| Details and photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union
CHESTER, Pa. (August 13, 2026) – The Philadelphia Union hosted Santos Laguna for their third match of Leagues Cup Phase One. The Union featured a heavily rotated squad with Ben Bender, Jeremy Rafanello, Malik Jakupovic, Rafael Uzcátegui, Geiner Martinez and Agustín Anello all in the starting lineup. And in the second half, Stas Korzeniowski, Finn Sundstrom and Kellan LeBlanc all logged significant minutes. After a scoreless first half, Santos Laguna’s Ramiro Sordo opened the scoring in the 48th minute before doubling their lead three minutes later. Philadelphia was unable to spark a comeback, resulting in a 2-0 loss. |
Perfect results for the Union. It looks like NYCFC rotated less of their squad than the Union did so hopefully will be less rested and Austin qualified so they will have their quarterfinal 3-5 days after they play the Union and will hopefully rest some of their squad for the game against the Union.
We rotated 8. They rotated 6. The two difference of two hopefully pays off on Sunday.
In one sense, it was a ‘who cares’ match. Richter smartly played mostly U2s given the pros and cons. Santos Laguna did likewise given they were out and had been on a losing streak in league play anyway.
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In another sense, it felt like the Phillies bullpen situation. For the U2 crew, this was a golden opportunity to show their stuff and they didn’t. Richter rightfully decided to call them out for exhibiting half neasures after the match. The two goals involved ugly defensive gaffes including ball watching. No goals were produced. Either they took it half heartedly, aren’t good enough for prime time, or a combination of both. Instead of take the opportunity to impress, questions need asking about our reserve depth.
In fairness to the starters, when was the last time that combination played a game together? The answer is never. after 20 or so minutes they began to look more coordinated, and began to have some control.
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And when was the last time that group had to counteract the halftime emotional relaxation of having been successful.
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Did they deserve the chewing out they probably got afterwards? Sure. That’s part of the player development process.
All fair counterpoints. Still, the product was subpar. The SL team put out there was not overwhelming. It’s not a Liga MX powerhouse, its starters were on a 5 match losing streak, and the club also rotated given it was a dead rubber.
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It’s fair to say that it leads to questions as any failure to rise to a challenge does. That doesn’t mean the End is Nigh and it’s one and done final verdict on players for cutting. Not at all. Experiments often fail in search of success. Hopefully this one leads to success when it matters. Still, let’s be frank. That wasn’t an inspiring performance. What was shown last evening must be much better than that.
Calling the group the deep reserves is eminently fair.
Calling them U2 is not. Only two Union II contracts were on the field. And Uzcategui was not playing center back which is his normal position when he captains U II. Japhet Sery was the unofficial captain of the defense for 90 minutes.
Producing no goals has been an organization wide issue at the professional level. The only consistent scorers have been Iloski with the first team and Korzeniowski when he plays for the second.
Richter rewarded the guys who bust their asses everyday in practice and don’t even get to sit the bench. It’s a sound investment in team-wide morale and willingness to fight for each other.
That his starting back line did not give up a goal for the first half is a credit to them. And that they recovered after being ambushed is as well.
Deep reserves plus experimenting would be fairer, granted. U2 was meant shorthand for reserves, but your description is more accurate.
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Producing no goals has indeed been an organization wide issue at the professional level. No answer was found to that last night based on that performance. End of the world? No. An exhibited sign that we’re on the road though? No.
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Indeed again, Richter rewarded the guys who bust their asses everyday in practice and don’t even get to sit the bench. It’s a sound investment in team-wide morale and willingness to fight for each other. Did they take advantage?
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“I would say it’s definitely not a positive night,” Richter said. “It doesn’t matter who is playing, what the competition is, how many fans in the stands, when you step on the field, we are playing to win and that is always the message to the players.”
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Richter was right to call that out. It seems his assessment was that for the rewards you described, they left him and others at the altar with an uncharacteristic half measures performance.
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When given chances like the U2 (real U2) was with the Ivory Coast WC warmup match, players need to take them. That was also a 2 nil loss, but a solid effort against a top tier challenge. This challenge was a shade of that but a shade of effort put into it. Few made their case for more minutes or promotion with a golden opportunity.
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If slack was the main reason, then here’s the good news. You can’t coach natural gifts like speed or height, but you can coach tradecraft and mentality provided the players are willing to do their part. Let’s hope the performance rests with manageable improvement of the latter.
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Yes, that starting back line did not give up a goal for the first half and recovered after going 2 nil down. Other than that Mrs Lincoln, how was the play? They weren’t ambushed on those those goals. They were napping at best or clueless at worst, and it had a comedic skit feel to the temporary implosion. The offense produced no goals. Richter certainly wasn’t pleased. I doubt anyone else was except for SL benchwarmers looking to earn more minutes. They took advantage of the opportunity.
Stas Korzeniowski started and played 59 minutes.
The U performance showed a stark difference between starters and bench. More reinforcements would be nice but no longer expected. There are always more entertaining teams and matches to watch.
Am I alone in being impressed by Leblanc’s cameo? That first touch volley was a real banger and I thought he showed pace, vision, aggression and some good ball control. Looked to me that he felt like he belonged out there and played that way.
No you are not alone!!!
If Alladoh showed half as much aggression/hustle as LeBlanc showed it would be a significant improvement.
Very poor showing, I don’t care if the team has never played together etc… they are pro soccer players competing for a spot on a bottom of the table team or trying to get a look somewhere else. Even if execution is not there the effort still can be… and it very much was not. Sad when even guys on the lower end are making a good living to kick a ball around and you have so many (fans) struggling financially and they can’t be bothered to put in a good effort.
Read every comment… all valid but a lot of frustration displayed. Why?
Richter Pre-season, right?
I went to all three games and thought they all were fun to watch… and we cannot deny it’s only a matter of time for this crew to jell.
The owner tore apart a Supporters Cup team, then fires the coach responsible for the disaster… because Sugar has been setting this all up the day he got rid of Curtin and then Tanner.
Anyway, no one wants to hear my theory that Sugar set this all up to time with the Sprint Season, win the MLS Cup with 17 wins? They could run the table with an aggressively young team… why they are playing so many YOUTS… signing Kai to anchor it all as Captain Kai, matey!