Union to provide "difficult test" for Revs in latest head-to-head showdown

It’s not often you see two MLS clubs fighting off in the first round of the league playoffs, just one week after squaring off in a regular season finale, but the Philadelphia Union and New England Revolution will be doing just that this weekend.

The Union welcome the Revs to Subaru Park on Saturday (5 p.m. ET) for the first of their potential Best-of-3 matches to kick off the postseason. It will be the first playoff showdown between the two Eastern Conference clubs since 2020, a result that went in the Revs favor by a 2-0 scoreline.

Revs captain and star playmaker Carles Gil was part of that upset result for New England, assisting on both goals as Bruce Arena’s squad knocked off the then-Supporters’ Shield winners.

Gil has remained a key piece of the Revs squad once again in 2023 and although New England just defeated the Union 2-1 on Decision Day, the veteran midfielder expects a tough series of matches.

 “It’s a team that we know very well,” Gil said Thursday in a pre-match press conference about the Union. “We’ve had many games [against Philadelphia] during the last three years. I think it’s a team that normally they play with a diamond, with two strikers, very good players up top with mobility. It’s always hard to play in [Subaru Park]. It will be difficult but we’re ready for a win.”

The Union and Revs split their two regular season matchups in 2023, with Jim Curtin’s squad claiming a 3-0 home victory back in May. However, a sloppy 2-1 road loss to the Revs on Decision Day proceeded to drop the Union into the No. 4 seed heading into the MLS Cup Playoffs.

Philadelphia has only lost one of their last eight matches in league play, continuing to be one of the more consistent teams in MLS heading into the playoffs. Gil and the Revs will be confident after defeating the Union recently, but overall know what to expect in Chester on Saturday night.

“I think playoffs are always different,” Gil said. “Also, it’s not just one game. We need to be back here and maybe a third game. It will be different. It will be very hard, but we had the experience of playing there in the playoffs [in 2020] and we had a very good result. They know that we’re a difficult team. For sure, they’ll be ready and us too.”

“It will be difficult,” he added. “Like I said, it’s been many years playing like this. [They have] five, six, seven players playing many years there. So obviously, it’s a very good team. They have very good chemistry between them. But, like I said, we know them, we know the way to try to win the game. I think Philly’s a team that if you’re not focused for one, two, three minutes, they’ll win the game. So, we need to be focused and we’ll have a chance.”