Philadelphia Union played their third and final match abroad on Thursday, closing their training camp schedule with a dominant win against Montenegrin side FK Budućnost Podgorica at Marbella Football Center.
The Boys in Blue secured a 4-0 win over 120 minutes, impressing with two different shifts of players.
"It's always good to end off a note like this, a positive feeling coming out of camp," Carnell said.
"I just wanted to see improvements, you know, just gradual gains and steps in the right direction, regardless of who we played. We spoke about getting sharper, fitter, stronger, and I could see a bunch of that. I saw a lot of quality on the ball. I saw a lot of resiliency in our defensive work and connectedness in the group."
This time around, Head Coach Bradley Carnell split the minutes into two shifts – one group went for 75 minutes with two subs, while another eleven, including those additions, played 45 with one sub.
Philadelphia Union opened the match with one of their strongest XIs, including Japhet Sery Larsen in the backline, and Ezekiel Alladoh up top.
"It's always good when the individuals who've just joined us -- Izzy and Jeff, specifically, are playing in a way that it looks like us and it feels like us," Carnell said of the new additions after their third time out with the team.
"All of a sudden, we're forcing turnovers, creating quality goal scoring chances and rewarding ourselves in the final third."
The first group found a healthy three goal lead -- first with another Olwethu Makhanya header off a Milan Iloski corner, marking their second of the trip.
In the 54th, Frankie Westfield found Bruno Damiani with a head-turning nutmeg assist, setting up the Uruguayan for a strike to double the lead.
About 10 minutes later, Damiani drew contact from the opponent at the top of the box, creating an opportunity for Iloski to score the team's third goal of the day.
The last one came from Ben Bender, who finished a pass from Ale Bedoya to make it 4-0 on the day.
Next up, the team will head home to Philadelphia for a few days in market, before embarking on their next leg of prep at their official preseason camp in Clearwater, Florida.
Union Lineup
Andre Blake (Andrew Rick 75'); Nathan Harriel (Trialist 75'), Japhet Sery Larsen (Finn Sundstrom 75'), Olwethu Makhanya (Olivier Mbaizo 75'), Frankie Westfield (Ben Bender 75'); Danley Jean Jacques (Jesus Bueno 62'), Jovan Lukic (Alejandro Bedoya 75'), Milan Iloski (Jeremy Rafanello 75'), Indiana Vassilev (Cavan Sullivan 72'); Bruno Damiani (Sal Olivas 75'), Ezekiel Alladoh (Stas Korzeniowski 75').
