NEW YORK(Monday, August 29, 2022) – Philadelphia Union midfielder Dániel Gazdag was voted the Major League Soccer Player of the Week presented by Continental Tire for the 27th week of the 2022 MLS season.
Gazdag scored his first career hat trick against the Colorado Rapids in Philadelphia’s second-consecutive 6-0 victory on Saturday, August 27 (Watch Highlights from His Performance Here ). Gazdag’s three goals marked the second consecutive match in which a Philadelphia player has scored a hat trick, joining Julián Carranza in Week 26. The last time a team had two different players score a hat trick in consecutive matches was LAFC’s Carlos Vela and Diego Rossi from March 30 – April 6, 2019. Gazdag became the sixth different player in club history to score a hat trick and he now has 16 goals on the season, which is tied with CJ Sapong (2017) for the most by a Union player in a single season. His 16 goals are tied for the second most in MLS and his 24 goal contributions are the third most behind Nashville SC’s Hany Mukhtar (27) and Austin FC’s Sebastián Driussi (26).
Gazdag opened the scoring in the ninth minute when Union forward Mikael Uhre chested down a long pass into the path of the Hungarian, who took one touch and fired a shot past the Rapids’ goalkeeper (Watch Here). After another nifty passing combination with Uhre, Gazdag was taken down in the box for a penalty kick, which he easily placed into the net for a 2-0 Philadelphia lead in the 20th minute (Watch Here ). The Union extended their lead to 3-0, and in the 83rd minute, Gazdag finished off his hat trick to make it 4-0 as Cory Burke found him running behind the last defender and he made no mistake with a delicate chip over the goalkeeper and into the net (Watch Here).
Gazdag’s 24 goal contributions (16 goals, eight assists) are the second most in a single season in club history, and he is one shy of tying Sebastien Le Toux’s 25 in 2010. His 16 goals are three behind Austin FC’s Driussi for the most in the league, as he looks to become the first Union player to win the MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi. With his hat trick on Saturday, Gazdag became the 10th player in club history to hit 20 career goals. Since 2010, the Union have had six different players score a hat trick, which is tied for the second most by a single club in MLS.
Gazdag joins Carranza (twice) as the only Union players to win MLS Player of the Week presented by Continental Tire in 2022. The Union are the first team to win consecutive MLS Player of the Week presented by Continental Tire honors with two different players since the New England Revolution in Weeks 8-9 of 2021 (Matt Turner and Carles Gil). This is the third time in club history that the Union have earned the honor three times in the same season (2016 and 2019). Gazdag is the 15th different player to win the award in Philadelphia history.
Philadelphia will look to set the MLS record for the most goals scored in a three-game span (15 by the LA Galaxy in 1998) when they host Atlanta United FC at Subaru Park on Wednesday, August 31 (7:00 p.m. ET, FS1 / FOX Deportes).
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.
COURTESY MLS COMMUNICATIONS
