Philadelphia Union set MLS record for fewest goals conceded in a 34-game season

Once Mikael Uhre scored the Union’s second goal Sunday, and especially after Dániel Gazdag’s penalty kick made it 3-0, it would have been easy for the players to ease off.

First place in the Eastern Conference was secured, and everyone at Subaru Park knew it. Even Toronto FC manager Bob Bradley, who raised the proverbial white flag by starting to sub in young prospects for veterans.

But the Union didn’t let up, because they had another goal in sight — this one at the other end of the field.

They wanted to break the record for the stingiest defense in a 34-game season in MLS history. To get it, they had to deliver a shutout. Conceding just one goal would leave the Union tied with the mark set by Sporting Kansas City in 2012.

The mission wasn’t accomplished until the final whistle. Once it was, the Union didn’t just smash another of their own records, they set an extraordinary new league-wide bar.

“Our group, for whatever reason, is really motivated for the entirety of the 90 minutes to make a big block, to make a big tackle, that I think maybe some other players and teams aren’t willing to do when a game’s been decided,” Union manager Jim Curtin said after Sunday’s game ended 4-0, giving him his first win over the manager who coached him as a player.

» READ MORE: Dániel Gazdag’s hat trick leads the Union to a 4-0 rout of Toronto and clinches first place in the East

For whatever reason? Sure, it might have been a throwaway quip, but Curtin knows the answer just like everyone else.

“Defense is our foundation, make no mistake about it,” he said a moment later.

It’s easy to look first at the Union’s impressive attack. Dániel Gazdag had by far the most prolific season in team history, with 22 goals and six assists. Mikael Uhre delivered 13 goals and six assists, showing why Ernst Tanner convinced the owners’ suite to break the Union’s transfer fee record to sign him.

And Julián Carranza will go down as one of the all-time steals in MLS, with 14 goals and six assists for a $500,000 transfer fee after an initial loan from Inter Miami.

» READ MORE: Union forward Julián Carranza has found a home with Philly as the team hits new heights

But it really does start with the defense. Andre Blake should win Goalkeeper of the Year in a landslide; Kai Wagner is a top Defender of the year candidate; and Jakob Glesnes or Jack Elliott could join them on this year’s MLS Best XI. Olivier Mbaizo is a better attacker than defender, but his goal line clearance in first-half stoppage time Sunday will go down as the signature play that saved the record.

“Everyone’s contributed to the team in a big way, and everyone contributes their own goal-saving contributions,” Elliott said. “We’re all together, and everyone does what they can to protect the goal, and I see that every day. It’s great for us to be able to break that [record], and I hope that lasts a long time.”

In the midfield, José Andrés Martínez might go down as Ernst Tanner’s most impactful signing. His play all over the pitch makes so much of the Union’s pressing and transition movement possible. Next to him, Alejandro Bedoya’s work has gotten all the recognition it deserves, and Leon Flach has made great improvement this year.

Even the attacking trio does its part, hectoring opposing defenders who take their time moving the ball forward. There is a popular Twitter account called When Playing It Out Of The Back Goes Wrong, and the Union have sent a fair few opponents into that Hall of Shame.

“My job [is] to be on the No. 6 position of the opposing team, and I’ve tried to do my best in defensive work every time” Gazdag said. “We are really happy that we broke that record, because it means a lot to us.”

MLS seasons haven’t always been 34 games, which is why that number matters. In 2010, Real Salt Lake allowed 20 goals in 30 games. That goals-against average of 0.67 remains a league record. But the fact that Sporting’s goals-allowed mark stood for a decade says more than enough about how hard that kind of stinginess is to achieve.

So does this: Glesnes revealed that the Union didn’t talk about it before Sunday’s game. They did before the last few games, some of which turned out well — and the last of which, last weekend’s 4-0 loss at Charlotte, sure didn’t.

“The last three, four games, we have been talking about it, but for this game, we didn’t talk about it at all,” he said. “But everyone knew what was on the line.”

On Sunday, they crossed it — and went into the history books as a result.

» READ MORE: The Union’s playoff opener is set: Thursday, Oct. 20 at 8 p.m.