Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
For the better part of 2020, the Philadelphia Union only played, and beat, one team: the New England Revolution. No seriously, we played them every other week during the regular season last year it seemed and I got really tired of it. Mostly because it was all losing on the Revs end, four regular season games AND an MLS is Back Round of 16 knockout loss and we didn’t even get a Christmas card from the Union thanking us for helping them lift the Supporter’s Shield last year.
Then the playoffs rolled around and something every unexpected happened. The Revs rode a wave of momentum from Gustavo Bou’s stoppage time rocket against Montreal all the way through Philadelphia and Orlando to the Eastern Conference Final. Tajon Buchanan became an electric right back option, MLS was reminded that Carles Gil is great at soccer, and all of these things really started with a playoff win in Chester.