The Philadelphia Union open their 2023 MLS season at Subaru Park against the Columbus Crew.
Coming off of a record-breaking 2022 campaign that saw them come within seconds of their first-ever championship, Philadelphia will look to go one step further this season after a heartbreaking loss to LAFC in the final.
Columbus missed the playoffs on the last day of the season and re-tooled for 2023, most notably bringing in Wilfried Nancy as their new manager from Montreal.
Team news
The Union acquired several key players via a trade to bolster a squad that was already the favorites for this season.
Joaquin Torres was acquired from Montreal, Damion Lowe came over from Miami and midfielder Andres Perea arrived from Orlando City.
Paxten Aaronson departed for German side Eintracht Frankfurt, Cory Burke left on a free transfer for the New York Red Bulls and goalkeeper Matt Freese was traded to NYCFC.
Veteran forward Christian Ramirez returned to MLS after a stint with Aberdeen in Scotland. He previously played for Houston in 2021.
Jimmy Medranda, a versatile player on the left side, is playing for his fourth MLS team having last played for Seattle and will be Columbus' starting left wingback.
Columbus traded club captain and longtime defensive standout Jonathan Mensah to San Jose. The Ghanaian center back won MLS Cup 2020 with the club and made 159 appearances after signing in 2017.
Artur was traded to Houston while Pedro Santos left for DC United and Derrick Etienne Jr. signed with Atlanta as a free agent.
Predicted lineups
Philadelphia Union: Blake; Wagner, Glesnes, Elliott, Mbaizo; Gazdag, Bedoya, Flach, Martinez; Carranza, Uhre
Columbus Crew: Room; Medranda, Williams, Degenek, Moreira; Molino, Zelarayán, Nagbe, Morris, Yeboah; Hernández
Players to watch
Andre Blake (Philadelphia Union)
In truth, this could have gone to both Blake and Daniel Gazdag, but since I can only pick one, the Philadelphia goalkeeper gets the nod for his record-breaking season.
Allowing just 26 goals, a record-low for a 34-game season, the Jamaican international made a remarkable 117 saves across the regular season and playoffs while keeping a club-record 15 clean sheets.
Darlington Nagbe (Columbus Crew)
The midfielder was outstanding for Columbus last season, the only player to appear in all 34 games and finished fourth in MLS with 3,039 minutes logged.
An outstanding passer, Nagbe finished in the top ten for accurate passes with 1,609 and a 92.7 percent accurate pass percentage.
Previous meetings
The two meetings between Philadelphia and Columbus produced just one goal combined with the Union winning 1-0 in the first meeting and the second ending in a goalless draw.
An own goal by Crew goalkeeper Eloy Room just two minutes into the April 9 meeting gave Philadelphia all three points.
How to watch
With MLS signing a new rights deal with Apple TV +, local broadcasts will no longer exist as that platform will stream all matches for free.
Kickoff is set for 7:30pm ET.