The Philadelphia Union and New York City FC will both look to rebound from a frustrating showing in the Leagues Cup when they return to MLS play on Sunday evening in The Bronx.
Both teams lost two of their three first-phase matches against Liga MX opponents, falling well short of a top-four MLS finish to snag one of eight quarterfinal spots.
For Philadelphia (4-10-4, 16 points), it was a sharp reversal from their MLS performance following the World Cup break, when they won three consecutive matches under interim manager Ryan Richter.
In their Leagues Cup finale, they fell 2-0 to Santos Laguna, having led in overall shots but creating less dangerous opportunities.
“We’re capable of performing better than we did in the game yesterday,” Richter said on Friday. “We can leave it broad like that, but I think the guys all agree with that.”
In league play, Milan Iloski has scored in six consecutive matches — eight goals in total — to bring his team-leading total to 10. That has helped Philadelphia climb from the bottom of the Eastern Conference table up to 13th, seven points beneath the playoff line.
But the Union’s three straight wins all came at home. They’ll be searching for only their second away victory after winning 2-1 at Montreal on April 11.
Meanwhile, NYCFC (7-6-5, 26 points) returns to league play in fifth in the East, but without team-leading scorer Nicolas Fernandez Mercau, who will serve a card-accumulation suspension.
NYCFC also lost consecutive Leagues Cup matches, to Cruz Azul and Necaxa at home, to crash out of the tournament after opening with a victory over Santos Laguna.
Despite that, assistant manager Mehdi Ballouchy believes the club is in a good spot, in part because of the return of regulars like midfielder Keaton Parks and fullback Kevin O’Toole from longer-term injuries. Parks last played in the league in mid-May, while O’Toole had been out since late April.
“A lot of good play in the first half, especially,” Ballouchy said of a 2-1 loss to Necaxa on Thursday night. “And then we have a lot of players back. It should give everybody a boost going into the rest of the season.”
–Field Level Media
