The 2025 MLS season starts this week, and it’s time to start thinking about the expectations a new season brings. For the Philadelphia Union, The past few seasons have been about punching above their weight to try to win the League. Just two seasons ago, they were minutes away from doing that before falling in penalty kicks against LAFC. Since then, Philly decided to run it back two years in a row. This led to falling short of their own expectation; they missed the playoffs for the first time in years last season, leading to the firing of longtime coach Jim Curtin and the beginning of a roster rebuild.
Now, expectations are different. Bradley Carnell is readying this team to take on Orlando to open the MLS season this coming weekend. However, the landscape of the club is different. They aren’t in as many competitions as they were when they were more successful. They aren’t in the Concacaf Champions Cup or Leagues Cup in 2025. This year, it’s just MLS and the historic US Open Cup. There’s much less competition and money up for the taking this year, which means the expectations have changed. As we look at expectations ahead of the season, there are five areas in which the Union can be assessed.
- The MLS Campaign
- The US Open Cup
- Player Development
- Coaching Tactics/Adaptability
- The overall club culture/vibes
For now, we’ll focus on the Union’s MLS expectations for 2025. We’ll discuss the other aspects in the days before the start of the season.
Philadelphia Union’s MLS Expectations
The MLS season is the Union’s main focus, and we know that Philadelphia likes to keep the main focus the same right now. The Union is rebuilding, so what are its expectations for 2025?
For any expectation, there is a baseline success, an unmitigated failure, and an overachieving success. These are the three outcomes for an expectation. Let’s examine how the Union could actualize these expectations in its 2025 MLS campaign.
Baseline Success: Make Playoffs
It’s pretty evident right now that the baseline expectation for this Philadelphia Union side is to make it to the playoffs. They failed to do so last year, and all of their efforts in MLS this season should be to make it back. The idea of winning trophies is likely not in question this year, but being able to play in the playoffs again and possibly go on a “magical run” is not out of the question.
10 teams out of the 15 in MLS’s Eastern Conference make the playoffs, so this is not shooting for the moon here. It should be expected that Philly could be one of the top 10 teams in their conference. However, if they aren’t, it may be time for changes not on the roster or in the coaching staff…
Unmitigated Failure: Miss playoffs for a 2nd season in a row
This season, the biggest failure for Philadelphia would be missing out on the MLS Cup playoffs. As mentioned, only five teams out of 15 don’t make the playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Should Philly fall anywhere between 11th and 15th place, there will be hell to pay.
We all know that the Union isn’t like other MLS teams. They tend to take a frugal approach to their team building. They don’t spend a lot on players. They like to utilize promoting players from their second team or academy to become difference makers and find diamonds in the rough to come in and be the “stars.” If this doesn’t work again, the 2025 season will be nothing but a failure.
Overachieving Success: Finish top four in the East
On the flip side, what if the 2025 Union team can do what the teams in 2020 and 2022 did? What if Philly can overachieve so much that they finish at the top of the Eastern Conference? A top-four finish would mean hosting the opening playoff series and a better chance at having home-field advantage throughout an improbable playoff run.
For this to happen, all of Philly’s new diamond-in-the-rough signings will have to hit, and young players like Cavan Sullivan and the rest of the homegrown will have to ball out. You can never say never in MLS, but this would be a massive overachievement for a new coach and a rebuilt roster. It would be the most “That’s So Union” thing ever if the 2025 Union were able to finish in the top four of the East when no one was expecting that type of finish from them.
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