One preseason match remains before the Union open their 2019 MLS regular season schedule at home against Toronto FC. After facing Ottawa Fury on Saturday, Jim Curtin and his squad will watch TFC play leg 2 of their CONCACAF Champions League matchup with Independiente midweek before March 2 arrives and the real show begins!
This season, Curtin and Ernst Tanner are instituting a high-tempo style of play that looks to emulate the energy and ambition of the City of Brotherly Love. The next generation of Philly talent is always pushing to make the city more innovative and exciting. With a narrow shape that protects the most dangerous areas of the pitch and workhorse fullbacks that fly up and down the flanks, the Union are engaging with cutting edge tactical ideas that have been adopted by clubs that believe teamwork can overcome individualism.
Philly is a city that believes in itself and its people, and Ernst Tanner ended 2018 by describing Jim Curtin as the type of coach that engenders that same self-belief in his players. To the ambition and heart of Ale Bedoya and Haris Medunjanin, the Union have added a young core that fears no one. Finishers like Fafa Picault -- the highest-scoring American winger in MLS over the past two seasons -- and Cory Burke are happy to show the doubters they are nowhere near their ceiling, and Marco Fabian has made it a mission turn his breathtaking talent into something that lifts the entire team toward its goals.
Get ready, Philly -- the 2019 season is almost here. You are Philly, and the Union want to represent you.
