By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
Chester, Pa. — The Philadelphia Union has advanced to the Leagues Cup Semifinals. This is the second consecutive year that they’ve advanced this far.
The Union defeated Liga MX team Mazatlán FC 1-1 on Saturday night in Subaru Park. The Philadelphia-based team won 4-3 in penalty kicks.
Union goalkeeper Andre Blake made two key saves in the penalty kick shootout. This allowed the Union to get the win.
The team’s heart and soul player José Martinez will be sold off to Corinthians in Brazil in the coming days. This was his final game with the team.
He came on the pitch late and made a huge penalty kick to put the Union up 1-0. Jesús Bueno made the fifth penalty shot to get the win.
This was the first meeting between the two teams, according to the Union. It was a surprise that Mazatlán FC made it this far into the Round of 8.
In the 2024-25 Liga MX standings, Mazatlán FC has the second-worst record. They have a 0-1-3 record in four games.
They knocked out Cruz Azul to advance to the game with the Union. Cruz Azul has the second-best record in Liga MX with a 3-1-0 record.
With the win, the Union will play in the semifinals on Wednesday night. They will travel to Lower.com Field to play the Columbus Crew.
According to the Leagues Cup, the game will be played at 7:30 pm EST.
The Union will be without their best striker Tai Baribo for the game. He received a second yellow card, which turned into a red card.
Union head coach Jim Curtin said it’s going to be tough to appeal the ejection. Baribo received his first yellow card in the 40th minute.
He was initially given a straight red card by referee Selvin Brown. However, after going to VAR, he waived off the straight red card.
But after giving Baribo a second yellow card at 45 + 1 as he hit the Mexican player in the throat, the talented striker was ejected.
Shortly after Baribo’s ejection, Mikael Uhre scored. He shot over a Mazatlán FC defender and goalkeeper to put the goal in the net when he scored at 45 + 3.
In the second half, Alonso Escoboza put the Mexican team on the scoreboard. He scored in the 59th minute.
After no additional scores, the game then went into the aforementioned penalty kicks.
There were seven yellow cards in the game. Outside of Baribo’s two yellow cards, Jakob Glesnes also picked up a yellow card in the 58th minute.
Mazatlán FC has four yellow cards. Bryan Colula, Yoel Bárcenas, Brian Rubio, and Facundo Almada had the yellow cards.
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