Philadelphia Union
Philadelphia Union come from behind to grab first win of the season in Montreal
A pair of goals off set pieces in the second half erased a one-goal deficit and finally gave Philadelphia Union fans something to cheer about as the Union were able to grab three points with a 2-1 win over Montreal on Saturday afternoon.
The first half looked like it was following the same tired script that has been the story of the 2026 season when CF Montreal was awarded a penalty in the 11th minute on a coming together in the box by Andre Blake and Iván Jaime but video review confirmed that Blake had gotten to the ball first and the danger was avoided.
Jaime would factor in again though 12 minutes later when he got on the end of a long forward pass from Efraín Morales and was able to beat Blake to his left and give the hosts – playing at home for the first time this season – the early lead.
The Union had a couple of bids to equalize before halftime with Frankie Westfield hitting a shot from inside the box just wide of the mark and Jesus Bueno rocketing a shot that Thomas Gillier was able to stop with a diving two-handed save.
Montreal had chances early in the second half to add to their lead but a good clearance from Olwethu Makhanya with a Montreal attacker bearing down in front of goal and Andre Blake’s save on the ensuing corner kick were a shot in the arm to the Union team. Two minutes later Jesus Bueno drew a foul near the sideline and Milan Iloski floated a free kick into the box that Japhet Sery Larsen ran onto and headed past Gillier for the equalizer. From a possible 2-0 deficit on one side of the field to a 1-1 tie the Union rode the momentum to nearly finding another goal seconds later from Iloski but the offside flag was up.
The first lead of the season would come via Bueno on a throw-in from nearly the same spot as the free kick that substitute Ezekiel Alladoh was able to head down into the path of Bueno, who finished with a shot with pace off the half volley that Gillier wasn’t able to keep out of the net. Channeling his standout performance in Champions Cup at Club America, Bueno ran to the corner with his signature hands to his head celebration and the team celebrated like a huge weight had been lifted. Which it had, of course. After six games where they failed to find a second goal and had failed to register a single point in the standings the boys in blue finally had a lead to hold and Montreal’s struggles as a team with just three points through six games proved larger to overcome than the visitors.
A match with 35 fouls and 7 yellows combined looked like you’d expect from two teams toiling at the bottom of the table but the win for the Union was something they desperately needed to stop the bleeding and bring belief back to the clubhouse. As head coach Bradley Carnell stressed post-game it was just three points but a step in the right direction. It’s a direction they’ll need to build on against another team that has had struggles of their own in D.C. United back in the friendly confines of Subaru Park next Saturday night.
Lineups
Philadelphia Union: Andre Blake; Nathan Harriel, Olwethu Makhanya, Japhet Sery Larsen (Phillipe Ndinga 81’), Frankie Westfield; Ben Bender (Ezekiel Alladoh 66’ ), Jesus Bueno, Jovan Lukic, Indiana Vassilev (Cavan Sullivan 88’) ; Bruno Damiani, Milan Iloski (Alejandro Bedoya 81’).
Substitutes not used: Andrew Rick; Geiner Martinez, Finn Sundstrom, Jeremy Rafanello, Malik Jakupovic .
FC Montréal : Thomas Gillier, Luca Petrasso, Efraín Morales (Tomas Aviles 70’),Brayan Vera, Dawid Bugaj, Matty Longstaff, Victor Loturi (Olger Escobar 82’), Iván Jaime, Wiki Carmona (Fabian Herbers 37’ ( Mahala Opoku 82’), Dagur Thorhallsson (Hennadii Synchuk 70’), Prince Owusu.
Substitutes not used: Sébastian Breza, Samuel Piette, Daniel Rios, Brandan Craig.
