CHESTER, Pa. — On Saturday, the Philadelphia will return to league play following a two week break due to the FIFA international window as they head south to Charlotte, North Carolina to take on Charlotte FC as the club still searches for their first point(s) of the 2026 MLS season.
Following their 2-1 defeat back on March 21st at the hands of Chicago Fire, stretching their streak to five matches in league play without a point to start the 2026 Major League Soccer season, Philadelphia Union head coach Bradley Carnell mentioned the squad would use the following weeks to reset and re-calibrate due to hectic schedule between Concacaf Champions Cup and regular season play.
During Thursday’s press conference as the club prepares to travel to Charlotte, Carnell provided his overall assessment of the team’s performance over the two-week segment.
“There’s been a lot of reflection, a lot of meetings, a lot of chatting, a lot of executing on the training ground, and a lot of competition,” Carnell mentioned when discussing the team over break.
“You know, last week, I think the league had a, you know, obviously, with the National window, but the boys were grinding it out. Over the weekend, we had an internal scrimmage against each other, which worked really, really well. And I was grateful for that. The boys invested a lot.”
With the window officially over and players returning to their clubs, one player that Philadelphia is hoping will be available is goalkeeper Andre Blake, whom Carnell explained was having travel delays upon returning from his call up with Jamaica after failing to qualify for this summer’s World Cup failing to D.R. Congo 1-0 on Wednesday.
“For him [Andre] to get to jump back on the horse, I think it’s a good thing. I think we’re all gutted not having him represented in a World Cup.” said Carnell.
Philadelphia will look to avoid another loss this weekend and in the process, joining former MLS clubs like the 2012 Toronto FC club that went pointless through this first 9 matches that year en route to a 5-8-21 season finishing with just 23 points, ending up at the bottom of the league table at year’s end.
Fun fact—Toronto would pick up their victory in their 10th match of the season defeating none other than the Philadelphia Union 1-0 on May 26th of that year.
There have been clubs, notably Real Salt Lake and Sporting Kansas City, that have had a point through five matches, with Salt Lake actually making the playoffs that year en route to winning the MLS over the LA Galaxy in penalties following a 1-1 draw in 2009. Sporting, however, would only muster 28 points and a last place finish in the West in 2025.
Should Philadelphia want to avoid both of those similar scenarios this weekend, they will have to do something that have yet to do, and that is actually win a match at Bank of America Stadium where they are 0-2-2 all time with a -4 goal differential in four matches. Fan may recall the 4-0 loss back in 2022 that ended up costing the club the Supporters’ Shield and home field advantage through the playoffs, which LAFC would clinch, and we know how that ended.
However, should Philadelphia find a way to pull off its first win or manage a draw on Saturday, according to the Union manager, it will take everyone to pull together.
“We have to be dialed in and locked in very tough environments,” he said. “I think every stadium now, every environment. I don’t think there’s any easy environments to go into, and that’s always a challenge. But having said that, you know, playing at home sometimes, you know, I believe the pressure, it’s a privilege, you know, and this is what you want. We want to be in tough games.”
Road environment aside, it will be a tough match as Dean Smith’s Charlotte side has been off to a solid start in 2026 and currently sits in 4th in the MLS eastern Conference with 8 points through 5 matches. Coming off a 6-1 win over Red Bull New York, albeit being up a man, and a scoreless draw over Inter Miami in the match prior to that, Smith’s side will be heading into the match with a lot of confidence.
For the Union to get something out of Saturday’s match, they will have to contend with Charlotte’s midfield and the likes of Pep Biel, Wilfried Zaha, Kerwin Vargas, Ashley Westwood, Luca De Le Torre, and Liel Abada who have combined six goals and nine assists so far this year—if you count hockey assists—something Philadelphia will have to keep in check and limit play-making opportunities for themselves and forward Idan Toklomati who has two goals to his credit.
“I think they have a savvy group that pulls the emotions one way and tries to dictate the play another way,” said Carnell when talking about Charlotte as a group. “Whether you know it’s Zaha, Pep Biel, or Vargas, there’s a couple guys there that pull on the emotional strings a little bit, on the tension of the game and the intensity of the game. And that’s where our discipline has to be.”
Zaha himself boasts two goals all time against Philadelphia in just two matches.
Defensively, Smith’s side boasts 2024 goal keeper of the year, Kristijan Kahlina, and USMNT veteran defender Tim Ream, that have allowed more than one goal just once through the early part of the season.
“It’s going to be again, just a battle, who wins the transitional moments, who can dictate the play in certain phases, and who can recover best, and who can penalize the opponent in the most simplest of ways,” said Carnell. “I think if you turn over the ball too quickly in a transition, then it’s coming back the other way, and then then the track meet starts to happen.”
Something that Philadelphia will hope to see is more from their club-record signings these past two seasons in Ezekiel Alladoh and Bruno Damiani. Both players have yet to find the back of the net in league play. Carnell mentioned that Alladoh was out dealing with personal matters, following the match against the Fire, though reports have since surfaced that his absence is partly due to him missing practice, which following his red card at D.C United, has made it tough for the club’s record-signing to not only make the impact that most had hoped for, but to even get time on the pitch. Through this season to date, the young forward has only seen pitch for a total of 136 minutes in league play.
Damiani has had his moments to find the goal this year and while he seems to get into the right positions and moments, he has consistently struggled to finish in the final moments, which has led to the club only having three goals in league play and only four in total if you take way their opening round leg against Defence Force FC.
Carnell and his staff will hope that these two weeks will benefit them and the rest of the squad to get back to finishing those final moments with more regularity and consistency as we saw in the previous season.
The break should also allow new additions like Philippe Ndinga and others more time to train with their teammates and learn the nuances of what Union coaching staff want and build chemistry and continuity, something that has been lacking to this point in the season in many phases of play.
“I think there’s still a lot to learn,” said Carnell on Ndinga’s training with the squad over break. “I think the environments he’s been, you know, accustomed to or now in, are totally different. I think the physicality of our league in the MLS is something that’s, you know, not unique, but I think people underestimate the physicality of our league, so it takes a while, and he’s on the right track.”
And finally, while Bradley Carnell is very straight forward with his style of play he expects from his teams, this break will prove whether or not the coach will look at adjustments in generating different ways of attacking and defending while holding true to his principles in hopes that the wrinkles may give the squad an updated look and keeping the opposition guessing in the process.
Whatever it takes to get it done, the Philadelphia Union’s ability to capitalize on those positive moments this Saturday will dictate if this club can to begin to right the ship and start picking up some momentum with this next block of five matches. Or should they falter yet again, join an infamous of group clubs that went pointless in their first six matches to start a season. For Philadelphia they hope its the former and not the latter.
“We’re excited for it,” said Carnell when speaking about Saturday’s match. “We’ve been in every game. You know, there’s been many tight games and we fall short here and there. But yeah, there’s nothing, the effort, I cannot fault the boys for. There’s just micro moments, that we get ourselves into situations and we have to dig ourselves out of these situations.”
The match is scheduled for this Saturday, April 4, 2026 with kickoff slated for 7:30PM. If you are unable to make the trip to Bank of America Stadium, the match is available on Apple TV.
Main article photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Union
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