Philadelphia Union Begin New Phase of MLS Campaign Against Messi-Less Inter Miami

Union captain Alejandro Bedoya maintains there's no reason to panic about the team's start ahead of Saturday's game against Inter Miami.

CHESTER — Inter Miami’s arrival at Subaru Park on Saturday is more symbolic than anything.

Lionel Messi won’t be in Chester, but the Philadelphia Union players still carry the bad memories from the 4-1 trouncing they received in the Leagues Cup semifinals in 2023.

“I think that game left a bitter taste in our mouth with the way it started,” Union captain Alejandro Bedoya said this week. “We talk always about at least meeting the same intensity as the opponent and trying to play our game and trying to impose ourselves on the visiting team. For whatever reason, some of them were starstruck by Messi or whatever, but we gave up two soft goals.”

A lot of the themes from the Inter Miami loss last August are familiar ones the 2024 Union team have dealt with.

They obviously aren’t going up against Messi every week, but the little mistakes and lack of effort in finalizing the small details on plays have been abundant in 2024.

The Union Soccer Blog is celebrating its 200th post earlier this week with a 20 percent off sale on season-long subscriptions until Monday.