Behind veteran leaders, Union finish turnaround for Supporters Shield

There was a tactical justification from Bradley Carnell, but the intangible reason seemed just as valid.

The Union were holding on for dear life in the 81st minute Saturday night against New York City FC, Mikael Uhre’s 40th-minute goal the tenuous decider. The visitors to Subaru Park were generating dangerous chances from wide areas in a game where they expectedly controlled 61% of possession.

So Carnell summoned two of the club’s longest-serving players, Olivier Mbaizo and Alejandro Bedoya.

There were soccer reasons: Mbaizo would come in as a right wing back, widening the Union’s defense to a back 5. Bedoya would replace Indiana Vassilev, with fresh legs in the midfield quartet of a 5-4-1 to clog the central channels.

But there was a more human reason, too. If anyone on his bench could appreciate the nine minutes standing between the Union and the club’s second trophy, it would be players who’ve called Chester home since 2016 and 2018.

“It’s not so much about Xs and Os,” Bedoya, the team captain, said after a 1-0 win to clinch the Supporters’ Shield. “Bradley always harps on, the tactics might change, the system we play might change, but at the end of the day, it's all about the principles that he put forward – it's all about the pressing, shifting, taking the last step, going hard. That's all I try to do, is bring that energy to the field with Mbaizo at that point in the game, just to make sure we keep the shutout.”

There are many valid descriptions about this year’s Union side. About Carnell’s installation as a new voice. About the reinvigoration of counter-pressing principles and the players acquired to enact them (Jovan Lukic’s interception and assist on Uhre’s goal summed that up tidily). About belief in youth development to navigate a 34-game marathon.

But in the game that clinched the Shield, the Union finished with seven of their eight longest-tenured players on the field. The eighth was Uhre, scorer of one of the famous goals in club history.

Not all of those eight have been central contributors. But in the last consequential act of the regular season, they were indispensable.

Union forward Mikael Uhre celebrates his first-half goal Saturday night against New York City FC. (Courtesy Philadelphia Union)

 

Take it chronologically:

There’s Andre Blake, essentially the team’s captain with Bedoya in a more marginal role. Drafted in 2014, Blake, like Bedoya, deserves credit for helping the Union become a genuine, competitive franchise, from one playoff appearance in the first six seasons to now eight in 10. The only three-time Goalkeeper of the Year in MLS history, Blake’s name will be on the Ring of Honor when he retires.

But Blake played only 13 league games in 2024, and injuries have limited him to 20 this year. It was fair to ask if the Union would win anything of significance again with Blake, who turns 35 next month. The Union’s failure to make the playoffs in 2024 is primarily attributable to the front office not finding a suitable backup to Blake.

But Blake has kept nine clean sheets this season, allowing 15 goals. He made two saves Saturday, the most difficult a leaping denial of a deflected Hannes Wolf volley in the 20th that he saw late.

“There's been a lot of ups and downs, but this group, we're relentless,” Blake said. “We're working really hard in training, and it's just a testament to the work that we put in. We believe in each other, no matter what happens.”

Blake ended the game with a poignant flourish: He collected the final kick of the game, a corner in stoppage time, ahead of the leap of New York City goalie Matt Freese. Freese, a Union Homegrown, filled in for Blake, out with a fractured hand, in the 2020 finale the last time the Union lifted the Shield.

Bedoya, acquired in the summer of 2016 for a then record fee from French club FC Nantes, lent instant legitimacy to the Union. His midfield work ethic epitomized the underdog ethos, which has remained even as his minutes have diminished.

Bedoya had a career year in 2022, with six goals and six assists. It took a public spat with ownership after the 2023 season to bring him back; this year’s deal, sealed in February, included a “Player Development and Front Office Specialist” role, splitting his time with tasks to prepare for a post-soccer career.

Mbaizo has been a forgotten man this year, behind successive generations of Homegrown fullbacks in Nate Harriel and Frankie Westfield. From a 2018 signing with Bethlehem Steel to a member of Cameroon’s World Cup side in 2022, the rise had been steady. But after 28 starts in 2021, Mbaizo has made just 18 this year, at times behind an out-of-position Bedoya at right back.

“Both of those guys are dependable guys and people we trust, and everyone on the roster has gotten game time this year,” Carnell said of bringing on Bedoya and Mbaizo.

Kai Wagner, signed before the 2019 season, was rated FotMob’s top player of the game, a frequent occurrence. The club leader for all-time social media transfer quarrels with ownership, he’s also second in MLS history for career assists by a defender.

The fifth and final player to win his second Shield was Jakob Glesnes, in perhaps the most representative path for this group. He was an All-Star in 2022 and 2023, the MLS defender of the year in former and completing a games played streak of 102 in the latter. But Glesnes was awful in 2024, a season bookended by own goals in Costa Rica and in a Decision Day loss to Cincinnati with the playoffs on the line. Such declines after age 30 are rarely reversible.

But Glesnes has figured it out. Signed before the 2020 season, Glesnes never quite recovered from sports hernia surgery at the end of 2023. He played through pain in 2024, for a Union team that allowed 55 goals, but has been an anchor this year. The Union have allowed 33 goals in 33 games – 26 in 32, if you exclude the 7-0 loss to Vancouver. The MLS record for fewest goals in a 34-game season is 26, set by the Union in 2022.

Nate Harriel, one of the Homegrowns signed ahead of the 2021 season, started at right back, the latest step in a season that has seen him vault into the picture for the U.S. national team. Jesus Bueno made a 17-minute cameo in which “he was a monster out there,” Carnell said.

Then there’s Uhre. Signed before the 2022 season for a record fee, Uhre scored 13 goals and six assists that year as the Union were one of the 10 most productive offenses in league history. His blast-off never came though – nine goals in 2023, 10 goals and six assists in 2024, more than respectable production but always second fiddle to first Julian Carranza, then Tai Baribo at the end of last year and Damiani.

Uhre’s production has dipped this year, with his contract up at season’s end and his stay in Philly likely ending. He supplied the game-winner in Montreal and the brace to beat Colorado, but he was at four goal and four assists until he had a hand in four goals – one goal, two assists, one own-goal first – in last week’s 6-0 thumping of D.C.

If Saturday’s goal proves to be a parting gift from the Danish striker, it’s a pretty valuable one.

“You want to leave a good impression, no matter if you end up staying or you end up going,” Uhre said. “You always want to be leaving a good impression. So obviously, it was huge to score the goal, and the guys brought it home, and to lift the Shield, that was an amazing feeling.

When owner Jay Sugarman took the microphone after the trophy presentation – and once the boos subsided – he offered that “change is difficult but can be rewarded,” referencing what was regarded by many in the fanbase as an unpopular decision to fire long-time coach Jim Curtin after last season.

But that change was in service of bringing the best out of a group that Sugarman and the front office believed was better than last year’s 12th-place finish showed. That redemption arc culminated Saturday night in a trophy.