Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Union<\/p>\n
Who: Philadelphia Union (#5 seed) vs Necaxa (#22 seed)
What: 2026 Leagues Cup, Matchday 2
Where: Subaru Park
When: Sunday, August 9th, 7:30 PM
Watch: Apple TV, FS1, UniM\u00e1s
Whistle: TBA<\/p>\n
The Philadelphia Union continue their 2026 Leagues Cup campaign against Liga MX club Necaxa in a Sunday Night clash at Subaru Park. After a frustrating loss against Cruz Azul in Matchday 1, the Union need a win to give themselves any chance of advancing out of group play. Meanwhile, Los Rayos are in a similar position, after dropping a result against Chicago on Thursday, setting up a contest where both sides will be playing hard for a win.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scouting report: Necaxa (W-W-L-L)<\/p>\n
Club Necaxa are coached by Mart\u00edn Varini. The Uruguayan was appointed on December 8th 2025 at the relatively young age of 35. He led Los Electricistas to a 15th placed finish in his debut season at the helm. 7-3-11 record. Led Necaxa to a 15th placed finish in the 2026 Clausura. However, Necaxa have enjoyed a decent start in this year\u2019s Apertura, winning 2 of their first 3 games, before the Leagues Cup break. Varini will miss tonight\u2019s match through suspension, after receiving a red card for abusive language in the game against Chicago.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Under Varini, Necaxa employ a dynamic system that utilizes a 3 or 5 man backline, with an emphasis on building up from the back. They prefer to use the width of the pitch through either wingbacks or wide midfielders which allows Los Rayos to overload the wings, creating positional advantages to break through opposition lines.<\/p>\n
Necaxa have struggled in the Leagues Cup, only managing 2 wins in 9 games all-time at the competition. Their best finish saw them reach the round of 32 in the 2024 edition, where they suffered a 0-5 loss against the San Jose Earthquakes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Philadelphia supporters will be well aware that former Designated Player and fan favorite Juli\u00e1n Carranza is set to make his return to Subaru Park. The Argentinian was a prolific goal-scorer with the Union, and still holds 3rd overall in club record books (43 goals). Carranza continues to boast a good strike rate with Los Rayos \u2013 despite missing most of last season with a serious injury \u2013 and sits at 6 goals over 9 games.<\/p>\n
Other players to keep an eye on include fellow Argentinian attacker Javier Ruiz, former Seattle Sounders Homegrown Player -and current US Youth International- Danny Leyva at defensive midfield. Club captain Alexis Pe\u00f1a typically provides a stable presence at center back, and should return to the lineup after failing to appear in Thursday\u2019s loss against Chicago.<\/p>\n
Also of note, Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria is part of an investor group that acquired a 50% ownership stake in the club. She helped spearhead a Welcome to Wrexham inspired docuseries on FX called \u201cNecaxa\u201d, which provides a behind the scenes look at the day-to-day life at the club.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Injury report: QUESTIONABLE: Kevin Rosero (Undisclosed).\u00a0
\nSuspended: Mart\u00edn Varini (manager)<\/p>\n
Scouting report: Philadelphia Union (L-W-W-W-L)<\/p>\n
Thursday\u2019s defeat to Cruz Azul may have ended the Union\u2019s perfect start to Ryan Richer\u2019s tenure, but the Boys in Blue have a favorable chance to bounce back against Necaxa. Philly lacks a truly clinical finisher, and instead prefers to find their goals on the counter-attack. This has been a problem since the departure of Juli\u00e1n Carranza in 2024, and was exacerbated by Daniel Gazdag\u2019s trade last season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While the Union\u2019s press-and-counter system clearly has an upside, as it led them to just the second major trophy in club history with the 2025 Supporter\u2019s Shield, this team is not built to break down a low-block. Apart from Milan Iloski, the new striking core has failed to impress, which has caused a lot of the struggles this team has had in 2026, and even down the stretch in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Case in point is Thursday\u2019s game. Despite dominating the second half against Cruz Azul, Philadelphia was unable to overcome their slow start. Philly were doomed once La M\u00e1quina decided to bunker, and failed to convert on a multiple of great opportunities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But there is reason for hope. Necaxa prefers an attacking oriented style of play, and has proven vulnerable to conceding late goals. They are also ill-discplined, racking up fouls and even led the league in red cards last season with 7.These factors are a good sign for a Union team that is designed to score first, and keep the pressure on their opponents.<\/p>\n
Injury report: OUT: N\/a
\nSuspended: N\/a<\/p>\n
Key matchup<\/p>\n
Juli\u00e1n Carranza vs. Union CBs<\/p>\n
The man that Union fans once called King returns to his old stomping grounds. A true goal-scoring threat, Carranza will provide a good test for the Union center backs. The potential clash between him and Nathan Harriel would make for an exciting story-line in the game.<\/p>\n
Player to Watch: Indiana Vassilev<\/p>\n
This is not a sexy pick, but it is a sensible one. The Union were a step slow in their press on Thursday. Vassilev\u2019s presence in the lineup should stabilize their play off-ball, and help the team exert control over the game from minute one. In a match against a team that likes to attack from out wide, the ground he covers will be a key asset.<\/p>\n
Prediction: Philadelphia Union 3 \u2013 1 Necaxa<\/p>\n
The Union bounce back, and are able to find success on the counter attack against an over-eager Necaxa. Carranza scores but it won\u2019t be enough to stop Philly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Union Who: Philadelphia Union (#5 seed) vs Necaxa (#22 seed)What: 2026 Leagues Cup,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70],"class_list":["post-262263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}