Tai Baribo scored his seventh goal in blue and gold to give the Philadelphia Union a win to start their 2024 Leagues Cup campaign.
The moment was the culmination of an arduous year for him on and off the pitch – after hitting the back of the net, he hugged his teammates, ran to celebrate with fans sitting fieldside, then made a symbol with his hands up toward the audience in celebration.
“First there was one guy with an Israeli flag, so I went to kiss it, and then I did this for me and my fiance. Her name is Linoy and I’m Tai, so together, I made an L and T,” he explained after the match.
It’s been just under one year since the 26-year-old Israeli striker signed with Philadelphia, and it hasn’t always been easy for him. He earned just one start in the 2023 season and he didn't see another until nine months later, minus the rescheduled washout against Seattle Sounders. When he finally made it back into Head Coach Jim Curtin’s starting group on June 19 against Cincinnati, he took advantage of his opportunity, scoring his first and second-ever goals in a Union kit.
Since then, he’s pushed to keep that spot, adding five more goals including a momentous hat trick against New England Revolution. His most recent game-changing effort came on Saturday as his 33rd minute score was the team's lone goal in their opening Leagues Cup match.
"It was a good action with Sam [Adeniran] and Dani [Gazdag]. Dani gave me the ball on the cutback and I scored it. We won and that is the most important thing," Baribo said.
Despite challenges early on, his success this summer has been a testament to his perseverance and professionalism, and after the match, Curtin reflected on how far his player has come since joining the team in August 2023.
“Every player goes through a tough period where there's a hard adaptation and adjustment to a new league, whether that be on the field, off the field, culturally, getting settled, finding a new place to live, but then to also have what he has going on back at home, to be with his national team occasionally during the past couple of years and go through that…I can't even pretend to imagine mentally what he's going through,” Head Coach Jim Curtin said.
“It would be not right for me to say and even try to understand and grasp the depths of what is going on back in his home. So again, incredible focus, incredible professionalism from him. I’m proud of him, he's a good kid. He fits in well with the group, and yeah, while it was hard early and maybe there were some decisions that went against him, maybe he wasn't playing his best in training, I only look forward and now that's all we can do. He's done a great job, and this is the striker that we saw and why we brought him here.”
Similarly to Curtin, Baribo’s focus remains on what’s ahead. When asked about his goals and recent successes on the pitch, he has emphasized the same sentiment each time – winning as a team is paramount. In the short-term, that means preparing for an unfamiliar opponent in Liga MX side Cruz Azul, who will visit Subaru Park for their second Leagues Cup group stage match on Sunday.
“I think we need to keep working hard like we have in the last couple of weeks. We work hard all the time, but now we’re getting better and better. We’re scoring and we’re keeping the clean sheet. Now, we focus on Cruz Azul. They're a very good team. We will be focused on them and we will come ready,” Baribo said.
