The Supporters’ Shield is within sight for the Philadelphia Union.
Coming off their most dominant showing of the season, the Union can clinch their second Supporters’ Shield title on Saturday night when they face New York City FC in Chester, Pa.
Philadelphia (19-7-6, 63 points) enters the penultimate week of the regular season four points up on second-place FC Cincinnati. Third-place NYCFC (17-10-5, 56 points) are tied on points with Inter Miami but own one more win than Lionel Messi’s team.
The Union are 11-1-4 at home after a 6-0 rout of DC United last Saturday. Indiana Vassilev scored a brace, while Milan Iloski scored and set up two tallies. Their next win will set a club record.
“Our focus was on ourselves and on our match,” Iloski said. “We can’t pay attention to what they’re doing, because if we don’t take care of business ourselves, it doesn’t really matter what they do.”
The news wasn’t all good for the Union, as Quinn Sullivan was lost with a leg injury that will sideline him for the rest of this season.
NYCFC are attempting to move up to second as the team trails Cincinnati by three points. They are also trying to stay ahead of Charlotte, which is fifth with 53 points and has one more win than sixth-place Nashville.
NYCFC clinched a playoff spot two weeks ago by beating Charlotte. They played without leading scorer Alonso Martinez due to a leg injury, but the team earned a 3-2 road win over the New York Red Bulls last week as Thiago Martins scored the tiebreaking goal in the 65th after Nicolas Fernandez and Andres Perea also scored.
Goaltender Matt Freese exited last week’s game with an injury but appears ready to help NYCFC attempt to beat Philadelphia again after earning a 1-0 home win against them on April 12.
“It’s a game that we want to win,” NYCFC coach Pascal Jansen told amNewYork. “We are one of the few teams that have beaten Philadelphia throughout the season, and we’re looking for a second win — that’s our mindset going into this away game, and that’s it.”
–Field Level Media
