Before the Club World Cup’s fireworks, the Union offered some of their own in a dramatic win

After Jesús Bueno's blast opened the scoring, Markus Anderson scored the last-second winner in his first MLS game in nearly a year. Cavan Sullivan set it up in an influential late-game cameo.

Jesús Bueno celebrates his goal late in the first half.Read morePhiladelphia Union

by Jonathan Tannenwald

Published June 15, 2025, 11:24 a.m. ET

There was an unusual sight around Subaru Park on Saturday. It might not have looked like much, but if you saw it, you knew it was symbolic.

The two practice fields closest to the stadium had extra fences around them, and black wrapping on those fences. The only further decorations were banners with regal-looking lions.

They come from the logo of English Premier League club Chelsea, which has set up its Club World Cup base camp in Chester. After a trip to Atlanta to play Los Angeles FC on Monday (3 p.m., TBS, UniMás, DAZN), the Blues will play Brazil’s Flamengo and Tunisia’s Espérance at Lincoln Financial Field.

It isn’t their first time in Chester. Longtime Union fans remember that Chelsea visited the then-PPL Park in 2012 to face an MLS All-Star team that included David Beckham, Thierry Henry, and Landon Donovan.

The team’s first trip to the Linc was well before that, in 2004 to face Italy’s AC Milan. Their most recent appearance was in 2023, drawing a sellout crowd as part of a six-team Premier League tour.

Now the circus is in town again, and it officially opened on Sunday. In the morning, Chelsea held its first training open to the media, then headed to the airport. In the evening, the spotlight was to shift to the Linc, with Flamengo and Espérance going through their paces before Monday’s game (9 p.m., DAZN).

Unfortunately, visitors won’t get to see the local team play in person. The Union’s dramatic 2-1 win over Charlotte FC on Saturday was their last home game until July 9, five days after the Linc’s club finale.

Only a small group of staff from Chelsea showed up to Saturday’s game. But they were rewarded with a night of nice goals, drama, and the Union claiming the league’s best record (11-3-4, 37 points).

Carnell wins a late-game gamble

Jesús Bueno scored a terrific opening goal in first-half stoppage time, and the defense held until Wilfried Zaha — who knows Chelsea well from his many years in England — equalized in the 78th minute.

With Mikael Uhre and Tai Baribo injured — and Baribo stuck in Israel because of the escalation of war there — the Union were short of attacking options. Bradley Carnell’s first three substitutes at that end were Chris Donovan, Jeremy Rafanello, and Markus Anderson, who made his first appearance for the first team in almost exactly a year.

At the start of five minutes of stoppage time, Cavan Sullivan stood with the other remaining bench players along the end line, a pensive hand on his chin. He thought he could make an impact.

“My dad always tells me to analyze the game, visualize what you’re going to do if you get the chance to go in, and I was doing just that,” he said, noting in particular how much space there was on the right wing.

Did Carnell agree, or would he be cautious with the 15-year-old in a game that had seen six yellow cards? He decided to go for it, and Sullivan entered with three minutes on the clock.

There ended up being eight minutes of stoppage time, thanks to a stoppage for a potential head injury to Charlotte’s Tyger Smalls. That gave Sullivan more room to be influential, and he was. He jumped right into that same right-wing spot he’d been watching, and completed all three passes he made.

“It’s tough on Cavan sometimes, because he puts himself under pressure to play,” Carnell said. “Sometimes it’s not always the right moment, but I’m glad with the contribution that he did tonight.”

The Union made one last big push, leading to Frankie Westfield’s header across the box. Sullivan had cut to the middle to draw defenders, and Anderson was at the far side of the box. Sullivan let the ball bounce under him, and Anderson struck home the winner.

“I sort of saw Markus in the corner of my eye — well, I didn’t know who it was at the time, but I saw a blue jersey,” Sullivan said. “So I pulled my foot back and prayed for the best. Not, like, a Hail Mary, but you know. I’m so glad he was there, and so was the team.”

There wasn’t time for formalities, and there wasn’t going to be. As Subaru Park erupted with noise, referee Ricardo Montero blew the final whistle right after he resumed play.

Sullivan sprinted toward the River End to celebrate, then Carnell led his players on a lap around the field to thank the fans for their support.

‘Bonding like a great family’

“I think it’s pretty emotional for my staff, for me personally,” Carnell said. “The first three games when we were here at Subaru Park, 82 minutes in and the fans are leaving despite us [having] winning results. I was told it’s the Philly culture, right? It’s just the way it is.”

This time, the crowd stayed in it, from three straight corners in the late 80s through all the stoppage time.

“To see all the fans staying tonight was massive,” Carnell said. “To see them rallying late on in the game gives me goosebumps.”

They were rewarded, and so were the players — none more so than Anderson. It had been five days short of a year since his last first-team game, when he made a game-losing turnover at Cincinnati.

“Words can’t describe the feelings I’m feeling,” he said, crediting Carnell for helping keep his mentality strong. “To score this goal just brings a lot of confidence on my back, and just makes me want to keep going forward.”

Spirits were high across the team, as they should be. The Union’s unbeaten streak is now 12 games, 13 if you count last weekend’s unofficial friendly against Mexico’s Atlas.

“We’re bonding like a great family, and it’s showing in our results,” Bueno said in his native Spanish, after he sadly exited the game in the 57th with a hamstring tweak.

“There’s momentum, there’s belief, there’s energy, there’s cohesion, there’s commitment to each other as teammates,” Carnell said.

There’s a good team, too, and the fans who stuck it out know. Even in good times, the Union are used to being overshadowed by other Philadelphia teams. For the next few weeks, they might be overshadowed by the other soccer teams in town.

But the world’s game knows about Sullivan, and coincidentally, the team he’ll play for in a few years is one of the visitors. When England’s Manchester City faces Morocco’s Wydad on Wednesday, he’ll be in the stands.

That will add to the show at the Linc, which runs through July 4. And if the Union keep playing this well, the show at Subaru Park will be worth sticking around for afterward.