Philadelphia Union forward Tai Baribo was voted the Major League Soccer Player of the Matchday presented by Michelob Ultra for Matchday 27 of the 2024 MLS season.
Baribo produced his first career MLS hat trick as part of Philadelphia’s 5-1 victory against the New England Revolution on Wednesday evening. The Israeli international has now scored four goals in his past two games and sits at six on the season in just 549 minutes of action. Among all players with at least 500 minutes played, Baribo’s 0.98 goals per 90 minutes average ranks third behind only Inter Miami CF’s Lionel Messi (1.04) and Minnesota United’s Tani Oluwaseyi (1.01). Since the start of 2022, the Union are the only club to have four different players score a hat trick – Baribo, Julián Carranza (two), Dániel Gazdag (two), and Mikael Uhre (one).
Philadelphia opened the scoring in the 29th minute as Kai Wagner’s free kick was met by Jack Elliott who pushed the ball back across goal for Baribo to head home from close range. After Jakob Glesnes doubled the advantage, Baribo scored his second of the match in the 44th minute when Mikael Uhre dribbled past a defender to find his attacking partner and Baribo’s one-timed effort could not be brushed aside by the diving New England goalkeeper. The Revolution pulled a goal back after halftime, but Baribo completed his hat trick in the 52nd minute after getting behind the defense and volleying his strike into the back of the net for a 4-1 advantage.
Baribo becomes the first Union player to be named MLS Player of the Matchday presented by Michelob Ultra since Dániel Gazdag on Matchday 25 of 2023. This is the eighth time a Philadelphia player has earned the honor in the last three seasons, which is tied for the second most among all clubs in MLS. Baribo is the first Israeli player to be named MLS Player of the Matchday.
The Union aim to win back-to-back home matches when they host Nashville SC at Subaru Park on Saturday, July 20 (7:30 p.m. ET, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV).
The MLS Player of the Matchday presented by Michelob Ultra 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 an X (formerly known as Twitter) fan vote represents the remaining 25 percent of voting. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio, and online media.
