Chester, Pa. — The Philadelphia Union have made history. The club lifted its first-ever Supporters Shield hardware on Sunday in Chester, which is on the outskirts of the major Pennsylvania city.
Philadelphia is having quite the week, to say the least.
The city was a major focal point during the 2020 presidential election over the last slew of days. In fact, the race came down to Pennsylvania, with footage of people celebrating in the streets as Joe Biden was named the 46th President of the United States making its way around the internet. Needless to say, Philadelphia will be doing more celebrating.
But, there’s still work to be done.
The Union have won the Supporters Shield for the first time in club history. However, the Union and head coach Jim Curtin want to add the MLS Cup trophy to the mantle.
With an unusual year that saw a shift of playoff format — going from points to using points per game — the Union kept quiet this year, but won matches when needed. They were in a tight competition with Toronto FC for the Supporters Shield. In fact, there was a small moment when it was stated the Supporters Shield wouldn’t be awarded.
Instead, that ruling was overturned, and now Philadelphia is lifting the hardware. We take a look at how the Union did it and what happens next.
Lift it high, @AleBedoya17 🛡 pic.twitter.com/M7bcNvYdTz
— X – Philadelphia Union (@PhilaUnion) November 8, 2020
Consistency mattered for Philadelphia Union
Consistency is often overlooked in MLS.
In a 23-game season, the Union picked up a record of 14-4-5.
From Oct. 7 until the end of the month, Philadelphia went unbeaten. It started with a victory over FC Cincinnati. Then, the train kept rolling and wins against Montreal, D.C. United, New England, Toronto and Chicago gave the Union a crop of points. The win against Toronto was the most significant, as Philadelphia ended a nine-game unbeaten streak.
Of course, the Union had some help in being awarded the Supporters Shield. Toronto — who raged about the initial decision to not award the Supporters Shield — lost on Sunday to the New York Red Bulls. Before that, though, Toronto compiled losses against Philadelphia and New York City FC.
When Toronto needed points the most, the team fell flat, albeit against tough opponents.
Philadelphia seemingly had a much taller mountain to climb this year. While the MLS returned to play in the United States with teams facing each other, Canada was off-limits due to government restrictions. The Canadian clubs played the Canadian clubs.
With all due respect, the level of the Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps isn’t the most all-time high in MLS. Yes, Montreal made the playoffs, and Vancouver fought to the very end for a spot, but there’s a major difference there.
Toronto, when playing against the Canadian clubs, won four of the six matches against the Canadian clubs. Montreal picked up one win and Vancouver picked up another win. Four wins is a total of 12 points accumulated by the Reds. Meanwhile, the Union had some tougher competition, taking on the Columbus Crew SC, Red Bulls and Revolution, to name a few.
Either way, Philadelphia remained consistent and picked up points when they needed it.
Takin' turns 🙌 pic.twitter.com/KLPxh5mT2j
— X – Philadelphia Union (@PhilaUnion) November 8, 2020
Keep the consistency and take it one match at a time
The Union have a big task ahead of them.
There’s no doubt that the Supporters Shield needs to be celebrated. It’s the first for Philadelphia since the club entered MLS play in 2010. However, the big prize is the MLS Cup title. Philadelphia has clinched the top spot in the Eastern Conference and will have a home playoff match against the lower-seeded play-in match winner.
So, Philadelphia gets a chance to sit back for an extra week and watch Nashville and Miami, along with New England and Montreal, duke it out.
Then, as we know so far, if the Union would win their first playoff match, they would either take on Orlando City SC or New York City FC.
