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Going into Saturday I really thought the Union were going to win and not get the help they needed from Charlotte but it turns out the Philadelphia Union were the reason the 2024 season has ended. Yes, Jakob Glesnes had the unfortunate distinction of scoring both the first and last goals of 2024 with two of the worst own goals in team history but the Union had to win and not scoring for 88 minutes is the real reason they are done. That and a whole host of other things…

In the email today:

1. 🪨 It Ended How It Started

The metaphors were seemingly everywhere I turned on Saturday night at Subaru Park while taking in the Philadelphia Union’s Decision Day battle for their playoff lives with my 9-year-old son.

Seven years ago he cried at the noise level ringing his ears each time they scored against Orlando City in a 6-1 thrilling Decision Day win. On Saturday we were standing in line at the only hot dog stand in the stadium waiting on expired buns to be replaced when Cincinnati tied the game in first half stoppage time and Jakob Glesnes scored the winner just after halftime.

The season like those hot dog buns had expired in the time it took to get two hot dogs and a soda.

Afterwards, walking through the parking lot my son was disappointed but amused at something he spotted in the porta-pot mural. It was a Union hat. Probably not there by accident.

Jim Curtin said it in post game that the team was humbled this season. He’s not wrong. Seven years of endless trumpeting of win records, teenage phenoms and under the radar signings culminated in a stinker of a season that even a slew of scheduled tweets about HOMEGROWNS! couldn’t paper over.

The team isn’t what it felt like they were becoming and on Saturday night the gulf between being good and great felt wider than it’s felt in a very long time.

The harsh reality is the Union are an MLS 1.0 team playing in an outdated stadium with one hot dog vendor and lines that force fans to choose between feeding their kids and missing half of a game or watching a full game of an average team the upper echelon of the league has left behind.

Saturday night was redeemed in part by “coach” CJ scoring a late winner for Union II on Sunday night with my son and his teammates - who Olney has been helping train once a week - going bezerk in the stands. But even as fun as it is watching the future, it’s still a challenge to reconcile that the future feels like more of the same and not enough of where the league and this team and market needs to be going.

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2. 🐍 CJ Olney Goal Sends Union II Into Conference Semifinals

As mentioned above, Sunday was quite the contrast to Saturday and thanks to a CJ Olney goal Subaru Park didn’t have to weight long to hear crowds cheering again after “that ludicrous display last night.”

At the risk of this publication becoming a CJ Olney Fanclub, the young prospect’s performance both in stepping up with the goal and covering ground defensively when needed was impressive but as he was quick to point out in a post game interview it was the full team effort that should be lauded. Andrew Rick made the stops he needed to make, Neil Pierre stepped up with a massive tackle and an assist on the winner, Cavan Sullivan had the crowd oohing and ahing and Frankie Westfield sliding clearances and 50-50 challenges just don’t ever get old.

Bridge Brigade and company deserve praise too.

Union II games are tons of fun and while they still haven’t completely recreated what was going on in Bethlehem at the height of the Steel revival, it’s become a great family-friendly environment to bring your kids and your whole youth team to. There could be as many as two more games there and even three if U2 make it to the Next Pro final and North Texas and St. Louis don’t.

It’s not a replacement or a cover for the angst around the first team but it’s still worth getting behind.

3. 📰 Tweet of the Day: A Season to Forget

4. 💧 Water Cooler: What Are Your Thoughts?

Though I haven’t written as much about the Union as I have in year’s past, I’ve written and shared plenty of my thoughts about this team. Now it’s your turn. What do you think went wrong this season, where do you agree or disagree with my or other opinions out there in the Union media universe?

Email [email protected].

5. 🔗 Link Roundup

• Matteo Ventresca took on the assignment of recapping the Union’s final game of the 2024 campaign for Philadelphia Soccer Now.

• It’s been 18 years since a Shawnee team has lifted a South Jersey Coaches Cup and 19 years since both teams won it the same year (Shawnee did it in 2003) but both things can happen this year with both Shawnee teams as top seeds in the latest installment of the annual high school competition.

• Conestoga is looking for a repeat of last year’s back-to-back state final appearances for boys and girls. Both teams are the top seeds in the District 1 playoff brackets.

• Penn added a third win over a ranked opponent and continues to be the toast of the Philly Soccer 6 this season on the men’s side, plus a look at other headlines from local men’s college soccer. My most recent women’s college soccer notebook is also on the site.

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