Listening to the English-language broadcast of last night’s Philadelphia Union Concacaf Champions League quarterfinal, you’d have thought the reigning Supporters’ Shield winners were the Little Engine That Could, David and Rudy all rolled into one.
This practice of underestimating the Philadelphia Union by lavishing endless praise on their opponent isn’t anything new. I’ve been known to underestimate the Union myself and in fact predicted a 1-0 loss at halftime last night.
In my defense though, after a first half in which the Five Stripes looked like past Atlanta teams that actually won something to get into Champions League (this version fell on its face and got in because they won an Open Cup last decade), it looked like the Union were going to have to cling to Andre Blake and a prayer to not have a deficit heading back to Chester.