On Saturday afternoon, Subaru Park will play host to another MLS Next Pro Eastern Conference Playoff game, this time a Semi-Final matchup between the Philadelphia Union II and 8th seed Crown Legacy FC.
Union II vs Crown Legacy FC preview
Union II are currently in the latter stages of an incredible and historic season that saw them finish 2nd in the Eastern Conference standings and continue their journey through the MLS Next Pro postseason after beating rivals NYCFC II 1-0 in the first-ever MLS Next Pro playoff game to be played at Subaru Park.
The game, last Sunday, was a very close a tight affair between Union II and NYCFC II, with both teams playing a very cautious game, not wanting to make any mistakes that could cost them the game. Union II had an early goal disallowed for offside but they finally got their breakthrough with about 5 minutes left to play when Neil Pierre put CJ Olney through with an unbelievable pass and Olney produced one of the best near=post finishes you’ll see to win the game for Union II.
On Tuesday, Marlon LeBlanc and his front office staff had the 1st overall pick in the Pick-Your-Opponent event and they decided to go with the 8th seed Crown Legacy FC. Crown Legacy are coming off the back of an incredible upset road win over the 1st seed FC Cincinnati 2. They found themselves 1-0 down with 10 minutes to play but managed to fight back, scoring in the 83rd and 91st minute to cause a major upset and knock the #1 seed team out. Thanks to that result in Cincinnati, the Eastern Conference Playoffs are set to run through Subaru Park as Union II are the highest seed left in the Eastern Conference side.
Crown Legacy finished 8th after the regular season and earned their 8th seed through regulation wins as a tiebreaker with Chattanooga FC. They ended the season on a very good run of form, getting at least a point from 7 of their last ten game, and scoring a lot of goals in the process. This run of form obviously continued with the upset win over FC Cincinnati 2 and Union II cannot afford to think they’ll have an easy win in store for them when they play on Saturday afternoon.
Marlon LeBlanc’s Union II faced Crown Legacy once during the regular season, and came away from the road meeting with them as 3-0 victors. The game in June was a slow starting game and really came alive in the 2nd half, with Union II grabbing all 3 goals in the 2nd half, thanks to Leandro Soria and his first MLS Next Pro goal, Frankie Westfield, and a late game killer from CJ Olney.
The game is set for a 5pm ET kickoff at Subaru Park on Saturday. Tickets are available to purchase online, and if you can’t get down to the ground then the game is available to watch on Apple TV via an active MLS Season Pass subscription.
Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
