Union

12 Thoughts After Another Loss in Which the Union Looked Like the Philadelphia Flyers

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Mar 11th, 2026 · 3:33 PM EDT

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The Union lost 1-0 to Club America in leg one of the Champions Cup Round of 16 on Tuesday night.

They didn’t play poorly, and the game could have gone either way, but they’re really struggling to score right now and the visitors held on after a first-half banger:

Raphael Veiga HAMMERS this one into the back of the net to give Club América the lead 🔨💥 pic.twitter.com/hD7QT2hyeu

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) March 10, 2026

The problem is that it feels like 1-nil is an insurmountable lead for the Union at this point in the season. They mustered nine shots last night, but zero on target, and have scored only one goal against a team not named Defence Force. That’s the Trinidadian side they thumped 12-0 on aggregate to open the Champions Cup, but in three MLS games and now this game against Club America, they’ve scored one penalty kick and nothing from open play.

Some thoughts on all of that:

1. I think Bradley Carnell needs to figure out his best XI and go from there. He’s been mixing and matching over six games, rotating and trying to figure out this new-look squad. It was a big part of why they won the Shield last season, their depth, and they went pretty much 18 players deep across the domestic campaign. It kept them fresh and healthy and the full-season pacing really was smooth. But he just doesn’t have that luxury, not now at least, and he needs to get the best team on the field and go from there.
2. The most creative and dangerous guy the Union currently have going forward is Milan Iloski. He should be playing striker until further notice. The Bruno Damiani / Ezekiel Alladoh striker tandem feels a little redundant in terms of skill set, and having Iloski sink in or drift wide to find the ball is a good catalyst for making things happen. It also opens up a wide midfield spot, where…
3. …Cavan Sullivan should probably be starting. He’s still only 16 years old, and you don’t want to put the cart in front of the horse, but in the minutes he’s played this season, he’s looked just as good as Indiana Vassilev and Agustin Anello. If you ask me to split those three guys apart, I don’t think there’s much at all separating them, and if you’re struggling to score, you get your creative attackers on the field and see what happens. That means Iloski up top, Cavan in one of the wide spots, and then do whatever you want with the other spot.
4. They miss Quinn Sullivan on the right side of the midfield.
5. This Philippe Ndinga guy did fine on his debut. That’s a tough task for game #1. Left back was a black hole over the first few games with one of the best players in franchise history leaving for England.
6. Speaking of Kai Wagner, you see how important he was to the Union’s on-ball identity. They initiated so much attacking play with him banging in crosses down the left side, and it was crucial to their identity. They were the #1 crossing team in MLS last season and Kai had the second most crosses among individual players. If you’ve got thumpers up top, like Damiani, Alladoh, and Stas Korzeniowski, then start firing in crosses and see what happens. The Union don’t have game-breaking #10s on this team, so wide service is important.
7. Mikael Uhre is a loss. You see when they move in transition they could really use somebody to stretch the field and open things up.
8. The U lead the league in yellow cards. The discipline has not been there to start the year, and it’s forced more lineup decisions while Carnell tries to figure this thing out.
9. Obviously when you get rid of three of your best players in Wagner, Jakob Glesnes, and Tai Baribo, it’s gonna be a hard transition. But they did the same thing last year and won the Shield, so what can you really say? This is their philosophy, to sell and reload. It worked last year but it’s not working this year.
10. It’s early, and these players are young, but Geiner Martinez, Agustin Anello, and Gio Sequera are just guys. Korzeniowski feels similar to Alladoh and Damiani. They also need to set this backline and leave it intact. Start Frankie Westfield at right back, Ndinga at left back, and let Larsen and Makhanya build some chemistry. Let Nate Harriel be the next guy up at each of those positions.
11. One of Jovan Lukic or Danley Jean Jacques needs to give this team something going forward. Last year, that was Lukic, and he just hasn’t looked himself yet with the rib contusion limiting his start.
12. The Union are basically the soccer Flyers right now, not from an organizational perspective, but what they show you on the field of play. They’re solid defensively, good work rate, and the occasional glimpse of potential. But they are low-event teams that both lack high-end offensive talent, and it’s glaring when you watch these games. Both rosters are full of two-way grinders playing for coaches who stylistically value the same things. This might be an esoteric take since I don’t think there’s a large hockey and soccer overlap in Philadelphia, but Bradley Carnell and Rick Tocchet both have the same team-first philosophies, stay organized and structured, etc., defend with discipline, play a 200-foot game, blah blah. At times, it feels like the Union have a goalkeeper and 10 Selke candidates running around out there.

That’s it for now. If the U don’t score against a bad Atlanta team this weekend, then we can officially push the panic button.