Bradley Carnell cannot wait for his home debut as Philadelphia Union head coach and is determined for his team to put on a show against FC Cincinnati at Subaru Park.

Carnell, who replaced Jim Curtin in the offseason, oversaw an impressive 4-2 road win over Orlando City on matchday one of the MLS season.

They went 1-0 down in Florida before a Tai Barido brace and strikes from Daniel Gazdag and Mikael Uhre put them on course for an eye-catching victory over one of last season's standout teams. 

Former St. Louis City boss Carnell now wants his team to replicate that performance in front of their own fans, against another team expected to compete at the top of the Eastern Conference.

"Playing here, I'm excited. As an opponent coming here for many years, I always hated the 'Doop' song, now I can't wait for it," Carnell said.

"We're excited for the fans coming out, we feel that we want to show them our signature – how we want to play and how we want to entertain.

"We feel our obligation is to entertain and to reward the fans for their efforts, coming out to support us. We just want to maintain that momentum now."

Pat Noonan's Cincinnati side, meanwhile, opened their MLS campaign with a hard-fought 1-0 win at home to the New York Red Bulls.

A cagey 1-1 draw with Motagua then sealed their place in the last 16 of the CONCACAF Champions Cup on Wednesday, and goalkeeper Evan Louro feels there is a positive energy around their squad this year.

"I think this group is really special. It feels a little different, and I'm excited for that feeling," Louro said. "It's just the vibe around the group.

"I think everybody's on the same page and we have a really good group of players, and a lot of good humans in that locker room, and I think that's super important."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Philadelphia Union – Daniel Gazdag

Gazdag and Uhre both scored in the Union's season-opening win last week, the 16th time the pair have both scored in an MLS match.

The only other pair of players to do so that many times in MLS history is Gazdag and Julian Carranza.

FC Cincinnati – Kevin Denkey 

Denkey scored on his MLS debut last Saturday, netting the lone goal in Cincinnati's season-opening win over the Red Bulls. 

He is the sixth Cincinnati player to score on his MLS debut for the club, tied with the Columbus Crew for the most players to do so since the Orange and Blue joined MLS in 2019.

MATCH PREDICTION – PHILADELPHIA UNION WIN

Cincinnati tied an MLS record with 11 road wins last season, the last of which came at Subaru Park in October. 

The Orange and Blue totalled 35 points on the road in 2024 (W11 D2 L4), tied for the third-most ever collected in an MLS regular season.

That aforementioned win over Philadelphia last October was Cincinnati's first ever road victory against the Union, who had previously recorded four wins and two draws at home to Cincinnati.

The Union impressed last week and should provide a sterner test this time around – they could win two straight matches to open a season for just the second time in club history, having done so in 2011.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Philadelphia Union – 46.7%

FC Cincinnati – 26.9%

Draw – 26.4%