Philadelphia Union head coach Bradley Carnell wanted one thing for his team on Saturday night—a chance to hold the real Supporters’ Shield.
Needing a win to clinch the 2025 honor, awarded to the best regular season team in Major League Soccer, the Union went out and defeated New York City FC 1–0 with a goal from Mikael Uhre in front of the home fans at Subaru Park.
The victory secured the club its second-ever Shield, but marked the first time they were able to hoist the authentic trophy, despite winning the title in the COVID-19-impacted 2020 MLS campaign.
That season, with a close Supporters’ Shield race with Toronto FC, and mail delays from 2019 Shield winners, LAFC, the Union had to find a solution for the potential winning photo. That’s when they turned to the web manager’s fiancée’s sister’s boyfriend, who owned a full Captain America costume, including a shield, which was wrapped in vinyl for the trophy presentation.
This time, though, they got the real thing.
“[I wanted] to get the players to hold the real Shield, [rather than] in 2020 the makeshift shield. Before our meeting, [I said] ‘I want you to hold the real one,’” Carnell told reporters after the match. “This means something….I’m the bus driver, but the guys need to tell me where they need to go, and that’s the journey that we’ve gone, and we’ve decided to go this way, and we try to find ways to reward them.”
