The surging Philadelphia Union will try to continue their playoff push Wednesday night as they host an FC Cincinnati side that has struggled uncharacteristically on the road.
The Union (7-10-6, 27 points) are unbeaten in league play since their return from the World Cup break, propelled by increased production from talented 16-year-old Cavan Sullivan.
The attacking midfielder, who is contractually bound to Manchester City once he turns 18, has three goals and three assists in Philadelphia’s last five matches.
The Union have earned 11 points in that five game stretch, moving above the playoff line into ninth place in the Eastern Conference following Saturday’s 2-0 home win over CF Montreal. But interim manager Ryan Richter, who took over following Bradley Carnell’s dismissal in May, insists that merely holding a playoff spot doesn’t feel satisfying, despite how poorly the 2025 Supporters’ Shield winners began 2026.
“I’m never going to be excited about being in ninth place, because I’ve seen the levels that this club has hit over the last 7-8 years,” Richter said. “And I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of a couple of those really special seasons, and that’s the target we set as a club, as a team.”
Cincinnati was unexpectedly idle this weekend after severe storms forced the postponement of their home match against D.C. United.
Behind 13 goals and 11 assists from Brazilian attacker Evander, Cincinnati (8-7-7, 31 points) appears on pace to reach a fifth consecutive postseason, entering the weekend in sixth place in the East.
But they’ve won only once in 11 away matches this season after earning an exceptional 11 away victories in each of their last two campaigns. And manager Pat Noonan says there’s no obvious explanation for that reversal.
“I didn’t realize, record-wise, how poor it was, because there’s been games where I think we’ve been good, and maybe the results don’t go our way,” Noonan said of his team’s 1-5-5 away mark. “But there’s a lot of things this year that feel like they’re out of the norm. One of them is our inability to have success on the road. I can’t put a finger on it.”
–Field Level Media
