Bradley Carnell believes he has instilled a winning mentality into Philadelphia Union ahead of his first MLS match in charge against Orlando City.
The Union missed out on the playoffs last season, despite scoring 62 goals (the most by any team to miss out on the postseason) as they finished 12th in the Eastern Conference with 37 points.
Jim Curtin parted ways with the club in November, with Carnell, who was dismissed by St. Louis City SC last July, replacing him at the start of this year.
"We play to win games," Carnell said. "We want to play with a certain energy, and we want to play to win whether we're playing at home or away from home.
"So, we're going to try to utilize every advantage the opponent gives us. [Pre-season has] been a good pre-cursor for us, and we feel pretty well-versed about who we're going to face.
"We're focusing on ourselves because we've had a ton of work to do to make sure we're ready for what we want to instil and implement."
It's (almost) time. #DOOP pic.twitter.com/FdSYhX8nzJ
— Philadelphia Union (@PhilaUnion) February 19, 2025
Orlando, meanwhile, are hoping to emulate last season's success as they finished fourth in the East before going on to reach the Conference Final, which they lost to the New York Red Bulls.
They have overseen big chances in the offseason, most notably the departure of last season's top-scorer Facundo Torres, but they have also welcomed new additions, including Mario Pasalic, who is determined to hit the ground running.
"It's the mentality that you have to put in the hard work. Everyone in Germany is like this," Pasalic told the club's website.
"It's hard work, every day. Concentration, discipline. I'm hard-working. I know that nobody is going to give you a gift, you know? It's up to you. You have to work hard to get success."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Orlando City – Duncan McGuire
With Torres moving on from Orlando, there is a gap to be filled, and Duncan McGuire will be hoping to slot into it, should he play, having had shoulder surgery in the offseason.
He netted 10 goals in MLS last season, just four fewer than Torres, with his last goal coming against Philadelphia in October.
Working for the weekend pic.twitter.com/EH6JPB2DhS
— Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) February 20, 2025
Philadelphia Union – Bruno Damiani
Bruno Damiani could make his debut for the Union on Saturday and will look to make a similar impact to the one he made on his first appearance for Nacional, netting in a 4-0 win in 2023.
Last season, he tallied 12 goals and five assists while on loan at Boston River, finishing the season as the league's second-highest scorer.
MATCH PREDICTION: ORLANDO CITY WIN
Orlando City have won three of their last four regular-season matches against the Union (D1) after winning only four of their first 16 league meetings with Philadelphia (D5 L7).
Orlando have never lost their season-opening match (W3 D7), with all 10 previous season-openers being played at home. Orlando have not conceded in their first match of a season since 2019, keeping clean sheets in their last five curtain raisers.
The Union, meanwhile, won just nine matches in the 2024 regular season, the first time in club history they failed to win at least 10 times in a 34-match season. Philadelphia's 15 losses last season were their most since losing 17 games in the 2015 campaign.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Orlando City – 48.8%
Draw – 25.7%
Philadelphia Union – 25.5%