Recap | Union draw Columbus Crew in home finale before summer break

For the third straight home match it was the Philadelphia Union earning a draw at Subaru Park, with a 1-1 result against the Columbus Crew on Saturday night.

For the second straight clash between the two Eastern Conference foes, the Ohio side grabbed an early lead in the match. Hugo Picard provided the opening strike, scoring from outside the box in the 10th minute to put the Crew for the match. The Boys in Blue came out of the locker room eager to grab control of the match with substitute Agustin Anello creating a spark in the 70th minute as he picked out Milan Iloski for the equalizer.

Philadelphia Union has just one more match before the summer break due to the FIFA World Cup as they'll head to the Sunshine State to face off against Inter Miami CF. Kick off for the Eastern Conference showdown is set for 7:30PM on Saturday, May 24th, with coverage on Apple TV.

How The Match Unfolded

LINEUP NOTES

Head Coach Bradley Carnell made two changes to his starting XI from the team’s midweek matchup against Orlando three days prior, giving Cavan Sullivan a well-deserved start after the 16-year-old scored his first-ever MLS goal. 

In the team’s final home match before the World Cup break, Andre Blake returned to his post between the posts, starting behind an unchanged backline featuring Ben Bender, Nathan Harriel, Olwethu Makhanya, and Geiner Martinez. 

In the midfield, Jovan Lukic and Danley Jean Jacques were back together paired at the 6, while Sullivan occupied the 10 spot opposite Indiana Vassilev. For a second consecutive match, Milan Iloski and Bruno Damiani were the attacking duo up top to start. 

1', New tifo! | Saturday's match was the team's last before Major League Soccer's summer break during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and in recognition of cultural exchange that the beautiful game brings about on the global and club level, the Union celebrated Unity Night.

In collaboration with the Sons of Ben, the Union worked with Legacy Arts Chester, a local art program in Chester that provides free access to art programming to students to curate and paint a new tifo. 

Hoisted in the River End, the tifo read 'One Philly'. 

9’, Yellow card | Ben Bender was shown the first yellow card of the match early, giving Columbus Crew a dangerous free kick chance. 

10’, Columbus goal | The yellow proved costly shortly after it was shown – while Columbus didn’t immediate capitalize on their set piece, Hugo Picard kept the ball in play after it was cleared out of the box, taking a powerful shot from the left half-space outside the box to the top right corner of the net. His effort was perfectly placed just out Blake’s reach, giving the visitors a 1-0 lead. 

25', Union chance | Philly found a promising chance in transition in the 25th minute up the right sideline, highlighted by the same three players that opened scoring for the Union in Orlando. Harriel made a move past Picard to find Sullivan, who quickly played a through ball to Iloski between three Crew players. In the box, Iloski cut the ball toward Damiani, but Mo Farsi got a foot on it. Harriel ran into the box in an attempt to continue the play, but Crew stifled their momentum in front of net, and ultimately  cleared it out of play, Philly was unable to capitalize on a corner chance executed by Sullivan. 

26, Yellow card | The Union was shown their second yellow of the night, this time to Iloski for a foul on Diego Rossi. 

30', Yellow card | The physicality continued with a foul on Danley Jean Jacques committed by Rudy Camacho, who was shown Columbus' first card discipline of the night.

35', Union set piece opportunities | Harriel found Philly a free kick chance int he 35th after taking a foul from Steven Moreira, and while the first set piece was unsuccessful, the following corner unfolded into a left footed near-banger from distance by Ben Bender, who missed just right.

45'+, Yellow card | A third Union yellow was shown at the close of the first half, this time to Makhanya for a foul on Rossi. 

Halftime |

9’, Yellow card | Ben Bender was shown the first yellow card of the match early, giving Columbus Crew a dangerous free kick chance. 

10’, Columbus goal | The yellow proved costly shortly after it was shown – while Columbus didn’t immediate capitalize on their set piece, Hugo Picard kept the ball in play after it was cleared out of the box, taking a powerful shot from the left half-space outside the box to the top right corner of the net. His effort was perfectly placed just out Blake’s reach, giving the visitors a 1-0 lead. 

25', Union chance | Philly found a promising chance in transition in the 25th minute up the right sideline, highlighted by the same three players that opened scoring for the Union in Orlando. Harriel made a move past Picard to find Sullivan, who quickly played a through ball to Iloski between three Crew players. In the box, Iloski cut the ball toward Damiani, but Mo Farsi got a foot on it. Harriel ran into the box in an attempt to continue the play, but Crew stifled their momentum in front of net, and ultimately  cleared it out of play, Philly was unable to capitalize on a corner chance executed by Sullivan. 

26, Yellow card | The Union was shown their second yellow of the night, this time to Iloski for a foul on Diego Rossi. 

30', Yellow card | The physicality continued with a foul on Danley Jean Jacques committed by Rudy Camacho, who was shown Columbus' first card discipline of the night.

35', Union set piece opportunities | Harriel found Philly a free kick chance int he 35th after taking a foul from Steven Moreira, and while the first set piece was unsuccessful, the following corner unfolded into a left footed near-banger from distance by Ben Bender, who missed just right.

45'+, Yellow card | A third Union yellow was shown at the close of the first half, this time to Makhanya for a foul on Rossi. With the discipline, the South African reached his yellow card limit, and will miss the team's match against Miami for accumulation.

Halftime, Union sub | Carnell made one change at half, replacing Lukic with Agustin Anello. 

46', Iloski shot | Iloski opened the first half with a shot from central position outside the box, but the chance was blocked by Sekou Bangoura. 

58, Sullivan shot | The 16-year-old phenom continued his efforts to spur the team's attack in the second half, spotting a gap and forcing Schulte to make a diving save with a long range shot from far outside the box. 

64', Union sub | Carnell made his second sub of the night, replacing Bruno Damiani with Ezekiel Alladoh. 

70', Union goal! | Subaru Park erupted in excitement in the 70th minute when Iloski scored the team's first goal at home since March, hitting the back off a pass from Anello to make it 1-1.

80', Crew send on reinforcements | With 10 minutes remaining, the Ohio side sent on Taha Habroune and Amar Sejdić in place of former Union midfielder Daniel Gazdag and Sekou Bangoura.

85', Sullivan denied the go-ahead goal | The Boys in Blue were hungry for a second goal in front of the River End Supporters and nearly had it as Ben Bender recovered possession and shot a pass to the homegrown Sullivan for a one-timer. The quick shot nearly caught Patrick Schulte unprepared but the USMNT hopefully was able to get low for the stop.

90+', One final chance for a winner | After Iloski was dragged down on a counter attack with seconds left, Philly was awarded a dangerous free kick opportunity just at the edge of the box. With Iloski and Sullivan standing over it, it was the Union homegrown the snuck a left-footed blast through the wall but the keeper was in prime position to make the save.