PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Phang had better watch out. The Philadelpha Union mascot got a run for his money on Wednesday when a raccoon took to the pitch at Subaru Park about 21 minutes into the first half of the Union match against New York City FC.
Soccer fans cheered the critter on. It skittered around the playing field for about 10 minutes, leading a wild chase and evading more than a few human field crew members.
"We need to find him a ball because he's moving very well in the center of midfield," said an announcer on the Apple TV Major League Soccer broadcast.
With play stopped and New York up by one, players on both teams stood around looking impatient.
MLS analyst and announcer Andrew Wiebe posted video to X, formerly known as Twitter, as did Union announcer Kevin Casey.
Eventually someone caught up with the garbage-picking gate crasher and trapped it with, appropriately, an overturned trash can.
It was unclear where the captors took the creature. On the waterfront along the Delaware River, the soccer park is probably not far from the raccoon's home.