Philadelphia Union Must Be Proactive In Game 1 Of First-Round Series with New England Revolution

The Union kick off the best-of-three series on Saturday at Subaru Park.

Major League Soccer’s new postseason format requires a shift in strategy.

Winning Game 1 of the best-of-three series at home is imperative for the Philadelphia Union and the other top-four seeds in each conference.

“We’ve talked about that a lot,” Union head coach Jim Curtin said during his Friday press conference.

The first-round series between the Union and the New England Revolution will be three separate games. There is no aggregate scoring and matches will go to penalty kicks if they are tied after 90 minutes.

“If teams go down two or three goals, you might call the dogs off,” Curtin said. “You might sub five guys out to save legs and not risk injury for the next one. There’s no punishment for losing 5,6-0 in this. You can actually lose 5,6-0, not score a goal and win the series if you win in penalty kicks.”

“It’s unique. It’s new. It’s something we have to adapt and adjust to and make the most of. It’ll be exciting one way or the other. People like penalty kicks. I don’t. We’ll try to avoid them as best we can and try to win the games outright and do our part there,” Curtin continued.