CHESTER – It was a very sunny yet windy evening in Chester as the Philadelphia Union hosted St. Louis City on Saturday, looking for their fourth win in five matches to open the 2025 season. The Union accomplished that feat, defeating St. Louis City 1-0. This is the second time in club history that the Union has obtained 12 points from the opening five games of the season, dating back to 2022.
“We asked the players to put on display what everyone doesn’t see, really behind the scenes,” said Philadelphia Union head coach Bradley Carnell during his post-match press conference. “And that’s a group of committed guys, the whole roster, growing together, enjoying each other, committing to a philosophy. And many people thought that we were a lot weaker than we were last week in terms of personnel. And I’m glad we could show exactly what we’ve been building here over the last couple of weeks.”
When the lineup was announced, it seemed Philadelphia’s head coach, Bradley Carnell, decided to change things up and go with a three-center-back formation to counter what Olof Mellberg’s side was trying to do. However, once the match started, we quickly found out that, in fact, Nathan Harriel was playing the role of the attacking midfielder.
“Nate serves a dual purpose. He’s excellent in the air for set pieces, and then also just his ability and repeater sprint ability, I would say. And knowing how St. Louis wants to build up and how they want to play the game, I thought it was a perfect scenario for him. And he emptied the tank.”
In addition to Nate starting in a different position due to international call-ups, Indiana Vassilev, Ian Glavinovich, and Bruno Damiani made their first starts in a Philadelphia Union uniform. Along with them, Olivier Mbaizo and Andrew Rick made their first starts of the season for the squad.
On the bench, Stas Korzeniowski and Nick Pariano were called up from the second team. CJ Olney, Isiah LeFlore, and David Vazquez also made appearances on the bench. Meanwhile, after being on the bench last week, Alejandro Bedoya was not present. Carnell said after the match that it was a family commitment that kept him from playing in last night’s match.
The wind was still blowing through Subaru Park when the game kicked off at 7:40 p.m., with the Union going right on the attack. In fact, the Union had two opportunities into the box, both by Quinn Sullivan, early in the first five minutes. Mikael Uhre had the first chance for the Union in the fifth minute on a deflection, but his shot went right to the keeper.
The Union scored first a few moments later, becoming the first team to score on St. Louis City when a Kai Wagner corner found a wide-open Ian Glavinovich for his first goal as a member of the Philadelphia Union.
The physicality of the match began to pick up as St. Louis tried to take a page from what Nashville did last week and outmuscle the Union. After Kyle Hiebert received a yellow card, the Union almost had another goal when a Quinn Sullivan free kick hit the crossbar, sending “oohs” and “ahhs” echoing through Subaru Park.
“We all knew going into the game, it’s gonna be a super physical game, especially with Kessler from back in New England, he was the same thing,” said Harriel postgame. “He’s just trying to get in your head. But, you know, forwards Bruno, Mika, they did extremely well with that tonight, making him annoyed, getting mad, even drawing the red card at the beginning of the second half is also huge. So just about being strong and physical, but at the same time not letting your emotions get too much, so you can channel it and use it against them.”
On the night overall, the Union created 17 shots with eight on target, which Carnell addressed post-match.
“We’ve been creating a lot over the last couple of weeks, and we’ve shown this with one stack of players, and now we showed it tonight with another set of players. So, you know, I’m just happy that we are continuing to create and play fluid attacking football, and I’m enjoying every process with the guys, and it was fun to watch.”
Philadelphia midfielder Quinn Sullivan shared his thoughts on the night’s attack philosophy and what they aim to do each game.
“I think the one action down the side was kind of all-encompassing of what we want to do, right? We win the ball in a 2v1 with me and Kai, I dribble up the field, I find Bruno. Bruno lays it back to me. Mikael is running in behind, and it ends in Bruno’s shot, and the keeper makes a save. I think that play is really all encompassing of what we want to do in every game. So I’m happy we showed that today.”
St. Louis City, however, started building back into the match around the 25th minute, creating a few scoring chances. Despite some shaky defense at times, the Union’s back line kept St. Louis City’s attack in check. In particular, Jakob Glesnes rebounded well after a shaky performance last week, which Carnell praised after the match.
“Jakob’s committed to this process, and he was excellent tonight, and he was a true leader. He played with passion and pride, and you could see he wanted to right something that he thought went wrong last week. So I’m proud of him, as I am the whole group.”
City kept the pressure on, and in the 34th minute, a breakaway led to another opportunity when goalkeeper Andrew Rick was caught out of position but recovered in time to make a hand save. He would later be named by the Sons of Ben as the player of the match despite only having one save on the night.
The Union then countered, with a chance by Bruno Damiani bouncing around the box, leading to chances by Uhre and Harriel, who were unable to connect. The Union rebounded again when Kai Wagner sent a ball into the box that was a close opportunity missed by Uhre. On the ensuing play, Uhre found Damiani, who had a shot dead on target, but it was saved by St. Louis keeper Ben Lundt, who sprawled out to keep the match 1-0. In fact, Lundt kept City in this match in the first half, making clutch save after clutch save.
“I thought Ben Lundt had a great game, by the way. You know, I thought he kept them in the game, and I think we deserved the second goal early on in that first half. And by credit, to Ben, he played excellent.”
As the second half began, both teams had opportunities to score within the first 10 minutes, with City looking the stronger side early on. But Carnell’s side remained headstrong and confident.
In the 66th minute, Eduard Löwen picked up his second yellow card of the match, leading to a red card and putting the Union up a man. However, after substitutions for both teams, City kept things interesting, creating opportunities as they searched for an equalizer.
As the final minutes ticked down, play opened up with City desperately pushing for a goal while the Union tried to extend their lead. But Ben Lundt kept them in the match. However, the Union continued to pressure, and as the final whistle blew, they secured another three points to bring their season total to 12 in five matches.
When asked what the difference was from last week’s performance, Carnell spoke about resetting each week regardless of prior results.
“We just committed. We did exactly what we do every Monday. We reset the board, the magnets go back to neutral, and we prepare a game plan based on principles and how we like to defend.”
The Philadelphia Union will return to the road next Saturday, March 29, as they travel to Fort Lauderdale to face Inter Miami at Chase Stadium. The match is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and will be available on Apple TV as part of the MLS Season Pass.
Main Article Photo Credit Philadelphia Union
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