It’s been three years since St. Louis City SC entered MLS and at last they will meet the Philadelphia Union in Saturday’s contest in Chester. One of the side effects of so much expansion (the Union was the 16th team to enter the league in 2010) is that the league is too big and the schedule too inconsistent year-to-year to develop cross-country rivalries but St. Louis has plenty of built-in rivalry features already. There’s a link to the Union of the past with former Union head coach John Hackworth as technical director and former Union draft pick Joshua Yaro on the squad and to the present through Union head coach Bradley Carnell and newly acquired midfielder Indiana Vassilev.

In the email today:

1. 🐍 Carnell: St. Louis City ‘another game’ with ‘three points on the line’

It was a given that one of the first questions to Philadelphia Union head coach Bradley Carnell during his weekly press conference this week would be about his former team coming to town this weekend for the first regular season meeting between the two clubs.

“I’m gonna welcome a lot of the faces and the people I’ve been in contact with all the time,” Carnell said of St. Louis City SC’s upcoming visit on Saturday. “Special memories for sure but at the end of it it’s three points on the line and another game.”

Carnell was part of St. Louis City’s entry into MLS as an expansion team in 2022 and compiled a Win-Loss-Draw record of 22-25-15 before being dismissed in July 2024 and replaced by former Union head coach John Hackworth. Former Swedish international Olof Mellberg took over as head coach in the offseason and has St. Louis knocking on the door of MLS history after recording four straight clean sheets to start the season. If the Union fail to score inside the first 68 minutes on Saturday, St. Louis will set a new record for longest scoreless streak to start an MLS season.

“They plug up around the box, they defend deep they are very massive in that area, and they do a great job at it,” Carnell said. “They defend the box really well. And that’s going to be a tough breakdown so I mean, for us, the challenge is to find moments, find plays to try and expose them. And that’s what we’ve been working on this past week.”

The Union are coming off their first loss of the season but there’s little concern from Carnell in terms of how he sees the team progressing.

“We don’t get certain things that go our way on the day but take nothing away from the performance,” Carnell said of Sunday’s 3-1 loss, which include two controversial VAR calls that went against the Union. “I knew exactly the type of game against Nashville, what it was going to be, and I think we prepped and planned for it in the right way. Disappointing not to get points at home and not the result but at the end of the day we had it in our own hands. And, you know, unfortunately, moments or momentum doesn’t go our way on the day.”

Carnell will have several decisions to make for Saturday’s lineup with several players out on international duty – Andre Blake, Tai Baribo, Daniel Gazdag, Danley Jean Jacques among the key absences – and center back Olwethu Makhanya out with a red card suspension. Ian Glavinovich will get a chance to earn his first start for the Union while Nathan Harriel or Olivier Mbaizo will slot into the right back with Frankie Westfield off at U.S. Under-20 camp. Just Markus Anderson is questionable with injury as of Thursday, according to Carnell.

Midfielder Indiana Vassilev is in line to start against his former team while Bruno Damiani should get his first start up top. Veteran Alejandro Bedoya may also step in to shore up the midfield but Carnell has options with Cavan Sullivan, Jeremy Rafanello and U2 standouts David Vazquez and CJ Olney. The start in goal will go either to Andrew Rick or Oliver Semmle. Carnell didn’t tip his hat in any direction on Thursday but will have changes to his starting XI for the first time this season after running with the same starters each of the first four.

2. 🇺🇸 USM-Oh-No

For the first time since the competition was established in 2019-2020, the United States Men’s National Team will not be playing in the Concacaf Nations League final.

The U.S. was denied a chance to play for a fourth straight title on a late game-winning goal from Panama’s Cecilio Waterman, who put his team’s only shot on goal in the back of the net in the fourth minute of stoppage time. Waterman’s winner followed a couple of big missed opportunities for Charlotte FC striker Patrick Agyemang, who entered the match along with former Union midfielder Jack McGlynn in the 68th minute.

Former Union homegrown Mark McKenzie (Bear, Del.) earned his 18th senior national team cap in the match, replacing the injured Chris Richards in the 79th minute.

The U.S. outshot Panama, 12-3 (five shots on target), earned nine corner kicks to the visitors’ three and enjoyed two-thirds of the possession but will have to settle for a third place match against Canada instead of a chance to become the first men’s team – club or country – to win four straight Concacaf competitions.

Sunday’s match will be at 6 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live on Paramount+ and Univision.

3. 🛗 Social Post of the Day: Waking Up

4. 💧 Water Cooler: Player Ratings Results

Jovan Lukic picked up his first man of the match in our player ratings poll and Jakob Glesnes and referee Pierre-Luc Lauziere drew the biggest ire.

Some of the comments:

What surprised you most: “Glesnes back to playing like last year.”

What surprised you most: “The fouls not called, the reffing played too much of a psychological role, lack of resilience on Union’s part to that particular adversity.”

Biggest play: “The foul on Sullivan in the box that was denied. Lead to a real let down,.”

5. 🔗 Link Roundup

• Todd Lewis caught up with Indiana Vassilev over the weekend in a timely interview ahead of his former team coming to town and the high likelihood he’ll be getting his first Union start.

• It was another wonderful night of US Open Cup soccer at YSC Sports on Tuesday as West Chester United hosted Loudoun United and was on cupset watch after taking a first half lead.

• Two games for the Philly Soccer 6 Cup were played last weekend with Drexel winning 1-0 over Villanova and Rider picking up a second point on kicks after a 1-1 draw with Temple.

• Local youth clubs Delaware FC, Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals and SJEB FC have been promoted from the regional league to ECNL boys for next season.

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