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PST SPECIAL: The 2025 Philadelphia Union Are In The Playoffs! · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:26
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest
0:29
Speaker 1: running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world, over
0:31
Speaker 1: twelve and a half years strong. We've got a PST
0:34
Speaker 1: special podcast for you this week. You know why, folks,
0:37
Speaker 1: some people don't actually realize that there is a team
0:40
Speaker 1: here in the Philadelphia region that is doing some good
0:43
Speaker 1: things and that is the Philadelphia Union. They are in
0:45
Speaker 1: the playoffs, the top team in Major League Soccer this
0:49
Speaker 1: past season here in twenty twenty five. And to dive
0:53
Speaker 1: into what the playoffs are going to look like for
0:55
Speaker 1: this team and what they have looked like with you know,
0:58
Speaker 1: this first series with Chicago. We've got our good friend
1:01
Speaker 1: Josh Schuster, our buddy from Philadelphia.
1:03
Speaker 2: Soccernow dot com.
1:05
Speaker 1: Always love talking to him, always love having him on,
1:07
Speaker 1: Josh Man, thanks so much for joining us here, and
1:09
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a great conversation anytime.
1:12
Speaker 2: Jeff.
1:12
Speaker 3: It's nice to have one team in Philadelphia that has
1:17
Speaker 3: far exceeded expectations from the beginning of the season.
1:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, so Sixers too, my friend. I mean, for you.
1:26
Speaker 3: Watch that game last night and yeah, the overtime, like
1:30
Speaker 3: it was just wild. Yes, both both Philly teams went
1:33
Speaker 3: to overtime in won yesterday.
1:34
Speaker 2: So that's good, y, yep, absolutely all right.
1:36
Speaker 1: Well, let's get into what we're going to be seeing
1:39
Speaker 1: here from this Philadelphia Union team throughout this playoff. Hopefully
1:44
Speaker 1: a playoff run to the championship. I mean, obviously, at
1:46
Speaker 1: the end of the day, that is the goal. But
1:49
Speaker 1: I guess before we get there, let's reflect on this
1:52
Speaker 1: season first here, Josh, before really diving into the playoffs.
1:56
Speaker 1: I mean, this is a team that now is a
1:58
Speaker 1: club record twenty wins, thirty five goals allowed, and the
2:02
Speaker 1: best overall record across Major League Soccer, that won the
2:06
Speaker 1: Supporters Shield, and the energy from the fans and the
2:10
Speaker 1: city overall leads me to believe that this team really
2:13
Speaker 1: can go deep into the playoffs and possibly win that championship.
2:17
Speaker 1: You know, the hope, the hope that was not present
2:20
Speaker 1: at all last year. That hope is now front and
2:24
Speaker 1: center when it comes to the Union, when it comes
2:26
Speaker 1: to the fan base. So I'm gonna talk about your
2:28
Speaker 1: thoughts on you know, what this season meant to us
2:32
Speaker 1: Union fans, the organization as well. What are your thoughts
2:36
Speaker 1: when you reflect on this season.
2:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think this has been a just miraculous season. Yeah,
2:46
Speaker 3: now has done a phenomenal job. I think one of
2:49
Speaker 3: the biggest things that was a problem last year that
2:52
Speaker 3: really haunted the union that Union supporters were not used
2:57
Speaker 3: to is the defense. Defense was just horrible at times
3:03
Speaker 3: last year. Yes, and so what Carnell did, including moving
3:08
Speaker 3: some pieces out, one of which being Elliott who is
3:11
Speaker 3: now on Chicago and scored in the first game. He
3:16
Speaker 3: really I'll talk about it a little bit later. What
3:21
Speaker 3: I call his system is more of a patiently aggressive
3:25
Speaker 3: and it sounds like it doesn't go together. And I'll
3:27
Speaker 3: explain it in a little bit here with one of
3:30
Speaker 3: the other questions. But he's really created this system where
3:36
Speaker 3: I guess in a sense, he's kind of reminded the
3:38
Speaker 3: players that they function together as a unit. And that
3:41
Speaker 3: sounds crazy to say, but I think what was happening
3:43
Speaker 3: under Jim Curtin in his final final year was the
3:49
Speaker 3: players had just gotten so used to each other sometimes,
3:54
Speaker 3: Like you look at the Eagles offensive line, like I
3:57
Speaker 3: try to compare Union talk to when you understand, So
4:02
Speaker 3: the Eagles offensive line is struggling this year, right, I
4:06
Speaker 3: feel like that's a fair assessment because they've lost so
4:08
Speaker 3: much consistency. The Eagles had a good form of consistency.
4:13
Speaker 3: The problem is sometimes what happens is when you have
4:16
Speaker 3: the same players playing the same system year after year
4:20
Speaker 3: after year, complacency begins the set in. And I really
4:23
Speaker 3: think that's what happened. And I think they didn't move
4:25
Speaker 3: a whole lot out from the defensive end, but what
4:31
Speaker 3: they did was I think Carnell really helped them realize
4:35
Speaker 3: the idea of functioning together as a back line, and
4:38
Speaker 3: that's probably one of the biggest reasons why they are here.
4:43
Speaker 2: On top of.
4:45
Speaker 3: Tyber Ebo is something special. He had a really great
4:49
Speaker 3: start to the season, then he got stuck in Israel
4:52
Speaker 3: for a little bit, but just his presence on the
4:56
Speaker 3: pitch really helps free things up, and Carnell has been
5:00
Speaker 3: able to tap into that. Yeah, that's one of the
5:02
Speaker 3: biggest issues with Jim Curtin that I had in the
5:05
Speaker 3: final year. He was so determined to make mikel Ula
5:09
Speaker 3: work and we'll get into that in a little bit.
5:12
Speaker 3: He was afraid to play Typerribo. Baribo is obviously the
5:17
Speaker 3: better player, and Cornell has had no problem doing that right.
5:21
Speaker 1: And I think at the end of the day, too,
5:22
Speaker 1: what you see with Cornell is he's just he's catering
5:24
Speaker 1: to his players strength. And while it sounds like common sense,
5:28
Speaker 1: we see it in football as well. You know, you
5:30
Speaker 1: see coaches who just get so entrenched in their system
5:34
Speaker 1: that they can't see the talent that's in front of
5:35
Speaker 1: them and they try to change what players can do
5:37
Speaker 1: from a talent perspective. Doesn't work all the time like that,
5:40
Speaker 1: It really doesn't. You have to cater to a player's strength,
5:44
Speaker 1: and Carnell's really been able to do that this season.
5:47
Speaker 1: It's been pretty phenomenal to watch. So as we as
5:51
Speaker 1: we're as we're diving into the playoffs here this MLS
5:54
Speaker 1: playoffs with the Union, let's talk about the strengths and
5:57
Speaker 1: weaknesses of this Union team. Let's start off first here, Josh,
6:01
Speaker 1: what's the biggest strength of the Union as the playoffs
6:05
Speaker 1: have started? And then well then we'll get into the weakness.
6:07
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts here?
6:09
Speaker 3: So, to me, there's really two huge strengths that the
6:12
Speaker 3: Union have. The first is that system that I talked
6:15
Speaker 3: about where it's patiently aggressive. Yeah, the Union are okay
6:19
Speaker 3: with not having the advantage in possession. Possession is one
6:24
Speaker 3: of those stats in soccer, that doesn't necessarily mean a
6:29
Speaker 3: hill of beans. Like sometimes you can look at it.
6:31
Speaker 3: It's kind of like what I would say the old
6:32
Speaker 3: school quarterback rating is, yeah, the one point fifty eight
6:36
Speaker 3: point three rating system. You know, a quarterback can go
6:40
Speaker 3: off in the fourth quarter because they're down by a
6:42
Speaker 3: ton and have this incredible passer rating, but it doesn't
6:45
Speaker 3: mean anything because they played a horrible majority of the game. Yes, yeah,
6:49
Speaker 3: Possessions kind of that way in soccer. Right, if you
6:53
Speaker 3: are leading, you're probably going to have more possession by
6:57
Speaker 3: the end of the match, simply because normally you go
7:01
Speaker 3: into prevent defense in soccer as well, and so the
7:04
Speaker 3: other team has the ball more the team that's trailing.
7:07
Speaker 3: Carnell has been okay with sacrificing possession, but to make
7:12
Speaker 3: sure that people are aligned where they should be and
7:15
Speaker 3: they don't miss on their opportunities to be aggressive, like
7:18
Speaker 3: if he sees a weakness. It is very clear from
7:21
Speaker 3: kickoff that Carnell has done his homework. They kind of
7:26
Speaker 3: play a little bit to just kind of see the
7:28
Speaker 3: formations that the opposition is going to be running. But
7:32
Speaker 3: then what he does is he very clearly has a
7:35
Speaker 3: plan of attack, and he executes that plan of attack,
7:37
Speaker 3: but he's not afraid to change. He even changes formations
7:41
Speaker 3: mid match, which is something that is really nice to see.
7:45
Speaker 3: Jim Curtin had a set system. That set system won
7:48
Speaker 3: a lot of matches here in Philadelphia, and so I'm
7:50
Speaker 3: not going to criticize that system. But in terms of flexibility,
7:54
Speaker 3: whenever we saw that Curtin was rolling out a different lineup,
7:58
Speaker 3: it was just complete or shock, like, oh my gosh,
8:02
Speaker 3: look at this. It's not so much that way with Carnell,
8:05
Speaker 3: and I think part of it is I think he
8:07
Speaker 3: spent time talking with his players, finding out what they
8:09
Speaker 3: feel comfortable running, and so he did it that way.
8:13
Speaker 3: I would say the other biggest strength that the Union
8:16
Speaker 3: have is they can score. We had spent a lot
8:21
Speaker 3: of time talking before the season started and kind of
8:24
Speaker 3: a quarder point check in who in the world is
8:27
Speaker 3: going to score? Well, they've brought in some new midfielders,
8:30
Speaker 3: They've spent some money, not much, but they did spend
8:34
Speaker 3: some money, and there really has been this youth movement.
8:38
Speaker 3: And what Carnell's system has done is rather than wanting
8:43
Speaker 3: the amazing gleasoness goals from the back, end or Kaile Wagner,
8:49
Speaker 3: you know, scoring a miraculous goal. They've really left the
8:54
Speaker 3: scoring responsibilities to the midfield and the forwards. And it
8:58
Speaker 3: sounds simple, but that's really what you want. You don't
9:01
Speaker 3: want to be relying on miracle goals from your defensive
9:06
Speaker 3: line in order to win games.
9:07
Speaker 2: Yes, and they create goals.
9:10
Speaker 3: Of the year and that's amazing and that's great, but
9:13
Speaker 3: the likelihood of them working is so minimal, yes, and
9:18
Speaker 3: so I would say just their biggest strength is people.
9:24
Speaker 3: The players have bought into this system. Absolutely, they are
9:27
Speaker 3: okay with playing their role, including sacrificing maybe some personal statistics. Right,
9:33
Speaker 3: what's the opposite of AJ Brown?
9:37
Speaker 1: We'll get an AJ at some point here on this
9:39
Speaker 1: podcast platform, probably this week. Well, I'm on the flip
9:42
Speaker 1: side of that though, when it comes to the weaknesses
9:45
Speaker 1: on this team, because again, not every MLS team is perfect.
9:47
Speaker 1: This team is certainly not perfect. We've seen some imperfections
9:50
Speaker 1: of course here and they are given this season. But
9:52
Speaker 1: what is that. What's the biggest weakness do you think.
9:55
Speaker 3: Jeff, I'm going to be honest, I don't really think
9:58
Speaker 3: the Union have one. Okay, So as long as they
10:00
Speaker 3: say inside of Carnell's system. If you look at the
10:04
Speaker 3: first match from this playoffs, yep, I had text you.
10:11
Speaker 3: You may get a Josh that goes off. They just
10:16
Speaker 3: in the last fifteen minutes of that match. I I
10:20
Speaker 3: don't know what happened. It's like they completely forgot how
10:23
Speaker 3: to play soccer. Yeah, and they do have those momentary lapses,
10:29
Speaker 3: I don't think. I think part of the reason why
10:32
Speaker 3: my answer is the way that it is is that
10:33
Speaker 3: there were so many questions going into the season. What
10:36
Speaker 3: is the defense going to look like, who in the
10:38
Speaker 3: world is going to play midfield? You know, where's the
10:41
Speaker 3: scoring going to come from? All three of those questions
10:43
Speaker 3: have really been answered by now, and so I think
10:46
Speaker 3: if we're looking at it in terms of kind of
10:49
Speaker 3: like a semi recap slash playoff preview, I don't know
10:52
Speaker 3: that we really have many weaknesses.
10:56
Speaker 1: My initial yeah, I mean, my initial thought was, and
10:59
Speaker 1: I don't even know if we can say this at
11:00
Speaker 1: this point, was that the lack of depth at certain
11:04
Speaker 1: positions and certain aspects of the team could be exposed.
11:08
Speaker 1: But I don't even know if we'd be able to
11:10
Speaker 1: consider that is a weakness because like the Dell has
11:14
Speaker 1: been there.
11:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I had alluded to this probably about the
11:19
Speaker 3: halfway point of the season. One of the biggest changes
11:21
Speaker 3: from curtain to Carnell is Carnell has no problem playing
11:27
Speaker 3: a variety of different players, like he has his quote
11:30
Speaker 3: unquote guys, but like he has no problem using system kids. Yeah,
11:34
Speaker 3: and so they've played a number of important matches already
11:39
Speaker 3: this season, so I don't think the playoff moment is
11:42
Speaker 3: too big. But again, that was one of that was
11:44
Speaker 3: the fourth question we had. What are they going to
11:46
Speaker 3: do depth wise?
11:46
Speaker 2: Right?
11:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, yes, they don't really have enough players to fill out, right,
11:50
Speaker 3: I mean they do, but in terms of can they
11:52
Speaker 3: actually play in the MLS, we don't know, right, So yeah,
11:56
Speaker 3: I don't really know that I would consider that a
11:58
Speaker 3: weakness either. I think the kids are ready for the moment.
12:01
Speaker 1: All right, very good. Well let's get into this current
12:03
Speaker 1: series here. The Union are up one to nothing in
12:07
Speaker 1: the in a best of three series against the Chicago Fire.
12:10
Speaker 1: And I guess it's another two part question here, Josh,
12:13
Speaker 1: is you know, there are certainly frustrating aspects of the game,
12:18
Speaker 1: Like you mentioned, you know that last fifteen minutes of
12:20
Speaker 1: the game, it's like my gosh, did these guys forget how.
12:22
Speaker 2: To play soccer? Here? You know?
12:24
Speaker 1: So as we dissect the union right now at this
12:27
Speaker 1: particular moment, as we're recording this on Wednesday, October twenty ninth,
12:31
Speaker 1: what was the most frustrating aspect of game one when
12:35
Speaker 1: dissecting what you saw from them? And then we'll get
12:37
Speaker 1: into like what the best part of the team was.
12:40
Speaker 1: So let's talk about the frustrating aspects of this.
12:44
Speaker 3: For me, I think it's watching a team that was
12:48
Speaker 3: dominating most of most of the match, yeah, to then
12:52
Speaker 3: just completely forget how to play soccer. And I really
12:58
Speaker 3: don't like the MLS postseason format. I think they have
13:03
Speaker 3: tried to americanize it too much. Separate conversation, So I already,
13:07
Speaker 3: like going in, am a little frustrated with the MLS system.
13:11
Speaker 3: I hate that there's no extra time, there's no separate
13:16
Speaker 3: extra period before going to shootout. I think that is
13:19
Speaker 3: just it's a horrible idea anyway outside of the MLS
13:24
Speaker 3: format or I just think going from complete domination to
13:30
Speaker 3: just forgetting altogether. I think they thought they had it
13:33
Speaker 3: in the bag.
13:34
Speaker 2: That's what I think.
13:35
Speaker 1: Yep, yep, all right, Well, what then is the best part,
13:39
Speaker 1: the best aspect of this team. I think you've touched
13:41
Speaker 1: on it, probably, but give it to us again here.
13:46
Speaker 3: I'm actually going to go a different direction, and I
13:48
Speaker 3: would just say the fact that the matches are on
13:51
Speaker 3: regular television. You don't have to have an Apple I
13:56
Speaker 3: think that's one of the worst moves that MLS has done.
13:58
Speaker 3: If you're trying to grow the sport, I don't understand
14:02
Speaker 3: how taking it out of the markets you currently have
14:04
Speaker 3: to put it on a specific platform helping you grow
14:07
Speaker 3: the sport.
14:08
Speaker 2: Yeah.
14:08
Speaker 3: I get that. Part of that is how messy is
14:11
Speaker 3: in Miami. I get it, and I think globally they
14:15
Speaker 3: could have the Apple option. But I just the Union
14:19
Speaker 3: used to be on basic cable, yeah, every match, Yeah,
14:23
Speaker 3: and then they took that off, and so I think
14:27
Speaker 3: one of the best things is that you are able
14:29
Speaker 3: to watch playoff soccer and not have to have a subscription.
14:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, sounds good. Well, folks, we are going
14:38
Speaker 1: to take a break really quick. But first and foremost,
14:42
Speaker 1: like and subscribe. If you are watching us on YouTube,
14:46
Speaker 1: you can also hit the bell to be notified and
14:48
Speaker 1: we post new videos here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
14:50
Speaker 1: podcast show. We're on various social media sites as well.
14:53
Speaker 1: You can follow us on Instagram. I'm over there at
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Speaker 1: mister Jeff Warren. I'm also on TikTok at mister Jeff
14:59
Speaker 1: Warren as well. We're on the Twitter slash x. Just
15:02
Speaker 1: search out the Philadelphia Sports Table and follow us on
15:05
Speaker 1: various social media sites. Josh, Buddy, I know you're over
15:08
Speaker 1: on the Twitter slash x at fly Guy Josh ninety
15:12
Speaker 1: one and again Philadelphia soccernow dot com.
15:15
Speaker 2: You have anything else you want to promo?
15:18
Speaker 3: No, not necessarily. The only thing I'll say is if
15:21
Speaker 3: you can donate to your local food banks. They desperately
15:24
Speaker 3: need it, yes, and so please when you are out
15:27
Speaker 3: grocery shopping, pick up a couple extra items. You can
15:31
Speaker 3: drop them off at local churches, I'm sure and they
15:34
Speaker 3: will use them and local food banks. We need to
15:37
Speaker 3: be good people.
15:38
Speaker 1: Other nonprofits take care of each other, yep, other nonprofits
15:41
Speaker 1: as well. Pull back the curtain. Josh and I were
15:44
Speaker 1: talking about some food and security stuff before we hit
15:47
Speaker 1: the record button. And I know we're talking Philadelphia Union
15:50
Speaker 1: and Philly Sports here, but it's an important time right
15:53
Speaker 1: now for a lot of folks, and it's a sad
15:57
Speaker 1: time for some folks. It's an uneasy time for folks
16:00
Speaker 1: out there. Whether you're listening to this podcast, know of anybody,
16:03
Speaker 1: make some food donations out there, folks. It really will
16:06
Speaker 1: make a difference in the lives of folks. So we
16:07
Speaker 1: are going to take a break and we get back.
16:09
Speaker 1: We got more Union talk coming your way. All right,
16:13
Speaker 1: we are back with our good buddy Josh Schuster from
16:15
Speaker 1: Philadelphia soccernow dot com to talk about this Philadelphia Union
16:19
Speaker 1: team that's in the playoffs here. And look, Josh, I
16:22
Speaker 1: think the Union are going to advance. They can advance.
16:26
Speaker 1: I think this coming Saturday second game against the Chicago Fire,
16:31
Speaker 1: I expect them to win this series, whether it is
16:34
Speaker 1: this Saturday or if it's Game three. This is a
16:37
Speaker 1: team that I think when you look at the pressure
16:40
Speaker 1: that they have faced various moments of the season, you know,
16:43
Speaker 1: on the field during in game moments and situations, they've
16:48
Speaker 1: they've been resilient, they've met those moments. How have you
16:52
Speaker 1: seen members of this team really handle that pressure And
16:54
Speaker 1: how might that pressure and how they handle it reflect
16:58
Speaker 1: in a playoff run here.
17:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, So the Union are this interesting team and one
17:04
Speaker 3: of the big advantages that I would give them is
17:06
Speaker 3: they are a balance of youth and veteran leadership. And
17:10
Speaker 3: so you have people like Badoya, you have people like Blake,
17:15
Speaker 3: you have people like kai Wagner. You have these individuals,
17:18
Speaker 3: and there's there's others as well. Yeah, who have been
17:21
Speaker 3: there when the Union made the last trip to the
17:25
Speaker 3: MLS Cup, who have been a part of a culture
17:28
Speaker 3: of winning here in Philadelphia. But you also have a
17:32
Speaker 3: number of i'll call them academy kids that are no
17:36
Speaker 3: longer really academy kids. You have Sullivan and different things
17:40
Speaker 3: like that, and they've they've gone through the system, but
17:43
Speaker 3: they also have some leadership, and so I think they
17:47
Speaker 3: have this really great balance in terms of One of
17:51
Speaker 3: the most encouraging things this year is I was all
17:54
Speaker 3: for bringing Beadoya back. I think they needed a little
17:56
Speaker 3: bit of leadership, the fact that he has a bit
18:01
Speaker 3: of a front office role. What I really liked seeing
18:05
Speaker 3: was last year they were so reliant on be Douya's leadership.
18:08
Speaker 3: I talked about the fact that he was an extension
18:11
Speaker 3: of Jim Curtin's coaching right, Yep. It was really encouraging
18:16
Speaker 3: to see things like Sullivan going over to some of
18:18
Speaker 3: the young kids, not just his brother, but you had
18:21
Speaker 3: Wagner who was willing to talk with some of the
18:25
Speaker 3: defensive players and some of these prospects when they came on.
18:28
Speaker 3: They had younger individuals that went over and talked to them.
18:33
Speaker 3: Rick who was fantastic and maybe that'll be an off
18:36
Speaker 3: season conversation. Rick the backup keeper who played a phenomenal
18:41
Speaker 3: season when Andre Blake was out watching Andre Blake really
18:45
Speaker 3: kind of mentor him, teach him all of these things.
18:48
Speaker 3: It was just great to see so many different people.
18:50
Speaker 3: And so in terms of resilience, I think the biggest
18:53
Speaker 3: answer is they never got down and they used each
18:57
Speaker 3: moment as a teaching moment. And I don't know that
19:02
Speaker 3: you see that from a lot of teams. A lot
19:03
Speaker 3: of teams they give up a touchdown, a goal, whatever
19:06
Speaker 3: it might be, and they throw their arms up, they
19:08
Speaker 3: get frustrated, they're pointing, they're blaming. There wasn't a whole
19:11
Speaker 3: lot of that this year. Yeah, it was more of
19:13
Speaker 3: let's use this as a teaching moment right now. And
19:16
Speaker 3: that's where I think a lot of their resilience came from.
19:18
Speaker 1: And I think as fans too, we love seeing that
19:20
Speaker 1: We love seeing those stories where the depth steps up.
19:23
Speaker 2: Again.
19:24
Speaker 1: You know, sometimes we correlate, you know, other sports. You know,
19:26
Speaker 1: when we're talking about soccer, we're talking about the Union.
19:29
Speaker 1: You know, you go back to the Eagles first Super
19:31
Speaker 1: Bowl win in that run, the resilience, the injuries on
19:33
Speaker 1: the team leading up to that playoff run. The team
19:37
Speaker 1: was resilient, The storylines were fantastic, and we see it
19:40
Speaker 1: time and time again with various sports and various storylines.
19:43
Speaker 1: So I love that answer. I think it's a great answer,
19:46
Speaker 1: and we need to keep that in mind, folks, for
19:49
Speaker 1: this Union team as they are moving forward, and not
19:51
Speaker 1: just with regard to the playoffs, but what that's going
19:54
Speaker 1: to mean for this team from a long term perspective.
19:57
Speaker 1: If that's the attitude, if that's the if that's the
19:59
Speaker 1: man of what this Union team is going to be
20:02
Speaker 1: in the future, good things are going to happen from
20:04
Speaker 1: a long term perspective. So that said, again, like I
20:08
Speaker 1: mentioned before, you know, we're not always going to see
20:09
Speaker 1: perfect soccer from this team. And even though record wise
20:13
Speaker 1: they're you know, best best team in Major League soccer,
20:16
Speaker 1: where does this group of players Josh really need to
20:19
Speaker 1: focus If they're going to continue to run through the
20:22
Speaker 1: playoffs like we think and hope that they will. You know,
20:25
Speaker 1: what's that one focal point that they're really going to
20:27
Speaker 1: need to hone in on.
20:31
Speaker 3: I know this is a totally Philadelphia answer.
20:34
Speaker 2: I love it. But whatever it is.
20:36
Speaker 3: They need they got to keep. They need to bring
20:39
Speaker 3: out the dog masks.
20:41
Speaker 2: Yeah.
20:41
Speaker 3: Oh, we need to remember that nobody picked them to
20:45
Speaker 3: do anything this year. Yes, and keep rolling with that
20:48
Speaker 3: underdog mentality. It doesn't matter what sport it is. When
20:52
Speaker 3: you are perceived as underdogs, you play with a certain
20:56
Speaker 3: edge because you have nothing to lose.
20:58
Speaker 2: Yep.
20:58
Speaker 3: And it's great that the Union won the Supporter Shield, which,
21:01
Speaker 3: by the way, is the only trophy in sports that
21:04
Speaker 3: is designed for the fans right just for it. Like
21:07
Speaker 3: the Stanley Cup is cool, yeah, and it's probably the
21:09
Speaker 3: most iconic trophy, but the Supporter Shield is designed for
21:13
Speaker 3: the fans, yep. And the fans are the ones that
21:16
Speaker 3: get to celebrate with it in different like it's really
21:18
Speaker 3: a neat thing anyway. You can read up about it.
21:20
Speaker 3: But anyway, I really think that despite getting the Supporter Shield,
21:25
Speaker 3: they really need to focus in on the fact that
21:27
Speaker 3: they are underdogs and that no one including Philadelphia believed
21:31
Speaker 3: in them, and that they really have a chance to
21:33
Speaker 3: do something special and create this amazing, almost magical season.
21:39
Speaker 1: It's so bizarre to think in that way that they
21:42
Speaker 1: are underdogs again. Having the best record in Major League Soccer.
21:47
Speaker 1: You wouldn't think that they would need to have that
21:50
Speaker 1: mentality if they're going to get through the playoffs.
21:52
Speaker 2: But here we are.
21:54
Speaker 1: Here we are my gosh, all right, well, buddy, before
21:57
Speaker 1: I let you go, and you've really touched on them
21:59
Speaker 1: by I think it's appropriate to end our discussion about
22:03
Speaker 1: this head coach and Bradley Carnell and the wonders he
22:06
Speaker 1: has done with this team as his you know, first
22:10
Speaker 1: season with the Union.
22:12
Speaker 2: I mean, never in a million.
22:13
Speaker 1: Years, and we've said it how many times here, Never
22:15
Speaker 1: in a million years did we think that the Union
22:17
Speaker 1: would get to this point in his first year with
22:19
Speaker 1: the talent that we had a lot of questions about.
22:23
Speaker 1: Talk about what you've really liked from Carnell, maybe even
22:26
Speaker 1: more because I know you you dove into it earlier,
22:29
Speaker 1: just about his adaptability, and I think that is key
22:33
Speaker 1: to what he has brought to the table for this
22:36
Speaker 1: for this soccer team, maybe what you've liked, what you
22:40
Speaker 1: haven't liked maybe, and his overall coaching presence and what
22:43
Speaker 1: that's really meant.
22:46
Speaker 3: Well, I'll start with what I don't like, which is nothing.
22:51
Speaker 3: I don't think that he's perfect. He's perfect right now? Yes, yes, absolutely, yes,
22:58
Speaker 3: I have a hard time. So this is where I'm
23:02
Speaker 3: going to kind of look at the MLS. Okay, and
23:04
Speaker 3: I'm going to say, I get that there's a coach
23:06
Speaker 3: that's brought an expansion team into the playoffs, and that's cool,
23:10
Speaker 3: But I think this is not me having Union colored glasses.
23:16
Speaker 3: I think you really need to look at the state
23:19
Speaker 3: of what the Union were in last year. They had
23:22
Speaker 3: to fire one of the most respected coaches in all
23:25
Speaker 3: of MLS. It looked like they were an aging team
23:28
Speaker 3: that sold off players, and it looked like Carnell was
23:33
Speaker 3: coming in for this long term rebuild and he wound
23:36
Speaker 3: up winning the Supporter Shield. I don't know like what else, right, Like,
23:44
Speaker 3: even the expansion team has years to kind of plan
23:49
Speaker 3: and build, Carnell doesn't have that, right, he has months,
23:52
Speaker 3: and the Union notoriously don't spend money, right, So the
23:58
Speaker 3: fact that they got the fact that they got someone literally,
24:02
Speaker 3: anyone other than you know, Jim Bob sitting in section one, p.
24:05
Speaker 3: Thirty three to manage this team is amazing. And so
24:11
Speaker 3: and I think Carnell really wants to be here. I
24:14
Speaker 3: don't think he views this job as a stepping stone.
24:18
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, yeah, like a templehead coaching position, right, that's
24:24
Speaker 3: a stepping stone job, right like. And that's how I
24:28
Speaker 3: had kind of accepted the fact that this is what
24:31
Speaker 3: the Union job is going to be. You're either going
24:33
Speaker 3: to be good enough that you take another job, or
24:36
Speaker 3: it's just going to be a carousel of coaches. I
24:40
Speaker 3: like Carnell never makes it about him. If you go
24:44
Speaker 3: back and watch interviews. I mean, the media has tried
24:50
Speaker 3: to get him to talk about the job he's done,
24:53
Speaker 3: and he never wants to talk about it. He wants
24:56
Speaker 3: to talk about the fans, and he wants to talk
24:59
Speaker 3: about the players in the locker room. And so I
25:04
Speaker 3: think he was really smart in following Jim Curtin's lead
25:08
Speaker 3: that way, because Jim Curtin was the same way. He
25:10
Speaker 3: never he took all of the blame and he never
25:14
Speaker 3: accepted any of the praise. He always pointed it towards
25:17
Speaker 3: other people and I think that's good leadership. I think
25:19
Speaker 3: the good leader does. But Carnell has a little bit
25:26
Speaker 3: more energy than Curtin on the sidelines. And one of
25:30
Speaker 3: the things that would drive me crazy about Jim Curtin
25:33
Speaker 3: was he was so I want to use the word
25:36
Speaker 3: emotionless for the most part, that it would drive you crazy.
25:41
Speaker 3: I don't want to make siani, but I do want
25:46
Speaker 3: a little bit of emotion, and I think Carnell gives
25:49
Speaker 3: you that and the players can feed off that.
25:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great way to end this PST special
25:55
Speaker 1: podcast as the Philadelphia Union are going to be walking
25:59
Speaker 1: hopefully I should say hopefully walking through this MLS playoff.
26:03
Speaker 1: Picture here Josh Schuster our good friend from Philadelphia soccernow
26:08
Speaker 1: dot com.
26:08
Speaker 2: Folks.
26:08
Speaker 1: They do a lot of great postgame content over there,
26:11
Speaker 1: some pregame content as well at Philadelphia soccernow dot com.
26:15
Speaker 1: Check out everything over there on that great website. My friend,
26:18
Speaker 1: always great talking to you. Who knows we may be
26:21
Speaker 1: talking soon after an Eagles game. You're always so good
26:23
Speaker 1: to come on when the guys are unable to join
26:25
Speaker 1: us for the Eagles postgame shows. But man, it's always
26:29
Speaker 1: great talking to you. Thanks so much for your insights
26:31
Speaker 1: with the Union and hope to talk to you soon.
26:33
Speaker 1: My friend sounds good Jeff anytime, and that's going to
26:38
Speaker 1: do it for us this week. Make sure to share
26:40
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show with your friends and
26:43
Speaker 1: family members who may be Philly sports fans. You can
26:45
Speaker 1: always head on over to Philadelphia Sports Table dot com
26:48
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26:51
Speaker 1: platform on your device.
26:53
Speaker 2: We appreciate our guests taking the time to join.
26:56
Speaker 1: Us every week to help make this podcast happen and
26:59
Speaker 1: to give us great content, and ultimately we appreciate you.
27:03
Speaker 1: Take care and have a great week, and we'll catch
27:05
Speaker 1: you next time.