CHICAGO – The Philadelphia Union headed into the match riding a seven-match unbeaten run as they took on the Chicago Fire Wednesday evening in the Windy City.

And while the Union conceded an early first-half goal, two goals from Bruno Damiani and a goal from Milan Iloski sent the club from Philadelphia home with all three points and the club’s eighth win in a row as they continue to fight for the MLS Cup Playoffs.

“Overall, another positive result,” interim head coach Ryan Richter said to members of the media. “A good meeting between two good teams, and I think the first half overall was a competitive match. And yeah, I think they took their goal really well. Something that was preventable from us, but I did like the way that we were playing. I thought our movement was sharp. The ideas were right. It just wasn’t coming off. Some loose touches where things broke down, but the ideas and and the movement and the the way we were trying to create and how organized we were defensively, I thought this was really positive.”

Richter’s squad was missing a key piece in its starting eleven heading into the contest, as Danley Jean Jacques appeared on the player status report, where the Haitian midfielder was listed as out with a foot injury. Agustin Anello was still listed as out as he continued to recover from an adductor injury.

Richter said that Danley picked up an injury after the Real Salt Lake match, but he is hopeful that he will be available for this weekend.

One interesting switch was Quinn Sullivan receiving his fourth start in all competitions since returning from his injury, with Indiana Vassilev on the bench to start the night.

Jesus Bueno got the nod in Danley’s spot, while the rest of Philly’s starting eleven remained unchanged from Saturday.

On the bench, Japhet Sery Larsen returned after serving a one-match suspension for yellow card accumulation. However, outside of the changes above, the starting eleven remained the same as it has been over this 13-match stretch.

Chicago went on the attack early with a long ball to Jonathan Bamba, who beat defender Frankie Westfield, but the Homegrown’s teammate, Neil Pierre, made a clean tackle to snuff out the attack early on for the away side.

Chicago kept the pressure on Philly when Robert Lewandowski kicked the ball at goalkeeper Andre Blake off a corner. The goalkeeper and forward engaged in a moment of gamesmanship before play resumed.

Chicago countered the Union in the 12th minute following a turnover from Nathan Harriel, springing Maren Haile-Selassie down the wing. However, Jesus Bueno and Neil Pierre made a critical stop on the Polish forward’s shot.

Quinn and Cavan almost linked up in the 25th minute, with Quinn making a break up the left side into the box and crossing the ball to his younger brother. However, the younger Sullivan was unable to get a touch on what might have been the Union’s best chance to that point in the first half.

Philadelphia conceded the first goal of the match as Noah Allen found Haile-Selassie for his fourth goal in as many matches and his 11th of the season. The secondary assist went to Bamba as Philly found itself down early.

With four minutes of stoppage time, former Union defender Jack Elliott received his second yellow card after picking up his first earlier in the match. Elliott took down Bruno Damiani, who was making a run on a pass over the defense, and was sent off for Chicago, leaving the home side down a man as both teams headed into halftime.

“I think we spoke about this before, but when what we expected is down a man that they would sit a bit deeper, and and oftentimes that you’re going to have to go around teams to get in position to score to break them down when teams sit deeper like that,” Richter said.

“So we emphasize getting into the into what we call the assist zone, but getting getting into areas where it’s really dangerous crossing positions. So, trying to create overloads in wide areas, being really dynamic, driving into the box, and trying to cross from cross from positions in the box where it’s basically it’s a pass from that position, and that’s what two of the goals came from. So, it was nice to see that the guys the guys are understanding that they’re yeah a lot of the the creativity is coming from them when it gets in that position.”

The Philadelphia Union had their best chance of the match coming out of the break. Iloski had a dead-red chance on a cross from Kai Wagner. However, Fire goalkeeper Chris Brady made a clutch save on the forward’s attempt.

The Union would find the goal on the rebound as the ball was cleared into the midfield, where Philly recovered possession and sprung Westfield into the box. Westfield crossed the ball in, where Damiani got a touch on it, deflecting it to Milan, who beat Brady on the second opportunity for his 18th goal of the season, leveling the match at one.

The Union took the lead in the 55th minute, with Bruno Damiani scoring his 10th goal of the season via an assist from Cavan, with the secondary assist credited to Iloski, to give the Union a 2-1 lead early in the second half. That assist for Cavan was the 17 year old’s 21st goal contribution, a new record in MLS for a teenager in a single MLS season.

Bruno Damiani scored his second goal of the match in the 67th minute, with the assist going to Jovan Lukic, to extend the Boys in Blue’s lead to 3-1.

“I think on the play, it’s not just the guys are dropping; they’re dropping because of the numbers that we’re committing in these transition moments, and the run from Quinn, the run from Cavan,” he said. “It keeps the center backs that they have to make a decision because it’s a 2v one situation. If Mbokazi steps to to Bruno in that situation, he has an easy pass to Cavan, who’s driving into the box with a man, another man out of the back line, so of course it’s a great run from Bruno. It’s a great tackle and ball win and forward pass from Jovan to start the play. It’s a great run from Bruno to to drive at the goal in transition, but it’s also it’s also the numbers that we commit on the play to make the center backs make a decision if they can step or or if they have to drop, and Bruno read the play perfectly, and then the finish was top.”

With the goal, it was the first time since 2022 that Philadelphia had two forwards with double-digit goals, when Julian Carranza and Mikael Uhre achieved that accomplishment.

“I think that both of them have earned the goal-scoring record that they’re on right now,” Richter said when talking about the forwards. “I want to highlight a lot of the the work that they do outside of scoring the goals that gets the team in position where we can create chances for them, because the style that we play, if they’re not working in the way that they are, we don’t get these chances. So what we ask them to commit to, it’s a lot of work for the strikers.

“But when they get reward rewarded with good service, a lot of chances, and and take those chances and get their goals, that work makes a little bit more sense, so proud of them. They can’t drop that part. They can’t drop the work part, and and recognize the success that they’re having is because of the effort that they’re putting in, and because of the focus that they train with, and and the focus that they put into the work against the ball. It’s a big part of it, and continue to continue to to execute in the moments when they get their opportunities and the games that they’re not executing, we have to do a job as a team to create chances for them. So they get another chance and they and they take the next one.”

Richter went to the bench in the 79th minute, bringing on Ezekiel Alladoh for Damiani and Ben Bender for Cavan Sullivan.

Chicago kept the pressure on Philadelphia late as the match reached the 80th minute, with two great chances to get back into the match. Attempts from Haile-Selassie and Puso Dithejane forced Andre Blake to make two huge saves to keep the home team at bay for the moment.

As the match reached the 90th minute, Malik Jakupovic and Japhet Sery Larsen checked in for Quinn Sullivan and Milan Iloski.

Chicago had another chance to make things interesting late after Neil Pierre picked up a yellow card for a foul on Dithejane just outside the box. However, the Fire were unable to capitalize on the opportunity, and Philadelphia left Soldier Field with all three points at the end of the evening’s contest.

With Wednesday night’s comeback victory, Philadelphia became just the third team in the MLS post-shootout era to win five matches in a season after trailing at halftime, according to MLS Communications.

The club now sits at 45 points on the campaign, just one point behind Charlotte FC, which sits in fifth place, and just three points behind Wednesday night’s opponent, the Chicago Fire.

The Union return home on Saturday, September 17, for a rare early-afternoon kickoff at 2:30 p.m. for Kids Day at Subaru Park against Charlotte. The match will be available on Apple TV if you cannot make it to the stadium.

Main article photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Union