Philadelphia Union and Kai Wagner Agree To Long Term Deal

After the Union went out in the second round of the playoffs this year, they were in semi-limbo. It was a massive step back after multiple years of dominance in the Eastern Conference. And to top it off, they were expected to lose significant talent this offseason. But in some surprising Union news, Kai Wagner is returning to the Union with a long term deal.

The expectation after the season's ended was that Kai Wagner was done in Philadelphia. His contract was up, and most believed he would be leaving. If not to a team over in Europe, then to another team in the MLS. But it turns out they will be holding onto their star Left Back for a bit longer. Wagner scored just 1 goal for them last season. But he has consistently been among their leaders in assists since he joined the team, with 29 in the last 3 seasons. He led them in 2021 and 2022, and was 2nd in 2023 with 7. He has also been one of their key defenders. Wagner finished top 5 in tackles all 3 of those seasons, and his 39 tackles last season led the whole team. In 2022 he won Defender of Year, and he was an All-Star in both 2021 and 2022.

How they would replace Kai Wagner was the biggest question mark hanging over their head heading into this offseason. And now this is one less thing they need to worry about. There is still work to do. Clearly the team they had was not good enough. Especially considering how they went 5-8-4 on the road, and finished as the 4th seed in the Eastern conference. Outside the confines of Subaru Park they were not a very good soccer club. But they are at least holding onto one of their best players, and their best defender.

Tuesday night, Philadelphia had a brush with soccer greatness. Lionel Messi became the best soccer player to step onto the pitch at Subaru Park since Sebastien Le Toux (real Union fans respect the legend). A packed crowd of Union fans, unfortunately, had to see him and Inter Miami tear our team apart in the Semi-Finals of the Leagues Cup. That part sucked. But still, getting to see one of the Goats of the sport up close, even later in his career, was a treat.

In the same way, we don't mind too much getting to see Barry Bonds deposit a Jon Lieber pitch into the 3rd deck of Citizen's Bank Park, you have to appreciate the greatness of Lionel Messi. Even while his team rips our team apart by a final score of 4-1.

Messi got involved in the scoring. With Miami already up 1-0 in the 19th minute, Messi got a little bit of open space. And that little bit was too much to give the Goat. He snuck a ball past Andre Blake on the ground, to put his team up 2-0 early.

Jordi Alba made it 3-0 in stoppage time just before half-time. In the second half, Alejandro Bedoya would get the Union on the board in the 73rd minute. But David Ruiz got that goal back for Miami 10 minutes later.

The Union did not cover themselves in glory. Andre Blake had a rare bad game. They looked like they were playing scared from the start, and showing way too much respect for Messi. And it all showed on the field. That much is clear from the results. But embarrassing loss aside, we did still get to see Messi's greatness in person.