The Union sign a new goalkeeper and draw Mexico’s Cruz Azul in the Leagues Cup

The Union signed a new candidate to be their No. 2 goalkeeper on Wednesday and gave a strong indication that he’ll get that job to start the season.

Oliver Semmle is a 25-year-old German who comes from Louisville City of the second-tier USL Championship. Last year was his first year as a pro; before then, he played at Marshall University. In his junior season, he helped the Thundering Herd win the NCAA championship.

MLS’s Colorado Rapids took him with a second-round pick in the 2023 draft but never signed him. The league’s rules allow teams that draft college players to keep their rights for two years even if they turn pro outside MLS, so the Union gave the Rapids a second-round pick in next year’s draft to finish the deal.

With that done, the Union can integrate Semmle into their squad, and they plan to do so quickly. Semmle led the USL last season with 13 shutouts, a rookie record for the league. Though Semmle will compete with Holden Trent to be Andre Blake’s backup, sporting director Ernst Tanner made it pretty clear in the signing announcement that Semmle should prevail.

“At 25 years old, he brings crucial experience while being young enough to have time to develop and grow into our system,” Tanner said. “With the increase in international play this year that will require players to be away with their national teams, we believe Oliver will be able to step in and fill an important role during that time.”

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The Union are used to Blake going away to play for Jamaica, but this year will hit especially hard. MLS is playing through the Concacaf Nations League final four in March and the Copa América in the summer, instead of pausing for them. Jamaica also has the start of its 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign in early June.

It’s Jamaica’s first time in the Nations League final four, and the 2026 World Cup is the Reggae Boyz’ best shot to make it to the sport’s biggest stage since their only appearance in 1998. So they’re likely to go all-in on everything, and since Blake is their captain, he should be there for it all.

That means he’s probably going to miss at least five Union games: March 23 at Portland, June 15 vs. Miami (which Lionel Messi won’t be at either because of the Copa), June 19 at Cincinnati, June 22 vs. Charlotte, and June 29 at Montreal.

If Jamaica advances from a Copa América group that also includes Mexico, Ecuador, and Venezuela, Blake will still be gone in early July. The Union visit Chicago on July 3, host the New York Red Bulls on July 6, and visit Toronto on July 13, the weekend of the final.

There’s also the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal round on July 9-10, if the Union are still in the tournament then. And if they surprisingly make the Concacaf Champions Cup final, that’s set for June 2, four days before Jamaica’s World Cup qualifying opener.

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On Wednesday, MLS announced the groups for the Leagues Cup, the tournament against Mexican clubs that will stop the season for a month in the late summer.

Though the tournament is disliked by many fans because of its impact on the rest of the season, the Union’s group stage might at least be entertaining. The Union will host Charlotte FC and Mexico’s Cruz Azul, a traditional Liga MX power from Mexico City.

Both games will be at home, thanks to last year’s regular-season record, which earned the Union a place in the top draw pot. Charlotte was in the second pot, and Cruz Azul in the third.

MLS made two small tweaks to the Leagues Cup format, allowing the top four Mexican clubs to have “hub privileges” — being based in one city to face lower-ranked teams instead of playing at MLS teams by default.

That does not, however, mean that any games in the tournament will be played in Mexico. They’ll all be in the United States again, so everyone can make money off the many Mexican soccer fans in this country. Mexico’s national team, for instance, has sold out U.S. stadiums for years.

The group draw announcement also indicated that for the knockout rounds, starting with the round of 32, teams “will be placed in a fixed bracket” to set the matchups. What that means, though, is unclear.

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A tournament spokesperson told The Inquirer that there will not be a draw, like what there is for the U.S. Open Cup or UEFA Champions League.

But the spokesperson didn’t say whether the bracket will go like last year, when it was known before the tournament started that the winner of a specific group would face the runner-up of another specific group in the round of 32 — for example, the East Group 3 winner against the East Group 4 runner-up.

If the bracket is preset like that again, the above example will matter quite a bit to the Union. They’re in East Group 4, and Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami is in East Group 3. That could lead to Messi visiting Chester for a Leagues Cup game, as he did last summer.

Miami’s group is quite difficult, though, also having Mexico’s Tigres UANL (the nation’s best team) and Puebla.

The spokesperson said the bracket format will be announced with the complete schedule, which will come later. The tournament will run from July 26-Aug. 25.