Photo courtesy of @PhilaUnion on X
PRESS RELEASE BY THE PHILADELPHIA UNION, with added notes by PSP’s Ryan Sedwick
CHESTER, Pa. (May 7, 2025) – The Philadelphia Union returned to Subaru Park to face Indy Eleven on Wednesday night in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, earning their first win in the tournament since 2018. In the sixth minute, midfielder Alejandro Bedoya scored his 30th goal for the club to give the Union a 1-0 lead. In the second half, Elvis Amoh scored the equalizer to send the match to extra time. After extra time, the game was decided by kicks from the penalty spot. Homegrown goalkeeper Andrew Rick made one save in the shootout to secure the Union’s spot in the Round of 16.
First Half
A heavily rotated Union side were dominant in the first half, and got off to a fast start with an early goal from captain Alejandro Bedoya. Making his first start of 2025, Bedoya headed home a beautiful cross from Olivier Mbaizo to put Philadelphia up 1-0 in the 6th minute. The Union controlled the rest of the half, retaining possession and putting in shot after shot, but were unable to find a second. Indy Eleven’s first real chance came just before half-time, when Jack Blake took a shot-cum-cross that rocketed toward the top corner, requiring Rick to make a fingertip save to push the ball off the crossbar.
Second Half
The Indy Eleven came out much stronger in the second half, and were rewarded in the 48th minute, when Maalique Foster ran onto a through-ball and squared it into the box for a cheeky finish from Elvis Amoh.
The goal brought a response from Bradley Carnell, who subbed in many of the Union’s starters as the second-half progressed. Jovan Lukic, Kai Wagner and Tai Baribo came on in the 58th minute for Jesus Bueno, David Vazquez and Bruno Damiani. Indiana Vassilev came on in the 81st minute for a limping Olivier Mbaizo.
These changes slowly tilted the balance of play back in favor of the Union, but neither team was able to find a winner, and the game went on to extra time.
Extra Time
Frankie Westfield came on at the start of extra time for Mikael Uhre. The Union continued to press and create quality chances. In the 102nd minute Cavan Sullivan shook loose on the left edge of the six-yard box, but the young Homegrown blasted his shot high and wide. And in the 118th minute Tai Baribo skied his shot from the edge six-yard box following a Kai Wagner free kick.
Penalties
With neither side able to break the deadlock, the match went on to penalty kicks. Rick made a great save, and his teammates went five-for-five from the spot, securing the victory for the Union.
Ryan Sedwick’s Three Points:
- Finishing Woes: The Union had 33 shots, 11 of which were on target, but scored only once. I don’t need any advanced analytics to tell you those are some bad numbers. Thankfully, this didn’t carry over into the shootout.
- Asleep Out of Halftime: The Union were very clearly lulled into a false sense of security by Indy’s first-half performance, and struggled to get up to speed when Indianapolis came out much stronger in the second half. Nowhere was this more apparent than on Indy’s goal, where a simple ball down the line caught the entire Union backline asleep.
- Quality Off the Bench: The Union brought on a ton of regulars in the second half, and eventually this quality started to overwhelm the Indy Eleven. It came at a price though, as Carnell was likely hoping to get his starters more rest ahead of a tough slate of games the rest of May.
The Union will return to Subaru Park to host Columbus Crew on Saturday, May 10 (7:30 p.m. ET/ Apple TV).
Philadelphia Union 1 (5) – Indy Eleven 1 (4)
Subaru Park (Chester, PA)
Wednesday, May 7, 2025
TODAY’S MATCH INFO
Referee: Matthew Corrigan
Assistant Referees: Justen Lopez, Andrew Charron
Fourth Official: Stephen Foster
Weather: 70 degrees and cloudy.
GOALS/ASSISTS
PHI – Alejandro Bedoya (Mbaizo) 6’
IND – Elvis Amoh 48’
DISCIPLINARY SUMMARY
PHI – David Vazquez (caution) 55’
IND – James Murphy (caution) 69’
PHI– Olwethu Makhanya (caution) 88’
IND – Benjamin Ofeimu (caution) 90+1’
IND – Aedan Stanley (caution) 90+2’
Lineups
Philadelphia Union: Andrew Rick; Olivier Mbaizo (Indiana Vassilev 81’), Olwethu Makhanya, Jakob Glesnes (Nate Harriel 46’), David Vazquez (Kai Wagner 57’ ); Jeremy Rafanello, Jesus Bueno (Jovan Lukic 57’), Cavan Sullivan, Alejandro Bedoya; Bruno Damiani (Tai Baribo 57’), Mikael Uhre (Frankie Westfield 91’).
Substitutes not used: Oliver Semmle.
Indy Eleven: Reice Charles-Cook; James Musa, Benjamin Ofeimu, Hayden White, Aedan Stanley; Aodhan Quinn, James Murphy (Cameron Lindley 91’), Maalique Foster (Elliot Collier 73’); Elvis Amoh (Romario Williams 73’), Jack Blake, Bruno Rendon (Joshua O’Brien 91’).
Substitutes not used: Patrick Hogan, Edward Kizza, Hunter Sulte.
PSP’s Three Points
- Too close for comfort – A short-handed Union side were taken through 120 minutes to PKs by a USL side who sat in a low block for much of the tilt. Truly a game where Jack McGlynn or Daniel Gazdag would have come in handy.
- Cavan’s first start – Cavan Sullivan registered his first start for the franchise, going the full 120 minutes and ultimately fitting in fairly well for a 15 year old. His vision is well beyond his years, and his confidence to simply try things led to some good opportunities for the Union.
- Round of 16 – The Union advance to the USOC Round of 16 for the first time since 2018. The team are set to face the Pittsburgh Riverhounds in a Pennsylvania Derby.
That summation is spot on. We were about to get trousered by a USL squad that was clearly hungry and capable of winning a giant killer match. That’s the risk of resting players. It’s also what makes things like the FA Cup and its progeny like the USOC great in old school footy.
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Indy has some really big dudes and came to play a muscular match. We were unable to lock pick their big guy bunker defense when we brought regulars on the pitch to avoid being embarrassed. Both keepers had great matches.
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The good news–provided we don’t waste opportunity like we nearly did tonight–is NYCFC losing to the Riverhounds. We’re in the QF if we beat Pittsburgh as expected, and that’s 3 matches to our first trophy.
A Tale of of Two Halves. Indy was timid the first half and came into the second half with a completely new positive attitude in rhe second. Indy goalie eas tested all night long and came up big. Rick came through in the end but you can’t get any closer. Cavan was very active but could not finish. Same goes for finishing abilities of Uhre last night. Next Game vs Columbus will be a real statement game for the Union. I will call this the ” Get Smart Game ” It will be the Union playing the role of ” Chaos vs Columbus playing the role of ” Control “. Those of you who watched the show will get my analogy. OK I’m old as dirt. On aside note does anybody know what was going on between Baribo and the Indy 11 team at the end of the game.? How about we call the next game The ” Boxer” vs the “Brrawler ok enough of the cliches Joe
Indy’s 4th penalty kicker made a non-obscene but in-your-face type gesture to the crowd after scoring his goal.
To his credit, Baribo thought it was rude and called it out.
That said, it’s kinda hard to claim the moral high ground when every time the opposing goalie kicks a six-yarder they are met with “you suck a$$hole.”
Very disappointed for YSA to have made its return.
Sitting near the RE I can assure you that YSA has been going strong all year and was particularly loud for Guzan!
Eric, sitting at midfield I know that YSA has been going strong all year after starting to make a comeback late last season.
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I was fine with it having disappeared for awhile prior to that.
The whole”sucks” thing is a worn out Philadelphia disgrace. It’s really an embarrassment that a bunch of adults teach a lot of small kids to think there’s something sporting and cute about that whole deal. No wonder referees don’t like us. A lot of fans act like ignorant fools.
The “sucks” chants are not confined to Philadelphia, far from it. I have heard YSA at other venues. At one point “Ref you suck” was being chanted by a good portion of the stadium last night. “Ref you suck” is commonplace across many leagues and sports. Even Canadians do this in hockey:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9BnVmAOn-w
So please don’t blame Philly sports fans. Rude chants are unfortunately part of sports culture. Plenty of rude chants in the UK, even the show Ted Lasso famously made use of one.
Thats KAOS 99, KAOS
Missed it by that. much.
Let’s face it, historically the Union have had more of these types of games when they play lower level teams in the Open Cup than they’ve had blowouts. Now they get the only non MLS team left in the tournament (who apparently scored a very late stoppage time goal against a 10 man NYC side.
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I’m guessing that with MLS Next Pro going to PK’s in the case of draws, Rick probably has a lot more experience there than the Indy keeper. Also, I’m assuming Westfield and Rafanello were chosen to shoot because of their experience.
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The five players who went the distance last night. Which one is not like the others? Rick, Makhanya, Sullivan, Rafanello, and Bedoya.
The match reminded me of early Union OC games. I sat behind the net for the PK shootout against the Rochester Rhinos – or was it the NY Cosmos? Probably went into extra time against both! Fun times – $10 tickets and free parking too!
Kudos to Ale for going the distance, he was still running in the 118th minute!
Those games were fun (like last night). I think it was the first Rochester game where about half the River End migrated to the scoreboard end and got into chanting wars with those who had stayed in TRE.
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I miss the days of the inexpensive (sometimes free) tickets and free parking. Looks like they are charging full price for the Pittsburgh game and not including it as a bonus game for STH so stands will likely be emptier than last night.
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My wife and I will be among the very few people going to the Open Cup game that week but not the Inter Messi game since we leave for vacation that Thursday. Personally, I’d rather go to the Open Cup game.
Carnell tried to rest as many of our starters as possible while still moving on in the tourney, and he was right to do so. Unfortunately it backfired somewhat in that we had to play extra time, reducing the amount of rest a lot of guys got. But still, few played a whole 90, and as Andy mentions above, the 5 who played 120 are all not starters.
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Cavan looked quite good for 120 minutes, and I’m hoping this will encourage Carnell to put him in more in MLS matches when we need a spark off the bench. And how about Old Man Bedoya playing 120 minutes??
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As for the match flow, honestly I would just chalk it up to bad luck and some excellent goalkeeping by Charles-Cook. If you replayed that match 10 times we’d win 8 of them.
I get Carnell saying, “if this group cant do it we don’t deserve the win” but not even dressing Blake, Quinn & Danley was pretty damn ballsy. Glad it worked out.
This guaranteed a rest night for Blake so I definitely understand not dressing him. And as for Quinn and Danley, if you dress them, you have to take out someone else. So I think he chose Lukic over Danley which makes sense given that Lukic had a rest a couple of weeks ago thanks to the red card and that Quinn has probably played more minutes than just about any of the offensive minded players.
Also it is a smaller bench for the USOC, so harder choices.