Philadelphia Union’s Concacaf Champions Cup campaign resumes on the riverfront as the team is set to host leg one of the Round of 16 against Liga MX standouts Club America on Tuesday night at Subaru Park.
Tickets for the match can be purchased online here.
What Happened In Round One?
Head Coach Bradley Carnell and his team enjoyed a hot start to the tournament with a pair of dominant wins against Trinidad and Tobago’s Defence Force F.C side for a 12-0 overall aggregate.
23 players saw meaningful minutes, nine of whom found the back of the net, including Cavan Sullivan, who scored his first pair of Union goals in the second leg of the series.
Tuesday’s opponent brings a new challenge -- Club America are seven time champions of the tournament, tied with only Cruz Azul for the most titles, and there’s a significant fan contingent expected to visit Chester for the occasion.
“We want to go up against a really good team, and we are. We always want to challenge ourselves against the best, and we know what stature club America brings to the table,” Carnell said in his prematch press conference on Monday morning.
“I think you can see with the away fans, in terms of the crowd and what have you. So it's an amazing opportunity for us to showcase what we've been working on, what we've been doing, and we felt we've been very competitive in all the games we've played.”
The visitors, under the leadership of André Jardin, opened Concacaf Champions Cup play with a 2-1 win against Olimpia, then battled the Honduaran side to a scoreless draw in secure their ticket into the Round of 16.
The top flight Mexican league’s format features two championships a year – the Clasura and Aperatura, with 18 teams each playing 17 matches. Clasura is 10 matches in, and Club America sits near the middle of the pack in 8th after finishing third in Apertura, where they saw just three losses in their first 17 matches.
Philadelphia are just three matches into their respective regular season, and still pushing to claim their first MLS points of the year. A new face for Philly could see his first match minutes on Tuesday – newly signed left back Phillipe Ndinga is officially with the group and will be available for selection per Head Coach Bradley Carnell during his press conference on Monday morning. With Ndinga's addition and the team nearing full health, Carnell could have one of his strongest groups to choose from when crafting his starting XI.
What is Concacaf Champions Cup?
Concacaf Champion’s Cup is an continental tournament between 27 qualifying clubs from North America, Central American, and the Carribean. The Philadelphia Union are one of nine Major League Soccer teams competing in this year’s edition – they earned a spot when they lifted the 2025 Supporters’ Shield after securing the best regular season record in all of Major League Soccer.
2026 marks the fourth time Philadelphia Union have competed in the tournament, but it’s the first time they’ve done so with 2025 Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year Bradley Carnell.
Their most recent Concacaf Champions Cup campaign was in 2024 – they fell in the quarterfinals against Liga MX’s CF Pachuca after routing Costa Rican side Deportiva Saprissa 3-2 on aggregate. In both 2021 and 2023, they advanced to the semifinals.
