The Philadelphia Union's rough start continued on Wednesday night, as they couldn't do enough to get past Mexican juggernaut Club América. A 1-1 draw in leg two saw Philly get knocked out of the Concacaf Champions Cup (CCC) in the Round of 16. Curious lineup decisions, a poor first half, and a second half reminiscent of last season's successes were the tale of the night. Here's a look back at how the Union's CCC hopes came to a crashing halt.
The Union knew they would need to score multiple goals to advance to the quarterfinals, something they had not done all season against a team other than Defence Force. A scoreline of 2-0, or 2-1, would do the trick and see Philly move on. Bradley Carnell and his Boys in Blue had their work cut out for them, and still, the Union gaffer made some interesting choices in terms of personnel.
GK: Rick
LB: Larson CB: Makhanya CB: Martínez RB: Harriel
DM: Lukic DM: Bueno
LCM: C. Sullivan CAM: Iloski RCM: Vassilev
ST: Korzeniowski
As in the previous three CCC midweek matchups, Carnell has rotated his team. Players who had been seen as "the starters" were left on the bench, and even more damning was the fact that major attacking firepower was not even in the squad.
Record signing Ezekiel Alladoh and spark player Agustín Anello were not even on the bench. There was no word from head coach Carnell before or after the game as to why these two important attackers were left out in such an important match.
One thing was clear: back-ups at goalkeeper, left back, centerback, central midfield, and striker would be tasked with scoring two against what some call the best team in the Concacaf region, and early on, it looked pretty bleak.
In the first five minutes, it was clear that both clubs wanted to capitalize on transition moments, and Club América did so first. The union tried to force the ball up the center of the pitch, but the home side intercepted and broke. A careless foul from Geiner Martínez gave América a dangerous free kick.
Raphael Veiga put a curling kick into the box, and Rodrigo Dourado rose above everyone to thunder home the effort. The hosts were up 2-0 on aggregate in six minutes. Philly now needed to score two goals to take the lead in the tie; if they did, they would advance under the away-goals tiebreaker rules. Things seemed bleak.
What was even more damning than letting up a goal from the set piece was the body language from the Union. Five players were staring at each other, arguing over who Dourado's man was and why he was allowed to run free. The disorganization from Philly was a theme of the first half and epitomizes their early-season struggles.
The Union is at times inept at moving the ball up the pitch. They are so narrow in their setup and have no real ball progressor in the squad. Their build-up after going down a goal was short passes between center-backs, defensive midfielders, and outside backs, before thumping a hopeful ball toward the attackers that almost never found its target and mostly found the opposition.
In one of those moments, it looked like América found a second goal. Alex Zendejas seemed to be played in on goal. He shielded off a Union defender and chipped the onrushing Andrew Rick to score; however, his arm being ahead of the last Philly defender made him offside on the initial pass in behind. Philly dodged a bullet, and Rick played well to stop a flurry of chances from the hosts to make it 2-0.
With about 15 minutes left in the half, Philly moved into a back three formation. This made sense, since they had three natural cneterbacks on the pitch (forcing one to play left back in the Union's system is just cruel). A back three of Larson, Makhanya, and Martínez was flanked by "wingbacks" Vassilev on the left and Harriel on the right. This allowed Lukic, Bueno, and Cavan Sullivan to patrol midfield, and Iloski to move up top with Korzeniowski. The two youngsters almost equalized just before halftime as Sullivan slipped Korzeniowski in on goal, but the big forward didn't have his feet set and scuffed the chance into the onrushing keeper.
As the second half kicked off, Carnell made what the broadcast said were "planned changes." Bruno Damiani came in up top for Stat Korzeniowski, and Frankie Westfield came in for Geiner Martínez, shifting Sery Larson back to centerback. The move allowed Philly to return to their preferred 4-2-2-2 formation. The result was a return to what made last season's Union great.
GK: Rick
LB: Westfield CB: Makhanya CB: Larson RB: Harriel
DM: Lukic DM: Bueno
LCM: C. Sullivan RCM: Vassilev
ST: Iloski ST: Damiani
Almost immediately, the Union attacked on their left side. Westfield was trying his best to look like Kai Wagner and doing a great job of combining with Bueno and Damiani to create quick passes and movements that caught América off guard. One of those movements saw Westfield streak into Club América's box to get on the ball. Zendejas took him down, and Philly had a PK. Bueno stepped up and slotted it home.
Philly had one of the two goals they needed, and for the next 15 minutes would create chance after chance to get a second. Philly's left side was their point of attack, and it was working; they just couldn't find a second goal. The best chance came from Westfield getting high up the pitch. combining with Cavan Sullivan, who wiggled his way into the box. A low cross found the foot of a streaking Harriel at the PK spot. The right back lashed a shot painfully over the bar. Philly still had half an hour to find a goal at that point, but more changes from the coach didn't help sustain the momentum.
It was great that Carnell made the halftime adjustments to turn the game around. What wasn't great was the talk of "hoping to be 0-0 at halftime." If that's the mentality, then it's no wonder the team conceded so early. It just seems like the 2026 version of the Union gets in its own way. Whether that be on the pitch or the sidelines.
This could be seen in the decision to sub out Cavan Sullivan with just about half an hour left and move Westfield to the right side of the pitch for the final 10 minutes. All of the attacking chemistry was coming down the left side through Sullivan and Westfield. Taking one off and moving one to the other side killed the team's momentum. América sat deep for the final 10 minutes, and players who came on later couldn't find the breakthrough.
Danley Jean Jacques, Malik Jakupovic, and Philippe Ndinga couldn't provide a second spark to break down a Club América side that sat with 10 players behind the ball. Philly spun out a few times trying to build an attack through Ndinga on the left, and couldn't get Westfield going on the right. The match ended 1-1, and Philly was eliminated 2-1 over the two-legged series.
The Union will now have its sole focus shift to MLS only as they look to win their first league game or even get their first points. They sit 30th out of 30 teams with a 0-0-4 record. A quick turnaround is in order for this weekend as Philly hosts Chicago this coming Saturday at 4:30 pm.
