Match Preview: Philadelphia Union vs. LA Galaxy
The Union are in a bounce-back spot against the LA Galaxy on Wednesday.
The Philadelphia Union’s Wednesday match result looks straightforward on paper.
The LA Galaxy come into Chester with three points from 12 games.
A quick aside: Do you know how difficult that is in the league that preaches, and hell even sells, its parity. Like, you have to be really, really bad in order for that to happen.
So, yeah, three points is the absolute minimum expectation for the Union no matter who is on the field.
Over the last few weeks, the Union proved they could handle their business against some of the bottom dwellers in the Eastern Conference. They produced wins over Atlanta United, D.C. United and CF Montreal.
That’s a good cushion of results to fall back on when something like Saturday’s 2-2 home draw with Columbus happens.
The Union aren’t starving for points right now, unlike 2024, because they’ve taken care of the lesser sides in MLS.
The Galaxy are even worse than those aforementioned teams and they just got thumped 7-0 by the New York Red Bulls over the weekend.
I wouldn’t say this is a trap game from the Union’s perspective because of the weekend result with Columbus. It’s set up more for a bounce-back game because of the circumstances. Had they won, it would 100 percent be a trap game.
Now for the news you all care about: Andre Blake is questionable with fluid buildup in his knee.
Ian Glavinovich and Neil Pierre are still out at center back, so Bradley Carnell will have to piece together his center-back rotation accordingly.
This would’ve been a perfect game to give Pierre 90 minutes because of the opponent, but he’s sidelined for a few more weeks.
Carnell can probably get away with playing Olwethu Makhanya and Nathan Harriel at center back with two of Kai Wagner, Frankie Westfield and Olivier Mbaizo on the flanks.
To borrow the NBA term, you kind of have to do load management for Jakob Glesnes, especially with an Eastern Conference opponent ahead on the road on Saturday in Atlanta.
The forward rotation is easy to figure out right now. Mikael Uhre and Chris Donovan should be preferred to Tai Baribo and Bruno Damiani after the latter pairing went 69 minutes on Saturday.
Carnell’s become a bit predictable with his rotations, which isn’t a bad thing. In fact, I’d argue it’s a good thing because he has a larger group of players to work with and he’s managing minutes properly at this point in the season.
I could’ve written far fewer words on the game and just said the Union should win by multiple goals, and you know what, that’ll probably happen regardless of who is on the field.
Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union.