Philadelphia Union forward Mikael Uhre gestures after he scored against Toronto FC during the second half of an MLS soccer match Saturday, April 22, 2023, in Chester, Pa. Uhre has been named Major League Soccer's player of the week for his three-goal performance in the Union's 4-2 win over Toronto FC on Saturday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Laurence Kesterson
Philadelphia forward Mikael Uhre has been named Major League Soccer’s player of the week for his three-goal performance in the Union’s 4-2 win over Toronto FC on Saturday.
Uhre is the first Danish player to win the MLS weekly award.
Thanks to his first career MLS hat trick, Uhre leads the Union with five goals. Only Seattle’s Jordan Morris (eight goals), LAFC’s Denis Bouanga (seven) and San Jose’s Cristian Espinoza (six) have scored more goals this season.
Uhre’s hat trick is the fifth by a Union player since the start of the 2022 season, which is two more than the next closest MLS club (FC Cincinnati) over that period. Philadelphia has also scored at least four goals in a match 10 different times since July 2022, with no other team doing so more than three times.
Since joining the Union at the start of 2022, Uhre has averaged 0.73 goals per 90 minutes, which is the best among all players to total at least 2,000 minutes.
Since the start of last season, the Union have won the player of the week honour four different times, more than any other club in MLS.
The MLS “Player of the Matchday” is presented by Continental Tire using both media and fan voting.
A panel of journalists from the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) comprises 75 per cent of the vote, while a Twitter fan vote represents the remaining 25 per cent.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2023
