Philadelphia Union II’s return to action this week against RNY FC highlights just how important the MLS NEXT Pro club has become in the Union ecosystem. Since Union II last took the pitch, players that have earned most of their 2022 minutes under Head Coach Marlon LeBlanc have led the US U-20 National Team to a Concacaf title and Olympic berth, and contributed to an epic come-from-behind U-17 MLS NEXT Cup championship.
Jack McGlynn, Quinn Sullivan, Brandan Craig, and Paxten Aaronson — the latter nabbing both the Golden Ball and Golden Boot at the U-20 tournament — were breakout stars on the international stage and arrived in-form despite limited time on the pitch with the first team. Nelson Pierre and Frank Westfield, meanwhile, joined the Union U-17s as they showed the mentality Ernst Tanner demands with a three-goal second half to brush aside Columbus Crew in the MLS NEXT Cup title match.
Now some of these players will return to Union II on Thursday night as they take on a dangerous RNY FC side in Rochester, NY, and others will continue to re-join Union II’s ranks in the coming weeks.
Rochester hasn’t lost at home since April 23, and they have scored fewer than two goals in front of their home crowd only twice. LeBlanc’s Union II side’s struggles this year have come when they get too stretched to retain defensive shape, and avoiding those situations will need to be a focus with the dangerous Gibran Rayo up top. Rayo has six goals in 11 starts for RNY FC and profiles as a quick, elusive attacker. If Cole Turner or Craig return to the back line for Philly alongside Nathan Nkanji, they will need to quickly re-establish a partnership that keeps a high line and avoids giving Rayo any space to turn and attack.
Going forward, Union II will look for Bajung Darboe to break out and embrace his high ceiling as a do-everything offensive player. Darboe can finish, run by players, and physically battle in the trenches, but figuring out where and when to become a finisher versus a playmaker has been difficult for the budding talent.
One final wrinkle that both Union II and RNY FC will face on Thursday is the midyear rules changes in MLS Next Pro. The Off-field Treatment Rule now requiress players that suffer an injury and remain on the ground longer than 15 seconds to leave the match for three minutes. The Red Card Suspension Rule now requires that a player receiving a red card or a second yellow card miss the next match against the same team he was playing when the card was issued. That is, if a red card is issued on Thursday night, the player receiving it will be suspended next time these two teams face off on September 4.
This match will be the first MLS NEXT Pro match in which these rules will be active.
Philly and RNY FC face off at 7:30 p.m. ET on Thursday night, live on MLSNEXTPro.com.
