⚽️ Union Fight Off Atlanta Rally for First Win in a Month

_{LAST MATCH: Union 3 - Atlanta 2}

_{NEXT MATCH: vs. Nashville SC, Saturday, Oct. 7, 7:39 p.m. | Apple TV - MLS Season Pass}

Good morning. It took hanging on for dear life through seven minutes of stoppage time but the Union won for the first time in a month last night. They ended their five-game draw streak and moved into third place in the process.

Updated standings:

In the email today:

It took hanging on for dear life through seven minutes of stoppage time but the Philadelphia Union snapped their five-game draw streak and won their first match in a month with a 3-2 victory over Atlanta United on Wednesday night.

• Handballs played a role in both halves. Nathan Harriel had a handball not called in the first half and Julian Carranza had one that was called and led to the first Atlanta goal.

• A quick restart on a free kick led to the first goal of the night, Daniel Gazdag’s overhead strike.

• This was the first time this season the Union’s front three of Gazdag, Mikael Uhre and Julian Carranza all scored in a game. They did it three times last season.

• Since the Leagues Cup ended, the Union have lost just once – the still hard-to-believe loss at Toronto – in nine games and have just that single loss in their last 11 in league play.

Our take: It ended up being harder than it probably should’ve been but the Union win puts them in a great spot with two games left and the playoffs looming. Dropping points in that one after leading 3-0 at the break would’ve been devastating.

2) 🖼️ Union Find Their Footing: “That First Half Was Us”

Wednesday night was in many cases another tale of two halves for the Philadelphia Union but the three first half goals from the 39th minute on proved to be too high a mountain for the Five Stripes to climb.

“We can play better, certainly in the second half,” head coach Jim Curtin said post-match. “But that first half is us and now it’s about doing it for 90 minutes. Because if we don’t do it for 90 minutes in the playoffs, it’s over fast.”

The biggest part of the “us” in that Curtin quote is the Big 3: Daniel Gazdag, Mikael Uhre and Julian Carranza. The trio had 49 goals and 25 assists last year. The production has gone down this season, but they’re at 36 and 20 after last night.

Our take: An in-form Andre Blake and the front three clicking is the recipe for another MLS Cup final run. The panic over the five draws feels like a thing of the past already.

3) 🦅 The Front Three Are Back!

4) 💧 Water Cooler: Mood Check

Have additional thoughts? Reply directly to this email to comment, and see if we include your response tomorrow.

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Results from our last poll First Goal vs Atlanta:

Looks like our poll respondents got it exactly backwards.

5) 🔗 Link Roundup:

• 👕👕 The Doopy Brothers podcast returned with a review of their trip to Columbus and more.

• 🏟️ St. Louis City SC has taken MLS by storm with the best season yet for an expansion team but how does what they’ve accomplished so far as the regular season Western Conference champions rank with other sports.

• 🎸 Nashville SC comes to town this weekend off a 1-0 loss to Orlando City.

The newsletter today was written by: Matt Ralph @MattRalph_ and Owen Hewitt @oyounothing

Thanks for reading!