CHESTER — Alejandro Bedoya’s ski goggles were still firmly in place two weeks ago when he brought up the subject of his own volition.
The Philadelphia Union had just beaten New York City FC, 1-0. It had just clinched the Supporters’ Shield, the second trophy in club history. And Bedoya, while celebrating that achievement, had some non-zero portion of his thoughts moving onto the next one.
“This is a culmination of all the hard work, the commitment, the dedication that we put in through the season,” he said. “It’s fantastic. It’s a great feeling. But, you know, I’ve had this feeling before, but I really want MLS Cup.
“So we’re going to celebrate. It feels great, but I really want that freaking cup.”
The next step to that goal takes place Saturday in Charlotte for the regular-season finale. While it’s academic for the team’s placing in the table, it’s a step toward what remains the ultimate goal of 2025.
The Union (20-7-6, 66 points) have history at stake. Already with the most wins in a season in club history, they have a chance to surpass the record for points set by the 2022 team at 67.
Even a win to go to 69 points would keep them shy of the club record for points per game in a season at 2.04, set in the Shield season of 2020. The Union are at exactly 2.00, would drop to 1.94 with a loss, or hit 1.97 with a draw or 2.03 with a win. Only one team since 2016 has won the Shield with less than 2.00 points per game: The LAFC team in 2022 that the Union were even on points with, losing out on a tiebreaker. That team is also the only Shield winner of the last seven to go on and win MLS Cup.
Maintaining some level of form against Charlotte (18-13-2, 56 points) would be a good way to do that. The Crown sit fourth in the Eastern Conference, level with New York City FC. They can go no higher, but fourth place confers home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs, offering plenty to play for. They could drop as low as sixth, which might send them to Inter Miami for the first round best-of-3.
The current standings indicate a chance of this as a playoff matchup. But that’s not Bradley Carnell’s concern this week. With two weeks since their last game and the date of their playoff opener still to be determined, getting back into a rhythm is paramount.
“I feel I would be giving everyone a disservice, and the players as well, if I started preaching from a different narrative now,” Carnell said Thursday. “So I spoke about, every game we put all our eggs into that basket. And that’s the way I feel we go into this game. It’s another chance to end the regular season on a historical note for this club, and I think everyone’s hungry for that.”
As the top seed, the Union await the winner of the 8-vs.-9 Wild Card. Chicago is the eighth seed with 52 points and Columbus ninth on 51. But four teams can still be in that game: Nashville is sixth on 54 points and Orlando seventh with 53. Columbus hosts eliminated New York Red Bulls. Chicago ventures to eliminated New England. Nashville hosts Miami, while Orlando voyages to eliminated Toronto.
The Wild Card matches are Oct. 22. The Union will take on the winner of that match in a best-of-3 series that starts next weekend, with Games 1 and 3 (if necessary) at Subaru Park and the second game on the road, in MLS’s infinitely opaque playoff system.
The middle game will be the last road contest of the year. If the Union advance, they’d host the winner of the 4-vs.-5 series in a one-off Eastern Conference semifinal. The Eastern final and MLS Cup final, both single games, would be in Chester if the Union keep winning.
“We know that we have all our games at home,” Jakob Glesnes said after the NYCFC win. “If you see this league, every game is a battle. So we have to take one game at a time, but again, we have set ourselves up for a good run, and I hope that we can make even more history.”
Charlotte is a weird opponent.
The Union beat them, 2-1, in June, the first game out of the extended international break, on a stoppage-time winner by Markus Anderson. Charlotte went on a late-summer run of nine straight wins, tied for the most in league history in the post-shootout era, then lost at New York City FC and at home to eliminated Montreal, before a slim 1-0 win over nine-man D.C. United last week.
Carnell isn’t preoccupied by what may be a playoff match down the road. He doesn’t expect to hold back in the name of gamesmanship. Instead, the focus is on doing what has gotten the Union one trophy, in hopes that it’s the sensible path toward a second.
“There’s no use stopping now and thinking about a playoff match against who we don’t know,” he said. “… We want to end off as the most successful Union team ever. And this is something that personally drives the club, drives the staff, the players. We want to end off on the best note possible, and to play our own sort of account for wherever teams should end.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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