Philadelphia Union II take a trip to Miami this weekend as they face Inter Miami II for the 2nd time this MLS NEXT Pro season. Here’s everything you need to know heading into this game.
Union II open their 2022 MLS Next Pro Campaign against FC Cincinnati 2. Mandatory Credit: Justin Friedberg
Union II vs Inter Miami II
Union II are coming off their first win in four games after a very good performance that resulted in a 2-1 win over NYCFC. Chris Donovan got his 3rd goal in two games to open the scoring and then center back Brandan Craig scored a beautiful free-kick to put Union II up 2-0. A late, injury-time goal for NYCFC took the clean sheet away for Philly.
Overall, Philly looked much better than they did over the past few weeks and it was great to see them do that against a very strong side in NYCFC. In terms of who might feature for Philly, given the senior team is playing four hours later in LA, I doubt any of the main senior squad youngsters will be making the trip to Florida, so the Union II will be left with a bunch of academy graduates and the players that are currently signed to MLS NEXT Pro contracts.
Chris Donovan will be looking to add to his impressive goal-scoring run right now but it’ll be interesting to see who his strike partner will be. I’d like to Jose Riasco get his first start in a Union II shirt but it could be one of Nelson Pierre or Stefan Stojanovic who partner the red-hot Donovan upfront.
Union II gets back to winning ways; blast two past NYCFC II
Inter Miami II is coming off a narrow 1-0 loss to the New England Revolution II in their last game out and is looking to start a consistent run of form and results for the first time this season. They’ve won two of the last four since playing Union II back in early April but have also lost the other two, including a 7-0 thrashing at the hands of NYCFC.
The last time these two teams played, it was a crazy, frantic match that saw the game constantly swap and change who had the upper hand. Union II went 2-0 up after goals from McGlynn and Aaronson before Inter Miami came back with two goals to make it 2-2.
Boubacar Diallo thought he’d become a game-winning hero on his Union II debut when he put them 3-2 up with minutes to go but Borgelin scored for Miami in added time to take the game to penalties. Union II ended up winning the penalty shootout for the extra point but both teams will be looking for a much more comfortable game and win this time around.
Philadelphia Union II 3-3 Inter Miami II, Union II Win PK’s 4-3
In terms of predictions, I’ll go with a Union win via a scoreline of 2-1 and goals from Donovan and Riasco, if he plays…
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Doop on Union fans!
Mandatory Credit: Justin Friedberg
