MLS Supporters’ Shield race: LAFC and Philadelphia Union demonstrate contrast in styles for pursuing success
MLS Supporters’ Shield race: LAFC and Philadelphia Union demonstrate contrast in styles for pursuing success. With two games left in the MLS season, the Philadelphia Union and Los Angeles FC, both on opposite coasts, sit atop the Supporters’ Shield standings.
In the event of tie-in points, LAFC would have the upper hand thanks to their 20 wins versus the Union’s 18, as goal differential is the secondary tiebreaker in Major League Soccer (MLS) rather than the primary one.
With Jim Curtin at the helm, the Philadelphia Union boasts the second-longest tenured coaching staff in the league (behind Peter Vermes of Sporting Kansas City).
It is while Steve Cherundolo is currently in his first head coaching position after holding youth and assistant coaching positions in Germany and supervising Los Angeles’ USL Championship affiliate, the Las Vegas Lights.
Bod Bradley
Cherundolo has done a fantastic job of guiding the ship after Bob Bradley, especially considering the caliber of the Hollywood A-listers he is responsible for.
Curtin’s team is more low-key and efficient when under the radar, or at least that’s how it was viewed until their 7-0 thrashing of D.C. United on July 8.
Now, attacking midfielder Daniel Gazdag is in the thick of the competition for the Golden Boot and Most Valuable Player, goalkeeper Andre Blake leads the league in clean sheets as he seeks a repeat as Goalkeeper of the Year, and the defense is so strong that nearly everyone back there could make a case for defender of the year.
As the Union has been too good to overlook this season, the “we against them” approach has been abandoned.
LAFC
However, the groups diverge once more when discussing their methods. Including the free acquisitions of Ilie Sanchez, Gareth Bale, Giorgio Chiellini, and Christian Tello, LAFC has spent $8.8 million on incoming transfers this season alone, according to Transfermarkt.
The Union has spent $11.6 million on transfers over its 14-year existence, so that amount is very close (12-year playing history).
The squad has been able to spend more recently, shelling out $3.5 million for Mikael Uhre, Julian Carranza, and Richard Odada. However, this amount still pales in contrast to what other teams in the league have spent.
The union can do this because of the 8,944 minutes played by Homegrown players or Union draught picks out of 31,614 minutes played this season.
Ernst Tanner can get Curtin players that match his system at a fraction of what other teams spend on their rosters by relying on a combination of the academy and astute signings on the market.
There is an argument to be made that the Union’s success is mainly due to the quality of the players they recruit, even though they could be investing more money into the roster as they move away from the pipeline teams and into a Red Bull system of their own.
Players
While LAFC had a busy offseason, adding six players and losing seven others, the club has regressed since returning to the west coast. On July 7th, the beginning of the summer transfer window, LAFC had 36 points, good for two points per game.
Those yearly points would have put the squad second only to New England’s record-setting 73 points scored in 2021.
The transfer window ended on August 4th, yet LAFC has only managed to win 16 points in their last four games. The Union has accumulated 19 points throughout the same time, enough to make the difference.
Not that LAFC isn’t good, because they are; nevertheless, they have gone from being a historically good team to a very good one, whereas the Union has stepped up their performances to become a very good one.
Assuming they win their next two games, both teams will finish with 70 points. However, two factors jump out when analyzing what has caused LAFC to falter. Bale and Chiellini missed three games due to load management, but the team underachieved when all its players simultaneously have been on the field.
Season
Bale, Carlos Vela, and Chicho Arrango have a -5 goal difference when all three play together, yet the team has only played 166 minutes together this season.
It’s not the fault of any one player in particular, as there’s only so much that can be done to fix things in a hurry, but you have to wonder what would have occurred if LAFC hadn’t been so eager to sign big names before the World Cup.
Although it would be ideal to sign Bale and Chiellini at the beginning of the season, doing so at the middle of the season is difficult for any team.
While the new acquisitions haven’t hampered LAFC’s chances of winning the Supporters’ Shield just yet, it would be a huge letdown if they ended the season without a trophy after being on such a promising trajectory.
FC and SC
The Philadelphia Union will travel to Charlotte FC before hosting Toronto FC on the last day of the season. At the same time, LAFC will play their remaining games on the road against the Portland Timbers and Nashville SC.
There will undoubtedly be some challenging matchups for the contenders.
Both teams have already qualified for next year’s Concacaf Champions League, and with a win, the Union would win the Eastern Conference (LAFC has already clinched the West).
The Union has a chance to win their second Supporters’ Shield in the previous three years, while LAFC is looking for their first since 2019.
The losing team in the shield race would love a rematch with the winner in the MLS Cup, but the MLS Cup Playoffs usually have other ideas. Both teams are improving their international reputation by acquiring and developing players for other leagues, demonstrating that there is more than one path to league dominance.