Philadelphia Union's final home match of the season is shaping to be one of their most consequential this year. With a win against New York City FC, the team would clinch the 2025 Supporters' Shield, earning the opportunity to hoist a trophy in front of Union faithful at Subaru Park for the second time in club history.
With silverware on the line and a competitive Eastern Conference foe in town, the match ahead is must-see TV. It all goes down at 7:30pm on the riverfront, tune in with MLS Season Pass on Apple TV for all the action.
After Inter Miami picked up a 5-3 loss to Chicago Fire on Tuesday night, it became mathematically certain that a Union win on Saturday night would secure the Boys in Blue the Supporters' Shield with a total of 66 points.
Under the leadership of Head Coach Bradley Carnell, who took over at the helm in the offseason, the Philadelphia Union has picked up 19 wins, seven losses, and six ties so far this season -- a record that has placed them atop the entire league.
They claimed their most recent victory in dominant fashion, taking down D.C. United with a 6-0 scoreline on the road at Audi Field. Coming off a win that featured four different goal scorers and their 13th clean sheet of the year, the team is heading into Saturday's matchup with momentum, which forward Milan Iloski says is key at this stage of the season.
"You want to go into playoffs playing well and getting a big win like that, where we have a lot of different goal scorers," Iloski said after the team's Tuesday training session.
"I think it's something that's really important for a lot of guys, to feel confident and to feel like we're firing going into playoffs. We still have two regular season matches left and we're still in the shield race, so I think it's important now, going into a home match, that we feel good and that we're really positive heading in."
While the win in D.C. was an important one for their point total, it also brought about some personnel challenges that the team will face in the weeks ahead. In the 13th minute, Quinn Sullivan was forced to leave the match due to injury. The Homegrown announced on Monday that he'd torn his ACL, leaving him unable to play for the remainder of the 2025 season. Carnell also shared with the media that Jeremy Rafanello would also miss Saturday's match due to injury.
Absences aside, matches between these two sides are historically competitive, and Saturday will likely be no different with a trophy and postseason positioning on the line. For tickets to the match, click here! If you can't make it down to the riverfront, tune in with MLS Season Pass on Apple TV for all the action.
