{"id":307026,"date":"2026-10-15T06:34:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T06:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/307026\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T06:34:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T06:34:07","slug":"cavan-sullivan-makes-mls-history-as-philadelphia-union-continue-unstoppable-form","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/307026\/","title":{"rendered":"Cavan Sullivan makes MLS history as Philadelphia Union continue unstoppable form"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Eastern Conference\u2019s hottest team notched their eighth straight victory on Wednesday night, this time coming from behind to dispatch\u00a0Chicago Fire FC<\/a>, 3-1<\/a>, at Soldier Field and extend their club-record unbeaten streak to 14 matches.<\/p>\n

Sullivan\u2019s second-half assist on the eventual game-winning goal marked his 21st goal contribution of the season (7g\/14a), now officially the most ever by a teenager in a single MLS season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like every week something else is popping up for him,\u201d said interim head coach Ryan Richter postgame.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so happy for him, and a big emphasis for him is to continue to be decisive in games, and when he’s chipping in with goals and assists, the way that he has over this last stretch, he’s making the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Meteoric rise continues<\/p>\n

There may be no bigger story in American soccer right now than Sullivan.<\/p>\n

The Union entered halftime down a goal but up a man after Chicago defender Jack Elliott<\/a> picked up a second yellow card. Union striker Milan Iloski<\/a> tied it in the 49th minute, and moments later, Sullivan teed up Bruno Damiani<\/a> to take the lead. The visitors never looked back.<\/p>\n

With the assist, Sullivan surpassed Diego Fag\u00fandez<\/a>\u2019s longstanding record for the most goal contributions in a season by a teenager; he\u2019s also level with Lionel Messi<\/a> and others with 14 assists, one behind league-leader Son Heung-Min<\/a> (LAFC<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\u201cHis work rate’s been great, his creativity’s been great, but now he’s been really decisive,\u201d Richter said. \u201cIt’s been for a long stretch now, so he deserves that, and we’re proud of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Never satisfied<\/p>\n

Even after the Union\u2019s eighth successive win and his 16th goal contribution in 10 games, Sullivan appeared unsatisfied. The 17-year-old homegrown star, who has turned heads for his MLS form and US men\u2019s national team<\/a> exploits, left the game wanting more, despite the positive result and record.<\/p>\n

\u201cI played sort of terrible tonight, so I\u2019m not really focused on any records or stats like that, to be honest,\u201d Sullivan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy with the win, but I\u2019ve sort of got to look in the mirror and watch some film and see what I have to do better. I\u2019m not really happy with my personal performance, but, like I said, great win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHis mentality is great,\u201d fellow Union and USMNT center back Neil Pierre<\/a> said. \u201cObviously, he thinks he can do better, but obviously we support him in any way possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sullivan\u2019s hunger is a main driving force behind the Union\u2019s remarkable turnaround in the second half of the season, which saw them climb from the bottom of the East in July to within touching distance of the conference’s top teams.<\/p>\n

With key tests against Charlotte<\/a>, New England<\/a>, and Nashville<\/a> still to come this month, the Union train is adding even more fuel to an engine that already seems borderline unstoppable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great run, something that we\u2019re proud of,\u201d Richter said. \u201cIt\u2019s something that the guys have earned because of the way that they work every single day, the way that they\u2019re focused, the way that they approach games, the dirty work that they\u2019re willing to commit to during the games.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Signature win?<\/p>\n

The win over Chicago is especially meaningful. Gregg Berhalter\u2019s team entered on a three-game winning streak, had comprehensively outplayed Philadelphia earlier in the season, and could still face them in the postseason.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also the first time this season that the Union have defeated a top-four team in the East, adding real substance to their rapidly strengthening MLS Cup presented by Audi credentials.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve always had the confidence,\u201d Pierre said. \u201cNow the other teams and everyone else can see that we\u2019re able to beat the top teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople doubt the Philadelphia Union,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cThey want to say that we\u2019re only beating bottom-of-the-table teams. But we were once at the bottom of the table. So we\u2019re just proving it week in and week out and hoping to keep this thing rolling.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Eastern Conference\u2019s hottest team notched their eighth straight victory on Wednesday night, this time coming from behind…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4095,125929,11896,69,71,70,10227,65417,10226],"class_list":["post-307026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-cavan-sullivan","tag-chivsphi-10-14-2026","tag-match-reaction","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-philadelphia-union","tag-priority-match","tag-sendtonews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307026","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=307026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}