THE BOYS ARE BACK!!!: Now that the pesky World Cup is over, we can get back to some real soccer! MLS IS BACK!!! We’ve got just over half the season to go and Leagues Cup is right around the corner. And no better way to get the adrenaline going again, than with a rivalry night against the Pink Cows tonight! In the 48th meeting of clubs (the most of any team for the Union), we’ll see the showdown of two clubs going in very different directions. The Union has historically dominated the cows for the past 8 years with 16 straight unbeaten games, until they finally fell on the road last season 1-0. The Union still holds a 10 game unbeaten streak in Chester against RBNY and are hoping to continue that trend as we look to climb out of the basement. Let’s hope the break gave us a much needed restart as we hope to salvage a terrible start. 

UNION Preview (7 Points Last in MLS): Congrats to Danley and Makhanya on their World Cup experiences, because it has been quite an eventful World Cup break for the Union after the worst start in club history. Head Coach Carnell is gone, Sporting Director Tanner is kinda sorta gone, a new roof, Quinn is playing again, Kai is back, and now Makhanya is MIA! I don’t need to rehash the nightmare the first half of the season was, but 7 points in 15 games pretty much tells the whole story. Entering the back half of the season, the Union have elevated Union II coach Ryan Richter to the first team’s interim head coach. Richter led the U2 to 2nd in the East in 2025, and was an assistant coach with the 1st team from 2022 thru 2025. Positives to focus on…Iloski leads the team with 7 goals, we have 6 straight home games upcoming, and the best LB in the league has returned after an eight month absence. Let’s hope we can at least see a home win this season, but we shouldn’t get our hopes too high as club legend, Raquinho, is still having fatigue from the World Cup and his trip to Europe to help recruit Wagner back to the team.

RBNY Preview (22 Points 5th in the East): The Red Bulls are off to a surprisingly good start in their 2026 campaign after missing the playoffs last season and bringing in new head coach, Michael Bradley. Entering the World Cup break, they were riding high on a 4 game unbeaten streak and look to continue climbing the ranks in a tight race in the Eastern Conference. 18 year-old Julian Hall leads the team with 9 goals and 4 assists. Jorge Ruvalcaba follows with 7 goals, and 5 individuals with 1 goal each. On the defensive side, this team is as poor as the Union, having conceded 32 goals, 4th most in the league. GK Ethan Horvath has only managed to put together 1 Clean Sheet to this point of the season. With a 3W/3L/2D road record, Red Bulls will come out strong, likely playing out of their preferred 4-3-3.

Union Last 5 vs RBNY: 3W/1L/1D

Form Guide Union: 0W/3L/2D

Form Guide RBNY: 3W/1L/1D

Disciplinary Report: 

• N/A

Suspension Watch: 

• Sery Larsen (3 games until card reduction) 
• Danley (5 games until card reduction) 
• Lukic (5 games until card reduction) 
• Jorge Ruvalcaba (RBNY)
• Jackson Ragen (SEA - Relevant for Sat.)

Union Injury Report:

• OUT: Makhanya (Personal Decision - Technically not on availability report)
• OUT: Raquinho (Fatigue)

RBNY Injury Report:

• OUT: AJ Marcucci (Knee)
• QUESTIONABLE: Rafael Mosquera (Thigh)

Kickoff/Streaming: 

• Advertised for 7:30ET
• Expected kickoff is 7:45 ET (Games last week were all 15 minutes past the expected time, compared to 9 minutes previously)
• AppleTV
• Radio Broadcast on 97.5 The Fanatic

Announcers: 

• AppleTV - Chris Wittyngham & Lori Lindsey
• Radio - Dave Leno & Sebastian LeToux

Referee: Fotis Bazakos

• Officiated 183 MLS matches over the past 15 seasons
• 10th match this season
• Averaging 5 yellows per game this season
• Issued 1 second yellow so far this season 
• Issued 1 straight red so far this season
• Awarded 3 PK’s so far this season
• Officiated our 3-3 tie earlier this season vs TFC (8 yellows total)
• Blew out his hammy in our game vs the Galaxy last season

Theme Night: Rivalry Night back at Subaru Park

Weather: 82° and clear skies

Trivia Question courtesy of u/WJMorris3:

Three Union players have started 15 MLS regular season games against the Red Bulls. Two of them are Andre Blake and Alejandro Bedoya. Who is the third?

Prediction: 2-2 draw, with at least 1 assist from Kai

DOOP!!!

Anyone have any more details on this? Here to stay? Saturday? Will there be booze?

Now that Wagner is back, how long will it take for his jersey to be an option on the MLS store site? I wanted to get one this off season then he was traded. Since he was traded back, I’ve been checking pretty frequently.

There is a plane flying around Suburu Park with a banner that says Thanks World we got it from here.

I’ve always been able to grab a reasonable lot ticket. I’m not sure if that’s happening tonight. SeatGeek only has lot C & StubHub wants like 50 bucks.

What’s the best off site lot that I should be able to grab a spot at?

Tell me I didn’t make a mistake- When I buy tickets, I usually buy them close to River end, typically 101/102. I bought seats months ago when they came out, and they are in Sec 128. Will I have issues being a Union fan in the NY section? It’ll just be my son and me.

Going to the game on 7/25, does anyone have a parking pass they’d like to sell?

New paint
New signage
New food options (looks good actually)

Two days to go. DOOP.

That's one way to make room for Wagner, hope it's a good learning experience for Ndinga.

Let’s hope he took this time off to also work on keeping the ball on target.

I remember the team announcing that upgrades to the concourse will happen during the World Cup break. Anyone have any insight on what was done? Also did they fix the roof, cause it looked so ghetto with those panels missing?

I’ve gotten very interested in soccer because of this World Cup and am planning to start going to Union matches since it’s my local team. I would love to buy a jersey to support them, but I cannot bring myself to walk around with “BIMBO” written across my chest due to the derogatory nature of the word. I’m aware that it’s the name of a food brand but lots of people, including my family, do not know this and think it is inappropriate.
Are there any official jerseys for sale that forgo the Bimbo text in favor of something else?

Sing it on Wednesday for Kai SOB(even if he’s coming out in casual garb), hopefully megaphone guy and the crew can pass around the chant enough! LETS DO THIS!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Da5u4GHmTgn/

It is done.

https://www.philadelphiaunion.com/news/philadelphia-union-acquire-defender-kai-wagner-from-birmingham-city-fc

"Philadelphia Union today announced the acquisition of defender Kai Wagner via transfer from Birmingham City F.C., bringing the three-time MLS All-Star and two-time MLS Best XI selection back to the club. In order to complete the transaction and claim Wagner off waivers, Philadelphia acquired the top spot in the waiver order and $100,000 in 2026 General Allocation Money from Sporting Kansas City in exchange for a 2026 international roster spot and the 22^nd position in the waiver order. The Union’s all-time assist leader returns as a designated player and is guaranteed through the 2028-2029 season with an option for the 2029-2030 season. Wagner will be added to the Union’s active roster following receipt of his International Transfer Certificate."

Hell Yeah!

Hello and Welcome to /r/PhillyUnion 's Free Talk Friday. Here you are free to discuss whatever you like. It can be non Union, non MLS, non Soccer. There are no restrictions pertaining to content on what you can and can't post here. **You may also use this thread to post suggestions, complaints, or questions for the mods just make sure you tag one or all of us.**Have fun!