NEW YORK (Monday, June 5, 2023) – Philadelphia Union forward Julián Carranza was voted the Major League Soccer Player of the Matchday presented by Continental Tire for Matchday 17 of the 2023 MLS season.
Carranza scored two goals as part of the Union’s 3-0 victory over CF Montréal at Subaru Park on Saturday, June 3. The Argentine forward has now scored six goals in his last six games, including a brace in two of his past three starts. Since the start of the 2022 season, Carranza has scored 23 goals and provided 12 assists. His 35 goal contributions are the fifth most in the league during that span, behind only Hany Mukhtar (51), his teammate Dániel Gazdag (47), Luciano Acosta (39), and Lucas Zelarayán (36). In the past two seasons, Carranza has produced five games with multiple games, which is tied for the third most in MLS.
Philadelphia and Carranza opened the scoring in the 12th minute when he received a pass at the edge of the 18-yard box, evaded a defender, and then struck a spectacular curling effort into the bottom corner for a 1-0 advantage (Watch Here). After Mikael Uhre doubled Philadelphia’s advantage in the first half, Carranza wrapped up all three points in the 61st minute for the home side. He and midfielder Dániel Gazdag played a nifty one-two passing combination before Carranza’s strike deflected off two CF Montréal defenders and settled into the back of the net (Watch Here).
Carranza currently sits in a tie for third in the MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi race with nine goals, behind only LAFC’s Dénis Bouanga (10) and Nashville’s Hany Mukhtar (10). After his brace, Carranza (23) passed Alejandro Bedoya (22) and Ilsinho (22) for the seventh-most goals in club history, despite only playing in 46 games for the team. Additionally, his five multi-goal games are one behind Sébastien Le Toux (six) for the most in Union annals. Since the start of last season, Philadelphia has gone 18-1-7 at Subaru Park in the regular season with a plus-52 goal differential and a league-high 66 goals scored.
Carranza has now won two of the last three MLS Player of the Matchday presented by Continental Tire honors after also doing so on Matchday 15. This is the fourth Player of the Matchday honor for Carranza since the start of the 2022 season (Matchdays 19 and 26 of 2022), which is tied for the most in MLS over the span with Hany Mukhtar. Carranza also becomes the first player in club history to win the award four different times.
Philadelphia next travels to face the San Jose Earthquakes at PayPal Park for the first time since September 25, 2019, on Matchday 18 on Saturday, June 10 (10:30 p.m. ET, MLS Season Pass).
The MLS Player of the Matchday presented by Continental Tire is selected each matchday of the regular season through both media and fan voting in a process conducted by MLS Communications. A panel of journalists from the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) comprises 75 percent of the vote, while a Twitter fan vote represents the remaining 25 percent of voting. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio, and online media.
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