Philadelphia Mean Business In MLS Cup Race

The race to reach the MLS Cup, and eventually win it, is certainly starting to heat up as we enter the latter stages of the campaign. While it may seem like we’ve still got quite some time to go before we discover who is going to be competing in the playoffs, it truly does seem like it’s going to come around sooner than most people think.

At this moment in time you’ve have to think that the Western Conference has all of the momentum, with Seattle & both LA clubs flying the flag high up to this point. However, over in the Eastern Conference, Philadelphia Union has slowly been building their way up the rankings all season long – and it’s time to give them the respect they so richly deserve.

Making a statement

As reported by Washington Post and Goal, they took another big step towards achieving their end goal last night as they tore through DC United with a ruthless 5-1 victory.

Philadelphia were on top in terms of shots and possession pretty much from the word go, but you could argue that isn’t even the point here – or the point of the entire game. In terms of a rundown, Alejandro Bedoya gave Philly the early 1-0 lead before Marco Fabian doubled their advantage just before the half time interval.

Kacper Przybylko made it three with Frederic Brillant pulling one back, only for Fabian to score his second and Fafa Picault to make it five in injury time. Oh, and Junior Moreno got sent off in the first half, continuing this ridiculous trend of way too many Major League Soccer stars getting sent off in games.

Above all that, though, we have to talk about the aforementioned Alejandro Bedoya. After scoring the opening goal of the game, the captain went over to the nearest microphone and made the kind of statement that we all needed to hear: “Congress, do something now. End gun violence. Let’s go!”.

Flying the flag

This comes in the wake of two devastating attacks in Dayton and El Paso, both of which claimed multiple lives. While our aim has never and will never be to get too political on this site, this kind of thing does deserve the spotlight and attention that it has been receiving over the course of the last few days.

From top to bottom, when it comes to what they’re producing on the pitch and their morals off of it, this is the best we’ve seen the Union in a long, long time. They may not be everyone’s pick to go all the way, but to be honest, they don’t really need to be. All they have to do is believe in themselves and what they stand for, and the rest will work itself out from there.

There’s still an awfully long way to go before they can declare themselves the best in the East, but if they aren’t the favourites to claim that title right now, then we aren’t really sure who is.