If it seems like the Union play every game at home these days, it's because they kind of do. Since PPL Park wasn't finished when the season began, the team played most of its games on the road. However, since the stadium opened, the Union have played eight of their last 10 at home. Tonight, they welcome defending MLS champion Real Salt Lake to PPL Park.
The matchup isn't great for the Union. Salt Lake boasts the MLS' best attack with a league-high 33 goals, while Philly is the owner of the league's worst defense. That said, there is some reason to hope. Real Salt Lake's two top scorers Robbie Findley and Alvaro Saborio were both playing for their respective national teams (USA and Paraguay) last night. Neither are likely to start tonight.
That said, the Real Salt Lake attack is no slouch even without those two as Denz from RSL Soapbox explained to our own Brotherly Game.
I think you will see Espindola and Campos up top. [RSL coach]Jason[Kries] like the combination of a speed forward with a target forward and last year when called on Pablo Campos came up big with 2 game winning goals and 3 assists in just 400 minutes of playing time. I think you will see them start up top and if needed I would look for Robbie Findley to enter the match in the 65-75th minute, and given that Philly have given up a lot of late goals, that could be very dangerous as half of Findley's goals in 2009 came off the bench.
In many ways, Salt Lake is what the Union hope to be in a few years time. They're a club that focused on developing young talent early in its existence and won the title just five years after it debuted in MLS. In a young league like this, that kind of growth is very much possible for the Union.