CHESTER, Pa. — When the Philadelphia Union step on the pitch at Subaru Park on Saturday afternoon, they will be looking for their first win of the MLS regular season and only their second home win of 2026, while also trying to avoid falling to five losses in league play when they host Eastern Conference opponent Chicago Fire.
Coming off what some might view as a disappointing Round of 16 exit in the Concacaf Champions Cup on Wednesday against Club América, a 2–1 loss on aggregate, there were still positives to take away from the 1–1 draw in Mexico City. The Philadelphia Union hope they can build on that performance now that their focus shifts solely to league play until later this summer, when the club will participate in Leagues Cup after sitting out last year due to not qualifying for the playoffs.
The second half in particular on Wednesday, following Jesús Bueno’s goal from the penalty spot, sparked Philadelphia and nearly saw them knock off the Liga MX giant on the road with an inspired performance.
However, so far this season, consistent lineup rotations and slow starts with the Union scoring first only in their opening round legs against Defence Force FC, have been concerning. In all other matches, Philadelphia has conceded first and been forced to chase the game. Combined with just one goal from open play outside of that opening round, there are still many questions surrounding the young squad filled with new faces.
“I feel like a lot of our second half performances have been really good,” said Carnell. “You know, just think about the push we had against New York City or San Jose or, second half in Atlanta. So, we’ve taken a lot off of that, and we’ve taken spoken a lot about that, but it’s important for us to make sure we start the games in the right way, to make sure we push in the right way.”
That said, Carnell and company will look to carry that momentum from Mexico into Saturday’s match against Chicago as they try to put together a full 90-minute performance and potentially pick up their first MLS win of 2026.
“I don’t want to be the guy who is just always happy with a performance,” Carnell mentioned. “We want to make sure that we do enough to get results. We want to make sure we do enough to get points on the board. But again, we do feel we training in the right way. The group is galvanized, they’re positive, and that’s the biggest thing right now.”
The Fire are coming off a 2–1 loss at home to D.C. United this past Saturday. After an 81st-minute Hugo Cuypers goal from the penalty spot, Chicago later conceded a penalty of their own, which former Union striker Tai Baribo converted to steal the road win for D.C.
Through four matches in 2026, Gregg Berhalter’s squad sits at 1-2-1 in league play with five goals scored and four conceded. Cuypers leads the way for Chicago with three goals in four matches and is off to an impressive start. He will be a player the Union defense must track closely when the teams meet.
Speaking of defenders, Chicago’s new offseason addition, South African center back Mbekezeli Mbokazi, who was acquired from Orlando Pirates in South Africa’s top-flight league, has impressed so far this season and will be someone Philadelphia’s attack must contend with on Saturday.
“He has an incredible athletic profile,” said Bradley about the fellow South African defender. “He’s not the tallest center back. He has a left foot, and that’s always like a gold, if you have a left footed center back, and he’s really strong.”
Mbokazi was recently added to South Africa’s international squad ahead of their upcoming World Cup preparations. The team will face Panama in two friendlies later this month.
One player who was on the preliminary roster but left off the final squad was Union center back Olwethu Makhanya. Despite an impressive season last year and a strong start this year, he was not selected for the friendlies.
‘The worst thing you can do as a player or anything in any performance environment is worried about the result, the end product,” said Carnell on Makhanya’s omission from the final roster. “Playing in a World Cup, which is months away, right? So you can only focus on your next 90 minutes.”
“These guys who have that nature and that characteristic are going to get rewarded at some point, you know, and he’s still so young, and no one’s ever expected the rise that he’s had, but now he’s having that rise, and I think it’s just a matter of time before he gets really recognized or rewarded.”
For Philadelphia, as mentioned earlier, while they look to build momentum from earlier this week, they will also be monitoring the status of players available this weekend.
Forwards Ezekiel Alladoh and Agustín Anello were left off the roster against Club América. While Carnell mentioned following last Saturday’s match against Atlanta United that Anello had suffered a knock, there was no update at the time on Alladoh.
However, during Wednesday’s press conference, the Union manager provided an update on both players. Anello has a Grade 2 hamstring injury and will be out for a few weeks. Alladoh is dealing with personal matters, though Carnell did not go into further detail beyond saying the club hopes to welcome him back soon.
Philadelphia has 12 all-time home wins in league play against Chicago at Subaru Park and recorded three wins and a draw in 2025. Perhaps the Union can begin putting the pieces of the puzzle together and grab their first league win of the year, time will tell.
MLS Announces the 2027 Sprint Season Format
On Thursday of this week, Major League soccer announced more details and format of the 2027 MLS Sprint Season that will transition the league from its current format into a summer-to-spring calendar, as the league aligns its schedule with the world’s top soccer leagues.
Under the new format, each MLS team will play 14 regular season games from February to April, with seven home and road games being played against Eastern conference opponents for the Philadelphia Union.
The Audi 2027 MLS Cup Playoffs will also be formatted differently. Under the sprint season rules, eight teams from each conference will qualify and it will be single elimination tournament to crown the 2027 MLS Cup Champion.
A more in depth look of the new format breakdown is as follows.
- All teams will play 14 regular-season games.
- Each team will play its 14 conference opponents one time
- All teams will play seven home games and seven away games in the regular season.
- The top eight teams from the Eastern Conference and the top eight teams from the Western Conference will qualify for the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs.
- One team will be crowned MLS Cup champion.
- Five Concacaf Champions Cup berths will be determined by 2027 MLS Sprint Season results.
- 18 teams will qualify for Leagues Cup, nine from each conference.
Following the sprint season, the 2027-28 MLS regular season will kick off in July 2027 and conclude with the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs and MLS Cup presented by Audi in May 2028.
More details of both formats will be released in the coming months as of the time of the writing so stay tuned.
But for now, if you cannot make it to Chester on Saturday for the 4:30PM kickoff as part of Kids Day at Subaru Park, the match will be available on Apple TV.
Main article photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Union
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