Tim Jones

The first portion of the Philadelphia Union’s 2025 preseason is occurring in Marbella, Spain, the geographic center of what English tourists and permanently residing expatriates call the Costa del Sol. That narrow coastal strip’s climate is subtropical, according to Wikipedia’s article on Andalusia. The city is on the coast 50 miles east-northeast of Gibraltar by road, and 37 miles west-southwest of Malaga. Supposedly it is close to 27 beaches.

Now that Bradley Carnell is on the ground working with his squad, it is time for us to do what the technical staff writ large has assuredly already done and figure out the depth pieces that will be called on in case of injury, illness, or — the more predictable one — international call-ups.

Since some may not have found Sunday morning’s Czech livestream of the friendly between Slavia Prague and the Philadelphia Union for themselves, we add these observations to supplement Alex Hayden’s excellent match report from Sunday. (Click here.) We also reference the club’s offering which features the five different lineups that saw the pitch. (Click here.)

Buried deep in the recesses of the Union’s official website is a horizontal chart that describes how the current Union has been built over time. It begins in 2014, and shows under which chief soccer officer (CSO) the players were acquired. (Click here.)

Here’s this week’s latest Sour Grapes, enjoy!

After 90 minutes the score was AGF of Denmark’s SuperLiga 2, the Philadelphia Union of MLS 1. Ater 60 minutes the score had been Philadelphia 1, AGF 0, thanks to Kai Wagner redirecting a poor corner kick clearance to Quinn Sullivan who scored in the 24 th minute.

A 2025 subject PSP has not yet discussed is the Lamar Hunt U. S. Open Cup and MLS’s – and the Philadelphia Union’s — participation in it. MLS’s participation excludes its three Canadian members, so we will discuss the 27 United States-based teams, not the three Canadian ones with their own separate national tournament leading into Concacaf.

On Tuesday afternoon, January 28, the other shoes dropped about the rest of the Philadelphia Union’s 2025 schedule. We refer to its participation or non-participation in the various cup competitions that run concurrently with Major League Soccer’s regular season. Those concurrent 2025 events are:

On January 27, Philadelphia Union II published its 2025 regular season MLS NEXT Pro game schedule. Union II is considered the defending Eastern Conference champions, even though the vast majority of the starters have moved up to the first team, with several being on the flight back from Spain as we type.

First, they will not be bringing in any additional plug-and-play veterans during this transfer window. Ian Glavinovich has already replaced Jack Elliott, and with the FIFA registration ban now lifted, his paperwork should be processed without any issues, making him ready to play. No further outsiders will be introduced.