(Photo courtesy of Carl Gulbish)
This hasn’t exactly been a dream start for the Philadelphia Union. In many ways, it may be trending toward a nightmare. The Union are off to one of the worst starts in the franchise’s history, an impressive first to worst fall to start the 2026 MLS regular season. But with a squad full of leaders and experienced players, it’s hard to imagine their early season slide continuing for much longer.
The Union lost 2-1 to the Chicago Fire Saturday afternoon at Subaru Park in a game that followed a familiar pattern. For the seventh time this season, and in every game against an opponent not named Defense Force FC, the Union conceded the game’s first goal.
“That’s usually a strength of ours,” Carnell said after the Chicago game. “We’ve usually worn down opponents and got the first goal. That’s normally been our sort of bread and butter, too. And finding ways to combat that hasn’t been easy.”
The Union have lost six of those games, with the draw against Club América last week in the Concacaf Round of 16 playing like a loss because the Union needed another goal to advance. In that game, the Union gave up a free kick header to Rodrigo Dourado in the 7th minute. Against Chicago, the Union held much of the action until they left Hugo Cuypers alone for a free header in first half stoppage time to go down again.
“We bounced back straight away, which was great,” Carnell said, “great sign of energy, great sign of resilience and mental toughness. But then when things don’t go your way, and you drop the basics, yeah, you give away the first goal. It always becomes an uphill battle.”
What a play! What a response! 🤯
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Milan Iloski brings @PhilaUnion level. pic.twitter.com/L7j6zJ5VIh
Losing is new territory for several Union leaders. The Union drafted Andre Blake in the 2014 MLS Entry Draft, but it wasn’t until 2016 when he established himself as the regular starter, earning his first All-Star nod. They signed Bedoya that same season as a Designated Player from Nantes in the French Ligue 1. Together, Blake and Bedoya have carried the Union to one of the best records in all of MLS during that span, including two Supporters’ Shields, one MLS Cup final, three Concacaf appearances, reaching the semifinals twice, eight playoff appearances, and a third place finish in the 2023 Leagues Cup.
Since 2016, the Union’s longest losing streak came in 2024 when the team lost five in a row from mid-June to mid-July. They also had a three-game losing streak to end the season, which ultimately led to a managerial change. In 2017, the Union had a four-game losing streak, and in 2018 they had a three-game losing streak to end their season. In 2019, 2021, and 2025, the Union never lost more than two games in a row, and in the 2020 and 2025 Supporters’ Shield-winning seasons, they never lost twice in a row
“I don’t know what to say,” Blake said after the Chicago game. “Tough times right now. Very, very tough times.”
Blake has given up 9 goals to start the MLS season, almost half from his twenty-two goals against from all of last season, though he missed some time due to international play and injury. In his MLS MVP-Finalist season in 2022, he gave up twenty-six goals in the entire season with another four in the playoffs. Even in his early starts, when the Union were still getting their doors blown in MLS play, Blake conceded fifty goals in 2016 and 2018, not including Open Cups. He’s on pace to surpassing that number if he plays at least thirty games this season.
“It can’t just be business as usual. It’s not going to fix itself, but it gets difficult because you also have to be positive. So we have to figure out a balance.” Blake and his teammates have navigated hard times before, and one of the strengths of the Union in past years has been the mindset created inside the locker room, of which Blake’s is still the strongest.
“Every day is a new day, a new opportunity, and you have to learn from the tough times, but you also have to keep going. You have to find ways to move on. So, I’m going to have to figure it out because it’s part of being a pro. Whether it was a good moment or a bad moment, you have to find ways to learn and keep going.”
Blake, of course, was here in 2024 when the Union suffered their worst slide at the time, but even he has no answers for what is currently happening with the team. “This is a different kind of struggle,” he said, “and I’ve never had this in my life, so I don’t know what to say about that.”
Blake must turn the club’s struggles aside as he prepares for Jamaica’s FIFA World Cup qualifying playoffs this week. The Raggae Boyz face New Caledonia on March 26th in Guadalajara, Mexico, with the winner facing DR Congo on March 31st to book a spot in the World Cup this summer. Jamaica’s lone World Cup appearance came in 1998, and Blake, the team’s longtime captain, will be counted on to lead his team back to game’s biggest stage.
Like Blake, Bedoya has been the consummate pro, another vocal leader both inside and outside of the locker room. Bedoya, himself a World Cup veteran, has seen his role shifting in recent years from every day starter to role player, but his experience and leadership qualities have helped the team transition with the new coaching staff and its ideals. Bedoya’s assist against Chicago pushed his Union total to 42, which ranks second behind the departed Kai Wagner, a player’s whose value has not been replaced yet this season.
“As long as I’ve been here, this is the worst rut that we’ve been in at the club,” Bedoya said after the Chicago game, “so it’s really frustrating, especially when I thought we played in their [Chicago’s] end pretty much the whole half.”
Bedoya also had an assist on the Union’s lone goal against Atlanta United, which had been the team’s first goal in open play in MLS this season. Despite a 3-1 loss on the road, the Union could at least feel good about breaking that negative trend, however, for a team so accustomed to winning, leaders like Bedoya expect more than moral victories.
“We’ve got to be better on both sides of the ball. It’s just simply not good enough.”
The Union played nine games from mid-February and March, the same total as in 2024, a season in which the Union only won four of their first twenty-two games. As players go from preseason to max load with international competitions and a condensed schedule due to a World Cup break and the annual Leagues Cup pause, the beginning of the season can be jolting. Carnell has tried to balance the fatigue by mixing his squad throughout the first month and a half, but that also exposes a lack of cohesion, especially for a team with so many new pieces.
“I’m not going to make excuses,” Bedoya said. “We all know Champions Cup takes a toll on some MLS teams. That’s no secret. But I’m not going to use it as an excuse because we still should be better.”
The Union also posted their first three-game home losing streak since April to May 2024, something that hadn’t happened before that since April to June 2012.
“There’s no way we should be losing three games at home whoever’s on the field.”
The Union at least can rely on their leadership. Even if the senior players themselves are unaccustomed to losing, they’ve been around long enough to fight through adversity. And the team’s current situation has been as adverse as any start to an MLS season in club history. The Union will welcome the upcoming international break, where some players will head out for international duty and others will remain home to train. But Bedoya says the best recipe for overcoming their recent slide is to move on.
“What I told the group is take this stretch of five games and throw it out the window,” he said. “MLS is pretty damn forgiving in terms of we can come back, go on a run, and all we have to do is make the playoffs. So it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”
Several big questions remain. One is how the recent suspension of Sporting Director Ernst Tanner has impacted the Union’s offseason and how relying on new and younger players to replace veteran winners Wagner, Jakob Glesnes, Tai Baribo, and Mikael Uhre may have been too much change. Many will begin to ask questions of Carnell, whose second season in charge of the Philadelphia Union is beginning to show eerie signs of his second season in St. Louis City SC.
Following Carnell’s breakout year in the new franchise, leading the club to first place in the Western Conference with a 17-12-5 record, St. Louis were upset in the conference quarterfinals, swept by the 8th seed Sporting Kansas City. The 2024 season began with a Champions Cup loss to Houston in the First Round, then the team only won once in the first six games, drawing four. The low point of the season came from May 15th to June 29th when St. Louis had a nine-game stretch without a win. St. Louis replaced Carnell on July 1st with Technical Director John Hackworth, who coached with the Union from 2010 to 2014.
“I try to take the next day as it is and make sure I’m living for the next day and the next moment and the next opportunity to get better,” Carnell said. “These are five learning moments that I want to get done with. I’m over with the learning now. We have to embrace it and move on.”
Carnell reiterated he still firmly believes in his philosophy and his ability, and how these new lessons with a rebuilding squad has presented challenges to the early start of the season. Unfazed by the outside noise due to the Union’s early season struggles, he remains focused on supporting his players as they grow into the season together and overcome past results.
“I put myself under immense pressure,” he said. “Everything I do is for the players. I’m a servant of the game. That’s all I care about, is the players and how we can ride the ship for them and their careers.”
Following the international break, the Union can hopefully find some reprieve. Of the Union’s next six opponents, Charlotte, D.C. United, and Toronto have two league wins apiece. CF Montréal has one win, and Columbus is still winless. The Union have ten games until the World Cup break, with one home against Nashville and a road game against Miami the largest trouble spots. In two months’ time, the Union’s recent performances may not be as magnified, but they’ll have to find their goalscoring form and begin to convert their press-to-turnovers and get back to some of the basics that led to last season’s consistency.
