CHESTER, Pa.—After a three-week hiatus, Philadelphia Union II finally returned to action as they hosted independent MLS Next Pro side Carolina Core for the first time at Subaru Park. After mustering only four total goals at one apiece in their first four matches, Union II doubled their “goals for” count on the season with a 4-1 victory.
Ryan Richter’s starting lineup saw some changes, bringing more young first team players into the fold. Likely needing some work, Andrew Rick made his first start with Union II after featuring in the Concacaf Champions League matches with the first team. Stas Korzeniowski, Union II’s leading scorer from 2025, got the nod at striker for the first time this season, along with newly-minted homegrown Malik Jakupovic.
Making his professional debut and first start with Union II after a strong showing at the Dallas Cup with the U-18s was Tyler Gladstone, who joined Kellan LeBlanc at attacking midfield. Matheus De Paula and Mamoutou Berthé were once again at defensive mid. Rounding out the defense were Jordan Griffin and Giovanny Sequera at outside back, and Rafael Uzcátegui and Finn Sundstrom at center back.
The first real threat came in the 6th minute after a turnover by Sequera, Carolina Core took the ball in for a dangerous chance, but it was blocked by Uzcátegui and then the followup shot by Thomas Raimbault was sent over the goal. Union II followed up with some nifty passing that brought the first pressure on the Foxes, including a corner and a free kick
The Core saw the first booking after Charles Orbaugh was shown a yellow for pulling on Jakupovic’s jersey for a foul in the 12th minute. After some quality passing following a run by LeBlanc, Gladstone just missed the goal when his shot went wide left in the 16th minute. Union II almost got on the board again when Jakupovic’s shot on a corner was blasted on goal in the 17th minute, but he would not miss moments later when he received a fantastic cross from LeBlanc and on a half volley and a flick up, rocketed a left-footed shot past Nicholas Holliday for his third goal of the season to put Union II up 1-0 in the 20th minute.
It would not take Philadelphia long to find two more goals, both by Korzeniowski. The first came in the 25th minute as he shed a defender off him and blasted the ball into the net from inside the top of the box to make it 2-0. Then in the 30th minute, again using his strength and 6’4″ frame to just throw a defender off his body, he shot the ball from the top of the box at the left post, where the ball deflected in to make it 3-0.
In quick succession, De Paula and Raimbault were shown yellow cards for fouls in the 32nd and 33rd minutes, respectively. Carolina got a few chances as the half moved on, but it was Union II that saw the bulk of the late first-half opportunities as Gladstone, De Paula, and LeBlanc had attempts that went for naught.
There were no changes at halftime for Union II. Carolina Core had some early chances in the second half, but they were unable to finish their attempts. Carolina’s Jair Caiza was shown a yellow after fouling LeBlanc in the 51st minute. LeBlanc just missed a goal moments later when his shot ricocheted off the right post, and then his followup attempt went wide left.
After Holliday had to make a save on a LeBlanc shot, Union II were awarded a corner, executed by Gladstone. Uzcátegui made a well-timed header on the cross to put the ball in and make it 4-0 in the 63rd minute. It was his first goal of the season, and Gladstone’s first professional assist.
Richter would share postgame that it was a combination of things that led to Gladstone getting the start, and that he was pleased with his performance.
“His performance with the 18s over the past three months, his performance in training with Union II and then, of course, the last couple weeks, he’s kind of really taken a big step,” Richter said. “And you know, you can see he’s kind of running on a lot of confidence, from the playing well with the 18s, National Team, Dallas Cup, performing well, training well in the second team. And then he deserved this opportunity. I thought he did a really good job today.”
Richter made his first change in the 66th minute, subbing Berthé out in favor of Óscar Benítez. The Core’s Msunguchi Alenga was shown a yellow for a foul in the 68th minute after just subbing on (and somehow not Caiza, who was already on a yellow, for kicking the ball hard at the ad boards in frustration).
Union II made additional changes in the 72nd minute, bringing on two more Academy U-18s, fresh off their Dallas Cup victory a week ago, where they also were highly successful. Nehan Hasan and Andrew Craig, the latter making his pro debut, replaced Gladstone and Griffin.
After a few bench appearances but being an unused sub, it seemed a long time coming for the captain of the U-18s, a Philly native who came up with the Union from a young age, and who played with a ton of heart and grit in the Dallas Cup victory.
“Yeah, I mean, he didn’t have so much to do, but he looked confident and composed. And yeah, I’m proud of him. Another one of these guys that I coached when he was like 10 years old,” Richter, a former Union Academy coach, said. “So to see him kind of go through the last whatever, eight, nine years, through this system, and, you know, to earn and get to the level where he’s contributing into, we’re proud of him, happy for his family. And yeah, so overall, I think it’s something that he deserved that’s been coming for a long time.”
Core’s frustrations continued to build as Arnaud Tattevin was booked in the 75th minute after fouling Sequera. Moments later, Tattevin just barely remained onside and received a well-timed pass from Raimbault to the left inside the box, and put it past Rick to get the Foxes on the board, making it 4-1 in the 77th minute.
“Yeah, I think we talked about it at halftime, that the way they were getting a chance in this game, and I thought we this was one negative from the games. They were giving too many easy balls away in midfield, and that’s what kind of led to that, the start of that action, and then, you know, we lose the tackle, and then the guy is basically driving at our back line, and then they execute it well, too,” Richter said of the midfield and defensive breakdown that led to the goal.
Richter’s final change came in the 80th minute as Lennon Harrington replaced LeBlanc as Union II looked to see out the victory. Korzeniowski was booked for fouling the keeper, Holliday, in the 87th minute. Union II saw some late chances, including a long but accurate shot by Benítez that was saved by Holliday. After three minutes of stoppage time, the match finished with the home squad prevailing 4-1. At the end of the evening, Union II would be in third place in the East with a 3-1-1 record.
Richter, whose squad gifted him with a resounding win on his birthday and a celebratory soaking from water jugs and bottles, praised his team’s efforts after the match.
“I think it was our best performance of the year,” Richter said matter-of-factly. “The goals in the first half were all, I would say, really high quality individual efforts that ended the plays. Of course, the one that that Stas takes from the center back, but even in that play, like the way that Tyler commits to go forward, to just give the guy that Stas is 1v1 against, to give him a decision that there’s a chance for a pass, like, making this extra run. Stas’s second goal, Matheus—it’s a little thing, but such a smart play—he just stands in front of the guy who’s running with Stas and, like, puts his body in the way. It’s such a heads up smart play that gives Stas the path that he can kind of run forward with.”
“And then, you know, the build up for the first goal, really good composure from Rafa to find the first pass out of pressure, good for Kellan not to rush his decision and take the space in transition,” Richter continued. “And then, yeah, what do you want to say about Malik when the ball comes to him in the box? He has some really incredible instincts, and some of the stuff that he can invent when he’s in front of goal is front of goal is unbelievable. So, yeah, so overall, I’m sorry that we gave the goal because I think we deserve the clean sheet in the game. But overall, it was really positive for us.”
It was a chance for Stas Korzeniowski, who got promoted to the first team this season and has made several appearances but did not play the previous night at Montreal, and Andrew Rick, who as the backup keeper to Andre Blake, to get some much-needed the playing time. Some players could maybe see it as a demotion going down to the second team, but
“We’re always with the guys that, you know, their performance is going to depend on their mentality and how they approach game. And they’re [Rick and Korzeniowski] two guys that you don’t have to worry about that,” Richter said.
“With Stas, it’s a funny one, because he’s in a different position than he was last season, and he’s a mature enough guy to understand that if he doesn’t approach this the right way, then he doesn’t get something out of it, and he’s not preparing himself for the minutes that he hopefully gets next week with the first team. So I think he did that today, and obviously, you know, scored two great goals, but the way he was working for 90 minutes was cool. So, you know, I always appreciate that.”
Richter continued, “And that’s kind of the standard that we are going to hold them to always because we want to win, and our group, the kids, they need to learn that. And when we approach it with the right mentality, then it’s possible. But no one is above, you know, coming out and thinking the game is going to be easy, because there’s never an easy game.”
One player, who was making only his second appearance since being signed recently, was Mamoutou Berthé. “Yeah, I thought he grew into the game,” Richter said of the Malian midfielder. “You know, you could see a couple couple of his decisions. Maybe he just didn’t have the right timing but, you know, would rush things when he didn’t have to. Maybe took a second too long with the ball, when he had to speed things up. But overall, I think he had a strong performance.”
It was a performance that showed much improvement from the match at Red Bull New York II that had only three shots with one on target. This time, Union II had 17 shots with eight on goal. Richter, when asked if he was pleased with the improvement in the shots and attack, he mentioned that they talked about being cleaner in the passes in transition and better in the build up and decision making. “When it’s not only going forward directly, we can try to find the weak side, create a 2v1, we have to just build with possession.”
Richter added, “I think we did a better job in our decision making, of playing better soccer, you know. So you go back to Red Bull, great commitment, organization, defensively solid, but like you can’t play or watch 30 games like this, where we’re just losing every pass and then we work hard to win it back. That’s great. Crash into the next guy and lose the ball, like we can’t go 30 games playing like this. So let’s improve the quality. Let’s improve the way that we’re playing with the ball. And I think we did a better job. That led to, you know, a lot more opportunities to get the goal today.”
Four goals, in fact—a high water mark for the season so far for Union II. It was a positive ending to the weekend that saw their first team counterpart also get a three-point result. They will now look to build on that and keep the momentum going as they travel north of the border to face Toronto FC again, this time at York Lions Stadium on Friday, April 17th at 7:00 PM (mlsnextpro.com/OneFootball).
Main article photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union II.
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