NEW YORK (Monday, August 22, 2022) – Philadelphia Union forward Julián Carranza was voted the Major League Soccer Player of the Week presented by Continental Tire for the 26th week of the 2022 MLS season.
Carranza scored his second hat trick of the season against D.C. United and added an assist in Philadelphia’s 6-0 victory on Saturday, August 20. Carranza became the second player in MLS history to score two hat tricks against the same team in a single season, joining Cobi Jones for the LA Galaxy in 1998 who did so against the Colorado Rapids. He is the first player in club history to score multiple hat tricks and the only player in the league with two this season. Carranza joins the San Jose Earthquakes’ Cristian Espinoza and FC Dallas’ Jesús Ferreira as the only players in 2022 with at least three goals and one assist in a single game. He is also the only player in Union history to produce at least three goals and one assist in a match.
With the game tied in the 37th minute, Carranza played a perfect cross over the head of a D.C. defender to Mikael Uhre, who found space in the box and fired a strike into the bottom corner to give the Union a 1-0 lead (Watch Here). After Philadelphia went up 2-0, Carranza added his first goal of the match in the 47th minute when he curled in a sensational left-footed effort from just outside the 18-yard box (Watch Here). The forward extended the advantage to 4-0 in the 70th minute after Cory Burke’s strike off the post fell to him, which he smashed through the legs of the D.C. goalkeeper and into the net (Watch Here). Carranza completed his hat trick in the 74th minute after he intercepted a misplaced pass, dribbled past the goalkeeper and passed the ball into the goal (Watch Here).
Carranza has already set career highs in goals (12) and assists this season (seven), which rank second and third on the team, respectively. In his past five games, the forward has contributed five goals and three assists for the club at the top of the Eastern Conference. Carranza’s hat trick also resulted in the Union producing two players with at least 10 goals (Dániel Gazdag, 13) in the same season for the first time since Cory Burke and Fafà Picault in 2018. The duo’s 25 combined goals this season are tied with Austin FC’s Sebastián Driussi (18) and Maximiliano Urruti (seven) for the most by a pair of teammates in 2022.
Carranza is the first player to win MLS Player of the Week presented by Continental Tire twice in 2022, after he won the award in Week 19. He joins Sebastien Le Toux in 2010 (Weeks 3 and 16) as the only Philadelphia players to earn multiple MLS Player of the Week presented by Continental Tire honors in the same season. Additionally, Carranza has tied Le Toux and Ilsinho for the most Player of the Week honors in club history with two.
Philadelphia will look to stretch their home unbeaten run to 19 games when they host the Colorado Rapids at Subaru Park on Saturday, August 27 (7:30 p.m. ET, MLS LIVE on ESPN+).
The MLS Player of the Week presented by Continental Tire is selected each week 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.
