Sunday afternoon saw another matchday of the 2025 MLS Next Pro season come to Subaru Park, as Union II played hosts to Toronto FC II. Union II entered the game looking to extend their current unbeaten streak to six games, while the visitors were looking to extend their unbeaten streak to five games and gain more ground on Ryan Richter’s side.

Union II scored 5 to stay unbeaten in 6 games
Many of Union II’s big names were back and available for Ryan Richter, as the past month had left the Union II head coach with a few selection headaches due to international games. CJ Olney and David Vazquez started in midfield, with Markus Anderson and Eddy Davis linking up again to lead the line.
From the opening quarter of the game, it was pretty obvious how this game would play out as Philly started brightly and grew with confidence as the minutes passed. It wasn’t long after the 25th minute had passed that Union II found their first goal, as Markus Anderson picked the ball up in midfield, drove at the Toronto backline, and then fired into the corner from just outside the box, a finish of high quality for his 2nd goal of the season.
While Philadelphia had their chances in the remaining 15 minutes of the first half, and Toronto tried to grow into the game more and dictate play, the game was still 1-0 to the home team when the half-time whistle went. The second half started, and this was when Union II completely took over.

Just after the 60th minute, Union II doubled their lead when a cross was deflected off a Toronto defender and into their goalkeeper’s legs, with the ball then landing at the feet of CJ Olney, who finished calmly to grab his 2nd goal of the season and Philly’s second goal of the game. A few minutes later and Ryan Richter decided to make his first change of the game, bringing Markus Anderson off and replacing him with Sal Olivas.
David Vazquez was the next Union II player to get his name on the scoresheet as he stepped over a free kick from just outside the box, 77 minutes into the game, and fired it around the wall and into the corner on the goalkeeper’s side. Ryan Richter followed the goal with two more changes of his own, with Griffin and Malik Jakupovic coming on for Eddy Davis and Isaiah LeFlore. Coach Richter would make his 4th change of the game just before the 90th minute with Benitez replacing Neil Pierre at the back.
The game looked set to close up at 3-0 to Philly, but 14 minutes were added on as stoppage time, and it was here where young striker Malik Jakupovic would carry on his incredibly successful start to his Union II career since signing from the Union Academy, as he bagged twice.

Malik’s first of his brace came from a counter-attack, where fellow substitute Sal Olivas was played through on goal. Olivas opted not to take a shot himself but instead simply passed the ball across the box to Jakupovic, who finished easily into the bottom corner to make it 4-0.
Jakupovic would grab his 2nd goal to complete his first-ever professional brace and Philadelphia’s 5-0 win over Toronto right before the end of the game. Sal Olivas played Jakupovic through again, after a defensive turnover turned into another counterattack, and the young marksman fired a beautiful shot from just outside the box, into the far bottom corner to complete Union II’s dominating 5-0 win over Toronto.
The win takes Philly to six games unbeaten and jumps them into second place in the Eastern Conference standings, just three points behind leaders NYRB II. The New York team has played two more games than Union II. Next up for Ryan Richter’s side is another home tie, this one a huge game against third-place Chattanooga FC.

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Featured Image Credit: Philadelphia Union II