Nine goals scored, 17 conceded, 10 games played. The Philadelphia Union sit in 29th place in MLS, out of 30 teams. This is the worst start the club has ever had. At a time when the sporting side of things has spent more money than ever on new signings, they have also allowed building blocks of their roster to leave the club. After a fall from progressive success in 2024, 2025 was billed as a rebuild season. Under new head coach Bradley Carnell, the team went on an improbable run to win the Supporters' Shield. Now the club is in shambles.
After winning a trophy last year, expectations may have been set too high for the Philadelphia Union. No one was expecting this club to be repeat Shield champions, but fans did expect them to be competent. That has not been the case on or off the field. The club has a Sporting Director, Ernst Tanner, who was put on leave for an investigation into allegations of racist and sexist behavior, and is currently suspended until June following that investigation. That mess has cast a cloud over the Union and led to the issues we've seen this season.
While Tanner was likely the orchestrator of the offseason acquisitions ahead of the 2026 season, the newest crop of signings has not hit the ground running. In a year when those players had to replace key players who were vital to the team's success, it's no wonder the team is struggling. On top of that, head coach Bradley Carnell has shown a lack of ability to adapt when his team is not getting positive results.
So, how has the Union gone from a team that was getting better year over year despite being a selling club to one that has been consistently inconsistent? Let's take a deeper look at the contributing factors to the 2026 Philadelphia Union's failure thus far and discuss where they might go from here.
The Union's poor start to the 2026 season is largely due to their abysmal play on the field. Philadelphia sets its team up in a gegenpress system, a German tactic focused on playing against the ball, pressing opponents into mistakes, and capitalizing on them. The high-intensity style was the way Tanner wanted his team to play, and he got coaches like Jim Curtin and now Bradley Carnell to implement it. In years past, they had players who could implement it successfully.
The main contributors to that success were smart forwards who could press and then exploit spaces behind defenses. Players like Julián Carranza, Mikael Uhre, and Dániel Gazdag ushered in the most successful version of this. In 2026, the Union does not have pressing forwards in their striker line. They have Bruno Damiani (0 goals or assists) and Ezekiel Alladoh (0 goals, 1 assist) in 2026; both are tall target forwards who are more attuned to bullying defenses than pressing. The best pressing forward Philly has is Milan Iloski (2 goals, 1 assist), who has been relegated to the midfield in most games. In 10 games, this trio has two goals and two assists, which is... not great.
On the other side of the ball, the Union does not have a solid defense like they used to. Gone are the stalwarts Jack Elliot, Jakob Glesnes, and Kai Wagner. Those may go down as the best defenders in Union history, and now Philly is trusting homegrown outside backs, who have been the main bright spots of the backline, Frankie Westfield and Nate Harriel. They also have a new inconsistent centerback, Japhet Sery Larsen, who was brought in to be the new leader of the back line, and Olwethu Makhanya, who had a great 2025, but has not been the replacement for Glesnes as the rock of the defense. Philly has five points from 10 matches and is only one point out of last place in all of MLS, but that's not the only competition they're in in 2026.
Because the Union won the Supporters' Shield last year, they qualified for more tournaments this year. First was Concacaf Champions Cup (CCC), and later this summer, they'll be in the Leagues Cup once again. We saw this make things a bit congested at the early part of the season, as Philly's CCC play would fill the midweeks of the first two months. This made preparations for the 2026 season feel rushed.
In CCC, the Union got off to a fast start against Defence Force FC, the Trinidad and Tobago side. They outscored that side 12-0 over two legs. This was a great start to the year, but the competition was not up to the level they would face in MLS or in the next round. Mexican giant Club América waited in the Round of 16. They beat Philly 1-0 at Subaru Park in leg one; however, down in Mexico, the Union drew 1-1, which was not enough to get them to the quarterfinals. An early exit in this competition was sandwiched between what would be a six-game losing streak in MLS to start the season.
It looks like Cup competitions will not be a successful avenue for Philly in 2026. In years past, when the club struggled in MLS, they leaned on runs in the Open Cup or Concacaf Champions Cup to give the fans something to cheer about. The CCC run was cut short before the quarterfinals, and Philly isn't in the Open Cup this year. They'll have to hope they can be one of the top four MLS sides in August's Leagues Cup group stage to have any semblance of success in the Cup, but given how the team is performing right now, that doesn't seem likely.
One of the main setbacks for the Union has been the club's mindset to be a selling club. They look to sell their high-performing players for a profit, which has been a successful club model in world football, but only when those clubs reinvest the money they receive in the replacement players. The Union had been doing this for some time. They'd sell homegrown or "star" players and then bring in a new diamond in the rough and polish them into a sellable diamond. Over the last few years, that has not been the case.
This model for the club was one of the reasons why they hired Ernst Tanner as sporting director. He had a track record of finding diamonds in the rough who could contribute right away. However, over the last few years, that has not been the case. Since 2024, the Union has transferred out many players, 10 of them were bona fide starters: Julián Carranza, José Martínez, Leon Flach, Jack Elliot, Jack McGlynn, Dániel Gazdag, Mikeal Uhre, Jakob Glesnes, Kai Wagner, and Tai Baribo. So that means the Union would have to replace them with players who could reach that level to keep the system intact.
In that time, Philly has brought in the following players to fill roster spots or replace those who departed: Danley Jean Jacques, Bruno Damiani, Jovan Lukic, Indiana Vassilev, Ben Bender, Milan Iloski, Ezekiel Alladoh, Japhet Sery Larsen, Agustín Anello, and Philippe Ndinga. Is there anyone on this list who would crack the lineup over those who departed? Maybe one or two? The team has gotten progressively worse in their personnel over the last two seasons. Couple that with an intense style of play and a coach notably known for not having a plan B, and you get the 2026 Philadelphia Union.
When the Philadelphia Union decided to go in a different direction from Jim Curtin after the 2024 season, the club doubled down on its philosophy and brought in a coach with MLS experience who was attuned to a pressing style of play. Bradley Carnell had done wonders in St. Louis in that club's first-ever season in 2023, then had his team fall off a cliff in 2024, leading to his eventual firing. Things are scarily identical for him in Philly, and many are wondering whether the outcome will be the same.
Carnell can muster up the confidence a group needs to be great. He's a coach who defied odds to get two different teams to first-place finishes in two of the last three seasons. However, it seems his downfall comes when his group can no longer play his intense style successfully. It was clear that when players were bought in, and results were positive, a Bradley Carnell team could be the best in the regular season. But when a tactical plan B is needed, it never seems to come.
After the most recent match, a 2-0 loss at Columbus, Carnell talked about not shying away from being in last place: "We have to come out in the sunlight and own it. That's the only way to start a bit of redemption." He will need his side to do that in the five remaining games before the World Cup break, or he may find himself out of another job less than a year after finishing in first place.
So, what happened to the Philadelphia Union? The answer lies in a compound of factors. From front-office failures, rigid coaching tactics, players' inability to perform, and an overall club ethos of 'next man up' and polishing diamonds in the rough. This is not a sustainable way to run a competitive team in a league that keeps raising the bar for success. So where does the Union go from here?
The answer to that question will be answered during the World Cup break, in my opinion. The Union's maximum points by the break is 20 (that's if they win five in a row); the low is obviously five. In reality, getting to 10 points in the next five games seems reasonable. Will that be enough to keep Carnell at the helm after an extended break? Or will the club want to start fresh, in more ways than one?
Philly has almost two months off between MLS games, from May 24th to July 22nd. That's almost as long as an offseason in MLS. If the club is still at or near the bottom of the East, it might be time for them to wipe the slate clean. There have been rumors in Mexico that the Union is interested in Monterrey Sporting Chairman Jose Antonio "Tato" Noriega. Could they look to replace Ernst Tanner in June, after his suspension ends? If that happens, would "Tato" want to bring in a new coach as well? Only time will tell, but if the Union truly wants to be a club that competes for trophies in MLS, a change in philosophy and play style is likely the way forward, no matter who's at the helm.
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