Two teams that are have struggled a lot with consistency lately are now clashing against one another on Sunday, July 2nd, when Philadelphia will be playing host to New England. The two teams are also coming off opposite results in their US Open Cup matches mid-week, as Philadelphia were eliminated by the Red Bulls, while New England overcame DC United.
New England (5-7-4) are coming off a solid 1-2 overturn win at home against DC United, and eventually moved on to the knock-out round of the US Open Cup. They have now won 3 of their last 6 matches (3-2-1), keep;ing just two clean sheets in the process. They are now sitting at the 9th spot of the Eastern Conference with 19 points after 16 matches, having scored 21 goals against 20 conceded. They are the only team in the Eastern Conference to not have recorded a win on the road (0-6-3), where they have scored 8 goals against 18 conceded. They have failed to keep a single clean sheet on the road so far, having conceded multiple goals on 7 occasions so far, also in their 6 most recent matches. They will be coming into this match with just a couple of injury concerns, as midfielder Xavier Kouassi has been ruled out, while midfielder Daigo Kobayashi is still listed as questionable to participate.
On the other hand, Philadelphia (5-7-4) were unable to overcome the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday, as the two teams were engaged in a 1-1 draw in the 5th round of the US Open Cup. The match went to extra-time and penalties, where the Red Bulls were much more accurate and moved on to the next round. Philadelphia have struggled with consistency lately, as they have only won 2 of their last 6 matches in all competitions (2-3-1). They are now sitting at the 8th spot of the Eastern Conference with 20 points after 17 matches, having scored 27 goals against 25 conceded. They have been very strong at home so far, where they have only lost a single match (5-1-2). They have been excellent at home lately, having won 5 of their last 6 matches, keeping 3 clean sheets in the process. They will be coming into this match with a handful of absences, as Bedoya and Blake are on international duty, while Creavalle, Herbers, Edu and Carroll are still listed as questionable to participate.