Section 215
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Philadelphia Union: Section 215 season preview

By Chuck Booth

Feb 22, 2017; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Philadelphia Union forward Alejandro Bedoya comes out for warm up prior to a game against the Montreal Impact at Joe DiMaggio Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 22, 2017; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Philadelphia Union forward Alejandro Bedoya comes out for warm up prior to a game against the Montreal Impact at Joe DiMaggio Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports /
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Philadelphia Union
Feb 22, 2017; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Philadelphia Union head coach Jim Curtin looks on prior to a game against the Montreal Impact at Joe DiMaggio Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports /

Ricky Zellefrow – Record Predictions

The 2017 season should be a very interesting one for the Philadelphia Union with many new players brought in for the season, few losses, a first full season in MLS for Alejandro Bedoya, and a lot of young players who have looked good in their short MLS careers. The team over their 34 game campaign will face many challenges, but based on their schedule and season going forward how should they do in the upcoming season?

The best thing looking at the season is the Union have the 6th lowest strength of schedule of the 22 MLS teams according to MLSsoccer.com. The Philadelphia Union play many of the best Western Conference games at home which should strengthen their chances of beating teams such as reigning champions Seattle, top sides like FC Dallas, and the Colorado Rapids. Of the teams that the Philadelphia Union play three times (Montreal, DC United, New York Red Bulls) they get two of them twice at home.

They also have few quick turnarounds with only three midweek games, and healthy breaks for World Cup qualifiers, and the Gold Cup throughout the season. Most importantly the team looks healthy headed into the season. Barring a freak mid-season departure this year the team should look to be very consistent throughout, with much of the lineup being consistent throughout the season.

If the Philadelphia Union can start the season off on the right foot again, then that likely will not be derailed unless say Andre Blake gets sold in the summer. They also will likely continue a recent streak of strong summer pickups, and that can only mean good things at the tail end of the season. As such my prediction is that the team will go and have a record of 14-7-13 with 49 points at the end of the campaign. This would all but assure them a spot in the playoffs, and my prediction is they will finish 4th in the east. They will win a home playoff game but lose in the Conference Semi-Finals. Further, they will face off against the Colorado Rapids in Denver for the US Open Cup, winning the trophy to qualify for the Concacaf Champions’ League.

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