The Philadelphia Union and Orlando City SC will put their perfect MLS is Back Tournament records on the line when Group A play comes to a close Monday night.

With victories in their first two games of group play, both the Union (2-1-1, 7 points) and Orlando City (2-1-1, 7 points) have advanced to the knockout stage. At stake is the top spot in Group A, which would go to Orlando City in the event of a tie because of goal differential.

And while it might be prudent for both teams to rest top players with a spot in the next round secure, especially in the central Florida heat where the games are being played, the particulars of the MLS is Back Tournament will prevent that. MLS is counting all group play games toward the regular-season standings.

"This is such a unique way because they are fully motivated to get a result as Orlando sees it as three points in the league and we see it as three points in the league," Union head coach Jim Curtin told reporters. "I think we're both going to field our best teams."

Both teams have dealt defeats to New York City FC and expansion Inter Miami CF in Group A play. Philadelphia is coming off a 2-1 victory over Inter Miami on Tuesday when Kacper Przybylko scored the winner in the 63rd minute at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando.

Orlando City is coming off convincing 3-1 victory over NYCFC when midfielder Chris Mueller scored two goals in the opening 10 minutes. Now in his third season, Mueller's four goals in four games are one shy of his career best set last season. He has three goals in the tournament.

"I think when you look at the overall importance of what we did in getting those six points, it gives us a lot of confidence moving forward and I think that that's the most important thing regardless of my two goals," Mueller said. "Looking at the full performance (Tuesday), I think that I could have done much better and that there were a lot of other guys who played really well."

Monday's game was not on the original MLS is Back Tournament schedule. The matchup between Philadelphia and Orlando City only came about after expansion Nashville SC was forced to withdraw because of a number of positive COVID-19 tests and Group A was reconfigured.

--Field Level Media