As the adage in soccer goes: If you’re good enough, you’re old enough.
The time finally arrived to unleash Philadelphia Union wunderkind Cavan Sullivan, who made a historic first MLS start at Nashville SC on Saturday evening.
At 15 years and 280 days old, Sullivan became the second-youngest player in MLS history to start a match, staying intertwined with Freddy Adu (14 years, 334 days).
Sullivan played the first 60 minutes before exiting for Ben Bender with the match scoreless. The homegrown midfielder completed three of his five passes before a late Hany Mukhtar penalty conversion gave Nashville a 1-0 win in stoppage time.
“We tried to roll Cavan out in a little bit more of a wingback position with the ball,” Union head coach Bradley Carnell said postgame. “And I think he got one or two looks in the first half where in a transition, we could start creating something.
“Cavan’s a natural counterpresser of the ball, so he’s busy. These experiences are good for him.”
Sullivan broke one of Adu's accomplishments with his first groundbreaking piece of league history just under a year ago as the youngest-ever debutant at 14 years and 293 days old.
Upward trajectory
Taking on a thriving Nashville SC now carrying a 14-game unbeaten run across all competitions, Sullivan’s first start came in one of the toughest environments in the league at GEODIS Park.
Sullivan also experienced another MLS rite of passage, taking his first yellow card just after halftime.
“On the other side, just calm everybody down,” Carnell continued. “Because yeah, there’s a lot of hype around Cavan, and at times he gets muscled off the ball, which is totally natural. So he’s not quite where he needs to be from a physical standpoint, but he’s a very talented kid, and I think this was a good indicator of where Cavan is."
The narrow loss dropped Philadelphia from first to third in the Eastern Conference and Supporters' Shield standings, but only two points off new leader FC Cincinnati. Sullivan's next milestone could be getting on the scoresheet for the first time in MLS.
“We just need to now progress him and make sure we’re not putting him in any way under pressure," Carnell said. "Cavan’s performing right where he needs to be."
Could that first goal contribution come soon? Philadelphia are set for back-to-back faceoffs with rivals New York Red Bulls in the US Open Cup quarterfinals on Wednesday, and again in league play on July 12 (7:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass).
