Union extend unbeaten streak to 13 games with a 1-0 win over the Chicago Fire

The Philadelphia Union beat the Chicago Fire 1-0 on Wednesday night, extending their unbeaten streak to thirteen games.

Thirteen straight unbeaten. First place in MLS. Eight clean sheets. And a starting XI featuring a 38-year-old right back and guys you’d expect to see in the Lehigh Valley, not Soldier Field.

Bruno Damiani buried a penalty in the 10th minute, and that was all Philly needed. Seven blocked shots and a last-ditch goal line clearance in stoppage time secured the win.

Bruno Damiani buries a penalty in the 10th minute, Union win

Bruno buries it from the spot 🎯

📺 Tune in on #MLSSeasonPass: https://t.co/AnZz3SYagM#DOOP | 🐍 1-0 🚒 pic.twitter.com/zNtt6jMAqs

— Philadelphia Union (@PhilaUnion) June 26, 2025

The Philadelphia Union are the best team in the MLS and what makes that even more insane is the fact that the MLS Players Association dropped the 2025 salary data the same day, showing that the Union are 29th out of 30 teams in guaranteed compensation.

Only CF Montréal spends less.

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Poor But Proud: Union 2025 Payroll

Rank	Team	Guaranteed Compensation
1	Inter Miami	$46.8M
29	Philadelphia Union	$13.3M
30	CF Montréal	$11.9M

That’s a $33.5 million gap between Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami and your first-place Philadelphia Union. Let that sink in. Bradley Carnell is cooking five-star meals with canned beans, and it’s working.

No Stars? No Problem.

Wednesday’s win came without Andre Blake, Tai Baribo, Mikael Uhre, Nate Harriel, Olivier Mbaizo, Quinn Sullivan, Danley Jean Jacques, or Frankie Westfield — all out due to international duty or injury. Yet the Union still rolled into Chicago and walked out with three points.

Chris Donovan started up top. Jeremy Rafanello played in the middle. Andrew Rick, the 19-year-old keeper, made his third straight start. And 38-year-old Alejandro Bedoya started at right back in the year 2025.

This is the makeup of the Union. They are tough, relentless, and extremely well coached.

The Big Picture: It’s Working… But Is It Enough?

Look, it’s easy to be romantic about the Union’s approach. Infrastructure, academy, development — all that stuff. And it does work. Just look at the results:

• First in MLS with 40 points (12-3-4)
• 2.11 points per game, best in the league
• Eight clean sheets in 19 matches
• 13 straight unbeaten (11 in league play, 2 in the Open Cup)

But how long can you thread the needle?

They’re not just competing with Miami and Toronto, they’re beating them. But Miami’s payroll is nearly four times larger. That’s not just a talent gap, that’s a budgetary canyon.

The Union have built something incredible. Now imagine what this could look like with even middle-of-the-pack spending. Say, 20th in MLS instead of 29th. That’s not reckless. That’s strategic. That’s giving your academy-built core the reinforcements they need to finish the job.

The Union are thriving in the face of budgetary adversity. They are everything Philly fans love — blue collar, underdog, overachieving but let’s not pretend they wouldn’t benefit from a little more gas in the tank.

You’ve proven you can win without spending big. Now prove you can win it all by spending just enough. Raise the floor, and this team could raise a trophy.

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