CHESTER, Pa. – They're off to a stunning start.
After missing the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs last season for the first time since 2017, the Philadelphia Union delivered yet another statement performance Saturday night, downing FC Cincinnati, 4-1, in front of a sellout Subaru Park crowd in their 2025 home opener.
Just like Matchday 1's 4-2 win at Orlando City SC, the Union were powered by Tai Baribo. The league's most in-form striker followed up on last week's brace with a hat trick, while club-record signing Bruno Damiani opened his scoring account to round out another convincing result.
Head-turning victories
Through two matches, new head coach Bradley Carnell and his staff have quietly – or not so quietly – made waves across MLS with two head-turning victories.
“I value the ball in the back of the net, and that is the most important thing,” Carnell said post-game. “The transitional game model is our DNA, and when we get it right, there’s a lot of fluidity, a lot of connections, a lot of synchronization with the ball.”
Through two games, Carnell's squad has impressed with eight goals scored from open play, five of them coming from Baribo, who is picking up where he left off after a 2024 season in which he netted 16 tallies across all competitions in just over 1,900 minutes.
“The players are embracing the competition. Everybody will win at the end of the day if we carry on pushing each other, if we carry on training the way that we do," Carnell said.
"Everybody will be a victor come Matchday 34 (Decision Day)."
Baribo’s magical start
The man fueling this hot start is the same one who spent most of last season on the bench under former boss Jim Curtin. But with Julián Carranza’s departure to Eredivisie side Feyenoord, Baribo has finally gotten his chance – and he’s making the most of it, scoring goals in bunches.
“Last season, we believed in ourselves… (Bradley's) ideas, his philosophy of soccer… we are really one unit, we fight for each other, we press together, and this is the recipe to succeed,” Baribo said.
The Israeli international is just the fourth player in MLS history to score five goals in his first two games of a season, joining Javier “Chicharito” Hernández (2021), Ayo Akinola (2020), and Brian Ching (2006) – elite company to be among. His confidence has been a driving force behind this streak.
“For sure it is confidence, but it is confidence that you get from coaches, from my teammates, from myself,” Baribo said.
Home debuts
With a new coach came a slew of incoming signings to mark the transition into the Union's new era. Among the home debutants were 19-year-old homegrown defender Frankie Westfield, Serbian midfielder Jovan Lukić – a transfer from FK Spartak Subotica – and Damiani, who netted his first goal for the Union in the dying moments of the match.
Philadelphia will look to make it three wins out of three when they hit the road on March 8 for a Matchday 3 visit at the New England Revolution (7:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass).
