The Union’s latest clash with Los Angeles FC won’t be as big as expected

When the Union’s schedule for the year was announced last December, all eyes immediately turned to a game in September: Los Angeles FC’s visit for a rematch of the MLS Cup final.

Now that the moment has arrived, though, it doesn’t feel as big.

There are a few reasons why. Perhaps the biggest is that the teams have already met this year, in a Concacaf Champions League semifinal series that gave each side a home game. If a regular-season meeting can’t serve as full revenge for a title game clash, it can’t really do so for a Champions League matchup either.

Another reason is that both teams are in the midst of jam-packed stretches of their schedule with games that are frankly more important. The Union just faced first-place Cincinnati and playoff chaser Charlotte, and have a stretch of contests from Sept. 30 to Oct. 7 against fellow playoff contenders Columbus, Atlanta, and Nashville.

LAFC, meanwhile, flew to Philadelphia from a midweek game at first-place St. Louis. There was a crosstown rivalry game against the arch-rival Galaxy last weekend, and Wednesday will bring a Campeones Cup game against Mexico’s Tigres that MLS hopes will be taken seriously.

» READ MORE: Union takeaways: Quinn Sullivan steps up to spark comeback at Charlotte

If you’re on Apple’s marketing staff, you might want to stop reading here (though hopefully, you’ll keep your Inquirer subscription). When the subject came up after the Union’s Friday practice at Subaru Park, manager Jim Curtin didn’t shy away from it.

“I wish it was [that] we had a week of build-up and hype and talk and fresh legs,” he said. “But the reality is, this is the schedule this season, and we have to make the most of it.”

The real stakes this time are found not so much in each conference’s playoff race, but in the leaguewide Supporters’ Shield standings. The Union (14-8-6, 48 points) are one of six Eastern Conference teams above LAFC (12-9-8, 44 points) in the overall table, which decides where the MLS Cup final will be played.

If the Union can win Saturday, it would deal a big blow to the odds of a second straight title game in southern California.

Union midfielder and captain Alejandro Bedoya was quick to point out that it doesn’t matter for teams that don’t get there, including his own. But with some teams having as few as four games left in the regular season, it’s the time of year to scoreboard-watch.

“I haven’t even thought about that, to be honest,” he said. “Our focus now is just take care of business in our home games, and this is the next one. I’ll just focus on LAFC right now. But yeah, our goal is obviously to get back to the MLS Cup final, there’s no doubt about that — how we get there, I don’t care.”

Curtin may have already been planning some lineup rotation for the weekend, but his hand may now be forced. Stalwart midfielder José Andrés Martínez and centerback Jakob Glesnes are “day to day,” Curtin said, the former with a bone bruise and the latter with a groin issue. For both players, Saturday will be about how much pain they can put up with.

» READ MORE: American soccer was against artificial turf long before it became a big problem in the NFL

The good news is that Jack Elliott will be back after missing Wednesday’s tie at Charlotte due to a suspension. It wasn’t how he’d have wanted to get a week of rest, but it could pay off.

The Union have never beaten LAFC in seven all-time meetings, with four ties and three losses. Few Union players deserve to be part of ending that streak more than Elliott, who was seconds away from being the MLS Cup’s player of the game until Gareth Bale jumped over him to tie it.

“I think anytime you play them, it’s always something that’s marked on the calendar for us,” he said. “It always brings out the best in us, I think it, and it doesn’t change anything that we’ve got a ton of games coming up. And every game’s like a final now anyway.”

Though the remnants of a tropical storm are forecast to hit the Philadelphia area this weekend, it doesn’t look like Saturday’s game (7:30 p.m., Apple TV, free) will be postponed. Soccer plays on through everything but lightning, so as long as there isn’t that, the players will put up with rain and wind.

“Oh, yeah, it’s gonna be delightful — maybe not for the fans,” said Elliott, whose English and Scottish ancestry will have him ready for the elements. “I like the rain. But I’m not sure about it if it’s 30-mile-an-hour winds.”

If you tune in from home, you’ll hear Apple’s top broadcast team of Jake Zivin and Taylor Twellman on the call. Their last Union game was the Leagues Cup semifinal against Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami, and they’ve been assigned to all of Messi’s games since he arrived. But he isn’t playing this weekend, so Zivin and Twellman will be here instead.

» READ MORE: Union forward Julián Carranza is focused on scoring goals, not European transfer rumors