With the regular season now wrapped up, we look ahead to the MLS Cup Playoffs. Eighteen teams have qualified, with Wild Card games mid-week before the first round begins on the weekend. Saturday brings an intriguing Game 1 clash between the #4 Philadelphia Union and the #5 New England Revolution. This a best-of-three series, similar to playoffs in other American sports. Philly drew six of their last eight games with just one win in there, which isn’t exactly great form ahead of a hopeful title run. That included a 2-1 loss to New England last weekend. The Revs tasted defeat in three of their final four games, though. Continue reading for the Union vs Revolution picks.
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Philly is the favorite on Saturday, sitting at -147 odds. New England comes back at +340. A draw is also priced at +340 here. The total in goals sits at three. As previously mentioned, the Revs just beat the Union. Philadelphia did win three in a row against their first-round opponents, though, conceding just once in those meetings.
Philadelphia went on quite the run in last year’s playoffs, ultimately losing in the MLS Cup final. They also made the conference finals in 2021. 2023 is a chance to continue their success and potentially win it all finally, but the Union isn’t exactly in the greatest shape at the moment. Philly finished with a 15-9-10 record this term but the last month was underwhelming.
Jim Curtin’s side tallied a mere two wins since the beginning of September, settling for far too many stalemates during that span. The Union scored 57 goals on the year in 34 outings while conceding 41 times. A lot of their damage came earlier in the campaign, though. One good sign is their record at home was 10-1-6, losing a mere one time in Chester. That bodes well for the first game of this series.
Philly has quite the attacking duo in Daniel Gazdag and Julian Carranza. Both players scored 14 goals apiece and combined for 11 assists. Striker Mikael Uhre also bagged nine goals and supplied four assists in the regular season in 33 appearances. There’s no shortage of options in the final third who can produce the goods for the Union. The question remains: can they do it when it counts? We’ll have to see on Saturday.
The Revolution should believe a positive result can be secured this weekend after beating the Union last weekend to set up this first-round affair. However, that win was at home. New England tends to struggle on the road against Philly, failing to grab a single point in Chester since 2015. Games 1 and 3 (if necessary) will be in Pennslyvania.
The Revs booked their spot in the playoffs on September 23rd after missing out last season. It’s been quite the whirlwind of a season, though, with numerous coaching changes. Under Clint Peay, New England has only two wins and one draw in seven appearances. Columbus, Orlando, and Nashville all beat the Revolution before they took down Philly a few days ago. Consistency is evidently an issue for this side.
Ever since Djordje Petrovic departed for Chelsea in August, they’ve conceded multiple times in nearly every game, keeping just one clean sheet. Jacob Jackson has his work cut out for him against a vibrant Philly attack. Up top, NE relies on midfielder Carles Gil, who bagged 11 goals and contributed eight assists in 32 appearances this season. He’s arguably their most important player. Gustavo Bou and Bobby Wood both had seven goals each as well.
Philly is fantastic on home turf. I expect them to redeem themselves and take a 1-0 series lead against the Revs. Lock in the moneyline.
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