Photo from Philadelphia Union Communications on Instagram

There were no surprises from new head coach Bradley Carnell Saturday night in Orlando. The new coach delivered exactly what analyses of his time in St. Louis and his behavior for the five previous preseason weeks suggested he would.

Actualized expectations

The starting lineup reflected Carnell’s preseason conditioning minutes, featuring three MLS regular-season debutants: LCB Olwethu Makhanya, RB Frank Westfield, and LDM Jovan Lukic.

The starting shape was a 4-2-2-2 “empty bucket,” with a much higher degree of successful rotation into the bucket by the strikers than seen in preseason against Cincinnati or Slavia Praha (Prague, in English).

Aside from Orlando’s burst of energy to open the match, Philly outworked the Floridians. The degree of the Union’s game fitness seemed more advanced. Of course, game fitness within a season is like a passenger train leaving the boarding platform at a railway station, constantly accelerating. It will continue to be a point of emphasis in practice.

Having a lead, Carnell did something none of Earnie Stewart’s coaches ever did. He switched formations in the last 20 minutes to protect the lead. The two strikers who started and produced three of the four goals were replaced by only one plus an extra midfielder in the 71^st minute. The new shape looked at times like a 4-3-2-1 “Christmas tree.” There was definitely a single striker doing a lot of defensive dirty running up top.

In the 84^th minute, the fourth goal scorer was substituted, replacing a midfielder with a third center back, which created a defensive lineup of five defenders and four midfielders in front of them. Two minutes later, a debuting 19-year-old rookie right back was substituted with a veteran player in a like-for-like exchange.

Roster management details

The two substitute defenders mentioned above were recovering from minor injuries and required game minutes. The competitions for the left center back and right back positions are ongoing. Makhanya and Ian Glavinovich will compete vigorously for the left center back role. Westfield is also in a fierce contest with Mbaizo and, when he recovers from his thigh injury, Nathan Harriel for the right back spot. Carnell has been clear that such competition is the lifeblood of his team at all positions.

He is carrying a roster large enough to make such competition real most places.

• He probably has three starting caliber strikers now when Baribo, Uhre, and Bruno Damiani all are available.
• Presumably Indiana Vassilev will play the same role for Gazdag and the older Sullivan at the attacking mids.
• Jesus Bueno and Bedoya will do the same for the defensive mids.
• Mbaizo will push Harriel at right back, and we have already mentioned Makhanya and Glavinovich.

There are only three positions with minimal competition to start: right center back, where off-roster Homegrown Neil Pierre is clearly learning behind Jakob Glesnes; left back, where Isaiah LeFlore is recovering from a knee injury and is behind Kai Wagner; and goalkeeper, where Andre Blake remains exceptional, ahead of the rest of the league as a shot stopper, along with Andrew Rick and Oliver Semmle.

MLS’s Saturday Player Availability report said the Markus Anderson (ankle), Isaiah LeFlore (leg), and Nathan Harriel (leg) were all out for the Orlando game. Earlier, Carnell had mentioned Harriel’s injury as a thigh issue. He clarified that LeFlore’s injury occurred while he was trying to protect his repaired ACL, a common overcompensation pattern seen in injury rehabilitation situations.

Final points

It is no surprise that neither Damiani nor Vassilev dressed. Damiani’s U. S. P1 work visa is still absent, and Vassilev was announced only the day before the match.

Vassilev’s acquisition may imply several things. He is familiar with Carnell from St. Louis and may assume Bedoya’s versatile and experienced veteran substitute role while also competing for spots among the attacking mids. The allocation of one million dollars in General Allocation Money (GAM)—$400,000 in 2025 and $600,000 in 2026—is significant. Tanner sent approximately ten percent of his 2025 GAM to St. Louis to secure him, indicating that Philadelphia wanted him badly.

A final point of roster esoterica is that in two separate stories on Philadelphia’s official website, the recently signed defensive Homegrowns Westfield and Pierre were described as having signed “short-term agreements” in order to dress for Orlando. Although we cannot confirm that the same writer wrote both stories, we suspect there isn’t independent second-source confirmation of this detail, but two separate iterations significantly reduce the chances of it being an error.

We respond to the loud chorus of “So what?” echoing from readers with apologies for the long string of technical qualifiers that precedes the answer. The need to sign short-term agreements to be eligible to dress for a regular-season league match when there is not extreme hardship roster emergency, indicates both players are off-roster Homegrowns. If this is the case, then two additional on-roster slots become available. This, in turn, suggests increased roster flexibility to address future needs or seize forthcoming opportunities should they arise.

We assume that recent homegrown striker signings Eddy Davis III and Sal Olivas are considered off-roster Homegrowns. According to MLS’s 2025 roster rules, once a player becomes an on-roster Homegrown, he cannot be designated as off-roster again. Last fall’s official Philadelphia Union Roster Profile indicated that none of the 2024 Homegrown signings were off-roster, leading us to conclude that Andrew Rick, David Vazquez, Cavan Sullivan, and CJ Olney can no longer be designated off-roster. (Nelson Pierre’s status vis-à-vis an off-roster designation is best described as unknown.)

Writer’s note post publication: An article I missed on the Union’s own website identified both Westfield and Neil Pierre as off-roster Homegrowns in so many words.