The Philadelphia Union will be without eight players due to international call-ups and suspensions for Friday night's clash with the New England Revolution.
Friday's match was rescheduled to its current date due to the Union's participation in the Concacaf Champions League semifinals. Unfortunately for both squads, it fell in the middle of the international break.
Match coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET on The Gambler with the Union Pregame Show presented by DraftKings Sportsbook with Jon Jansen and Joe Tansey. JP Dellacamera and Danny Higginbotham are on the match call. Kevin Kinkead joins Jansen and Tansey on the Union Postgame Show after the final whistle.
Philadelphia will be without Andre Blake, Cory Burke and Alvas Powell (Jamaica), Olivier Mbaizo (Cameroon), Jamiro Monteiro (Cape Verde), Jose Martinez (Venezuela) and Daniel Gazdag (Hungary) due to international call-ups.
Jack Elliott is also suspended for Friday's match due to yellow-card accumulation.
The long list of absences will force Jim Curtin into his largest squad rotation of the regular season. The lineup full of reserves and Homegrown players may come at the right time for the Union to cure their attacking woes. The Union turned in their worst attacking performance of the season against D.C. United last Saturday.
With Gazdag and Monteiro out, the Union should call on Anthony Fontana, Quinn Sullivan and Paxten Aaronson to start beneath the strikers in the attacking midfield positions.
Fontana has been sidelined with injuries for most of the season, but he was named the starting No. 10 during the team's preseason training camp.
Aaronson and Sullivan have shined in their spurts on the field. Both players scored fantastic debut goals for the club. At least one of them should start in the reconfigured midfield.
Kacper Przybylko should start up top based off who is available at the forward position. Sergio Santos missed out on Saturday's trip to D.C. United with a minor knock, but he should be good to go for Friday's contest.
If Curtin does not want to start Przybylko and Santos together, he could opt to give Matheus Davo his first Union start. The loan signing from Brazil is still waiting to make his first Union appearance.
Defensively, Kai Wagner and Jakob Glesnes are locks to start. Stuart Findlay is the top candidate to receive minutes in Elliott's absence.
The biggest question comes at right back. Curtin could call on Nathan Harriel, or shift Matt Real over from left back. If not, he could place Alejandro Bedoya or Leon Flach at right back to bring an experienced player into the back line. Curtin did not commit to Harriel or Real starting during his pre-match press conference on Thursday.
Matt Freese should be the goalkeeper starting in place of Blake. Freese and Joe Bendik split time in net while Blake was at the Concacaf Gold Cup due to the red card earned by Freese against the New York Red Bulls.
The Revs come into Subaru Park with some absences of their own. Matt Turner (United States), Tajon Buchanan (Canada) and Adam Buksa (Poland) are away on international duty.
Most Valuable Player front-runner Carles Gil is listed as questionable, but he could play a role in the attack along with Golden Boot contender Gustavo Bou, who is two goals behind Seattle's Raul Ruidiaz.
Since the Revs still have Bou and Gil available, they are listed as the favorite to win Friday's match. The Revs are +135 on the money line. The Union are at +195 and a draw pays out at +265 on DraftKings Sportsbook.