It was ugly but it is behind us all now. Vancouver Whitecaps scored a touchdown and added the extra point in the Philadelphia Union’s worst ever loss. Though less than an ideal time for a blowout, the Union’s standing at the top of MLS was not disturbed thanks to Minnesota United’s 3-1 win over San Diego. Now the focus is all on Nashville tomorrow night.

In the email today:

1. 🏈 Vancouver By A Touchdown: Philadelphia Union suffer worst loss in club history

In a season where so much has gone right for the Philadelphia Union, nearly everything that could go wrong went wrong Saturday night in British Columbia, Canada as the Vancouver Whitecaps scored a touchdown and converted the extra point to beat the Supporters’ Shield leaders 7-0.

Germany legend Thomas Müller scored a hat trick on his 36th birthday and added an assist to lead the Whitecaps, which also got a pair of goals from Emmanuel Sabbi, a first career goal from 17-year-old Rayan Elloumi and an opening goal from Mathías Laborda on of Sebastian Berhalter’s three assists on the night.

With a quick turn around to Tuesday’s U.S. Open Cup semifinal in Nashville, Union head coach Bradley Carnell patched together a back line that included Alejandro Bedoya at right back, Nathan Harriel at center back for the suspended Olwethu Makhanya and Frankie Westfield at left back. Vancouver was all too happy to use their width, attacking with Canadian international Ali Ahmed and left back Laborda on the one side and Sabbi and right back Édier Ocampo on the other.

From the opening whistle, the hosts were on the front foot and created a couple of good chances to take an early lead before Sebastian Berhalter connected with Laborda in the box off a corner kick in the 18th minute. The corner was awarded after the first of more than one questionable call on the night by referee Allen Chapman, who allowed a shove on Harriel in the box and ruled it had gone out of bounds off him. Laborda beat Harriel to the header and put it in near post to give the hosts the 1-0 lead.

Milan Iloski, who had four goals for San Diego at BC Place in June, had a good opportunity to tie the game after being taken down just outside the D but with Kai Wagner on the bench Iloski took the free kick and fired it over the bar. Minutes later, Vancouver doubled their lead when Ahmed blew past Bedoya and Jakob Glesnes on the left flank and then crossed the ball to Sabbi streaking through the box and the 27-year-old buried his chance.

2. 🏆 U.S. Open Cup Semifinal Takes Center Stage

As dreadful a loss as the Union suffered on Saturday was, there’s precious little time to dwell on it as they need to quickly regroup for tomorrow night’s U.S. Open Cup semifinal.

It is the biggest game of the year to date since a win would put them within reach of hardware but it’s also a chance to prove that they can beat Nashville, which they very well could face again for a fourth time in the postseason.

Nashville is 2-0 against the Union this season, which includes a very late PK win at GEODIS the day after the Fourth of July. It’s never easy to beat a team three times in a season so the Union perhaps have that going for them but you also don’t have to win the game to advance (see Indy Eleven).

No one wants extra soccer on a week like this but survive and advance is the name of the game. The game is scheduled for an 8 p.m. start time and will stream live on Paramount+. And no Jim, you can’t stream a Two And A Half Men episode on there while you wait for kickoff.

4. 🏟️ Social Post of the Day: Simply Not Good Enough

4. 🔗 Link Roundup

• Philadelphia Union II beat Crew 2 for the third time this season with a 3-1 victory in Columbus on Sunday afternoon. Stas Korzeniowski, Markus Anderson and Jamir Johnson had the goals.

• Villanova women had their four-game winning streak snapped by a very questionable penalty call in Princeton.

• Colonial SC won a US Open Cup qualifier for the first time with a 3-0 win over Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals on Saturday night. VE also advanced with a 2-1 win over Vidas United on Sunday and Oaklyn United had a first round bye.

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