Union Welcome New England To Town On Sunday
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Philadelphia Union will be home on Sunday to host the New England Revolution.
The Union were eliminated from the U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday when they lost to the New York Red Bulls in penalties, but they are coming off a win in their last MLS match.
Last Saturday, the Union defeated D.C. United in Chester, 1-0.
The match was the latest showcase for Andre Blake who was superb in net for the Union. He earned his sixth shutout of the season making four saves.
"It was a great game for sure," Blake tells KYW Newsradio. "As I've said before, I could not have done it without the guys. It's good for me, it's good for the organization, it's good for the team for me to come up big like that in a situation where we felt like we needed three points for sure. So it was a great moment for me to be able to get a shutout and make a few big plays for the team and hopefully I can continue to do that and we can continue to win games."
Blake had a couple of highlight reel moments in the win, including a save on a penalty shot in the second half. He talks about staying focused after making a big play like that.
"After making a save like that, your confidence goes up for sure," Blake says. "But then you have to find a way to make sure you don't get too confident, to try and make sure you stay in the game and the next play's going to be the most important play. So for me, that was the main focus after I made that play. Yes, I knew it was a big play, but I had to try my best to forget about it as quickly as possible."
The Union are 5-7-4 in MLS action. With 19 points, they are ninth in the eleven-team Eastern Conference. New England is eighth with 20 points (5-7-5).
"New England is a very good team," Blake says. "They create a lot of chances so it's going to be a good test for us as a team and defensively. So hopefully we can continue to defend well and hopefully I can continue to play well and it should be a good game. We're at home, we're going to have the fans behind us, so hopefully we can go out there and play some great soccer and get a win."
The Union and Revolution get underway at 5:00pm on Sunday.