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.
What XG source are you using? fbref.com had it at 1.3 – 1.0 in their favor. Still lucky for us, but very different profiles of luck
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.
Ugly game but a win . On a side note …this year the Union are undefeated when Blake and Wagner both played.
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.
They looked easily this bad, if not worse, against Nashville. But it was surely one of their worst-looking matches of the season.
Ok they won but, I don’t see this system working against better teams. Chaos. Completed more passes by heading to each other. Is this some new form of Soccer.? Ugly style
We just need to be better than the 8 teams worse than us during the regular season and be fresh at the end. After so many years of losing ugly, I’ll take winning ugly. This is Chesterdelphia after all.
Which better teams can’t they beat?
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Cincinnati, whom the Union beat 4-1? Orlando, whom the Union beat 4-2? Miami, whom the Union outplayed but lost 2-1? How about Columbus – whom the Union play Saturday?
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This is a Top 4 team. They already have the results to prove it and haven’t played anywhere close to their best game.
Cincinnati was focused on CCC. Maybe they outplayed Miami, but it’s not much different than the Union getting the win in Montreal.
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The certainly didn’t look very good against Nashville. We’ll see if Gazdag and company eat them up next Saturday.
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There is still room for significant improvement as evidenced by comparing the passing on the buildup to the first goal with the way they passed the rest of the game (if you can call many of those “passes”).
This game was simply proof of the old adage: winning teams win the games that they are supposed to win. Top of the table teams should continue to hold bottom of the table teams in the bottom of the table. Montréal was more in control, they held the ball better, they were as unlucky as the Union was lucky, and one more thing. They looked like the second goal by the Union was almost expected. Their faces after that goal was scored showed resignation, as in,”Oh, here we go again.” Playing deep and in a counterattack plan, as I think the Union did, makes for unattractive play but leads to beautiful series, like Danley’s early game run. In past years, we fans might have said that a road point was acceptable; yesterday’s game showed that this team is capable of finishing the job on teams that have little confidence. Well done, however poor the middle of the game may have looked.
+1 — And that series leading to the first goal really was beautiful.
I almost felt sorry for Prince Owusu. To so visibly show the world his lack of confidence. Gifted the ball behind the defense, and then to just hold it until the U were able to take it back.
If Cavan had gotten the ball where Nate ended his run with the dive, there would have at least been a shot if not a Doop. You can argue that the “real” midfielders may not of intercepted the ball but one can hope that we don’t see more of the Harriel at AM unless there are availability issues.
Don’t care how bad a team is: you win on the road in MLS, you take it!
Goofy game. Union lucky to get 3 points. Beautiful goal early on, but garbage the rest of the game.
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Dono gets a lot of heat for limited ability, but he didn’t detract at all. Our strikers barely touched the ball between the 2nd minute and the 70th or so. He is a cheap source of speed in a system that requires pressing / ball winning up top. If not him, it would just be another cheap player in his place with similar attributes.
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Danley really improved his play last 3-4 weeks, after a bad stretch before that. Good on him. Passing accuracy looked much better.
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Harriel having utility man status is good at this level. Would boost his transfer market value if they want to give his mins elsewhere. I think he’s a mls lifer however. Need players like that in mls.
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Confidence boost for Uhre. Yay!
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Onward!
Donovan had like a hundred bad bad bad giveaways. He was played into a chance and sent it back towards the passer. He’s just not up for this.
The shades of despair post 3 wins in a row feel almost mitochondrial.
It’s been great to see DJJ grow in confidence. The two goals were incisive and showed what this team can do with just glimmers of daylight. He and Lukic both make me miss Brujo less- and that one’s still personal. My daughter’s formative moments as a fan were bringing drawings to leave for him at the customer service office, and she (age 9) is lobbying for us to go thousands of miles to see Corinthians sometime.
There was something about the fluidity of Montreal’s play and passing for long stretches that it would be nice to see the Union pull off more consistently. My eye craves some of those Medunjanin/McGlynn type passes… and it feels ugly… then that Lukic through ball to Uhre just when one thought, tie at best. Dagger from Uhre, never in doubt.
There was also something nice about the improvisational firefighting defense. Did Glesnes really boot it over his goal from close range on purpose? They have this find-ways-to-win thing going that feels like it… won’t be a boring season. I refuse to be depressed by this team this year (eyes the open cup warily)
I like that they are winning the games that they should.. relatively speaking. A team at the bottom of the conference should get beat by a team at or near the top. No it wasn’t a pretty game. But 3 points on the road is a good thing! Yes the beautiful game was nearly completely missing from this game. At least on the Union side! Ugly wins still count. Hate to say it.
If they beat Columbus this weekend and it’s 2-1 and it’s ugly, will we care? They’re winning, and it’s hard to be mad when your team wins… at least it should be.
They should throw the game against Columbus and help Gazdag meet the incentives so they get more money for him…and then actually invest it onfield.
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That being said, an ugly 2-1 win against a team at the top of the table is much better than an ugly 2-1 win against the bottom team.
Fair point about an ugly 2-1 win against a bottom of the table vs a top of the table team.
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When I came into this season, I genuinely hoped they would be playoff team, but didn’t think they would be – or they would sneak in the 8/9 play-in game. Then they sold Gazdag. And now they have a shot to stand alone in first 3 months into the season.
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I’m just taking this season for whatever it is… I’m adopting the Raiders mantra: “Just Win Baby”.
First off, never take three points on the road for granted. Hats off for winning on the road.
Just like many others already said in this thread, that game was not good. Even adjusting for being on the road, the Union had no idea what to do with the ball. They just kept turning it over. Thank goodness Montreal is so toothless inside their attacking box. How was their #9 ever signed to a major league team? I’d like to mark that guy as he doesn’t move much and never seems to even try to beat the center back to the space to make the play.
Montreal has a mid level MLS level starter at defensive center mid in Piette. Their center back was ok too. They didn’t have any difference makers going forward at all. Just as threadbare as DC United. Yet, they were coached to go over the top of the predictable press, just like DC United. The Union had no answers for that tactic. The Union started to fall back to prevent getting chipped, then their press started to fall apart and Montreal broke it at will. It’s lucky that they had no shooters and their in-the-box forward is slow and predictable.
I hate to be negative after a road win but I’m still concerned about the Union’s game plan getting figured out and them getting injured down the stretch, just like what happened with Coach Carnell at St. Louis.
I also am biased as I don’t like that one dimensional pressing style. When I first saw it in my rec league days, I was an older player in a high division as a center back so everyone was younger. I never saw it before so I kind of panicked for the first couple of games. Then, I figured it out… just chip the ball past the pressure up to the forward, they do a quick pass back to an attacking center mid or outside mid, then send a runner down the flank into all that space that’s vacant because the press sends the outside backs forward leaving it open.
Sound familiar? Looks like what DC and Montreal did, as well as what Union teams under Coach Curtain did all the time.
This is spot on, and how NYCFC got their goal too when they beat the U.
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My suspicion is that the Union don’t believe their opponents can reliably do this in the face of pressure, and/or that their backline will figure out some of the movement and spacing required to address things if they do. So far, at least based on results and including some pretty savvy sides, they’re right.
Well said. That is the fundamental risk/reward profile of the high midfield press. It’s supposed to play psychological games by going against everything players are coached to do and incentivize things that have been coached out of them.
For example, players are coached to keep possession and distribute to their mids rather than trying to send the ball long speculatively. That’s because under a traditional possession-based 4-4-2, that’s how to best play against it as they’ll cede the space in the midfield in exchange for making it hard to get from the middle third to the final third. Same with keeping possession… you want possession against a possession oriented team that counters out of its own third.
The high midfield press turns this on its head where you don’t want possession against Carnell’s system because it’s built on turning it over and countering from the middle third. This is at a cost of leaving the defensive third open. Hence why an opponent wants to cede possession and play over the top quickly.
Nashville also did this. They put our CBs under pressure by playing the ball forward quickly. Surridge or mukhtar would pull either glesnes or Makhanya out of position by dropping in underneath. One flick and Nashville was in. Part of it is because our “6’s” are not really playing as true 6’s. They are both box to box midfielders who can get caught out of position when transition is turned quickly against us. It doesn’t happen consistently, but when it does happen, it can be catastrophic with how high our line is set in the mid block.
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Without a ball winning 6 sitting in front of our defense consistently, our CBs can easily get exposed, and teams are taking advantage of it by targeting them directly in transition. It’s definitely something that needs to be cleaned up, I’m just not sure how you do it without sacrificing compact shape.
Blake you’re right that our 6s are not playing as true 6s… but the reason for that is that our 10s are not playing as true 10s. Carnell’s system tries to account for the lack of width in the usual 4-2-2-2 box formation by sending the attacking midfielders out wide. So our formation, instead of being a “box”, is really more like a hexagon with a hole in the middle. That hole in the middle gets filled variously by any of the front 6, but it’s most often the DMids. That is necessary, and it requires that Danley and Lukic have a good understanding of who’s staying back and who’s pushing up. Occasionally they get their wires crossed, leaving our CBs exposed. But mostly they do a very good job of this.
+ 1 BETTER TEAMS WILL FIGURE THIS OUT 2ND TIME AROUND. NEED A PLAN B
You have described exactly how Union II play — and try to play — when Korzeniowski or Anderson are on the pitch, especially Korzeniowski.
Here is an example of how to beat a press:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zatSVXbXpM0&pp=ygUZRGMgdW5pdGVkIHZzIGF0bGFudGEgMjAxOA%3D%3D
Check out 0:40 and 2:11. This is from 2018, DC United hosting Atlanta. That was a very talented possession team just pounding one of the best pressing teams the league has ever seen. Granted, that United team had some real stars on it include Wayne Rooney, Paul Arriola, and Luciano Acosta but that Atlanta team won MLS Cup that year!
I forgot the absolute topper. Look at 3:04. I worry about the Union’s back line being so exposed.