Game time has been hard to come by for Olivier Mbaizo, but he has a chance to show why he deserves more

Oliver Mbaizo has only played 12 out of the Union’s 22 league games due to the fine form of Nathan Harriel.

(Credit: Philadelphia Union)

Chester, PA — After ending a five game losing streak last weekend against New York Red Bulls in a 0-0 draw, the Union head to Toronto (7-13-3, 24 pts) to face a team in just as bad of form as them.

Toronto are currently on a six game losing streak in MLS, and seven game losing streak overall, with their most recent game coming in the Canadian Championship where they lost 2-1 to Forge FC on Wednesday. Though, it’s worth noting that Toronto rotated their team Wednesday night against Forge, changing a total of five players from the team that faced Columbus Crew in last Saturday’s 4-0 defeat. Toronto in their last 12 (1-9-2) MLS games have only picked up one win, which is exactly as many wins as the Union in their last 12 (1-7-4). In those 12 games Toronto has been outscored 29-16, but have only been shutout four times.

Union’s road form

The good thing for the Union is they’ve been decent on the road this season, with a record of 3-3-5, while Toronto has struggled at home in their last six game, going 1-5-0.

The good news for the Union is Toronto has struggled at home in their last six games (1-5-0), while we’ve seen the Union be decent on the road (3-3-5), they’ve scored plenty of goals (23 goals, tied for most in the league), but they’ve been conceding way too many goals at the same time. Looking at their last three road games, they’ve given up four goals in each game against Cincinnati, Montréal, and Chicago. And what’s maybe even more concerning is in those three games, the Union have given up six goals in the 80th minute or later which is really unacceptable for a team that prides themselves on defense.

“Put up three goals quite a bit, two goals, which is usually enough to take points on the road, but just haven't been solid enough defensively,” said Jim Curtin at his Thursday press conference.

“And you've heard me say that now for a lot of games. So I don't know what it is, what's causing the goals to go in on the road and maybe a tenseness in front of goal at home, but it's something we have to fight through. And when we do get leads on the road, it is hard to close games out because teams throw a lot of numbers forward, but we have to be a little bit more strong and stable, bend, but don't break.”

Toronto has show they can be a good team at home, winning four out of their first five matches at home, but they’ve struggled in their last six (1-5-0). You can even argue that it’s really been the last three home games for Toronto that they’ve struggled as the goals have dried up for them, only scoring three times. In their previous eight home games, they averaged 2.2 goals per game, and now that’s down to 1 goal per game in the last three. If the Union can continue to score on the road, and clean up the defensive mistakes late in the game, the Union have an excellent chance to build off that Red Bulls result and come away with three points against a struggling Toronto team.

“And look, this game against Toronto is a big one for both teams,” said Jim Curtin.

“We're both struggling, both not where we want to be. I think both have more quality within their group than the point total shows. But I've said it before, you are what your record says you are. And we have to find a way to get a result and it starts with continuing to score goals on the road, but then being sound defensively to close a game out.”

With Nathan Harriel away at the Olympics, big opportunity for Olivier Mbaizo to step up

With Nathan Harriel away with team USA at the Olympics, that leaves a big whole for the Union at fullback, with only Olivier Mbaizo and Kai Wagner available. Game time has been hard to come by for Mbaizo this season only appearing in 15 out of 26 games (eight of those starts) for 729 minutes. In the Union’s last 34 games in all competitions, Mbaizo has appeared in 20 games, making 13 starts for a total of 1168 minutes played. In Harriel’s case, he’s appeared in 25 out of 26 games (23 starts) this season for 2044 minutes, and in the Union’s last 34 games in all competitions, he’s appeared in 33 games, making 30 starts for a total of 2768 minutes played. With losing Harriel, you obviously lose your starting right back, but you also lose his versatility to fill in as a centerback and you also lose cover for Kai Wagner at left back.

“Olivier [Mbaizo] will come in and give us some good performances,” said Jim Curtin.

“I know that he's been waiting to do so and I think he'll step up in a big way. Kai has been kind of an Ironman at left back through the years. If there is an emergency, or an injury, then you have a situation where, we've discussed things, whether you're up a goal, whether you're down a goal, some different things that we could do in their absence. You could play with wing backs, guys like [Alejandro] Bedoya and Quinn Sullivan could jump out there on the right in an emergency. The left gets a little tricky, but you know, we'll have to be creative and find solutions when there's no perfect one on paper.”

Jim Curtin also mentioned later on in his press conference that Leon Flach could also fill in as a left back if they really needed him to. But the point is, losing Harriel makes things a little bit more uncomfortable, losing such a staple in the backline.

We’ve seen countless little mistakes from Mbaizo over the years, most notably against NYCFC in the Eastern Conference Final in 2021 (the Covid game) and MLS Cup Final against LAFC in 2022. Jim Curtin has been on record multiple times saying that Mbaizo has too many 3/10, 4/10 performances and he lacks the consistency needed to be a top fullback. In the picture below (courtesy of fbref), you can see how Mbaizo ranks in multiple different categories against other MLS fullbacks in the last year, and yeah, his defense numbers aren’t great. For as good as Mbaizo is going forward, it’s always his defensive play that lets him down, which is part of the reason why he lost his starting spot last year to Nathan Harriel.

With Harriel away at the Olympics, this is a golden opportunity for Mbaizo to show Jim Curtin and this coaching staff why he’s deserving of more minutes once Harriel returns. As of now, Mbaizo is set to start the next four games.

Injury updates

Mikael Uhre (Adductor) and Jesús Bueno (Ankle) both returned to training this past week, and both will be available against Toronto. José Martínez (International Duty) hadn’t returned to training as of Thursday when Jim Curtin spoke during his press conference, but he was “hopeful” Martínez could make the trip to Toronto and at least be available off the bench. Alejandro Bedoya (Quad), after playing 11 minutes against New York Red Bulls last Saturday will play a “bigger role” against Toronto. And finally, Andre Blake (Knee) trained on Thursday with the team, but they still needed to assess where he was at health wise to determine if he’d start or not.

Series History (MLS Play ONLY)

The Union currently trail in the series with a record of 11-13-8, and have a record of 3-9-4 at BMO Field. When these two teams met almost two months ago at Subaru Park, they played to a 0-0 draw. Oliver Semmle started in goal that game for the Union, making three saves, with his best one coming in the 27th minute against Derrick Etienne who was about 7-yards away from net unmarked after a Federico Bernardeschi cut back pass. Speaking of Bernardeschi, he hit the crossbar in the 42nd minute that should’ve put Toronto up 1-0. The Union’s best chance came in the 51st minute off a Alejandro Bedoya header attempted that was saved by Toronto goalkeeper Sean Johnson.

There are four current Union players with goals against Toronto: Dániel Gazdag, Mikael Uhre (4), Alejandro Bedoya (2) and Jakob Glesnes (1). For Toronto, they also have four current players with goals against the Union: Jonathan Osorio (4), Lorenzo Insigne (2), DeAndre Kerr and Richie Laryea (1).

Player availability Report:

Philadelphia Union
Andre Blake - Knee (Questionable)
Isaiah LeFlore - Knee (Out) Nathan Harriel - Olympics (Out)
Jack McGlynn - Olympics Out)

Toronto FC
Alonso Coello - Thigh (Out)
Brandon Servania - Knee (Out)
Tyrese Spicer- Back(Out)

Where to watch

MLS Season Pass on Apple TV with kickoff set for 7:30pm est, July 13th

**NOTE - The Union’s game is FREE on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV

Video credit: Philadelphia Union/MLS/Fox Sports