Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.
The Philadelphia Union’s interim coach, Ryan Richter, believes Wednesday’s 2-2 draw with Inter Miami proved his team can compete with anyone in MLS, ahead of visiting Austin FC.
The Union extended their unbeaten streak to five MLS games by holding Miami, having led 1-0 before going 2-1 down following goals from Daniel Pinter and Lionel Messi.
They are 13th in the 15-team Eastern Conference, but with only four points separating them from the wild-card spots, their playoff hopes are far from over.
They go to Q2 Stadium this weekend to face an Austin side that sit 14th in the Western Conference and are seven points adrift of the play-off picture.
And Richter feels his side will have gained plenty of confidence from avoiding defeat against Messi and company – even if they were disappointed not to take all three points.
“It was a message to ourselves and to the league that we can hang with any team, and I’m really proud of the performance,” he said of the draw with Miami.
“It wasn’t the result we wanted because when we’re at home, we go for wins, and we’re never satisfied with a draw.
“It’s not about being happy with the result, it’s about the performance. It’s a statement of where we’re at, who we can compete with, and we have to take a lot of positives and a lot of confidence from this.”
Austin are also under an interim coach, with Davy Arnaud overseeing a 2-1 win over the out-of-form Seattle Sounders at Lumen Field in midweek – that result marked a return to form after a 2-1 loss to Texas rivals FC Dallas last weekend.
Torres and Guilherme Biro scored Austin’s goals in their win over Seattle. Seven different players have scored Austin’s last seven goals, dating back to May 16.
Torres has the most assists of any Austin player this year, with five (no other player has more than two).
Pierre, who will not turn 19 until October, scored his third career goal for the Union in their 2–2 draw against Miami.
The only players to score more regular-season goals for Philadelphia prior to turning 19 years old are Danny Mwanga (five) and Paxten Aaronson (four).
Second @MLS Team of the Matchday nod for Neil Pierre in 5 games pic.twitter.com/C8MiDqzu7s
— Philadelphia Union (@PhilaUnion) August 20, 2026
MATCH PREDICTION – PHILADELPHIA UNION WIN
This will be just the second all-time meeting between Austin and Philadelphia, after the sides played a 2-2 draw in Texas in March 2024.
The only one of the four goalscorers from that match that still plays for one of the teams is Austin’s Jon Gallagher.
Austin suffered what was just their fourth loss in their last 20 regular-season home matches on August 16, going down 2-1 to FC Dallas.
But Philadelphia go into this match as favourites, having gone unbeaten in five MLS games, only failing to beat Supporters’ Shield contenders Miami in that run (W4).
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