PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) \u2014 The Philadelphia Union is the hottest team in Major League Soccer. They entered the World Cup break in last place, but have launched themselves into the playoff picture since July.<\/p>\n
Eight wins, two draws, no losses. How? Delco Times Sports Editor Matthew DeGeorge said the firing of gaffer Bradley Carnell shook things up. <\/p>\n
\u201cInterim coach Ryan Richter has simplified everyone\u2019s roles tactically. And I think Richter has instilled a sense of confidence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Inquirer soccer writer Jonathan Tannenwald also gave love to Neil Pierre, who\u2019s netted four goals on this run.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn 18-year-old center back from Harrisburg. 6-foot-7. He\u2019s a beast. He\u2019s a really remarkable talent. He\u2019s got a huge future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pierre was called up to the U.S. national team along with Frankie Westfield and Cavan Sullivan. The latter is racking up goals and assists despite not yet turning 17.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just accelerating so quickly, to the point where you really don\u2019t know where the ceiling is with him. You know it\u2019s high, but you really can\u2019t see it, and he\u2019s just kind of zooming off towards it,\u201d DeGeorge said.<\/p>\n
But his clock is ticking with his eventual transfer to Man City only a calendar year away. And midnight may arrive for the 2026 Union when they face a handful of playoff teams next month. <\/p>\n
Tannenwald said that five-game stretch could really hit them hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a special thing. Considering where this team was at the start of the year to where it is now, I think fans are able to just enjoy the ride for what it is,\u201d Tannenwald said. <\/p>\n
The Union takes on Kansas City Saturday at 8:30 p.m. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) \u2014 The Philadelphia Union is the hottest team in Major League Soccer. They entered the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[11468,69,71,70,10227],"class_list":["post-289863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-major-league-soccer","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-philadelphia-union"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}