Philadelphia Union
Union Seek First Points Against Perfect San Jose
The beat meets the unbeaten. San Jose comes to Chester tonight with a chance to remain perfect in their 2026 MLS season. However, the Union finds themselves in a unique situation. A team that has been nearly impossible to beat at home dropped their first home match of the season last weekend. Can they get back on track? Let’s break down tonight’s matchup.
San Jose’s Strong Start to the 2026 MLS Season
San Jose begins their road campaign this evening with a visit to Chester. While this is the first cross-country test for Bruce Arena’s squad, it may be the perfect storm for his side, which has yet to concede a goal.
The Quakes sit in third place in the Western Conference as one of its six unbeaten teams. Their first two matches showed convincing wins over Sporting Kansas City and Atlanta United, and, although both teams have yet to find their first win, the Black and Blue enter their third match of the season against yet another winless club.
The 2026 MLS Season is the first in which San Jose opened their account with back-to-back shutouts. Their success can be attested to their young center back combo of Daniel Munie and Reid Roberts. Both first-round picks in their respective MLS Super Drafts, the two account for an expected goal percentage of 1.28.
The anchors of the back line, paired with the full back play of DeJuan Jones and Benjamin Kikanovic, hold the line for goalkeeper Daniel, who already added two clean sheets to his combined 8 since joining the Quakes in 2023. In both matches, Daniel has only faced two shots on target, and San Jose looks to continue this form against a squad that struggles to generate offense.
On the attack, the five goals scored for the Black and Blue this season come from three different goal scorers. Much of the threat of this squad derives from the wide play and set pieces, with half-back Daniel Munie finding two goals in his first two matches.
American Preston Judd sits at the base of a balanced attack, looking to exploit holes in the Union’s back line. San Jose enjoys attacking from their left flank with midfielders Jamar Ricketts and Beau Leroux, who combined for three assists in the opening matches of 2026. The squad sits in an inverted 4-5-1 formation, with two holding midfielders that accompany three attackers to get wide in the final third.
Finally, the addition of Timo Werner. The 30-year-old German arrived in San Jose over the offseason on a transfer from RB Leipzig, where he found most of his career success. The former Chelsea and Tottenham player made his impact in the MLS on some of his first touches from his debut last weekend, assisting Ousseni Bouda after subbing on in the second half. Expect a more central role for Werner this week after testing the waters against Atlanta.
Keys To Success
While success for the Quakes would be best explained as more of the same from their first two matches, this will be a great test for a squad looking to build on improvement from last season. Missing the playoffs last year to a tiebreaker with Real Salt Lake, the expectations are a continuous climb from the bottom of the table, where San Jose found themselves in 2024. With a balanced, yet bolstered attack, expect the Quakes to pressure the narrow Union formation from the width, going at Philly’s outside backs to find dangerous forwards in the final third.
Defensively, keeping the U’s offense stagnant and frustrating is essential to success in Chester. Only allowing two shots in their first two matches, keeping shots away from goalkeeper Daniel will likely continue San Jose’s unbeaten start to San Jose in 2026.
Still Looking for an Open-Play Goal
The Union find themselves in an unexpected and uncomfortable position entering tonight’s match against the Earthquakes. Starting 0-2 for the first season since 2019, Philly will look to write the wrongs of a frustrating home opener against NYCFC to find their first points of the season.
Along with searching for the first points of the season, Philly also aims to score their first goal in the run of play. In the 2-1 defeat to New York, the only goal came from a spot kick by Indiana Vassilev.
The match did not come without its chances. The U took 16 shots through the 90, and while only five of them found the target, there was a sense of urgency and structure to an offense that was abysmal in Washington the week prior. The Boys in Blue had a 2.07 expected goal percentage, but finishing the job is where issues arose.
Success for the Union against NYCFC came from the wide spaces. Carnell has not changed the philosophy of this club to attack in a narrow formation, but with the Pigeons sitting back after the opening goal of the match, many of the most threatening chances for the Union came from their wingbacks entering the final third and feeding attacking players.
With the return of Ezekiel Alladoh in the attack, continuing to utilize the flanks gives the Union the best chance of getting their young attacker involved. NYCFC silenced the Union’s chances up the middle, rejecting all opportunities to equalize until late in the match. The first breakthrough came from Stas Korzeniowski when he drew a penalty in the 87th minute.
A match against Club America sits on the horizon, so I would expect a mix of the four forwards rostered to feature tonight. Attention should be drawn to Alladoh, entering his second MLS match, and Korenowski, who continues to spark a side yearning for an open-play goal.
Tonight’s Union lineup will be without Olwethu Makhanya. The 21 year old South African was shown red last weekend, leading to the eventual go-ahead goal from NYCFC in the dying moments of the match.
Defensively, Carnell did not want to show his hand in the presser. However, with the attacking prowess of Judd and Werner on the opposite side of the pitch, I would expect Harriel to remain on the flank, with Martinez or Sundstrom pairing with Sery Larson in Makhayna’s absence.
Keys to Success
Make the narrow formation wide. Wide play from Ben Bender, Nathan Harriel, and others proved to be the most dangerous form of attack for the Union last weekend. Barring the final goal of the match, Philly is not the easiest team to break down. Spreading into the attacking spaces from a condensed defensive structure should be enough to break down an Earthquakes side that has yet to be tested in 2026.
Give me the Union to turn things around this weekend in a convincing 3-1 bout. Alladoh makes an emphatic return and gets the Boys in Blue rolling tonight.
You can catch the match on Apple TV at 7:30 p.m.
