On a beautiful Tuesday night in March, down on the banks of the Delaware River, Subaru Park saw its seats filled with yellow shirts as Liga MX’s Club América came into Chester, PA, and handed Philadelphia Union a 1-0 defeat in the first leg of their CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16 matchup.
With the Blue and Gold playing their fourth game in 13 days and another three in the next 10 on the schedule, Bradley Carnell elected to go with some rotation in leg one at home.
Newly acquired 20-year-old left back Philippe Ndinga made his Union debut on Tuesday night, while Cavan Sullivan got his first start of the 2026 season in the midfield.
“He put the team first, he’s physically not ready to go and I asked him at half-time and he said he’ll give the team everything he’s got…he put in a massive shift and i think we saw glimpses of what he can do, he’s very proactive on the jump to close down time and space, he’s very technical and brave on the ball For a debut after 2 days of training, I’d say 1 and half sessions, I think it’s a step in the right direction and I think everyone can see what type of outside back we’ve got.” - Head Coach Bradley Carnell on Philippe Ndinga
Augustín Anello debuted in the CONCACAF Champions Cup for the first time, and Union II homegrown Malik Jakupovic received a call-up to the senior squad before the game, but was not used. Andrew Rick got the start between the posts on the night.
“We started a young, dynamic, exciting group, and we kept Club América in a really tight game. They’ve had a lot of joy on the road this year so far, and they’ve dominated the games, but I thought we had the upper hand for much of the game…I thought we put on a real proud display in the 2nd half where we pinned them in, I think we had 11 shots but couldn’t reward ourselves.” - Bradley Carnell on Union's performance against Club América
Cavan Sullivan was lively for the Philadelphia Union against one of the best clubs from Mexico.
Image Provided / Philadelphia Union
20 minutes in and Club América jumped out to an early 1-0 lead thanks to a left-footed blast from Raphael Veiga that gave Andrew Rick little chance of stopping. Veiga received the ball in the penalty area from Brian Rodríguez after the Uruguayan danced around an attempted tackle from Jesüs Bueno down Union’s right side, which pulled the backline out of position.
Rodriguez slid the ball over to Veiga, who popped the ball into the air with his first touch, and with his 2nd placed a left-footed volley top shelf to Andrew Rick’s right with velocity. 1-0 Club América, and the Subaru Park crowd erupts for the away team.
Philadelphia Union and Club América played a spirited game that only had one goal in it, coming from the Mexican giants.
Image Provided / Philadelphia Union
After not scoring from open play through three MLS matches so far this season, Tuesday night would have been a great time for the Union to break that spell with Club América getting the important away goal, but despite out-shooting the Liga MX side 12-7, the blue and gold once again failed to find the back of the net.
The first look at goal with any sort of threat came just before half-time when a pass into the penalty area from Cavan Sullivan found Ezekiel Alladoh at the top of the box. Ezekiel settled the ball, turned, and fired a left-footed shot towards the net, but the attempt sailed high and wide.
Union caused some more chaos in the box just before half-time when a Milan Iloski free-kick from the left side of goalkeeper Rodolfo Cota, who came into the match for an injured Luis Malagón, fizzed through the penalty area and just narrowly evaded the outstretched foot of Nate Harriel.
Bruno Damiani got a huge opportunity to level the game in the 70th minute when a chip over the backline from Frankie Westfield along the right sideline led the Uruguayan striker in behind the defense. Damiani did well with his first touch, settling the ball on his right foot and striking it on the bounce, but his shot flew just over the top right corner of the net from 8 yards out.
Indiana Vassilev, who came off the bench midway through the 2nd half, sent a left-footed shot towards the net from the top of the box in the 82nd minute, but his attempt didn’t have enough juice to trouble Cota.
Union looked to have been gifted the equalizer in the 86th minute when their high press created an opportunity off a turnover forced by Milan Iloski, but Indiana Vassilev once again missed the net with his left-footed shot from the top of the penalty area, sealing a 1-0 defeat at home to Club América.
“I’m frustrated for the guys because they’re working so hard to get to these moments, and you can see it’s starting to click and starting to work, and now we’re getting some penetration through the side and getting some dangerous crosses in…everything but the goal. So I’m really proud of them, it shows me we’re getting close, and that gives me motivation and inspiration - these guys inspired me tonight.” - Bradley Carnell on Union's scoring struggles
Philadelphia Union midfielder, Jovan Lukic (4), battling for the ball vs Club América.
Image Provided / Philadelphia Union
It’s not time to panic just yet if you ask head coach Bradley Carnell, who says his team is taking the 1-0 narrow loss at home, and their fourth straight game without scoring a goal from the run of play, as a sign of another step in the right direction.
“I think we’re getting in and around [dangerous areas to score] and the execution is there, we just gotta get the timing of the runs or maybe the first contact isn’t as clean as we would like or as clinical as we would like, but it’s similar to our open play, it’s very, very close [to clicking]...over the last 3 games, and now the 4th game, we’ve seen a progression in each game - barring the red card in the first 2 games, we had to be a little bit stretched and outnumbered there - they guys are sort of…I don’t want to say energized in there, but they feel like “okay, we’re getting there”. - Bradley Carnell on Union's mentality moving forward
The fixtures don't stop coming for the U, who head down South this Saturday afternoon for a battle between two winless teams against Tata Martino and Atlanta United, before heading down to Mexico City to try and deliver a big performance in Leg two of the CCC Round of 16 against Club América.
