Philadelphia Union look to keep their Leagues Cup journey rolling as they welcome Liga MX side Mazatlan FC to Subaru Park on Saturday night. Catch the action starting at 7:30PM on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV!
The appearance in the marks the second straight year Philadelpia Union are into the final eight of the young tournament, joining LAFC as one of only two teams to advance that far in both years of the tournament's existence. On Saturday, they’ll host a Liga MX side for the quarterfinals again, this time hosting Mazatlán FC, a team that the Philadelphia Union has never faced before. It’s not surprising they’ve never crossed paths, though, as the club, which hails from the Pacific shoreline of Sinalo, is just four years old.
Mazatlán's 2024 Leagues Cup campaign has been a Cinderella story of sorts – they entered the tournament seeded 43rd out of 45. But after advancing out of their group, they've pushed forward, picking up a 2-1 win against D.C. United before making it out of the Round of 16 with a victorious penalty kick result against Cruz Azul.
Their journey to Chester hasn’t been an easy one, and their quarterfinal berth almost didn’t come to be when Cruz Azul overcame a two-goal deficit despite playing down a player due to a red card. Penalty kicks were their saving grace, and it all went down while Philadelphia Union battled FC Cincinnati in a similarly intense matchup.
After a scoreless first half, Philadelphia Union claimed a two goal lead by way of goals from Mikael Uhre and Tai Baribo within 10 minutes of each other. Just like Mazatlán, the Boys in Blue relinquished their lead, allowing Cincinnati to come from behind with goals from Pavel Bucho and DeAndre Yedlin. Philadelphia Union’s recent form kept them in the match, though, as they pulled ahead to reclaim the two-goal advantage within a three minute span that featured a pair of scores from Baribo for the brace, and Quinn Sullivan, who came off the bench.
Now, both sides are another step closer to earning a spot in Concacaf Champions Cup -- the winner of Leagues Cup earns an automatic berth in next season's Round of 16, while the second- and third-place teams will qualify for the group stage.
On Friday, Leon Flach reflected on his most memorable moments form competing in CCC and what it means to play on that stage.
“Every game in CCC is do or die, which honestly, I love, because that's why you play in the sport,” Flach said. “You play against the best – Club America, for example, the individual skill those players have, it's the top of the top, and you want to compete against the best every time. Every game, which I love, has different challenges. If you play games, maybe in Costa Rica or El Salvador, every game has a new challenge for you. So I think CCC is something great and I think something also under-appreciated a little bit here.”
There’s a lot on the line for both teams, and Philadelphia Union finds itself just two victories away from securing a third-consecutive berth in Concacaf Champions Cup.
For this match, however, Head Coach Jim Curtin will be slightly more limited than he's been in recent Leagues Cup fixtures when crafting his starting lineup.
During his Friday press conference, Curtin announced that defender Olivier Mbaizo would be unavailable this weekend due to the injury that forced him to leave Tuesday’s match early. He and Nate Harriel had been sharing minutes at right back since the Homegrown returned from his trip to France with Team USA for the Paris Olympics, but with Mbaizo unable to play, he’ll be first in line for the spot. As a result Philadelphia Union Academy product turned Union II signee Frankie Westfield will be on the matchday roster, bolstering the team’s defensive depth.
In his press conference, Curtin also announced that Jose Martinez will not play in Saturday’s match. While nothing official has been shared, rumors have been aplenty surrounding the 30-year-old Venezuela and an upcoming depature.
“I've mentioned it during the past couple weeks, but it's been amazing to have such a deep group for these couple games. Having said that, maybe something with Jose, and Mbaizo picked up a knock. He’ll miss tomorrow. All of a sudden, we're not thin, but thinner pretty quick,” Curtin said.
“Team health is really, really critical. Peaking at the right time is really critical. I will say, in our last six performances, our group has done an incredible job. Every player has contributed, whether it's as a starter, whether it's for 30 minutes, whether it's for one minute to close out a game. Everybody's embraced their role. But you see the fine margins in the fine lines when you maybe have a guy get transferred, or a guy gets injured, or international call ups, the squads can get thin really fast.”
While some familiar faces won’t be in Curtin’s matchday crew, he’ll welcome a new one to the mix, as recent signing Danley Jean Jacques will be available to play on Saturday.
It all goes down at Subaru Park, and should they advance, they’ll play a Semifinal match on Wednesday against the winner of Columbus Crew vs New York City FC. Catch the action on Saturday night starting at 7:30PM on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV!
