On Sunday, New York City FC II punched their ticket to the MLS NEXT Pro Playoffs for the first time in club history despite losing to Huntsville City FC on Decision Day. Now they know who they will face in the postseason: NYCFC II will play Philadelphia Union II at Subaru Park in the Conference round on Sunday, October 20, at 5 pm ET.
The rivalry renews…
— Philadelphia Union II (@PhilaUnionII) October 8, 2024
We’ll host @newyorkcityfcii for our first-ever home playoff match on Oct. 20❕
🎟️ https://t.co/Wu45RP1a3I pic.twitter.com/0eTdm0h3Zp
In a novel selection process, the top three seeds in each conference get to choose their first opponent in the single-elimination tournament. (The Fourth Seed are assigned the final team left standing.) The Baby Blues fissioned the regular season as the Sixth Seed in the Eastern Conference, which means they had to wait to see who picked them for the first dance.
It will be Philadelphia, who NYCFC faced two times this season. The Baby Blues had a 1 W-0 D-1 L record against the Union II’s, with five goals scored and five goals allowed for a dead-even goal differential.
Noah Kassell-Yung
Philadelphia is led by 15-year-old phenom Cavan Sullivan, who has already signed an agreement to transfer from the Union to Manchester City FC — and who has already played three matches for the Union at MLS level.
The Union finished as the second seed in MLS NEXT Pro’s Eastern Conference, and were the second team to select their playoff opponent, after top-seed FC Cincinnati 2 picked Crown Legacy FC, the eighth seed.
If NYCFC II advances past Philadelphia they’d once again have to wait to see who the higher advancing seeds select as opponents in the Conference Semifinals — but getting that far will require an improvement on the team’s most recent visit to Subaru Park, when they lost 4-3 on September 23, despite having a 3-1 lead on the Union after 32 minutes.
