CHESTER – On an afternoon that felt like fall in Chester, the Philadelphia Union returned home to face another Eastern Conference opponent, Charlotte FC, as the club looked to solidify its playoff hopes. Entering the contest, Philadelphia trailed the visitors by just one point in the standings.
Much like the weather outside, the match itself had playoff vibes, with both teams battling throughout the afternoon. While the Union scored the opening goal and took the lead into halftime, Charlotte responded with two second-half goals. However, Bruno Damiani leveled the match as Philadelphia salvaged a point in a 2-2 draw, extending their unbeaten streak to 15 matches as the club continues its playoff push heading into the final four matches of the MLS regular season.
“You know, at the end of the day, you want to see how you measure up against the best teams in the league,” interim head coach Ryan Richter said when speaking to members of the media. “We got a great version of them today, and they got a good version of us. And I hope in the next games that we get the same things against some of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. That’s who who we have to measure ourselves against, and it makes for a better game. It makes for a better feel. It brings the best out of players, and you see who’s up for it, who the real dogs are, and that’s what I love about these games, is that is that you have to be at your best to be successful.”
Richter made two changes to his starting eleven from Wednesday’s contest against the Chicago Fire, replacing Quinn Sullivan with Indiana Vassilev in the midfield. Danley Jean Jacques returned to the starting eleven after missing the previous match, while Agustin Anello returned to the squad and started the contest on the bench.
Kai Wagner made his 213th MLS regular-season start, surpassing Jack Elliott for sole possession of third place in club history.
As the match kicked off, two early fouls by the visitors gave Philadelphia a pair of free kicks, both of which Charlotte cleared without much trouble. Through the opening 10 minutes, the Union’s chances were either defended well or lacked the final touch needed to create a scoring opportunity.
Charlotte had an early opportunity to take the lead after a blocked shot involving Cavan Sullivan sprung Pep Biel, who found Idan Toklomati making a run behind both Neil Pierre and Nathan Harriel. However, Andre Blake cut off the angle well enough to force Toklomati’s shot into the side netting.
Following a foul, Philadelphia was awarded a free kick just outside the 18-yard box. Milan Iloski took the ensuing attempt, which Charlotte blocked. However, the ball deflected off the hand of midfielder Pep Biel, resulting in referee Jon Freemon pointing to the penalty spot.
Iloski stepped up, and while Charlotte goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina went left, Milan went right, scoring his 19th goal of the season in the 24th minute to put Philadelphia ahead 1-0.
For Iloski, the goal moved him within three of his career-high 22 goals, a mark he achieved with USL Championship side Orange County when he won the Golden Boot. He also moved within three goals of Daniel Gazdag’s Union single-season record of 22, set in 2022.
Should Iloski score one more goal, he would become the first player to score 20 goals in a season in both the USL Championship and MLS, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jonathan Tannenwald, who asked both Richter and Iloski to comment on the potential milestone.
“It says a lot about his character because he had an opportunity before he went to USL,” Richter told the press. “He was in MLS, went to USL, was very successful. Made his move overseas, came back to MLS, was very successful. Now in two clubs and scoring goals. You can ask him about this, but it keeps that chip on your shoulder that you always have something to prove because people didn’t believe in you the way that the people here believe in him, and it’sgreat to see this kind of story of someone who’s, yeah, it doesn’t just go perfect from the beginning, but they’re still able to get to a really high level and operate at a really high level. So that speaks to his character, his work ethic, his determination, his resilience, and we’re happy for him for the season that he’s having, and we’re happy to have him in our team.”
Iloski also responded when asked about the milestone.
“It’s a cool stat. You know, it says a lot. I think you know I didn’t have the easiest run as a young player, and you know Orange County gave me a great opportunity to just play games and have fun and get back to scoring goals. And I’ve kind of just ran from there, and now I’m back in MLS and doing it at a higher level, but showing I can still keep that same productivity. So for me, it’s a it’s a big deal and it’s pretty cool stuff.”
Blake kept the Union ahead with a diving save, getting a hand on an attempt from Ashley Westwood that was the visitors’ most dangerous opportunity to that point.
Jovan Lukic’s foul on Allan Saint-Maximin gave Charlotte another dangerous opportunity from a free kick. The visitors attempted to replicate a play Orlando City had successfully executed a few matches earlier, playing the ball short and looking to find Saint-Maximin. However, Lukic’s sliding block prevented the shot from reaching the target and cleared the danger.
Coming out of halftime, Charlotte leveled the match in the 48th minute as Toklomati found Aloko, who made a run toward Blake and drove the ball past the goalkeeper to make it 1-1.
As they have shown many times during their impressive run, the Union nearly responded immediately. Kai Wagner’s cross found Iloski, but the forward’s attempt struck the inside of the post and deflected away, denying Philadelphia a chance to retake the lead.
“We had some big chances,” Iloski said. “You know, I’ve got to do better there when I hit the crossbar. I think I have to watch it back. I think that would have given us a two-one lead. But you know, coming out of halftime, we got to be better, and you know, it does feel a little bit like we give up some goals that we usually don’t give up, and bad goals to give away. But having said that, we do have to look for positives, and we have to keep our positive mentality going, and realize, you know, this was a playoff game. We’re at home in front of our fans, and as long as the game’s close, we’re gonna have a chance, and we trust ourselves. We believe in ourselves, and we’ll keep going from here.”
The Union then turned to their bench for the first time, bringing on Quinn Sullivan to replace Indiana Vassilev.
Frankie Westfield had an opportunity to score a goal of his own, but Kahlina made a kick save to keep the match level.
Charlotte took the lead in the 62nd minute when David Schnegg found Toklomati, who managed to get his head on the ball and direct it just enough to roll past Blake. The goal gave Charlotte a 2-1 advantage on a play that both the Union defense and goalkeeper could have handled better.
With 13 goals on the season, Toklomati set Charlotte’s single-season scoring record.
It marked the first time since May 24 against Inter Miami, a 6-4 contest in the final match before the 2026 FIFA World Cup break, that Philadelphia had scored first before allowing its opponent to take the lead.
Despite the club’s impressive unbeaten run, Philadelphia has conceded 10 goals over its last five matches after not allowing a goal in the previous three contests.
While Richter acknowledged the goals his team has conceded, he also shared his thoughts on the squad’s inability to keep a clean sheet.
“You want to never concede a goal, but that’s not the reality of the game,” he said. “I think with the two goals that we conceded today, that they were both preventable. So it’s more about that of how can we put ourselves in position where we’re not in a tight game against a good team. We can’t be conceding goals like this. But overall, if you look at the goal differential over this stretch of games, it’s hard to be concerned about that. You know, of course, every game the target is to to keep a clean sheet. And like I said, the concerning thing that we have to look at and improve on is the the types of goals that we conceded today.”
It is worth noting that during this 15-match stretch under Richter, Philadelphia has earned 39 of a possible 45 points, posting a plus-25 goal differential while outscoring opponents 48-18.
Following Charlotte’s second goal, play was temporarily stopped due to an incident involving discriminatory language, according to a pool report referenced by Tannenwald. Referee Jon Freemon stopped play, resulting in a delay.
However, Philadelphia once again looked to respond. Iloski found Cavan Sullivan, allowing the youngster to make an impressive run toward goal and beat the goalkeeper. Unfortunately for the home side, Sullivan was ruled offside, negating what would have been the equalizing goal.
But as they have demonstrated throughout their 15-match unbeaten streak, the Union continued to battle and finally broke through in the 73rd minute. Reigning MLS Player of the Matchday Bruno Damiani scored his 12th goal of the season to level the match at 2-2, with Danley credited with the assist.
Malik Jakupovic entered the match in place of Damiani in the 82nd minute after the Uruguayan forward went down and was evaluated for a head injury for the second time in the contest.
When asked why he chose Jakupovic over Ezekiel Alladoh for the second time in the last three matches, Richter explained his decision.
“It’s based on performance and feel from the game of what can give us the best opportunity to win the game.”
As for Damiani’s health following the match, Richter said he had not yet had an opportunity to speak with the forward, making it a situation worth monitoring moving forward.
With 12 minutes of stoppage time announced, Cavan Sullivan had another golden opportunity to give Philadelphia the lead. However, Kahlina came up with a kick save before making another impressive stop moments later to deny Cavan’s older brother, Quinn.
Photo: Emily Wallace-Sutton
Charlotte was awarded a free kick late in stoppage time following a foul by Harriel on Toklomati, giving the visitors one final opportunity to steal all three points on the road. However, Philadelphia’s defense stood tall, and the final whistle blew with the match ending in a 2-2 draw.
“I think we had our chances, and they had their chances, but overall was a really good test, and I think we stood up to it,” Richter said. “And we have to take some things from this game that we can correct, and take some things from this game that were real positive. So another good game at home from us, and we need to make sure that we learn from this and get ready for the next one.”
Despite surrendering the lead and missing an opportunity to strengthen their position in the race for the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs, the Union still had a chance to clinch a postseason berth by the end of the weekend.
Philadelphia needed D.C. United to lose to Orlando City, Toronto FC to lose or draw against the New York Red Bulls, NYCFC to lose or draw against LAFC, and FC Cincinnati to draw with Columbus Crew on Sunday evening.
However, with the New York Red Bulls falling 2-0 at home to Toronto FC, the Union will have to wait until the next matchday for another opportunity to clinch a playoff spot.
Philadelphia will have that chance next Saturday, October 24, when they host the New England Revolution at 7:30 p.m. in Chester. For those unable to attend, the match will be available on Apple TV.
More match photos:
Main article photo: Emily Wallace-Sutton
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