Philadelphia Union wraps up a three-game October road trip on Wednesday night with a battle against Minnesota United FC. Kick off from Allianz Field is set for 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday, October 20th. Coverage on PHL17 and PhiladelphiaUnion.com begins at 7:30 p.m. ET with Union Pre-Kick Live presented by Unibet.
The Boys in Blue roll into St. Paul riding a six match unbeaten streak and find themselves still just two points from second place in the Eastern Conference. The Union extended its unbeaten form with a 2-2 draw at CF Montreal but saw a win become a draw on the final kick of the match. After falling behind in the first half, Jim Curtin's squad turned to set piece magic to find both of their goals with Jamiro Monteiro's free kick crashing off the post and goalkeeper to tie the match at 1-1. Moments later, Kai Wagner netted his third goal of the season with a low free kick that snuck through the defense for the lead that would last until the final play of the match.
While 2021 has primarily focused on Eastern Conference competition, the midweek contest will be the second time the Union have faced off against a club from the other MLS table. The Union picked up a resounding 3-0 win over the Portland Timbers in May. Wednesday sees the Boys in Blue put another unbeaten streak on the line with the squad owning a 2-0-1 advantage against Minnesota. The series kicked off in 2017 with a 1-1 draw but the Union have claimed the last two by a combined 8-3 margin with the latest being a 3-2 win in Minnesota.
The Loons currently occupy the final playoff slot with a one-point lead over Vancouver however one point ahead would be fifth position. While Minnesota sports a 11-10-8 record, one common item spotted on their results is zero. 17 of their 29 matches have seen at least one side of the contest end scoreless with the Loons sporting a 8-7-2 record in such contests. Ironically enough six of their last eight have seen a shutout with Minnesota taking all three points half of those occurrences. Finnish midfielder Robin Lod leads the MNUFC offense with seven goals this season while playmaker Emanuel Reynoso has set up eight goals and added four goals for himself.
