Chester—It was a crisp fall afternoon along the Delaware River in Chester as the Philadelphia Union kicked off their journey towards the MLS Cup as they hosted the Chicago Fire for the first time ever in the MLS Cup playoffs on Sunday at Subaru Park.
And while the weather might have been on the chilly side for the fans that gathered prior to the 5:54 kickoff, the energy at Union Yards and in the parking lots was certainly hot and full of optimism as a nearly sold out crowd came to cheer on the home side.
And after a physical roller coaster of a match that saw Philadelphia blow a two goal lead late in the match for only the second time this season after losing a 3-1 lead to Inter Miami and draw 3-3. Philadelphia bounced back in the penalty shootout 4-2 extending their unbeaten streak in their last 15 home matches against Chicago in all competitions.
“I think we put on a really good display of what we tried to do. We worked in transition”, said Philadelphia Union Head Coach Bradley Carnell. “We showed what we can do. We created chaos moments, we we took opportunities when they came, just unfortunate the way we give up the two moments with the set pieces at the end there. Probably they (Chicago) got what they wanted in penalties, but I’m glad that we got through on the other side.”
The Line Up
Carnell kept things pretty much in order when he announced his starting eleven as expected. Andre Blake would have his club record 14th post season appearance in goal along with a back line of Nathan Harriel, Jakob Glesnes, Olwethu Makhanya, and Kai Wagner.
The midfield consisted of Jovan Lukic and Danley Jean Jacques, along with Indiana Vassilev and Milan Iloski up top. Tai Baribo, getting his first start since New England, along side Bruno Damiani, rounded out the lineup at forward.
The Union bench consisted of Cavan Sullivan, Mikael Uhre, Jesús Bueno, Chris Donovan, Andrew Rick, Ben Bender, Frankie Westfield, Oliver Mbaizo, and Alejandro Bedoya.
Chicago Fire’s Gregg Berhalter opted for go with a back 5 line pairing, which Carnell had mentioned on Friday as part of their recent tactical changes that had netted them 6 matches unbeaten heading into Sunday’s contest.
Former Philadelphia Union center back Jack Elliott received the start and wore the captain’s armband leading the Fire’s defensive back line. Jonathan Bamba, Hugo Cuypers, and Philip Zinckernagel, whom Carnell warned have all been in excellent form, all got the start for Chicago.
However, during warmup, Zinckernagel apparently picked up a knock and was replaced by Maren Haile-Selassie into the lineup for the road.
The Match
Philadelphia Union revealed their updated Supporters’ Shield banner in honor of the club finishing atop the league in the regular season prior to kick off, and injured midfielder Quinn Sullivan banged the drum before the match.
The Union started off trying to put the road side on the ropes early in the 8th minute off a corner kick that deflected outside the 18 yard box into a charging Jovan Lukic, who volleyed a rocket of a shot that just went wide of the net to the cheers of the Union faithful in attendance.
Chicago would counter with their first real chance of the match just nine minutes later on the Fire’s first corner of the match, which found a diving Andrew Gutman whose header just went wide of frame and a diving Andre Blake.
After a fast start to the match, the remainder of the first was filled with Philadelphia really unable to break down the back line of Chicago and really find a rhythm to match. Chicago to their credit where doing an excellent job of not allowing Philadelphia to play the ball forward as much as they probably would have liked. Chicago was also doing an excellent job of preventing crosses into the box through much of the first half.
And to their credit, the Fire seemed to be handling the start and stop of a physical match, which saw 8 fouls in the first half, better than the Union. The road team were more comfortable, it seemed, slowing the match down and allowing the Union to have possession (63/37 in the first half) and waiting for their opportunity to pounce on the home side’s miscues on turnovers.
The second half started a little better for Philadelphia with them playing a little more direct and picking up the tempo of the match. Chicago would find the better opportunity to break open the scoring in the 60th minute when Hugo Cuypers dropped a header to Johnathan Dean but his shot was unable to find the target.
Nathan Harriel and Bruno Damiani were subbed off for Mikael Uhre and Frankie Westfield who would come on as part of Carnell’s first second half substitutions in the 64th minute.
Uhre’s impact in the second half would be felt immediately and would lead to Philadelphia finding the back of the net in the 70th minute. Milan IIoski passed the ball forward to Mikael Uhre down the right side of the field. The forward would cut back and cross the ball across the goal into a running Indiana Vassilev, who beat Chris Brady to make it 1-0 in the 70th minute.
“Mikael is probably the fastest, one of the fastest guys on our team, if not the fastest,” said Vassilev about the impact of Uhre. “He gives us that. I mean, everyone gives us the option behind. He’s just much quicker. So he latches onto a lot more of them, and obviously their defense is, I assume, is more wary of him and behind, just because he’s quicker.”
Philadelphia found a spark following that first goal and would double their lead five minutes later thanks to Iloski yet again, turning around Jack Elliott on the right side of the 18 to get space and beat Brady once again to make it 2-0 with a rocket of a shot.
Andre Blake would make two big saves in the following minutes along with the back line as the game opened up following the Union’s second goal of the match. Jesús Bueno and Cavan Sullivan would replace Vassilev and Lukic as the Union looked to buckle down and get out of Chester with a clean sheet.
But you know what they say about two goal leads—and it would not be enough to keep Chicago out of the back of the net and would lead to a very roller coaster end to the match.
It all started 84th minute as Jonathan Bamba would score off of a corner for the Fire to draw the match within one. During the six minutes of stoppage time, Chicago would get an opportunity to get back in this match and draw it level on a free kick. While the initial shot was cleared out of the box, Philadelphia left the opportunity for Jack Elliott to launch a shot from outside the 18 to beat Andre Blake and stun everyone in Subaru Park. The hero would return only this time to play the villain.
When asked about his thoughts on the overall defensive performance on the evening, Vassilev remarked that they could have done better at the end.
“It’s just two goals conceded,” he said. “We’re up two-zero. We have 10 minutes left. I think, from from our standpoint, it’s really not good enough. We should be seeing that out, especially at home, up two with 10 minutes left. It’s happened before this season. So I don’t think it’s a pattern, but it’s just not good enough. We have to need to clean that up.”
For those following the Union, he is talking about the matches against Columbus, Inter Miami, and Toronto where the Union where looking to close out matches but instead of coming away with nine points they only came away with three.
After surprisingly no cards being issued in the first half, many were awarded in the second, and with the teams searching for the game-winner, it was getting heated. When Kai Wagner took offense to Brian Gutiérrez fouling him and the two got in each other’s faces, Sergio Oregel came charging in and shoved Wagner to the ground. Oregel was sent off with a straight red card while Wagner and Gutiérrez received yellows.
Despite a bit of added time following the kerfuffle and Chicago finishing down a man, the match remained level at the end of regulation and it would head to penalties to decide the winner of the first match of this best of three series.
Mikael Uhre was up first for Philadelphia and while the striker hit it well, Chris Brady made the save, diving to right. Jack Elliott, who made penalty shots in the past for the Union, was up next for Chicago. However, this time his shot was saved by Andre Blake, and Subaru Park roared back to life to end the first round 0-0.
Frankie Westfield was up next for Philadelphia to start round two. The young homegrown, who was more than familiar with shootouts thanks to the last couple years in MLS Next Pro, blasted his shot past Brady and followed that up with a stare down that only Westfield could do. Brian Gutierrez stepped up next would beat Blake on a nifty chip to draw things level at 1-1 after the second round.
Milan Iloski stepped up next and did not waste time burying his take in the top of the net, followed by some chippiness between himself and Brady. Hugo Cuypers would go next and blast a shot that Blake read correctly and got a hand on, however it was well struck and the ball would deflect into the back of the net to draw level at two.
Tai Baribo started round four for Philadelphia and rocketed one past Chicago’s keeper yet again. Joel Waterman was up next for Chicago. The center back struck it well, but it deflected off the cross bar to give Philadelphia a chance to win it.
Jesús Bueno, memorably the shootout hero in the 2023 Leagues Cup tournament, would step up with a chance to win it. The Venezuelan midfielder did not miss his opportunity to send Philadelphia home with a victory, rifling the shot right past the goalkeeper and saving what otherwise would have been a disastrous end to the evening .
When asked about the what to expect in game two against Chicago on Saturday, Milan IIoski had this to add:
“They came out with a back five, which caught us a little bit off guard after playing them the last time in a back four, yeah, this is a new formation,” he said. “I think for us now we have to look forward to the next game. We came into it knowing this game is really important, but it’s not the end of the world. We have the best of three. So now it’s on to the next match and being confident and going into Chicago trying to end it there.”
The Philadelphia Union now head to Chicago for the second match of the series, next Saturday, November 1 at Seat Geek Stadium at 5:30 PM ET.
Main article photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Union
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