Philadelphia Union U17s advance to Sunday’s MLS Next Cup final at Toyota Stadium

The Philadelphia Union U17s are heading to the MLS Next Cup final in Toyota Stadium on Sunday night.

The Union booked a spot in the final — a second straight for many of the players who were on the U15 team that made the final a year ago — with a 2-1 win over LAFC on Friday night in Texas.

Alex Perez gave the Union a lead and Marcos Zambrano scored the game winner after LAFC tied the game up.

They’ll play the winner of Columbus Crew and Orlando City at 8 p.m. eastern time on Sunday night. The game will be streamed live on YouTube and Twitch. The Crew knocked off FC Delco in penalties in the quarterfinal.

The Union U15s lost the final last year 2-0 to Real Salt Lake. U17 regulars Perez, goalkeeper Andrew Rick, Gavin Wetzel, John Andrus, Daniel Krueger and Luke Zielinski all started in last year’s final along with Union II midfielder Bajung Darboe.

Matthew Ralph

Matthew Ralph is the managing editor of Philadelphia Soccer Now. He's covered soccer at all levels for a decade in the Philadelphia region and has also written for TheCup.us, NPSL, PrepSoccer and other publications. He lives with his wife and two young children in Broomall, Pa., but grew up in South Jersey and is originally from Kansas.

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