Philadelphia Union’s Major League Soccer campaign continues this weekend as the team hosts German star Timo Werner and his San Jose Earthquakes side on Saturday night at Subaru Park.
After a pointless opening pair of matches for the Union, the Boys in Blue will look to claim their first win of the year at home against a Western Conference side they haven’t faced since June 2023. Score last minute tickets for the match by clicking here or tune in to watch coverage of the action on Apple TV starting at 7:30PM.
Saturday’s visitors have enjoyed a hot start to their season, handily winning back-to-back matches in their home stadium with a 3-0 opener against Kansas City, then a 2-0 victory over Atlanta United. 26-year-old forward Preston Judd was a difference-maker in both, scoring first-half goals on both occasions. On the other end of the field, the Quakes’ backline featuring Benji Kikanovic, Reid Roberts, DeJuan Jones, and Daniel Munie has been impenetrable, keeping both of their opponents scoreless.
In their most recent outing, new signing Timo Werner made his debut, bursting off the bench and onto the scoresheet with his first MLS goal contribution, perfectly placing a cross to Ousseni Bouda the team's second goal of the night.
"Timo is a great player in his own right. He's very decorated, won so many things, but it's our job to make the lives difficult of the opponent, of the individual" Carnell said in his Thursday press confernece.
"I think we do that a very high level. We believe in our way, and we're excited about the game. It's great for the league. It's great to come up against great players, but I don't think it's anything new to us."
Philadelphia Union have yet to score in the run of play, with their lone MLS goal coming from Indiana Vassilev from the spot after Stas Korzeniowksi drew a penalty, but he team could see a new spark, as Ezekiel Alladoh is set to return, making his Subaru Park regular season debut after missing last weekend’s match due to a red card in the season opener. While the team’s club record signing will be back in action, the team will still be shorthanded as defender Olwethu Makhanya was shown a red of his own against NYCFC.
The Boys in Blue will enter the match having had a full week of training for the first time since preseason in Clearwater, and their dilligent work on the pitch at the WSFS Bank Sportsplex this week is time they hope will help lead them to their first points in MLS play.
After Wednesday training session, which is typically the longest of the week for Philly under Carnell’s coaching staff, Milan Iloski reflected on the team’s open to the season, and how they’re looking to right the ship.
“It hasn’t been a good start for us and we have really high standards, so now, it's just trying to get prepared as best as possible for San Jose and holding ourselves to high standards that we've set from years before,” Iloski said.
“I think it's also maybe a bit like once we get the first goal, it'll hopefully start flowing in after that. So, we're working together, we're working hard, and we're gonna do everything we can to be prepared for the weekend.”
