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SBI MLS Team of the Week: Philadelphia Union

Antoine Hoppenot (Getty Images)

Five goals scored. One against. Two big wins.

The Philadelphia Union continued their resurgence this past week by picking up a pair of victories that has brought them within striking distance of other teams in the Eastern Conference. The Union first grabbed a surprise 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Galaxy at the Home Depot Center on Independence Day before thoroughly beating Toronto FC, 3-0, at PPL Park on Sunday.

Those two wins saw the Union claim SBI's MLS Team of the Week award ahead of the Seattle Sounders and the New England Revolution, and should serve as a big boost in confidence for a team that appears ready to try and get into the playoff picture.

What do you think of the Union winning SBI's MLS Team of the Week award? Should it have been the Sounders or Revolution instead? Do you see the Union continuing this upward trend?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Great point! Plus add in the fact that Nowak couldn’t write the same name down at the same position for 2 games straight, and we are finally seeing a team where the players know their roles, know who their teammates and their roles, and now are just playing soccer!

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  2. It’s a bit unfair to Hackworth in using the whole “Hackworth’s letting them have fun out there!” theme. Philly is playing with a shape and purpose that they completely lacked under Nowak. The 4-3-3 allows them to have numbers in the central midfield and pressure well up top. The width comes from pushing the outside backs (Williams and Garfan) wide and high and since they’re both good with the ball, it works. So the players deserve credit for playing well, but serious kudos to John Hackworth for quickly turning around the team’s spirit, style and shape.

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  3. ayyy, if I have to hear this one more time, I swear. We only started to hear this meme after Klinsi made mention of it and now it’s repeated like gospel around here (original thought – 0, regurgitation – 1). Adu has talent and has been able to channel it in stints when he’s given the reins and he has confidence (see Turkish 2nd league, and the brief super-sub for Benfica as evidence). I can’t say if his problem is fitness in this instance or confidence in his abilities. In previous games this season he always seemed to want to dish instead of taking on his defender. If he’s finally found his confidence then kudos to him (people seem to think this only applies to strikers). If his teammates seek him out to be the playmaker, then we’ll see if he can step up and sustain his form. Arriba la UniĆ³n!

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  4. most impressive player of these last couple games imho is the young striker Jack McInerney. Strong confident running

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  5. Yeah, the highlight reel probably looked great but Adu faded in and out of the game and rarely touched the ball in the second half. He’s frustratingly inconsistent and he’s yet to put together a full 90 minutes of high quality play. He’s been good then terrible then average then great then suspended then bad then above average so forth and so on. Listen to TomG and don’t go expecting too much from Adu.

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  6. Phily is my new favorite team. Let Adu be Adu. He is not a world class player and probably never will be. However, he has the talent to be great. As the saying goes talent is 1% hard work is 99% of real accomplishment.

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  7. I think now that he has a coach that allows him the freedom to be creative and float around, you will see these performances more often than not. Apparently, Nowak had the players scared to death and took the fun out of it for them. Now that Adu can enjoy himself out there, he should start dominating games. That’s just my opinion though

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  8. LOL … In all seriousness, he needs to play like this every game … not 1 in 5 or 1 in 10 and then disappear. It comes down to one thing with Freddy … fitness. He’s NEVER shown a willingness to be dedicated to being fit. If the worm turns, he still could be a great one. If not, he’s simply not worthy of the wages he’s receiving.

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  9. i’m a huge Adu whore. he’s unlike any other player in our USMNT playing pool. the major bummer about bradley’s firing was that it came just as freddy was starting to shine for the national team

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  10. True, but he’s forever looked fantastic in flashes. The key for him has always been consistency. Wake me up when he puts a full season together, or at least 3-4 good months.

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  11. I only saw the match highlights, but Adu looked fantastic. Confident on the ball, strong dribbling skills, and great crosses and through balls.

    Tis good to see.

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  12. As we are all finally seeing, this team has way too much talent to have played as badly as they did before Nowak got canned. Would not be surprised (and here’s hoping!) to see them lift the Open Cup and sneak in the backdoor for the playoffs.

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