Vancouver, British Columbia – Saturday evening at BC Place shaped up as a showdown between two teams, the Vancouver Whitecaps and Philadelphia Union, who have both enjoyed successful campaigns in the 2025 season to this point, heading into a highly anticipated match for both sides.

Unfortunately for Philadelphia, when the 90 minutes were up, it was the home side that walked out with a complete and dominant performance in a 7-0 victory. The Whitecaps were led by three goals and an assist from Thomas Müller, a brace from Emmanuel Sabbi, and three assists from Sebastian Berhalter, as the Union tied the largest margin of defeat in MLS history.

“From a personal standpoint, I thought we did exactly what we needed to do, just unfortunately, the application on my behalf, we couldn’t get it right,” said Union Head Coach Bradley Carnell.

“I think over 30 match days, you know, 29 we’ve proven to find the right recipe. Today we didn’t, and, yeah, they exposed us and exploited us. So, you know, I think we have enough reps of the 29 previous occasions where we’ve been very competitive. We lost the battle. We lost the war. We lost the fight. So it’s one of those days where the sun sets and tomorrow the sun rises again.”

How much international call-ups and Tuesday’s U.S. Open Cup match played into Carnell’s decision to rotate the lineup as he did remains to be seen.

Milan Iloski and Mikael Uhre started up top for the Union, while Alejandro Bedoya started on the back line alongside Nathan Harriel, Frankie Westfield, and Jakob Glesnes, with Olwethu Makhanya suspended due to a red card picked up against FC Cincinnati.

In midfield, Jesús Bueno got the nod in place of Danley Jean Jacques, who had just returned from international duty with Haiti, alongside Jovan Lukic. Indiana Vassilev and Quinn Sullivan started higher up in the midfield for the visitors.

Kai Wagner, Tai Baribo, and Bruno Damiani began the match on the bench. The notable absence was Andre Blake. With Andrew Rick starting in net and newly signed George Marks on the bench, the Jamaican goalkeeper was nowhere to be seen in the match lineup. Carnell made no reference to him post-match, so his status for Tuesday remains unclear.

As well as the Union had started in their previous two matches, Saturday evening was the exact opposite of what Philadelphia had shown 30 matches into the season.

Early on, in the 5th minute, Thomas Müller tested Rick with a shot inside the box, which the young goalkeeper dove to stop. The Whitecaps kept up the pressure, and center back Tristan Blackmon’s attempt on Vancouver’s first corner went just wide. Blackmon later picked up the second yellow card of the match, after Müller had received one earlier in the half. Before that, Sergio Ríos missed a wide-open chance on a breakaway. It was just ominous foreshadowing of what was to come for the Union.

Vancouver opened the scoring in the 18th minute when Mathias Laborda beat Harriel on a header from a Berhalter set-piece delivery.

The Whitecaps then scored three goals in the next 11 minutes. Sabbi doubled the lead in the 24th minute after Ali Ahmed beat Bedoya and Glesnes down the left, crossing for Sabbi to finish. Minutes later, Müller converted the first of his two penalties after Bueno was called for handball in the box, putting Vancouver up 3-0 inside 29 minutes.

All of this happened before Philadelphia could even record a shot on target.

The Union briefly thought they had found a lifeline when Bedoya broke through the back line and squared to Uhre for an easy tap-in, but VAR showed Bedoya was offside. The goal was disallowed, keeping the deficit at three.

Philadelphia’s night only got worse when Bedoya conceded a penalty. While it looked like he may have touched the ball, the call stood, and Müller converted his second penalty to make it 4-0 before halftime.

Carnell made three substitutions during stoppage time in the first half: Baribo for Uhre, Wagner for Bedoya, and Jean Jacques for Bueno.

“This was intentional,” Carnell said when asked if the subs were planned. “When a game’s getting away from you. I just didn’t do it just to, more get those guys coming in to get a feel of the game, who can go inside and approach it in a tactical way. So, you know, no regrets there.”

The second half brought no relief. Sabbi netted his second in the 61st minute on an assist from Müller to make it 5-0.

One bright spot came when Neil Pierre made his first-team debut, adding his name to the list of Union homegrowns featured this season.

But Vancouver piled on two more late goals. Rayan Elloum scored in the 80th minute, and Müller completed his hat trick on his birthday in the 88th with a header past Rick to seal the 7-0 rout.

Adding insult to injury, Jovan Lukic picked up another yellow card, meaning he will miss next week’s match against New England at Subaru Park. That leaves Carnell without both Lukic and Makhanya for a critical match following this result.

Perhaps in some odd fortune, Philadelphia won’t have long to dwell. They travel to Nashville on Tuesday for their third meeting with Nashville SC this season, with a spot in the U.S. Open Cup Final on the line. Nashville fell to Cincinnati on Saturday, conceding late in stoppage time.

And so the question lingers: what will Philadelphia’s confidence be like after a match like this?

“Myself, the staff, the players, had an off day at the office,” said Carnell. “And that’s what it is. We just have to move on. I’d rather, you know, get cleaned out like this and we learn from it, and be like, all right, that’s not us. And I think that’s the feeling I get, that’s the, you know, that’s the messages I’m hearing.”

History suggests the Union may recover. In 2024, they went unbeaten in five straight after a 6-0 loss to Pachuca. In 2022, they bounced back from a 4-0 loss in Charlotte to go on a run that ended in the MLS Cup Final.

“Time will tell, only time will tell,” Carnell said of his team’s response. “I don’t see that anybody should feel any worse than a one-nil loss. Sometimes you have to go through these moments to get whacked in the face and just to get that feeling of what it actually feels like.”

Despite the loss, results elsewhere softened the blow. With San Diego losing 3-1 to Minnesota, Philadelphia still hold their position in both the Eastern Conference and Supporters’ Shield race with four matches to go.

As for where they’ll end up in the Open Cup and league play? As Carnell said, only time will tell.

Main Article Photo Courtesy of the Philadelphia Union