Nashville SC hand Union first loss of Bradley Carnell era: “You can hear a pin drop in the locker room, the players are really upset about the proceedings today”

A hot dog eating contest, controversial penalty calls, another Jovan Lukić banger, Dollar Dogs flying onto the pitch, and a late red card summarize just some of the scenes at Subaru Park on Sunday afternoon as Bradley Carnell’s Philadelphia Union ran into their first speed-bump of the 2025 season by way of B.J. Callaghan’s Nashville SC in a chaotic 3-1 loss, the team’s first of the campaign under Carnell.

“We lose momentum at certain moments in the game, and conceding before half-time was probably one of the killers” – Philadelphia Union Head Coach Bradley Carnell

Starting XI

‘If it’s not broke, don’t fix it’ was the thought process from Bradley Carnell coming into Sunday’s game against Nashville after his team started the 2025 season with a perfect 3-0 record. Ian Glavinovich missed out yet again as he makes his way back from a hamstring injury, with the only other change on the bench from last weekend being the inclusion of goalkeeper Oliver Semmle over Andrew Rick, who will likely start for Union II on Monday night.

Formation: 4-2-2-2

GK: A. Blake
RB: F. Westfield, CB: J. Glesnes, CB: O. Makhanya, LB: K. Wagner
CDM: D. Jean-Jacques, CDM: J. Lukić
CAM: D. Gazdag, CAM: Q. Sullivan
ST: T. Baribo, ST: M. Uhre

Surridge Gives Nashville Early Lead

After attempting to start the game on the front foot at home, a misjudged challenge by Jakob Glesnes on a 50-50 ball played over the top sent Nashville SC and Sam Surridge on the break, looking to open the scoring 15 minutes in with their first opportunity of the match.

Surridge, surging down the left side of the pitch and into the penalty box, cut to his right foot on a retreating Frankie Westfield, cut back to his right once more to evade Jakob Glesnes, and beat Andre Blake in the bottom corner of the net to give Nashville an early 1-0 road lead.

Lukić Levels Game with Volley

In the 33rd minute, Serbian midfielder Jovan Lukić pulled Union level with his 2nd banger in consecutive games. After a Kai Wagner corner was swung into the box and headed high into the air, Lukić planted himself under the ball, waited for it to come back to earth, and stuck it perfectly with his right foot, hitting the back of the net with Nashville keeper Joe Willis tangled up and out of his net.

“We lost the game; that’s the only important thing. I just want to win. If I can score of course and win, that’s amazing, but we lose the game, so the feeling is like I didn’t do nothing, so I can’t be that happy because we lose this game”. – Jovan Lukic

Qasem Quiets Subaru Park with Late 1st Half Goal

Back level and looking to take some momentum into the half-time break, another defensive mishap by a young Union backline sent Nashville on the break with a dangerous scoring opportunity. After Daniel Lovitz received the ball along the sidelines just inside Nashville’s own half, Frankie Westfield pinched up the field to put Lovitz under pressure, leaving space behind him for Jakob Glesnes to cover.

Lovitz played a ball over the top, which allowed a strong wind coming off the Delaware River to carry the ball behind Glesnes and into the path of Ahmed Qasem. Qasem, who had just missed the net on an opportunity about 10 minutes earlier, settled the ball with his first touch and struck it with his left on his 2nd touch to beat Andre Blake just inside the far post to give Nashville a 2-1 lead just before halftime.

“Not every game is going to be a cakewalk; not every game is going to be as easy as we’d like it. We have to dig deep and today we dug deep but we just lost momentum at certain times, we’re not going to say there’s one mistake on one position for one player, for us it’s a calumniation, we believe in the collective. This is the classic “we all go down together”. – Bradley Carnell on Union’s struggles against Nashville SC

Gazdag Opportunity to Equalize Saved by Willis

In the 58th minute, Union created an opportunity to draw the game level when Quinn Sullivan whipped a right-footed cross into the box. Mikael Uhre and Walker Zimmerman battled for the first touch, sending the ball through the middle of the box and straight to Daniel Gazdag, waiting alone at the back post.

Gazdag needed to settle the bouncing ball with his chest first, which afforded Joe Willis time to scramble across the net just before Gazdag got off a right-foot shot. Their attempt was kicked away by the left foot of Nashville’s goalkeeper, keeping Nashville on top with just over a half-hour to play.

A Pair of Controversial Penalty Calls

Two minutes after Joe Willis made a big save on Daniel Gazdag, Nashville’s defense was put to the test again when Kai Wagner sent a ball over the top and cross-field for Quinn Sullivan. Sullivan ran onto the ball, headed it into the box for himself to run onto, and attempted to cut the ball back to his left as he approached the end line.

Daniel Lovitz, who assisted Nashville’s 2nd goal, went in for a sliding tackle on Quinn Sullivan and clearly made contact with Union’s midfielder, causing him to go over and Nashville to come away with the ball.

The referee, Pierre-Luc Lauziere, was sent to the monitor to have a second look at his no-call on the field and eventually decided that no obvious error was made and no penalty would be called on Nashville, which Union fans were obviously not pleased with.

In the 77th minute, and with Union still looking to equalize, Pierre-Luc Lauziere was sent to the monitor once again to check a potential penalty on Jakob Glesnes, who had appeared to strike the back of Hany Mukhtar’s skull as he attempted to head a loose ball away from Andre Blake’s net.

Glesnes was late to the challenge and made contact with Mukhtar’s back, which was enough for Pierre-Luc Lauziere to grant Nashville a penalty. Frustrated by his decisions, some Union fans vented their displeasure with referee Pierre-Luc Lauziere by throwing Dollar Dogs onto the field as Mukhtar prepared for his attempt from the penalty spot.

Mukhtar’s PK Makes it 3-1

With Dollar Dogs flying onto the pitch and Union staff members running around the field to clean them up, Nashville’s Hany Mukhtar calmly stepped up to the penalty spot, took a deep breath, and beat Andre Blake with a cheeky panenka to give Nashville a late 3-1 lead on the road.

Though they had already thrown most of their available hot dogs after the VAR review, an angered River End made sure to hurl boos and explosives at Hany Mukhtar and the rest of the Nashville squad that celebrated in front of the supporters’ section after their 3-point clinching goal.

“It wasn’t good enough from me on all 3 goals, and I should never make the PK there either, so I have to take learning from that and just raise my head again because it’s a new day tomorrow and a new game on Saturday. So we have to work now into the next game against St Louis.” – Jakob Glesnes on his performance against Nashville SC

Sullivan misses consolation PK

With a minute left in stoppage time and probably too little too late, Union received an opportunity to get one back after Chris Donovan was taken out inside the penalty area. Quinn Sullivan immediately grabbed the ball and stood over the PK spot, and after a short decision with his team mates, stepped up to take the shot.

Joe Willis guessed right on Sullivan’s attempt and kept the ball out with a diving stop but left the ball on the doorstep for one of Union’s attacking players to clean up and put away. Bruno Damiani got to the ball first, stabbed it towards the net, but put it directly into the gut of a recovering Joe Willis, who made another good save to keep the game 3-1.

The decision for Sullivan to take the penalty with Bruno Damiani, Union’s record signing, also on the pitch was an interesting one for me, especially with Tai Baribo set to miss Union’s match next weekend due to international duty. A goal for Damiani late in the game may have gone a long way in getting him confident ahead of his hopeful first start next Saturday.

Makhanya’s Mental Lapse Leads to Red Card

After the double save by Joe Willis on Quinn Sullivan and Bruno Damiani, Jacob Shaffelburg and Olwethu Makhanya got tangled up along the sideline, battling for a ball going out of play. As Makhanya tumbled to the ground as a result of contact from behind from Shaffelburg, he picked up the ball, aimed it at the Nashville player, and threw the ball directly at his head while lying on his back.

It was an easy decision for Pierre-Luc Lauziere to show a red card to Makhanya, who will now miss next weekend’s match against St Louis, with Union set to already miss 6 first-team players due to international duty.

“It’s not just Tai that will be out, or Olwethu that will be out; we will miss a lot of guys for the International team, but it’s then another player getting a chance to show that they should start, and that’s what we’re fighting for every day, everyone wants to play. So now a couple of guys will get the chance to show they should be starters”. – Jakob Glesnes on Union being shorthanded against St Louis next weekend