Tai Baribo scored two goals — one in each half — as the visiting Philadelphia Union opened the 2025 MLS season with a 4-2 win over Orlando City on Saturday.
Daniel Gazdag and Mikael Uhre added a goal each for Philadelphia (1-0-0, 3 points), making a winner of Bradley Carnell in his first match as the team’s head coach.
Marco Pasalic, signed in the offseason from Rijeka in his native Croatia for a reported $5 million transfer fee, scored both goals for Orlando (0-1-0, 0 points) on his MLS debut.
Baribo’s first goal of the night came in the 24th minute. Kai Wagner got on the end of an Orlando deflection inside the scoring area, which he slid over to the Israeli international for a simple tap-in to make it 1-1.
The Union jumped ahead 2-1 in the 48th minute through Gazdag, who powered a Quinn Sullivan cross past Pedro Gallese.
Philadelphia upped its lead just moments later in the 51st, as Uhre took advantage of an errant touch from Orlando’s Rodrigo Schlegel and lasered it home to make it 3-1.
Baribo made it 4-1 in the 64th minute, deflecting a Francis Westfield pass into the net to widen the Union lead.
Orlando opened the scoring in the 8th minute. Martin Ojeda’s pass found Pasalic, who ventured into the box and fired it past Andre Blake for a 1-0 lead.
Pasalic later added a second goal to make it 4-2 in the 79th minute.
Wagner finished with a pair of assists for the Union. Eduard Atuesta — making his Orlando debut after five seasons with LAFC — was credited with an assist of his own.
Orlando finished with a wide advantage in overall shots, 23-10, including a 10-4 edge in shots on goal.
Blake, making his 300th career appearance for the Union, finished the night with six saves. Gallese recorded zero saves for Orlando in the loss.
–Field Level Media
