CHESTER, Pa. – The Philadelphia Union have done many things well during their first two-plus seasons in MLS.
Winning on the West Coast is not one of those things.
The Union are just 1-7-4 all-time in the Pacific Time Zone, their lone win coming last October in Seattle.
They’ll try for their second win in that part of the country when they take on Chivas USA at the Home Depot Center on Saturday (10:30 pm ET, watch LIVE online).
“A few of the guys are aware of it,” Union left back Gabriel Farfan said of Philly’s western woes. “We won in Seattle last year and hopefully we can turn it around this season and get more wins on the West Coast.”
There are, of course, many obstacles to winning in that part of the country, the main one being the burden of cross-country travel. For Union manager Peter Nowak, though, the grueling trips shouldn’t be too much of an issue – at least not after the club established a new, effective routine for road games last season.
“I don’t think it’s a main point on our minds right now,” Nowak said. “We need to continue to get this going and moving forward, and not looking at what happened during the last [three] years.”
Interestingly enough, Chivas have lost all three of their home games this season, which could bode well for Philly. The Goats (3-3) have won all three of their games away from home in 2012, though, including their last two contests. That recent form doesn’t bode as well for the Union (1-3-1).
“They had a rough start like us,” Nowak said. “But I think they found a formula to be successful. They have a pretty established system and I don’t expect any changes.”
Dave Zeitlin covers the Union for MLSsoccer.com. Email him at djzeitlin@gmail.com.
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