There’s absolutely zero glitz and glamour around a 14th-versus-15th-place battle from a league-wide perspective.
For the Philadelphia Union, Saturday’s game with Atlanta United carries a ton of significance.
I don’t think it’s out of line to call it a must-win game for the Union.
It seems silly to slap that tag on a match featuring the Eastern Conference’s two bottom feeders, but from the Union’s side, if they are seriously about contending for a playoff spot, they have to beat the worst team in the conference at home.
The post-World Cup break has been kind to the Union. They produced back-to-back home wins out of the gate against Red Bull New York and the Seattle Sounders.
Atlanta is at the end of a four-game road swing that has featured one point from a draw in Charlotte.
The Five Stripes took a walloping from the New England Revolution last weekend, a match that is more indicative of the team’s quality at the moment.
Atlanta hasn’t won a game since May 2 and its roster is a complete mess.
The Georgia side is trying to find a way out from under Emmanuel Latte Lath’s failed transfer. It wasn’t the right league for him, but I can almost guarantee he’ll go back to the Championship and pick up a double-digit goal tally.
The rumor mill’s been spinning with potential striker additions for Atlanta, but that’s not relevant for Saturday.
Miguel Almiron and Alexey Miranchuk are the danger man in attack. The Union have to be wary of the threat both of them pose coming off the flanks.
As for the Union, they are trending in the right direction, but a third win in three games would further legitimize the job Ryan Richter is doing as interim head coach.
The Union have a full complement of players available for Saturday. Japhet Sery’s hamstring issue isn’t serious and he trained for most of the week.
The question around Sery, though, is if he’s already been replaced in the first-choice center-back tandem by Neil Pierre and Nathan Harriel.
Philippe Ndinga is still on the roster and off the injury report. He was listed as out with a hamstring issue for the Seattle game.
Kai Wagner and Frankie Westfield will start at full-back, but there isn’t any depth behind them at the moment.
It’s a question for next week, but with the Leagues Cup starting next week, the Union might be a little thin on the back line.
Anyway, for Saturday’s game, the expectation is that the Union create an abundance of chances through Cavan Sullivan and Milan Iloski.
If the Union get anything else out of the other forwards, it’s a positive, but right now, they have to rely on Iloski to score and the younger Sullivan to create some chances with his work on the ball.
It’s nowhere close to a perfect product, but the Union are at least in good position to take three points and continue the slow climb up the Eastern Conference table.
Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union.