The 2025 Major League Soccer (MLS) season is officially underway, and Philadelphia Union has wasted no time putting its first points on the board. Philadelphia Union traveled to Orlando City SC for their opening fixture and emerged with an impressive 4-2 victory at the Inter&Co Stadium, ensuring new head coach Bradley Carnell started his tenure with a win.
Philadelphia Union supporters will want to forget about the 2024 MLS campaign quickly. Union looked to have turned a corner after winning their conference and topping the overall league standings during the COVID-19 hit 2020 season. They finished second in the Eastern Conference in 2021, won again in 2022, and were the fourth-place finishers in 2023. However, last season, Union only managed nine victories and slumped to 12th in the conference and a disappointing 23rd overall. Union sacked head coach Jim Curtin after 11 seasons at Suburu Park.
Union appointed South African Bradley Carnell as Curtin's replacement during the offseason; Carnell had previously been the New York Red Bulls' interim head coach and was in charge of St Louis City SC until July 2024. Carnell's less-than-stellar coaching record, combined with several key roster departures, resulted in the sites discussed in the best online sportsbook reviews not fancying Union to finish high up the standings this season. However, after a 4-2 victory on the road in Orlando saw Union's season explode into life, those bookmakers may have to revise their opinions about Philadelphia's MLS representatives.
The 2025 MLS season is one of change in Philadelphia, with a new head coach in charge for the first time in 11 seasons. Carnell's job was not made easier by the departures of a trio of Union's most talented players. Central defender Jack Elliott signed for Chicago Fire in free agency, and midfield dynamo Leon Flach joined Polish champions Jagiellonia Bialystok.
Jack McGlynn also left Union after the club accepted a $2.1 million transfer fee from Houston Dynamo. Union inserted a sell-on clause into the deal and could receive an additional $1.3 million if McGlynn achieves specific performance-related metrics.
Reinforcements arrived at Suburu Park in the shape of midfielder Jovan Lukic, a former Serbian youth international, and Argentinian central defender Ian Glavinovich; the towering defender arrived on a year-long loan with an option to make the transfer permanent.
However, Bruno Damiani's signing has caused excitement among Union supporters. The 22-year-old Uruguyan joined Union on February 18 for a club-record $3.4 million fee from Nacional. Damiani has bags of potential and will eventually become the focal point of the Union's offensive endeavors. Hungarian midfielder Daniel Gazdag has been the team's top scorer in each of the past three seasons, but every successful team has a top-tier center-forward. Union hopes it now has that player in Damiani.
For his first game in charge, Carnell set his team up in a 4-2-2-2 formation. The new head coach gave debuts to Jovan Lukic, Olwethu Makhanya, and homegrown Frankie Westfield; the latter became the club's tenth homegrown player to start a season opener.
Union fell behind early into the game, with Orlando's 24-year-old winger Marco Pasalic opening the scoring for the hosts in only the eighth minute. Pasalic's goal was the fastest in any of Orlando City's home openers and the MLS' fastest-ever goal by a debutant.
Last season's team would likely have crumbled after falling behind so early in a game, but this Union side showed plenty of steel and a never-say-die attitude. The team's persistence was rewarded in the 24th minute when Israel international Tai Baribo put the ball in Orlando's net to level the scores.
Union could have gone into the half-time interval trailing 2-1 had it not been for an impressive save by Jamaican international goalkeeper Andre Blake. Blake, donning the captain's armband in his 300th Union appearance, stifled Pasalic's attempts to score his second goal of the game.
Whatever Carnell said to his players during the half-time break worked wonders because Union were fast out of the blocks. Union hero Daniel Gazdag slotted home at the far post only three minutes after the restart following impressive work from Cavan Sullivan down the left side of the field.
Less than three minutes after Gazdag gave Union a goal advantage, Mikael Uhre made it 3-1 to the visitors. The Dane dispossessed Orlando's Rodrigo Schlegel before firing a shot past Pedro Gallese in the home goal.
Baribo put the result beyond doubt in the 64th minute. Debutant Westfield drove into the box before seeing his pass deflected. However, Westfield regained possession and passed the ball into the path of the awaiting Baribo, who finished with aplomb.
Orlando had never lost a season opener in front of its home crowd, so unsurprisingly continued committing players forward. Pasalic netted his second goal of the game on 79 minutes, but it proved too little, too late for the home side, and Union got the 2025 MLS season off to a winning start.
Speaking to reporters shortly after the full-time whistle, Union's head coach praised his players.
"I'm just happy for the players. Over the last five or six weeks, we've prepared for the game, we've had some really good opponents, and we've challenged the players in many ways. For them to come out and be challenged here in this game was kind of a microcosm of the whole preseason."
"We got a goal down, and then we were chasing a little bit; we lost our structure. Coming out for the second half, we corrected one or two things, and then all of a sudden, you can change the picture in a million ways. We did do that in transition. We really did exactly what we wanted to do from the beginning of the game. So proud of the boys for showing a little courage and resilience."
Carnell and his Union team will next play on March 1, when they welcome FC Cincinnati to Suburu Park. FC Cincinnati also got off to a winning start, defeating the New York Red Bulls 1-0 on home soil.