Photo courtesy Philadelphia Union II Communications

Particularly in light of the news that the Sporting Director’s role may be somewhat in flux, we do not expect to learn Union II’s roster decisions for 2026’s roster build anytime soon.

To that end we combine the guesses of our cloudy, cracked, inaccurate crystal ball with our customary end-of-season roster analysis as we begin to think about what Union II may look like next season.

The project is presented in three parts: nine defenders including keepers, nine midfielders both defending and attacking, and five strikers together with a depth chart combining all three. We omit four players who are loaned out whom we judge unlikely to return: David Vazquez (to San Diego of MLS), Oliver Semmle (to North Carolina of USL Championship), Isaiah LeFlore (to Detroit City also of USL C), and Jose Riasco (most recently to FC Carabobo of Liga FUTVE, Venezuela’s top flight.) If Transfermarkt can be believed, Riasco is contracted to Union II through 2027, but we judge he will never play games for them again.

Subsequent to writing, the first team’s announcement of its roster decisions for 2026 indicates that San Diego held an option to acquire Vazquez permanently that it had to exercise by November 30th. San Diego’s decision remains unknown, but in our opinion they are likely to keep him.

While in Bradley Carnell’s and therefore Ryan Richter’s versions of the 4-2-2-2 strikers are the least likely to accumulate full 90-minute matches, that Olivas has only three in his second season suggests either he was dealing with some variety of nagging soft tissue injury or injuries. Otherwise he still needs engine building.

Among all Union II’s strikers, Carnell gave Olivas the most first team game minutes as a striker substitute, 45 in three appearances. The quantities do not suggest that he is immediately ready to replace Chris Donovan as the fourth striker. But he did well enough to earn repeated opportunity.

He has more pace than Stas Korzeniowski but less than Eddy Davis and he has more size and strength than Davis but less than Korzeniowski. The three Union II strikers provided coach Richter with an effective rotation in the last several matches of the season once all three were healthy and acclimated to what the coach required.

Olivas is guaranteed a contract for 2026. He could remain an off-roster homegrown player next year, but whether he will do so is beyond our ability to guess. We suspect he will until the rest of the roster is complete. But once he leaves off-roster status he cannot return to it.

By the end of the season coach Richter liked to start Davis and Korzeniowski as complements to one another. Davis has the best pace of the three while Korzeniowski had the greatest strength, the most size, and the best ability to create his own opportunities to shoot once in the box.

Davis did appear in a first team game but only in the briefest of cameos, two minutes plus stoppage time. We are guessing that coach Carnell wants him to be less overwhelmed than he was in his appearance in preseason in Spain, and to be more physical in his capacity to defend against MLS’s adults.

In the last two US U20s camps that were preparing for the 2025 FIFA U20 World Cup in Chile, Davis was called into camp as a practice player. He brought a quality that coach Marko Mitrovic liked. We suspect it may have been his pace and his knowledge of pressing. (Mitrovic is now head coach of the New England Revolution, but Davis’s Union contract is guaranteed through 2027, so he would not be a free pickup.)

Since September 14, Korzeniowski has started every Union II match and scored nine goals in those seven games. He had four of those goals in Union II’s three playoff games, all of which he started. He was finally in full physical health, and he had assimilated to how the organization wants him to play striker.

They want him not to drop back as a hold-up player, (i.e., not maintaining possession while the rest of the team advances from the defensive third to the offensive one). Instead they want him to get into the penalty box as fast as possible to maximize his size, strength, and technical skill to create shot opportunities for himself. In the last seven games he was finally healthy, finally in professional level shape, and finally understanding how to maximize his assets and minimize his weaknesses. He was as hot as a firecracker.

In August we doubted Korseniowski would return for 2026. Now it is a certainty he will be offered a second professional contract. The change illustrates his mentality, i.e., focused determination. He becomes a free agent January 1st if not sooner, and the question becomes what organization will offer that contract and at what level.

Korzeniowski might be eligible for homegrown status with the Union. But he is too old to become an off-roster homegrown since he is nearly 23. Were he to re-sign with Philadelphia and get his game minutes with the second team, Union II would return a potent striker to the rotation for next season.

Malik Jakupovic finished the regular season with eight goals, one behind team leader Korzeniowski who had nine.

Age, total minutes, and the eyeball test assert unequivocally that Jakupovic remains a young adolescent. He is only beginning to move towards an adult’s athleticism. Engine building remains job one. That said, his numbers are impressive, sufficiently so that the national team program that works to increase opportunities for more players to see time with their national youth teams keeps calling him in.

He scored six goals in his first five Union II appearances, but only three in his next 14. Other teams began paying attention to him. Roughly, he is six years younger than Korzeniowski and three years younger than both Olivas and Davis.

Were all four of Union II’s top strikers to return for 2026, he would be fourth in the rotation. But developing him would be one of coach Richter’s higher priorities for next season. Physically he is not yet a candidate for play in Major League Soccer. His individual development plan (IDP) can be expected to focus on changing that.

We expect he will be back with Philadelphia next season but other clubs elsewhere will be aware of his existence, and as far as we can tell he was on a one-year contract and will soon be a free agent if he is not already.

After the emergence of Jakupovic and Korzeniowski, Soria became a substitute at attacking mid and, once in an emergency, a defensive mid. He was not as productive in coach Richter’s 4-2-2-2 as he had been in coach LeBlanc’s 4-1-2-1-2.

His age suggests his time with Philadelphia may be over. So does his position on the depth chart. Only if rising academy attacking mids are too young to stand up to the rigors of MLS NEXT Pro is his option for 2026 likely to be exercised. His return would block them if they are ready.

Depth chart

Here is a speculative guess at the Philadelphia Union II depth chart for 2026 as it might be at this moment. First team contracted players are asterisked, as are those whom we expect might become so.

Rafael Uzcategui is assumed to have become a depth piece with the first team. And assuming that Ryan Richter remains as head coach, he might appoint CJ Olney his new captain.

Continuing issues

• Holbrooke will be rehabilitating from knee surgery.
• Davis, Korzeniowski, and Olivas will rotate as they were doing in the last weeks of 2025.
• Olney and Sequera will be accumulating game experience at new positions.
• Griffin, Ferreira, and Jakupovic will be engine building.
• Benitez will be refining his offensive distribution abilities.
• A left center back must be found.
• Midfield and defensive depth must be discovered.