Philadelphia Union Win Over FC Cincinnati, 4-1
MLS Philadelphia Union

Philadelphia Union Win Over FC Cincinnati, 4-1

March 1, 2025 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Philadelphia Union News Release


CHESTER, Pa. - The Philadelphia Union kicked off their home opener with a 4-1 win against FC Cincinnati on Saturday night at Subaru Park. For the first time since 2011, the Union have won their first two games of a season. The Union also owns eight goals in the first two games to surpass their record for most goals scored in the first two matches of a season. Six minutes into the first half, forward Tai Baribo finished a cross from defender Kai Wagner to give the Union a 1-0 lead. Midfielder Daniel Gazdag capitalized off of a Cincinnati mistake and set Baribo up for his second goal of the night, extending the Union's lead to 2-0. In the 51st minute, Baribo scored his third goal for his second career MLS hat trick. Forward Evander put one away for FC Cincinnati in the 58th minute, making the score 3-1. In the 93rd minute, forward Bruno Damiani scored his first goal for the Union in his debut for the club to make the final score 4-1.

The Union travel to Gillette Stadium to play the New England Revolution on Saturday, March 8 (7:30 p.m. ET / Apple TV).

Philadelphia Union 4 - FC Cincinnati 1

Subaru Park (Chester, PA)

Saturday, March 1, 2025

TODAY'S MATCH INFO

Referee: Allen Chapman

Assistant Referees: Corey Parker, Kyle Atkins

Fourth Official: Victor Rivas

VAR: Sorin Stoica

VAR Assistant: Tom Supple

Weather: 39 degrees and clear.

GOALS/ASSISTS

PHI - Tai Baribo (Wagner, Q. Sullivan) 6'

PHI - Tai Baribo (Gazdag) 33'

PHI - Tai Baribo (Gazdag) 52'

CIN - Evander 58'

PHI - Bruno Damiani (Q. Sullivan) 90+3'

DISCIPLINARY SUMMARY

CIN - Nwobodo (caution) 75'

Lineups

Philadelphia Union: Andre Blake; Kai Wagner, Olwethu Makhanya, Jakob Glesnes, Frankie Westfield; Danley Jean Jacques, Jovan Lukic (Jesus Bueno 89'), Quinn Sullivan, Daniel Gazdag (Indiana Vassilev 82'); Mikael Uhre (Bruno Damiani 69'), Tai Baribo (Cavan Sullivan 82').

Substitutes not used: Andrew Rick, Ian Glavinovich, Olivier Mbaizo, Alejandro Bedoya, Chris Donovan.

FC Cincinnati: Roman Celentano; Deandre Yedlin (Bret Halsey 58'), Teenage Hadebe, Miles Robinson, Gilberto Flores (Alvas Powell 70'), Lukas Engel (Kenji Mboma Dem 85'); Obinna Nwobodo, Tah Anunga (Pavel Bucha 58'), Evander; Kévin Denkey, Yuya Kubo (Corey Baird 58').

Substitutes not used: Evan Louro, Peter Mangione, Stefan Chirila.

TEAM NOTES

With the win tonight, the Union earned their first back-to-back wins to start a season since 2011.

With eight goals in total, the Union surpassed their record for most goals scored in the first two games of the season (six in 2022).

With four goals tonight, the Union tied their record for most goals scored in a home opener, set in 2023 with a 4-1 win against Columbus Crew.

The Union improved to 8-4-4 record in home openers all-time with the 4-1 win tonight.

With a pair of goals on Matchday 1 and a hat trick tonight, forward Tai Baribo became the fourth player in MLS history to score five goals in the first two games of a season, joining Javier 'Chicharito' Hernández (2021), Ayo Akinola (2020) and Brian Ching (2006).

Defender Jakob Glesnes made his 150th career MLS start for the Union. Glesnes has become the sixth player in club history to reach this milestone.

Defender Kai Wagner made his 170th career league start for the Union against FC Cincinnati. Wagner is fourth all time in starts for the Union.

Daniel Gazdag recorded his 30th and 31st MLS assists with the Union, the fourth highest mark in the team's history.

Midfielder Indiana Vassilev and Forward Bruno Damiani made the matchday roster for the first time in their Union careers.

Forward Bruno Damiani scored his first goal for the Philadelphia Union in his debut, coming on in the 69th minute.

Midfielder Indiana Vassilev made his debut for the Philadelphia Union.

Forward Tai Baribo is the league's leading goal scorer with five goals in the 2025 MLS season, he also scored his second hat trick in his MLS career.

With his hat trick tonight, Tai Baribo scored multiple goals in back-to-back MLS games for the first time in his career, putting him at seven multi-goal games in all competitions for the Philadelphia Union.

Homegrown midfielder Quinn Sullivan registered his second and third assists of the MLS season. This marks his third MLS game with multiple assists.

Check out the Philadelphia Union Statistics



Major League Soccer Stories from March 1, 2025


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