Sports teams from the city of Philadelphia are having a heck of a year. There seems to be something in the air in Philly that the Philadelphia Union has been able to take advantage of. In spite of that streak we can’t ignore the fact that New York City FC are coming into the game as the defending champions. The team from the big apple has put together a decent campaign in their bid to defend their title. What can we really expect out of these two teams Sunday?
The Philly Defense Needs To Do Its Thing
Andre Blake has been one of the best goalkeepers in MLS for years. It can be argued though that this has been his best season to date. Throughout the playoffs the Philadelphia Union proved that what had happened in the last game of the regular season where they lost 4-0 was a total fluke. The team wasn’t necessarily resting their starters that day which kind of sounded the alarms in Philadelphia. They were able to get right back on the horse though. So much so that the team has not conceded a goal in their entire playoff run. If they want a chance to reach the MLS Cup finals they’re going to need to continue that streak.
Out of all of the teams left in the tournament it could be said that Philly is the most capable of putting goals up in bunches. Throughout the summer months they scored 6 goals twice, and even put 7 on DC United back in July. This is a team that maybe doesn’t have that one big name that’s world renowned, but they are very balanced, and they can put up a ton of goals on teams that aren’t particularly well organized in the back. Playing at home is sure to be a big advantage for them. As we mentioned the city sports fans are in a literal frenzy with the Phillies, and the Eagles. The Philadelphia Union hope to be able to ride that same wave.
New York City Will Want To Quiet The Crowd & Play Their Game
New York City FC are coming into this game on a 6 game winning streak. They may be hadn’t had the best regular season up until recently. They knew though that they needed to get hot at just the right time and did. The team relies heavily on good midfield play both offensively and defensively. When you have such a solid and talented midfield it becomes much easier to sure up that back line, and create chances up front. It’s pretty clear that they’ve been able to take advantage of the chances that they’ve generated, particularly throughout the playoffs. Their games have not been remotely close throughout the tournament.
One of the things that they do really well is that they have a lot of speed upfront. Throughout the playoffs they’ve even had the luxury of bringing Talles Magno off the bench, at least in their last game. What that provides is a change of peace that’s hard to counter when the other team is already tired.
Our Prediction
That Philly defense, and that crowd could be the difference. We do worry that Andre Blake has had great games in the playoffs. That’s what goalkeepers are for, but relying too much on your goalkeeper is not ideal. Philly is going to want to score early as well. If they get to a tie game late, New York City FC seems to have more of a counter with a deeper bench. We do think Philly will pull through, but we have to be honest about this, if you’re going to bet the game that +280 for New York City’s win in 90 minutes does look appealing.
