NEW YORK (Monday, April 24, 2023) – Philadelphia Union forward Mikael Uhre was voted the Major League Soccer Player of the Matchday presented by Continental Tire for Matchday 9 of the 2023 MLS season.
Uhre recorded his first career MLS hat trick during the club’s 4-2 victory over Toronto FC on Saturday, April 22 (Watch Highlights From His Performance Here). Through nine games, Uhre leads the Union with five goals and trails only Seattle’s Jordan Morris (eight), LAFC’s Dénis Bouanga (seven), and San Jose’s Cristian Espinoza (six) in the MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi race. Uhre’s hat trick was the fifth by a Union player since the start of the 2022 season, which is two more than the next closest MLS club (FC Cincinnati) over that period. Philadelphia has also scored at least four goals in a match 10 different times since July of 2022, with no other team doing so more than three times.
After Philadelphia took the lead via a Toronto own goal in the 16th minute, Uhre doubled the advantage, scoring his first goal of the match in the 20th minute. Union forward Julián Carranza found Alejandro Bedoya in the box, whose scuffed shot fell to Uhre, and the Danish forward struck his volley off a Toronto defender and into the side netting (Watch Here). In the 43rd minute, Dániel Gazdag evaded two Toronto players and then played Uhre in behind the defense, who took one touch and calmly placed his effort past the goalkeeper for a 3-0 advantage (Watch Here). Uhre completed his hat trick in the 56th minute as he sprinted to Carranza’s cross in the six-yard box and got the crucial touch from short range for his third goal of the night (Watch Here).
Since joining the Union at the start of 2022, Uhre has averaged 0.73 goals per 90 minutes, which is the best among all players to total at least 2,000 minutes. The Danish striker’s 18 goals over the past two seasons are the ninth most in MLS and second most on the Union (Gazdag, 25). With his hat trick against Toronto, Uhre became the seventh different player in Union history to score three goals in a regular season match.
Uhre is the first Philadelphia player to win MLS Player of the Matchday presented by Continental Tire since Gazdag did so on Matchday 27 in 2022. Since the start of last season, the Union have won the honor four different times, more than any other club in MLS. Uhre is also the first Danish player to win MLS Player of the Matchday in league history.
The Philadelphia Union next host LAFC in a rematch of the 2022 MLS Cup in the first leg of the 2023 Concacaf Champions League semifinals at Subaru Park on Wednesday, April 26 (9 p.m. ET, FS1). The club returns to MLS play on Saturday, May 6, as they make the short journey to Red Bull Arena to take on the New York Red Bulls (7:30 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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