Union-NYCFC: Game time, channel, how to watch and stream MLS playoffs’ Eastern Conference final

The Union host New York City FC in the Eastern Conference final of Major League Soccer’s playoffs on Sunday night at Subaru Park. Here’s what to know about how to watch.

It’s a national broadcast on FS1 in English and Fox Deportes in Spanish. John Strong will call the play-by-play with analyst Stuart Holden and sideline reporter Kyndra de St. Aubin on FS1 — and they’ll be at the stadium, after the Union’s conference semifinal game and both the channel’s first-round games were called off monitors. Strong and Holden will also be Fox’s top broadcast team at next month’s men’s World Cup in Qatar.

FS1′s studio team in Los Angeles will be host Rob Stone and analysts Maurice Edu (a former Union captain) and Alexi Lalas.

Fox Deportes’ broadcasters will be John Laguna on play-by-play with analysts Alejandro Luna, Mariano Trujillo and Martin Zuñiga, and sideline reporter Jaime Motta — who’s also one of the channel’s sideline reporters for the World Series.

» READ MORE: Carli Lloyd, Maurice Edu, and JP Dellacamera will be part of Fox’s World Cup broadcasting team

8:25 p.m. Eastern. TV coverage on FS1 and Fox Deportes starts at 8.

Live streaming is available through FoxSports.com with authentication through participating TV providers, or through the streaming apps of those providers. Streaming TV sites that have FS1 include fuboTV, YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV, and DirecTV Stream.

Yes, on Fox Sports The Gambler (1480-AM) and the iHeart Radio app. Dave Leno will call the play-by-play with former Union star Sébastien Le Toux as the analyst. Jon Jansen and Joe Tansey will host the pregame and postgame radio coverage.)

Through the Union’s website or StubHub, but good luck. Only a few standing-room seats are officially left. Resale prices on StubHub start at $144 and peak at $1,035.

The teams met last year at Subaru Park, with the Union as the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seed and New York as No. 4. The Union were without 11 players because of COVID-19 protocols. Had they been there, the Union might have beaten a City team that was without star striker Valentín Castellanos because of a red card suspension. Instead, the Union battled valiantly but lost, 2-1.

» READ MORE: Jim Curtin knew how stacked the odds were against the Union last year — and that his team almost beat them

The Union won both regular-season meeting, sweeping the series for the first time in team history. On March 19, they got their first win at Yankee Stadium, 2-0, with goals from Alejandro Bedoya and Dániel Gazdag. On June 26, they won 2-1 at Subaru Park, with goals from Michael Uhre early and Cory Burke in the final seconds.

That is Union head athletic trainer Paul Rushing. In the game at Subaru Park, he came on to the field in the 76th minute after referee Armando Villarreal stopped the game due to a potential head injury to the Union’s Julián Carranza.

A few New York players thought Carranza was embellishing. Nicolás Acevedo confronted Rushing, who pushed Acevedo back twice and offered a few choice words. Acevedo then gestured toward Rushing, Valentín Castellanos gave Rushing a shove, and things erupted from there. At one point, the Union’s Jakob Glesnes had to restrain Rushing with a bear hug.

Eventually, Rushing was able to attend to Carranza, then leave the field. As he was walking away, Villarreal gave Rushing a red card. Rushing got a standing ovation from the crowd as he headed to the tunnel, and went viral on social media.

MLS then suspended Rushing an extra game on top of the red card.

» READ MORE: The Union and NYCFC are different from last year’s playoffs, but the memories aren’t gone yet

The reigning MLS champion team has three rising star attackers in their early 20s: Santi Rodríguez (22), Gabriel Pereira (21), and Talles Magno (20). Rodríguez and Pereira have been outstanding in this year’s playoffs, where New York has beaten Inter Miami and CF Montréal by convincing scores. Magno scored the winning goal in last year’s Eastern Conference final, and has eight goals and eight assists this year.

There are four veterans to know, too., starting with goalkeeper and team captain Sean Johnson. he made seven saves in the conference semifinal against Montreal, and is on track to be the No. 3 goalkeeper on the U.S. World Cup team.

Alexander Callens is a stalwart center back and was a finalist for MLS Defender of the Year this year, a prize won by the Union’s Jakob Glesnes. Maxi Moralez pulls the strings as the midfield playmaker, and Héber is the leading finisher up front.

» READ MORE: Want Union-NYCFC hype? Sean Johnson won’t give it to you, and that’s just how he likes it.

Not literally, but close enough. The English Premier League team is technically owned by a company called City Football Group that owns teams around the world.

The company’s principal funder is the Abu Dhabi United Group, owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of Abu Dhabi’s royal family in the United Arab Emirates. He’s also the country’s deputy prime minister, and brother of the country’s president. Manchester City chairperson Khaldoon Al Mubarak is the CEO of the Mubadala Investment Company, the UAE’s sovereign wealth fund.

The organization also owns teams in Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, Uruguay, Australia, Japan, China, and India, and moves players between its clubs when it can. Rodríguez came to New York from the team in Uruguay, and Castellanos went from New York to the team in Spain.

Although CFG has billions of dollars in the bank, it has yet to write a big enough check to get a soccer stadium built within New York’s city limits. NYCFC plays most of its home games at Yankee Stadium, but gets kicked to Citi Field or Red Bull Arena when there are schedule conflicts.

» READ MORE: Why Julián Carranza’s role in Union-NYCFC could be both big and underrated

We’d like to think you’ve been reading our coverage, but new fans always come along. So here are some of our features to get you up to speed.

— Manager Jim Curtin, who just won his second MLS Coach of the Year award, knew the Union could be good this year — but he didn’t know they’d be this good.

— Why goalkeeper Andre Blake, who just won his third MLS Goalkeeper of the Year award, is the most important player in Union history.

— Kai Wagner is the best left back in MLS, and is likely moving on to a big team in Europe this winter.

— Defensive midfielder José Andrés Martínez is the anchor of that part of the field, and one of the Union’s biggest personalities.

— Midfield playmaker Dániel Gazdag has had a record-setting season with 22 goals and six assists.

— Striker Mikael Uhre is the most expensive player in Union history, and backed up his price tag with 13 goals and six assists.

It’s the two teams in the regular season, first-place Los Angeles FC hosting second-place Austin FC. There will be lots of stars around: LAFC’s Gareth Bale, Carlos Vela and Denis Bouanga against Austin’s MVP candidate Sebastián Driussi.

The game will be nationally televised on ABC, with streaming in English and Spanish at ESPN.com/watch, Air time is 3 p.m., and kickoff time is 3:18 p.m. Play-by-play announcer Jon Champion, analyst Taylor Twellman and reporter Jillian Sakovits will have the call in English; Richard Méndez, analyst Herculez Gomez and reporter v will have the call in Spanish.

ESPN had first pick of which conference final to televise, and picked LAFC-Austin. With the Eagles, Jets and Giants all playing Sunday afternoon, that would have hurt the viewership for a Union-NYCFC broadcast at the same time.

W1. Los Angeles FC vs. W2. Austin FC (Sunday, 3:18 p.m., 6abc and ESPN3): Los Angeles -220, Austin +440, tie in regulation +360

E1. Union vs. E2. New York City FC (Sunday, 8:25 p.m., FS1 and Fox Deportes): Union-125, New York +290, tie in regulation +260

» READ MORE: Our soccer staff's predictions for the conference semifinals