Minnesota, Seattle, or LAFC on the schedule, and they lost twice to Nashville while only getting one point out of six against Miami. The Columbus loss they were depleted and it barely counts. Adding a few more scalps down the stretch is going to be necessary to win the Shield anyway, and will legitimize the SOS along the way.
Bonus thought #6)
I took my daughter down on Saturday and the Union gameday experience is really nice now. The moving of the parking lots and addition of Union Yards gives it more of a walkable European or Fenway type of feel, where the car traffic is limited to specific areas. It’s relatively easy to get in, easy to get out, affordable, and there isn’t a bad seat in the house unless you’re in one of the corners and the Union are bossing possession in the other half. Subaru Park is still one of the best value plays in Philly sports, especially with the traffic shit show currently taking place at the sports complex. It just feels like your money goes further at Union games vs. trying to navigate the South Philly clusterfuck in 2025, but that’s just like, my opinion man.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com