Photo courtesy Philadelphia Union
Vignette one

Here is the link to watch the preseason scrimmage against the Tampa Bay Rowdies Saturday evening February 7th at 6:00 PM. Click here. Or find it on the UNion’s official website.

One 2026 Philadelphia Union roster question remains unanswered. It involves left back. Who is Kai Wagner’s replacement?

Aside from that question, the roster with which Bradley Carnell, his assistants, and the technical staff will assay the opening of the 2026 soccer season seems in place. Left back will probably be covered as it would have been had Wagner been suspended or temporarily injured, by Nathan Harriel judging by remarks from Carnell.

The Union are in a roster transition. One its goals is to get younger, so we list the expected squad with their ages. Our classifications of “Best XI”, “Primary reserves,” and “Deep reserves” are guesses. Readers should evaluate them against the evidence of the live-streamed preseason scrimmage against Tampa Bay Saturday evening. Our other categories are known. Players not yet officially announced but unofficially certain are in [brackets]. The uncertain midfielder is omitted.

Pos
Player
Fr, 6-Feb

Best XI

1
GK
Andre Blake
35.2

2
LB
Nathan Harriel
24.8

3
LCB
Olwethu Makhanya
21.8

4
RCB
Japhet Sery Larsen
25.8

5
RB
Frank Westfield
20.2

6
DM
Danley Jean Jacques
25.7

7
DM
Jovan Lukic
24.0

8
AM
Milan Iloski
26.5

9
AM
Indiana Vassilev
25.0

10
S
Bruno Damiani
23.8

11
S
Ezekiel Alladoh
20.4

Primary Reserves

12
S
[Agustin Anello]
23.8

13
AM
Cavan Sullivan
16.4

14
AM
Alejandro Bedoya
38.8

15
DM
Jesus Bueno
26.8

16
CB
Geiner Martinez
23.1

17
OB
Olivier Mbaizo
28.5

18
GK
Andrew Rick
20.0

Deep Reserves

19
S
Stas Korzeniowski
23.0

20
S
Sal Olivas
19.6

21
S
Eddy Davis
19.6

22
AM
CJ Olney
19.1

23
D/AM
Jeremy Rafanello
25.8

24
CB
Finn Sundstrom
19.2

25
LB/M
Ben Bender
24.9

26
RB/M
Gio Sequera
20.0

27
GK
George Marks
26.2

“Loan Aways”

28
S/AM
[Markus Anderson]
22.2

29
CB
Neil Pierre
18.3

Supplemental Roster Slot 31 – full year loan to Union II

31
CB
Kaiden Moore
18.7

Injury recovery and rehabilitation

32
AM
Quinn Sullivan
21.9

Vignette two

If as seems probable the Philadelphia Union’s top three strikers in 2026 will be Bruno Damiani, Ezekiel Alladoh, and Agustin Anello, and if the unofficial social media reports available from trustworthy sources are also correct, Philadelphia has spent nearly $10 million to acquire its top three strikers. At the times they were announced two of the transfer fees were said by the club to be club records.

2026’s probable top 3 strikers

Player
Date acquired
Reported fee

Ezekiel Alladoh
03-Dec-25
20y/o
$ 4,500 K

Bruno Damiani
18-Feb-25
22y/o
$ 3,400 K

Agustin Anello
T B A
23y/o
$ 2,000 K

Jonathan Tannenwald of the Philadelphia Inquirer says he has been told the Anello fee is closer to $ 2 million than $ 2.5 million claimed by some on the internet.

 Here are the top four non-homegrown attacking players of the previous group for comparison.

Their predecessors

Player
Date acquired
Reported fee

Julian Carranza
23-Dec-21
21y/o
$ …500 K

Mikael Uhre
27-Jan-22
27y/o
$ 2,800 K

Tai Baribo
2-Aug-23
25y/o
$ 1,500 K

Daniel Gazdag
11-May-21
25y/o
$ 1,800 K

The Union are spending more money to acquire attackers, not spectacularly more but noticeably so. The recent attackers seem younger.

Vignette Three

San Diego FC likes Philadelphia Union Academy players.

Two of them played as substitutes Tuesday evening February 3rd in the western conference side’s surprise 4-1 home leg trouncing of Pumas UNAM of Liga MX. It was MLS’s first participation in this year’s version of the Concacaf Champions Cup. Liga MX is in mid-season. MLS is just starting.

Left midfielder David Vazquez substituted in the 63rd minute and headed home San Diego’s go-ahead goal in the 76th. Anisse Saidi replaced Anders Dreyer at right wing in stoppage time.  Saidi’s appearance was a only cameo. But Vazquez’s turned out to be the match winner.