Philly Leader

Daniel Gazdag and Tai Baribo combined in the first half for the game's only goal as Philadelphia Union began its Leagues Cup journey with a 1-0 win over Charlotte FC.

The Union forward maintained his impeccable run of form with his seventh goal in the last eight contests. Baribo's lone score of the contest came on the counterattack as Daniel Gazdag chased down a ball near the endline and cut it centrally to set up the finish.

On the other end of the pitch, Philly's defense with Andre Blake in net extended their shutout streak to two straight as they limited Charlotte FC without a single shot on frame over the course of 90 minutes.

Head Coach Jim Curtin welcomed a new face to his starting lineup for the team’s first Leagues Cup match, adding Samuel Adeniran to the mix. The newly acquired forward played 29 minutes in the team’s most recent win against Nashville SC, but his appearance in the lineup marked his first start in the Union’s blue and gold. Curtin started Tai Baribo and Daniel Gazdag alongside him, while Alejandro Bedoya, Quinn Sullivan, and José Martinez featured in midfield. The backline consisted of Kai Wagner, Jack Elliott, Jakob Glesnes, and Olivier Mbaizo.

Charlotte FC had previously secured points against the Union in its first two meetings under Dean Smith, drawing at home and then defeating Curtin’s squad 2-0 at Subaru Park. However, Saturday’s matchup was their first encounter this season against Blake and a nearly full-strength Union. Missing from Philly’s group were Leon Flach plus Nate Harriel and Jack McGlynn, who recently performed impressively with the United States’ Men's Olympic Team against New Zealand in Paris.

Support from Subaru Park grew loud when Philadelphia earned a corner in the third minute. Unfavorably for them, however, it was Charlotte who created momentum off Wagner’s service by finding a breakaway that led to an unsuccessful cross through the box.

Philly earned another corner chance in the 12th minute when a Baribo drive toward the net was halted by a tackle out of touch. Elliott connected with Wagner's cross into the box but missed just shy of the left post. Baribo found another header chance off a Wagner free kick in the 16th minute but missed high.

Glesnes tried a long-range shot following crowd encouragement but sent it into the stands. Just past half an hour into play, Philadelphia claimed their first lead of their Leagues Cup campaign with Baribo scoring assisted by Gazdag from near touchline. This marked Baribo’s seventh goal since signing with Philadelphia Union last August.

Adeniran almost extended Philadelphia's lead to 2-0 before halftime but missed just shy of right post.

Philadelphia entered halftime holding their first lead against Charlotte FC this season. However, Charlotte began second half aggressively with Patrick Agyemang driving down left flank but failed due to strong defensive recovery from Elliott.

Adeniran continued pursuing his first Union goal early second half but Kahlina saved it comfortably; Iuri Tavares drew foul earning free kick which didn’t yield much result before needing medical attention leading double substitution introducing Tyger Smalls & Karol Swiderski boosting visitor attack intensity resulting yellow card commotion around Jose Martinez requiring stretcher assistance though opting walking back joining play again quickly missing another header opportunity shortly after return involving Mikael Uhre replacing Adeniran bringing fresh attacking legs creating potential solo run attempt denied narrowly alongside continuing testing defensive resilience preventing further significant threats despite late substitutions maintaining composed regulation ending securing advancement primed position ahead concluding Group Stage hosting Cruz Azul next weekend at Subaru Park televised FS1 UniMas Apple TV kickoff scheduled Sunday August 4th 8PM coverage available free online 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