Every year, there's at least one MLS team that makes the jump from being left out of the playoffs the previous season to firmly placing among the MLS Cup Playoffs field, possibly even as a contender.
At the start of this year, it looked like that team might end up being the New England Revolution, whose roster didn't change very much from 2017 but under new head coach Brad Friedel were playing a high press that looked far more assured than anything they'd done recently.
New England opened 5-3-2 through their first 10 games, with a breakout by erstwhile third-string goalkeeper Matt Turner becoming the starter. But since then, New England have struggled mightily, notching a 2-7-6 record since mid-May. They're now mired in a eight-game winless streak, going two months without a win.
Enter the Philadelphia Union.
Philly started the season in horrible form, winning just twice in their first nine games and many writing off their playoff hopes by mid-May. Yet on Saturday, the Union hosted the Revolution and posted a gritty 1-0 win -- their fifth in seven games -- with a controversial Cory Burke goal potentially looming as the difference maker in these two runs down the stretch.
In the 53rd minute, Burke broke a offside trap near midfield, coasted in alone on goal, and soundly rounded Revs 'keeper Turner. However, the linesman's offside flag was up, and it appeared Revs players stopped playing while waiting for an offside whistle that didn't come. Referee Drew Fischer, who allowed play "to continue until it [was] resolved", then used Video Review to confirm the striker's position relative to the Revs' line. He ultimately awarded the goal due to there being no offside offense.
Seasons are decided on no finer margins, and Philadelphia managed to seemingly create its own luck in a game that In that even Union head coach Jim Curtin acknowledged was "not our best night of soccer by any stretch." That's the difference between these two sides right now, and Curtin was forthcoming in his assessment that coming out on top was a fresh result:
There's still time for their ultimate destiny this season to be written, with two months left in the regular season. But the Union are now solidly above the playoff line (5th place), seven points ahead of the team in 7th ... New England. Reverse Saturday's outcome, and it would've been one spot and one point separating the teams. These playoff elevators continue to pass in opposite directions.
