Photo courtesy of @PhilaUnion on X
The Philadelphia Union won its third consecutive match with a 2-1 victory against CF Montréal at Stade Saputo on Saturday night. The win marked the first time since September 2020 that the Union earned a road victory in Montréal. Midfielder Indiana Vassilev put Philadelphia on the board first with his first Union goal in the second minute of the match. CF Montréal found a late first half equalizer off a goal from Giacomo Vrioni . In the 84th minute, forward Mikael Uhre scored his second goal of the season to secure the Union’s 2-1 victory on the road.
The Union will return to Subaru Park to host Indy Eleven in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday, May 7 (7:30 p.m. ET/ Paramount+).
TODAY’S MATCH INFO
Referee: Marcos DeOliveira
Assistant Referees: Nick Uranga, Chris Elliott
Fourth Official: Mathieu Souare
VAR: Kevin Terry Jr
AVAR: Tom Supple
Weather: 56 degrees and cloudy.
GOALS/ASSISTS
PHI – Indiana Vassilev (Jean Jacques) 2’
MTL – Giacomo Vrioni (unassisted) 45+3’
PHI – Mikael Uhre (Lukic) 84’
DISCIPLINARY SUMMARY
MTL – Fabian Herbers (caution) 28’
MTL – Tom Pearce (caution) 36’
MTL – George Campbell (caution) 56’
PHI – Jovan Lukic (caution) 58’
PHI – Nathan Harriel (caution) 76’
PHI – Quinn Sullivan (caution) 82’
MTL – Dante Sealy (caution) 83’
Lineups
Philadelphia Union: Andre Blake; Kai Wagner, Jakob Glesnes, Olwethu Makhanya, Frankie Westfield; Danley Jean Jacques, Jovan Lukic (Jeremy Rafanello 88’), Quinn Sullivan (Jesus Bueno 88’) , Indiana Vassilev (Nathan Harriel 74’); Tai Baribo (Mikael Uhre 74’), Chris Donovan (Bruno Damiani 54’).
Substitutes not used: Oliver Semmle, Olivier Mbaizo, Alejandro Bedoya, Cavan Sullivan.
CF Montréal: Jonathan Sirois; Tom Pearce (Kwadwo Opoku 83’), Fernando Álvarez, George Campbell, Joel Waterman; Fabian Herbers ( Luca Petrasso 57’), Samuel Piette (Sunusi Ibrahim 88’) , Nathan Saliba (Victor Loturi 83’), Dante Sealy; Giacomo Vrioni (Caden Clark 57’), Prince Osei Owusu
Substitutes not used: Sebastian Breza, Jalen Neal, Brandan Craig, Dawid Bugaj.
TEAM NOTES
Philadelphia is on a three-game win streak for the second time this season, also, Feb. 22-March 8.
Tonight’s victory moves the Union into second place in the Eastern Conference, two points shy of first place’s Columbus. The win also marked the Union’s first road victory in Montréal since 2020.
Midfielder Indiana Vassilev scored his first goal for the Union, recording the fastest goal of the season.
Forward Chris Donovan earned his first start of the 2025 season, and the 10th of his MLS career. The start gave Donovan his 50th career MLS appearance.
Forward Mikael Uhre scored his second goal of the season tonight to tie Julián Carranza for the fifth-most MLS goals (34) in club history.
Midfielder Danley Jean Jacques tallied an assist tonight to contribute a goal or an assist in three consecutive games.
PSP’s Three Points:
- Indiana Vassilev: Raider of the Lost Goal
The Union struck early through a sweet strike off the boot of Indiana Vassilev. Time will tell if he can truly fill the shoes of Daniel Gazdag, but tonight’s goal got the Union off the mark in a major way. Brilliant timing for his first goal of the season.
- 10 Good Minutes
Montréal took control after the Vassilev goal in the 2nd minute and maintained that momentum until the Mikkel Uhre goal in the 84th minute. The Union managed to hang on thanks to a few saves by Andre Blake that he did not know much about. A strong start and a strong finish was all that was needed tonight against an underwhelming Montréal side that struggled to find clinical finishing.
- Midfield Engine
Vassilev got his goal, but it was the two deep lying playmakers that ran the midfield tonight. Danley Jean Jacques was the catalyst for the first goal while Jovan Lukic stepped in front of a misplaced place and slipped Uhre through on goal for the winner. The Union got exposed at times on the wings, but the two in the middle held it down and created the offense when needed.
Absolute thievery. Montreal clearly outplayed us, xG was 1.8 – 0.7 in their favor, yet we win 2-1. That’s what happens when you have superior goalkeeping, superior finishing of chances, and some luck. (The kind of luck we never had last season.)
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I know we gotta rotate the squad with so many matches coming up this month. I’m glad Carnell is willing to do that. But FTLOG starting Chris Donovan is ludicrous.
Look… my position remains & maybe because I’m getting older I am getting crankier… causing the style of play to wear on me more without Jim.
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I am required to highlight however- best start in team’s history. +11 goal difference. The first team mandate is to win. And they are winning…. thus far.
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I want to rail but it is intellectually dishonest to do so.
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Carry on.
The first goal sequence had grit (defensive third), aesthetic interplay, determination, and a professional finish.
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The second goal… Lukic did well to win that ball, work quickly with energy to get fast separation and spring the aleft and in sync Uhre. And you knew Uhre *had* to put it away, and he did.
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But in between and all around, that was some tough and shaky sledding.
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Even so, well done to get all three points on the road.
This was by far the worst looking game they played this year. Uhre steals a win for the team and let’s get out of Montreal. It’s hard to watch Montreal and understand how they haven’t won a game this year as they fought for 90 minutes. Blake with some big saves tonight but it sure seemed like he was just lucky a few times. A third of the way through the season and you get the feeling this team can still play a lot better coming down the stretch. I scratched my head at the lineup but I’ll give the coach credit of rotating players and getting ready for a compact schedule coming up with U.S. Open Cup about to begin.