Philadelphia Union today announced their club award winners for the 2022 season. Goalkeeper Andre Blake and midfielder Daniel Gazdag shared Most Valuable Player honors with the goalkeeper getting the honor for the third year in a row. Gazdag was also voted the team's Golden Boot winner as well as the Offensive Player of the year. Center back Jakob Glesnes was named the Defender of the Year and midfielder Jack McGlynn as Young Player of the Year.
Andre Blake earned a share of the Union MVP honors after setting a club record for the most clean sheets in a single season (15). Blake made league history too as he became the first player in MLS history to be named Allstate MLS Goalkeeper of the Year three times. The Jamaican international was one of two Union players to play every single minute of their 2022 MLS regular season and saved 79.4 percent of the shots he faced in 2022, which is the most among goalkeepers who have appeared in at least three games. With Blake in the net, the Union achieved the fewest goals ever conceded (26) by any MLS team during a 34-game season.
Gazdag had a breakout season in 2022, leading the team with a club record 22 goals and adding 10 assists to become the sixth player in league history with 20+ goals and at least 10 assists in a single season. The Hungarian started all 34 games for the Boys in Blue during the regular season and scored a pair of hat tricks (Aug. 27 vs. Colorado Rapids and Oct. 9 vs. Toronto FC). Gazdag continued his strong form in the postseason with a goal in the Eastern Conference Final against NYCFC and an equalizer in the second half of the 2022 MLS Cup against LAFC.
The 2022 MLS Defender of the Year as well, Glesnes made Philadelphia Union history in 2022, when he became the club’s first player in consecutive years to start all 34 matches and play all 3,060 regulation minutes of the regular season. A stalwart on the backline, Glesnes was the Union’s only field player to achieve the feat this season, and he was instrumental to their unbeaten home record (12-0-5) this campaign. A core piece to the Union’s league-best defense in 2022, Glesnes led the team in interceptions (57) as they finished with the fewest goals conceded (26) during a 34-game season in MLS history. The 2022 MLS All-Star provided an MLS career-high three assists this season, including an opening day assist against Minnesota United FC on Feb. 26 and a game-winning assist against Orlando City SC on July 23. He also committed 15 less fouls compared to 2021, dropping from 33 to 18, and received five fewer yellow cards as he improved from seven last season to two throughout all of 2022.
Homegrown Jack McGlynn started nine matches during the 2022 regular season and racked up 23 appearances for the Boys in Blue during his second season in the league. McGlynn scored his first professional goal in stellar fashion against the Houston Dynamo, scoring with his left foot from a free kick. The homegrown midfielder added a trio of assists in the regular season and had a key one in the Eastern Conference Final where he set up the game-winning goal in the second half.
