• Eastern Conference Semifinal: Philadelphia Union vs New York City FC
• Date and Time: Sunday, November 23, 7:57 pm ET
• Venue: Subaru Park, Chester, PA
• Forecast: A brisk but dry autumn evening, 47F/8C
• Watch: Apple TV
• Apple Broadcast Team: Steve Cangialosi and Danny Higginbotham (English), Bruno Vain and Andres Agulla (Spanish)
• New York City FC Radio: Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence (English), Roberto Abramowitz and Ariel Judas (Spanish)
• Officiating Crew: Guido Gonzales Jr. (referee), Nick Uranga and Ian McKay (assistant referees), Malik Badawi (fourth official), Fotis Bazakos (VAR), Craig Lowry (assistant VAR)
• Kits: New York City will wear the sky blue Excelsior Kit; Philadelphia will wear the dark blue XV Kit
The MLS Cup Playoffs are back, and New York City FC are set to play Philadelphia Union after an eventful international break put the postseason on pause for two weeks.
This will be the fourth time NYCFC meet Philadelphia in the MLS Cup Playoffs, the most of any New York City opponent. To get here, Philadelphia brushed aside Chicago Fire FC in the minimum two games to win Round One, while New York City survived a tense three-game series against Charlotte FC — a grind that ultimately cost them two midfielders, Andrés Perea to a broken leg and Aiden O'Neill to a yellow card suspension.
The NYCFC absences are a major talking point heading into this match, something that tends to happen whenever New York City and Philadelphia meet in the MLS Cup Playoffs – a very 2021 Eastern Conference Final vibe, if you will.
Along with Perea and O'Neill, Alonso Martínez is also out after injuring his leg with Costa Rica during the international break. All together, NYCFC will be missing players who provided a combined 24 goals and five assists across over 7,000 minutes of game action this season — that's 43% of all the goals New York City scored in all competitions this season. New York City will have work to do to fill the major void left by Martínez, Perea, and O'Neill.
John Baney
New York City vs Philadelphia H2H
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | 12 | 2 | 12 | 36 | 39 | -3 |
The head-to-head between the two clubs is even, with both teams logging two wins over the past two years. In 2025, New York City and Philadelphia swapped 1-0 home wins. But in 2024, both teams won on the road, and both were memorable games.
First, there was New York City's 2-1 triumph in a match that saw the debut of Raquinho, the raccoon that didn't know the meaning of the word "quit." Then there was Philadelphia's surprising 5-1 thumping of NYCFC at Yankee Stadium, when a heavily-rotated Union handed Nick Cushing the third-biggest loss in club history.
The two teams have never played to a draw at Subaru Park, where NYCFC have a fairly strong record of 6W-0D-8L, with 16 goals scored and 19 goals allowed.
New York City vs Philadelphia Postseason H2H
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 1 |
The playoff history between these two teams is deep enough to warrant a head-to-head breakdown — as mentioned above, this will be the fourth postseason clash between the two clubs.
The first meeting came in the 2018 Knockout Round, when New York City defeated Philadelphia 3-1 in the only playoff game between these two teams hosted by NYCFC. Then there was New York City's 2-1 road win in 2021, when a depleted NYCFC beat an even more depleted Philadelphia. But the Union got their revenge the following year, when they won 3-1 after falling behind — and after Nick Cushing made some poorly-timed substitutions.
