Philly Leader

Philadelphia Union striker Tai Baribo has been named the top scorer of the Leagues Cup after concluding play with seven goals. At the beginning of the summer, Baribo had not yet scored for the Boys in Blue. Now, he stands as the tournament's scoring leader among 47 teams from Major League Soccer and Liga MX.

The Union finished in fourth place, experiencing significant changes in personnel before their Leagues Cup campaign. This included Andre Blake’s recovery from injury and multiple starters returning from national team duties. The team's recent form can be partly attributed to Baribo's impressive performance on the field.

The 26-year-old Israeli forward scored his first two goals for the Union on June 19th against FC Cincinnati. Since then, he has accumulated a total of 13 goals in 13 games, including four braces, a hat trick, and two single-goal games.

Baribo's seven Leagues Cup goals placed him ahead of LAFC’s Denis Bouanga and Columbus Crew’s Diego Rossi, who each finished with six goals.

“It means a lot to me because as a striker you want to be at the top of the scoring, you know? All the time, we want to be at the top. But we lost, and it's all about the team and winning,” Baribo said.

Despite his recent success, Baribo emphasized that his hard work will continue following Sunday’s Third-Place Match against Colorado Rapids. Philadelphia Union's Major League Soccer play resumes on Wednesday night against Columbus Crew, where Baribo aims to maintain his form and help his team climb up the standings during the final stretch of regular season matches.

“I need to continue to work hard, to continue to fight for my place on the starting 11. It's not easy. We have a lot of good players. Sam [Adeniran], Mikael [Uhre], Quinn [Sullivan]. But as a team, we need to keep our heads up after we lost today and get ready to face Columbus,” Baribo stated.

“We’ve had tough situations this season. But again, it's our job to win. This is our job as soccer players. We have some tough moments, but we need to keep our heads up; we have to work hard; and again, we need to win every game in our building. Of course, Columbus is a very good team. Everybody knows this, but we are in our building and we need the points.”

With nine regular season matches remaining, Philadelphia Union’s push toward playoff contention continues on Wednesday night against both defending MLS Cup Champions and newly crowned Leagues Cup Champions.

___