Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union
Philadelphia Union survived a wild postseason opener on Sunday night, defeating Chicago Fire FC 6–4 on penalties after a 2–2 draw in regulation at Subaru Park. The Boys in Blue saw a two-goal cushion disappear in the final minutes but held their nerve from the spot, with Jesús Bueno converting the decisive penalty to give Philly a 1–0 lead in the best-of-three series.
First Half
The Union entered their first playoff match since 2023 with six players making their first MLS postseason appearance. Under the glow of a packed Subaru Park and a newly unveiled Supporters’ Shield banner, the opening half was a tight, physical affair.
Philly’s first real look came in the 8th minute, when Jovan Lukic volleyed wide from the edge of the box after a recycled corner. Both sides traded half-chances through the opening 30 minutes, with Danley Jean Jacques and Kai Wagner each firing over from distance.
As the half wore on, Chicago began to press forward, forcing Andre Blake into a sharp save in the 39th minute to deny Jonathan Bamba from close range. Despite the intensity and a handful of fouls, neither side broke through before the whistle, sending the teams into halftime scoreless.
Second Half
After a sluggish start to the second half, Bradley Carnell’s substitutions shifted the momentum. In the 64th minute, Mikael Uhre and Frankie Westfield came on for Bruno Damiani and Nathan Harriel, and the change paid off almost immediately.
In the 70th minute, Uhre linked up beautifully with Indiana Vassilev, slipping a clever pass into the box for the midfielder to finish low into the right corner for 1–0. Just five minutes later, Philly doubled the lead when Milan Iloski danced through defenders before blasting a left-footed shot into the top corner for 2–0, with Tai Baribo providing the assist.
The Union looked to close things out, bringing on Jesús Bueno and Cavan Sullivan in the 82nd minute to tighten midfield control. But the Fire refused to fade. In the 84th minute, Bamba pulled one back from close range after a scramble in front of goal.
Then, deep into stoppage time, former Union defender Jack Elliott unleashed a low drive from distance that slipped through traffic and found the bottom corner in the 90+3 minute, leveling the match at 2–2.
Tempers flared soon after as a scuffle broke out in stoppage time, with Chicago’s Sergio Oregel Jr. sent off for violent conduct after a clash with Kai Wagner and Brian Gutiérrez, leaving the visitors down to ten men heading into the shootout.
Penalty Shootout
With the crowd on its feet, the shootout opened dramatically as both goalkeepers stole the spotlight early. Chris Brady denied Mikael Uhre, only for Andre Blake to respond moments later by saving from Jack Elliott, keeping things level.
From there, the Union’s shooters took control:
- Frankie Westfield buried his attempt down the middle.
- Milan Iloski followed with a confident strike to the top right.
- Tai Baribo slotted home to the lower right.
When Chicago’s Joel Waterman hit the crossbar moments later, the door opened for another Union postseason hero moment and Jesús Bueno delivered. The Venezuelan midfielder calmly rolled his shot into the bottom right corner to clinch the shootout victory, sparking celebrations across Subaru Park.
Three Points
- Uhre Unlocks the Attack: Once again, Mikael Uhre’s presence completely changed the Union’s offensive rhythm. Even without scoring in open play, it’s obvious that Philly’s attack just flows better when Uhre’s on the pitch.
- The Bus Broke Down: After going up 2–0, Philly’s defensive shape got passive, allowing Chicago to dictate tempo and claw back two goals. It’s a cautionary tale: this team thrives in transition and chaos, not when sitting back and absorbing pressure.
- Chicago’s Oregel Problem: The Fire’s late red card to Sergio Oregel adds insult to injury. His dismissal for violent conduct means Chicago will be without one of their more versatile midfielders for Game 2.
Lineups
Philadelphia Union (4-4-2): Andre Blake, Jakob Glesnes, Nathan Harriel (Frankie Westfield – 64′ ), Kai Wagner, Olwethu Makhanya, Jovan Lukic (Jesús Bueno – 82′), Indiana Vassilev (Cavan Sullivan – 82′), Danley Jean Jacques, Milan Iloski, Tai Baribo, Bruno Damiani (Mikael Uhre – 64′)
Unused Substitutes: Andrew Rick, Olivier Mbaizo, Alejandro Bedoya, Chris Donovan, Ben Bender
Chicago Fire (3-4-3): Chris Brady, Joel Waterman, Jack Elliott, Samual Rogers (Brian Gutierrez – 73′ ), D’Avilla Dje Tah (Mauricio Pineda – 68′), Rominigue Kouame (Sergio Oregel – 73′), Andrew Gutman, Jonathan Dean (Tom Barlow 90’+1′), Hugo Cuypers, Maren Haile-Selassie, Jonathan Bamba
Unused Substitutes: Jeff Gal, Omar Gonzalez, Kellyn Acosta, Justin Reynolds
Scoring Summary:
PHI: Indiana Vassilev (Mikael Uhre, Milan Iloski) – 70’
PHI: Milan Iloski (Tai Baribo) – 75’
CHI: Jonathan Bamba (Andrew Gutman) – 84′
CHI: Jack Elliott (Jonathan Bamba) – 90’+3′
Penalty Kick Summary:
PHI: Mikael Uhre – Saved (2-2)
CHI: Jack Elliott – Saved (2-2)
PHI: Frankie Westfield – Goal (PHI 3-2)
CHI: Brian Gutierrez – Goal (3-3)
PHI: Milan Iloski – Goal (PHI 4-3)
CHI: Hugo Cuypers – Goal (4-4)
PHI: Tai Baribo – Goal (PHI 5-4)
CHI: Joel Waterman – Missed (PHI 5-4)
PHI: Jesús Bueno – Goal (PHI 6-4)
Disciplinary Summary:
CHI: Joel Waterman (Yellow – Foul ) – 67’
PHI: Jovan Lukic (Yellow – Foul ) – 74’
CHI: Jack Elliott (Yellow – Foul ) – 89’
PHI: Jakob Glesnes (Yellow – Foul ) – 90’+1′
CHI: Sergio Oregel (Red – Violent Conduct) – 90’+4′
CHI: Brian Gutierrez (Yellow – Poor Sportsmanship) – 90’+5′
PHI: Kai Wagner (Yellow – Poor Sportsmanship) – 90’+5′
4th time this season the Union have given up the lead in stoppage time at home. Second time it started as a 2 goal lead. They need to either blow the game wide open like they did against Chicago in August or clamp down on defense and get the shutout.
In fairness, that was one heckuva strike from Elliott. Class from him not to visibly celebrate it.
Greg Bertha let’s strategy for the Fire was the most cynical that I remember watching in years. Literally from the opening whistle, the Fire did everything they could to shorten the game by delaying EVERY SINGLE goal kick and thrown in. It was maddening – and in the end, it almost worked. I expect that Berthaler will return to Chicago feeling he had the perfect tactics drawn up, but I think it was a horrible display of (barely) soccer. The ref is partly guilty here as well. He needed to give a yellow to the Fire goalie to get the game moving, but never did so. Of course I’m glad that the Union won, but the Fire’s tactics were insulting tonight.
+1
They were cynically playing for pens from the first minute. Their captain got a lecture from the ref but the delaying continued and no cards followed.
Yes, spot on. That referee is not very good. He has worked other games that “got away” from him. Time wasting is a scourge on the sport, and he did absolutely nothing to discourage/penalize it. Triple G can instruct his players to slow the game down, but it is up to the official to enforce the rules, and this guy did not do that.
Call it cynical or call it practical. You play the cards you’ve been dealt.
Agreed. The sport is too tradition-bound to make a change, but why not a 10 second limit for throw-ins and a 15 second limit for goal kicks…
Premier League now has an 8 second timer for goal kicks and they are clamping down throw in times as well.
Doop!
Fitting that an ex gets their moment against us. Thrilling second half, really. Hoping the rubber match is equally entertaining.
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Bueno‘s PK was cold. Dude just strolled up after. I like it.
Elliot clearly wanted revenge. He was fighting his own teammates for the chance to take the kick. Fitting that Blake then denied him from the spot. Payback for payback I guess.
Waterman is a dirt bag. It was wonderful to see him fail.
Here is the view from Section 105:
1) A nearly full house at the Soob included about 100 empty seats in the visitors section–we saw about a dozen Fire supporters at the top of the section, but that was it. The rest of the house was full of the Union faithful.
2) The crowd (including yours truly) greeted Chicago coach Gregg Berhalter with more boos than any of the Fire players.
3) The Union came out pressing they played the way they did in their regular season match with Chicago when they smoked them 4-0 in what I thought was their best match of the year. As but one example, the Union took the opening tap and kicked it deeply out of bounds in the Chicago end, then they pressed off the ensuing throw-in to get a turnover. Although the Union got a large number of turnovers and the better of the play, they could not get good shots on frame. Part of the problem is that the Union passed up open shots and tried to make the extra pass. It’s OK to shoot from tough angles–sometimes that creates chaos in front of the net that leads to scoring.
4) The Fire responded by playing a low block, slowing the game down at every opportunity, and by fouling and flopping. The referee allowed extremely physical play, and in some cases, ignored hard and dangerous fouls. The result was persistent fouling, and it did make the game a bit ugly.
5) The Union first goal had been coming for awhile after extended pressure in the offensive end. The Union are most dangerous on the counter and Uhre’s set-up was excellent and Indiana Vassilev’s left footer gave Brady no chance. Iloski’s goal resulted from his simply being dangerous with the ball at his feet. He got his man turned, he maneuvered the ball to his lethal left foot and hooked a shot into the far top corner. With 15 minutes to go, that should have been it, but . . .
6) Note to all Union players: Games are 90 minutes minimum, and almost all go well beyond that time–play accordingly. As Andy noted, the Union have let some advantages slip away at the close of games when they play the low block. In this case, both goals came from set pieces.
7) Andre Blake complained vociferously that he was fouled on the first goal. The replay showed that he was pushed in the box, but he was pushed towards Elliot’s shot that hit the post. He was not in position to make a save when the ball went to the other side. I thought that the foul was pretty marginal and I was not surprised that the goal was allowed.
8) The Elliott goal from distance was a bit of a surprise, and I am not sure that Andre saw it initially because he reacted a bit late.
9) This would have been an awful loss, and I hope that the Union can play better at the end of the games after having gone through this almost-debacle.
Elliott did shoot from distance and there was a lot going on in front of net. No fault to Dre, just quality, like the MSL final goals. Blake stopped the more important penalty. two great players showing what they have.
So I’m still not sure if something I said at halftime makes sense or not. My comment was that I think the Union are better when Iloski is on the left and Vasilev is on the right because Wagner and Iloski have better chemistry than Wagner and Vasilev. On the one hand, I think that had a lot to do with the Union having so many shots from distance in the first half with none on target (i.e. chances, but not good chances). On the other hand, it ended up being Vasilev scoring from the left and Iloski scoring coming up the right side of the pitch.
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So which one should play on which side?
Both Iloski and Baribo play very directly, and I prefer seeing both of them as close to the middle of the pitch as possible. This is not to say they can’t score from tight angles, but I like it when they can see as much net as possible.
That was way too close. Never should have gotten to pens. I don’t understand why we didn’t put on the brakes after the second goal, keep the ball and slow it down. Only explanation is that we can’t or don’t know how. Lucky to get out of there with the win.
Ironically, although the Union have an excellent goals against average, they do not play a low block well. They DID slow things down after the second goal. The Union are better both offensively and defensively when they press.
Something about the changes the U made at the 60ish minute changed their dynamic defensively. Foot off the pedal was something Carnell has to watch for. We are definitely missing the bite the older Sullivan provided in midfield.
As a Fire fan who was at the game last night, I came away pretty pleased. As a whole our team has very little MLS playoff experience, we came in off a weekday game (albeit a romp against Orlando), and our season MVP Philip Zinckernagel was a last-minute scratch due to a warm-up injury.
We were outpaced in shots 13-16, but not in SOG (5-2) or exG (1.8-1.1) – so anyone who thinks we were packing it in defensively is objectively wrong. A lot of the Union’s shots were wishful long-range efforts – Brady made 0 saves to Blake’s 3 – and we used the dark arts to get under the skin of the Union, though Oregel didn’t get the memo on instigating with retaliating.
Best of all, we showed reslilience and refused to give up, playing against what is, according to the table, the best team in the league, and one that completely owned us in the regular season. We snatched a seeming victory away from the Union at the last minute and they celebrated winning at home in pens against an 8th seed that hasn’t played a real playoff game for over a decade and a half like they had just punched their ticket to MLS Cup.
I’m not saying the Fire are going to win the series, but if I were a Union fan, I wouldn’t make any MLS-related party plans for December.
I think some of those numbers are a little misleading. While the shots ended up close, at halftime they were something like 13-2. Yes, one of the Fire’s was on target and none of the Union’s were, but for the most part Chicago was playing for the 0-0 draw in the first half. It was after the Union took the lead that the Fire started to open up more, and even that helped lead to the Iloski goal.
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What Chicago did most effectively throughout the game was to cede possession to the Union. The Union are much better when they are the team with 42% rather than 58%.
They were packing it in until the Union scored. You can shove your “oBjEcTivElY wRoNg” up your tailpipe. They attacked when the game demanded it and only when the game demanded it.
A championship club must be able to effectively park the bus in heavy traffic. The Union have proven time and time again that they can not park a bus in an empty parking lot.
Play your press out until the end. It has better odds.
+1. They have proved this season to my satisfaction that they cannot play a low block effectively against good teams (the away win against Cincinnati being a notable exception).
Survive and advance.
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The other team is trying to win too, and with house money.
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The U looked rusty after a nearly month of nothing and a meaningless game.