Philadelphia Union
Union fight back but collapse late again in 4-3 loss at Orlando
The Philadelphia Union fought back from a 3-1 deficit in Orlando on Wednesday night, but threw it away at the death, losing the match 4-3.
Milan Iloski scored the Union’s opener, and Cavan Sullivan opened his MLS account with the Union for the second goal. Ben Bender scored a long-range equalizer late, but a 90th minute winner from Martín Ojeda put the Union away, extending their winless streak to 6 matches.
The Union entered Wednesday’s match winless in just over a month, dating back to the April 11th win over Montréal. Despite the Union’s precarious position in the standings, the Wednesday night match was the second of three scheduled matches in a one-week span for Philadelphia, calling for some fresh legs in the starting lineup. Bruno Damiani entered the starting lineup for Ezekiel Alladoh, Jeremy Rafanello came in for Cavan Sullivan, and Ben Bender made a surprise start at left back in place of the injured Frankie Westfield. Andre Blake was listed as questionable on the injury report and did not make the matchday squad. He was replaced by Andrew Rick in goal.
In addition to the personnel changes, Bradley Carnell went with a rare tactical change to open the match. Instead of the typical 4-2-2-2 formation, the Union opened the match in a shape resembling a 4-3-3. Danley Jean-Jacques, Jovan Lukic, and Rafanello formed a flat midfield three off the ball behind Milan Iloski and Indiana Vassilev, with Bruno Damiani leading the line as a lone striker.
Despite the change of shape, the Union were unable to neutralize the Orlando attack early on. Orlando have struggled mightily on defense in 2026, sporting the worst goal difference in the Eastern Conference. Still, their attack has begun to click. Entering Wednesday night’s match, Orlando had scored 2 or more goals in 4 of their last 5 matches.
Orlando squandered two golden chances in the opening minutes. Young homegrown Justin Ellis was causing the Union midfield all types of problems. Ellis did damage by dropping into the space between defense and midfield before firing long balls over the Union high line to Martín Ojeda on two occasions before the 15 th minute. On the first chance, Ojeda took the shot on his weaker right foot but couldn’t hit the target. On the second occasion, Geiner Martinez made an excellent recovery.
In the 17th minute, another searching ball towards Ojeda looked destined for Makhanya. In wet conditions, the ball was miscontrolled by the young South African, skipping past him to Ojeda once again. This time, he rounded Rick and was brought down, winning a penalty that he would go on to score confidently for a 1-0 Orlando lead.
The poor defending continued for the Union despite being let off the hook multiple times early in the match. Young Brazilian Tiago of Orlando dribbled the ball in the box before meeting Makhanya, who stuck a foot in, but could not make strong enough contact to clear decisively.
The ball was picked up in the box by Griffin Dorsey, who fired confidently past Rick from close range. Dorsey celebrated, giving Orlando a 2-0 lead within 30 minutes.
Just before halftime, a scary moment occurred for the Union. Jovan Lukic appeared to suffer fatigue of some sort and was unable to continue. Cavan Sullivan replaced him, back in the team after starting the last three matches. The Union returned to the 4-2-2-2 formation upon Sullivan’s introduction and looked much brighter, creating multiple quality chances just before half
including a Martinez header that caromed off the bar.
Despite looking dead and buried, the Union came out a different team in the second half. The Boys in Blue opened their scoring via one of their best team goals of 2026. Bender snuffed out an Orlando counter and moved the ball up field. Sullivan found Harriel on the overlap, who crossed into Iloski. Iloski arrived at the perfect time, dispatching a finish past Crepeau in the 54 th minute to half the deficit. Three minutes later, an Iloski corner met by Makhanya was headed agoal bound before Crepeau made a brilliant save at full stretch to keep the score 2-1.
Orlando extended the lead in the 72nd minute. Martinez stepped up to win the ball after a Union turnover but lost out to Tyrese Spicer, who made it past the young Colombian, creating a 3 on 1 opportunity. Spicer found Duncan McGuire, who fired a shot through Rick to double Orlando’s lead.
sSDStill, the Union didn’t give up, getting a goal back only minutes later. The Union’s second goal was started and finished by the young Cavan Sullivan. Sullivan picked up the ball just outside the Union box before pinging a long switch to Ben Bender on the left. Bender crossed low on his first touch, finding the run of Sullivan, who finished confidently for his first MLS goal. Sullivan was the architect of this goal, but it was also a terrific delivery from Bender, who claimed his first Union assist.
Searching for the winner, Stas Korzeniowski and Ezekiel Alladoh came on for Damiani and Iloski. Korzeniowski made an impact instantly off the bench. Retrieving the ball in midfield, Korzeniowski dribbled past a defender before finding Bender on the left. Bender took a touch before firing a long range shot that beat Crepeau, overturning the two-goal deficit in a matter of four minutes. Bender’s first two MLS goal contributions with Philadelphia came in quick succession in a moment of desperation on the road, leveling the match at 3-3.
With time ticking down, the Union appeared to have momentum, hunting for a winner. It almost came in the 88 th minute. The game-changing Sullivan spun off a defender before finding Harriel overlapping again. Instead of looking for a cross, he fired a shot towards the Orlando net, ricocheting off the crossbar for a throw in.
On the stroke of the 90 minutes, the Union paid for their missed chances, and Martin Ojedascored the winner via a brilliant feed from Adrián Marín. The Union’s attempts at a response came up short, losing the match in heartbreaking fashion by a 4-3 scoreline.
The loss continued a disastrous stretch for the Union. The club is now winless across six matches. In that time frame, the Union have scored three goals on two occasions, winning neither of the two matches. The rut has them stuck in dead last in the MLS Supporters’ Shield standings and 9 points off of postseason qualification in 9th place. Six points after 13 league matches is the lowest in club history for the Union, who have never recorded less than 11 points over that stretch in years past.
The Union will look to break their winless streak on Saturday, May 16 th at Subaru Park against Columbus Crew. Philadelphia will look for revenge after a recent 2-0 defeat at Columbus.
