Cavan Sullivan came back into the Philadelphia Union lineup on Decision Day and immediately changed what the Union's November will look like. The 17-year-old scored in the 28th and 58th minutes, older brother Quinn added a penalty and, per the Associated Press, two assists, and Philadelphia beat Toronto FC 4-1 at Subaru Park on Saturday to lock up an automatic place in a best-of-three Round One series instead of a one-off wild-card game.
The brothers also became the third pair of siblings in MLS history to score for the same club in the same game, the AP noted, following Gonzalo and Federico Higuaín at Inter Miami and Diego and Yimmi Chara at Portland. That line will get the headlines. The bigger story for Philadelphia is the game they no longer have to play.
The wild-card game the Union could not afford
Before kickoff, a loss could have dropped Philadelphia into the wild-card round, and that game would have landed right on top of the end of the international window. Hooligan Soccer's Decision Day preview listed who the Union would have been missing: goalkeeper Andre Blake with Jamaica, backup goalkeeper Andrew Rick and right back Frankie Westfield with the U.S. under-23s, striker Bruno Damiani with Uruguay after his first call-up, homegrown forward Malik Jakupović at the U-17 World Cup, and Danley Jean Jacques with Haiti.
Then there are the two names U.S. fans care about most. Cavan Sullivan and center back Neil Pierre are both on Mauricio Pochettino's 25-man roster for the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals against Haiti, on Nov. 14 at Nu Stadium in Miami and Nov. 17 at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati. Jean Jacques, their Union teammate, is on the other side of that tie.
In other words, a wild-card game would have asked the Union to play the most important match of their season with a backup goalkeeper, a reshuffled back line and no Sullivan. Saturday's win took that scenario off the table.
Why Sullivan's return mattered so much
The Union did not walk into this one in form. Philadelphia had gone four matches without a win, and had scored just one goal in their previous three, after a 15-game MLS unbeaten run lifted them from the bottom of the table into playoff position. That slide lined up with Sullivan's absence: he picked up an ankle knock about three weeks ago, missed two games, and only managed a cameo off the bench against FC Cincinnati last weekend.
With him back in the starting XI, the Union looked like the team from the summer again. FotMob's Opta numbers had Philadelphia at 3.53 expected goals to Toronto's 0.55, with 19 shots to six and 31 touches in the opposition box to seven, despite having only 43% of the ball. Sullivan opened the scoring off an Indiana Vassilev assist, Quinn converted from the spot in the 41st minute, and the brothers combined for the third goal, Quinn setting up Cavan just before the hour.
Toronto did briefly make it uncomfortable. Josh Sargent, another U.S. international, pulled one back seven minutes into first-half stoppage time from a Djordje Mihailović assist. Damiani's 73rd-minute penalty ended any doubt. Blake made way for Rick at halftime.
What this means for the USMNT camp
Sullivan heads to camp with real momemtum, not as a teenager coming off an injury layoff. He entered Saturday with seven goals and 14 assists this season, according to Hooligan Soccer, and showed his ankle could handle a full workload, lasting until the 87th minute before Jakupović replaced him. He has three caps and one goal for the U.S. so far, per U.S. Soccer's roster release, and this camp will be the first time he shares a squad with Christian Pulisic.
For Philadelphia, the math is simple now. The Union get a best-of-three series instead of a single elimination game, and they get to play it with their internationals back from duty. Two goals from a 17-year-old didn't just win a Decision Day game; they kept the Union from opening the playoffs with half a lineup away on international duty.
