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.”
This is the story of how a Captain America shield, complete with 150 lb force magnet, became the Supporters' Shield.
— Andrew Wiebe (@andrew_wiebe) November 9, 2020
I'm told the true, forged by the supporters Shield didn't arrive from LA in time, so the @PhilaUnion got creative. pic.twitter.com/nld62pyGzi
Unexpected Title
While the regular season title doesn’t hold much significance compared to its counterparts around the world, with the primary honor remaining MLS Cup, the Union weren’t expected to be anywhere near either in 2025.
After parting ways with longtime head coach Jim Curtin, expectations surrounding Philadelphia were minimal. Even under a coach like Carnell, who had found success with St. Louis CITY SC before parting ways after a dismal 2024 record, few had the Union as contenders.
Instead of falling behind other higher-spending teams in the Eastern Conference, like 2024 Shield winners, Inter Miami, Philadelphia got off to a stellar start, with striker Tai Baribo scoring six goals in his first four matches before lofting his total to 16, and others stepping up across the roster.
“We are not the superstars,” Carnell added. “I am not the super coach, we don’t care, we like it this way, we fly under the radar.”
THE SHIELD IS OURS 💙#DOOP pic.twitter.com/agXd9bGQec
— Philadelphia Union (@PhilaUnion) October 5, 2025
As injuries hit the team, most notably to goalkeeper Andre Blake and winger Quinn Sullivan, others stepped up to fill the void. Young goalkeeper Andrew Rick played 14 games in place of Blake, and the team found solutions by adding striker Milan Iloski and others in the effort to continue building in a year that looked promising.
“There are so many moments through the season that you reflect on it and be like ‘that’s awesome,’” Carnell said. “We set [our goal] at 50 points, and when we got there, the staff and I walked off the field with the biggest smile on our faces, but the players, they were not satisfied, and they’re hungry. This is what we’ve seen from the guys all the way through the season.”
“I always expect because I have high standards, these players have high standards, this is a winning team. It just needed to be refounded, a little bit of the foundations filed off and polished. But these guys emptied the tank, these guys are winners, I am so glad they won today.”
Eyes to MLS Cup
66 points later, consider your questions answered 🛡️#DOOP pic.twitter.com/NzolBm8O1c
— Philadelphia Union (@PhilaUnion) October 5, 2025
With their second piece of MLS silverware locked up, the Union will play one relatively meaningless match on Oct. 18 vs. Charlotte FC to close out the regular season before taking on the MLS Cup Playoffs.
However, it’s in that final stage where they will look to avoid recent history and become just the ninth team in the 30-year history of MLS to win the Supporters’ Shield and follow it up with an MLS Cup title.
And for Philadelphia, capturing MLS Cup would be another landmark moment for the club, which has reached just one final but has never had the chance to hoist the premier honor of American soccer.
“It’s always special to hold some silverware, but I just want to say we are not done yet and that’s just the start,” said MLS All-Star fullback Kai Wagner. “There’s the start of the playoffs. Next week we have one more game, but today is all about celebration.”
The 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs kick off with the Wild Card round on Oct. 22, and the Union will enter the first round, a best-of-three series against the Eastern Conference Wild Card winner on Oct. 24, with hopes of hoisting the MLS Cup at home on Dec. 6.
READ THE LATEST MLS NEWS, TRANSFER RUMORS AND GOSSIP
This article was originally published on www.si.com as No Captain America Needed: Philadelphia Union Dream Big After Lifting ‘Real’ Supporters’ Shield.
