From last place to the playoffs: How the Philadelphia Union pulled off MLS's most stunning turnaround

Sitting in last place with just seven points at the World Cup break, Philadelphia racked up an MLS-best 40 points over 17 matches behind tactical adjustments and a youth movement led by Cavan Sullivan

Oct 29, 2026 at 2:10 pm ET • 5 min read

At the end of the World Cup, the Philadelphia Union were at the bottom of the Eastern Conference and all of Major League Soccer with only seven points, moving on from Supporters' Shield-winning head coach Bradley Carnell and turning to 36-year-old Ryan Richter to save the season. Given Richter's path as someone who oversaw the Union's MLS Next Pro side before becoming an assistant under Jim Curtin with the first team, it seemed like a moment where the Union would be in the process of preparing for next season and seeing what they did next.

But with the return of a familiar face in Kai Wagner, a meeting at Two Persons Coffee in South Philadelphia between captain Alejandro Bedoya and Richter, and one of the most impressive runs that we've seen of youth talent in league history, the Union were able to clinch a place in the MLS Cup playoffs, and they did it in impressive fashion, too, by playing Nashville SC to a scoreless draw away from home without 17-year-old phenom Cavan Sullivan being available for the match. It caps off a turnaround that has seen the Union pick up 40 points since the World Cup, winning 12 matches, drawing four, and only losing two. Those 40 points outpace the second-best team in the time range, which is Nashville SC, by five.

Sullivan has been one of the spark plugs of this improvement with seven goals and 11 assists, with most of that coming after the World Cup break, but with 38 of the Union's 59 league goals absent for that game as Bruno Damiani and Milan Iloski missed out on the match, it truly showed the mentality that the squad has.

Plenty preach about "next-man-up" mentality, but matches like this one show why no one should want to face the Union in the playoffs. If the season ended today, they'd face Inter Miami in a three-game series, which would be sure to bring fireworks after the scuffle that their last meeting created, but there's still more work to do with two games remaining, as the Union could slide down to the eight-versus-nine play-in game if they lose their final two games of the regular season.

Ditch the press for zonal play

Under Carnell, the Union were a traditional high-press team that tried to force their opponents into mistakes. While it worked with only MLS games to play, adding in the Concacaf Champions Cup saw the team unable to keep up that intensity, especially without Wagner at left back and with Neil Pierre on loan in Denmark instead of being with the squad. While Richter did benefit from both of these players being in the mix, he has also dialed things back to more of a zonal press, allowing the midfield to have time to rest in between plays so that they can keep the same intensity at minute 90 as they have entering the game.

Pierre and Nathan Harriel on the back line have assisted greatly with that, being mobile centerbacks in their own right. Richter knows the impact of having a 6-foot-7 defender like Pierre, who is also comfortable when being on an island, and it's clear how he helps the attack function.

"We can be super aggressive because Neil is comfortable in one-on-one situations. If it's a direct ball, he wins; he eats all of these. If it's open space that he has to defend, physically, he can deal with that, and he's also a good defender," Richter said. "The way he puts out so many fires allows us to be aggressive higher up the field, because we know when they play the ball long that we have someone who cleans this up almost every time."

Putting that in front of three-time MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Andre Blake, it's easy to see why the Union's defense has improved from the first half of the season, but the attack is where major strides have been made.

The Sullivan effect

You'd have to be living under a rock to have not heard the name Cavan Sullivan by now, and for good reason, as the 17-year-old has been taking MLS by storm and helping push the Union attack forward with his creativity. Since the World Cup break, Sullivan is second only to Evander in assists with nine and has pitched in goals alongside that. He may not be the biggest or fastest player on the pitch, but the quick bursts that he has into space have been tormenting defenses.

Alongside Pierre and Frankie Westfield, he was able to earn his first national team cap under Mauricio Pochettino and also didn't look out of place there either, but when speaking to him and people around the team, the shift in mentality is clear. Sullivan asked to do extra training during the World Cup break instead of taking the time off, and has come back a more complete player. Already set to join Manchester City when he turns 18 next year, the path for future development is clear (assuming City are in the Premier League), but this is one of the best American soccer prospects ever developed. Being able to play alongside his older brother Quinn also helps with this transition, but Cavan has grown into a player of his own, and while this season has been a coming-out party for him in many ways, the playoffs are going to be a moment that can thrust him into the stratosphere as he looks to lead his hometown club to the first MLS Cup title in their history.

Forwards making it happen

Which American has the most goals in Major League Soccer? Usually, the answer to that question is Brian White, but this season, it also resides in Philadelphia in Milan Iloski, a longtime journeyman, he has found a home in Philadelphia and has scored 19 goals with seven assists, which is third in the league. After moving Tai Baribo to D.C. United, there were valid questions of where the Union's goals would come from, and Iloski has delivered and shown that there isn't a finish that he doesn't have in his locker, and he's not overperforming, either, with an xG of 18.77.

Alongside him, Bruno Damiani has stepped up with 12 goals, and the Uruguayan could be key to any serious playoff run that the team has. If teams crowd Sullivan and Iloski, other people on the team need to be able to make them pay, and Damiani is chief among them. The hope was that new signing Ezekiel Alladoh would be able to take on that mantle, but with one goal and one assist in 26 appearances, he may find minutes hard to come by in the playoffs unless there's an injury. While it's unlikely that they'd upset the likes of Nashville and Miami to win the MLS Cup, the mantra of "Why not us" has always carried Philadelphia and looking at these numbers, you can't say that they don't have a chance. Given that, it is also only a matter of time until the interim tag is removed from Richter's coaching title, but that's an offseason issue to deal with; right now, there are more soccer games to win.