Marco Fabian scores on Union return, busts out basketball goal celebration

If this whole soccer thing doesn’t work out, maybe Marco Fabian could give basketball a shot.


In Saturday night’s game vs. FC Cincinnati, the Philadelphia Union midfielder broke a scoreless deadlock in the 47th minute, ripping a left-footed shot past Spencer Richey.


To celebrate, the Mexican international – like a point guard – dribbled along the endline and slam-dunked into a makeshift hoop Alejandro Bedoya made with his hands. He explained the choreographed celebration after the match:


“We were talking about it yesterday — after a goal, if I score or Ale [Bedoya] scores we [celebrate] like this because we are really close to the basketball with the NBA and the 76ers now,” Fabian said postgame. “We have friends now Tobias Harris and [Joel] Embiid. They like their football. So just a little kidding with the basketball. But maybe they can see that.”


Fabian’s goal marked his return from a two-game suspension after he received a red card in a March 10 match vs. Sporting Kansas City and had another game tacked on by the Disciplinary Committee. He previously scored a penalty kick in a season-opening loss to Toronto FC, never quite settling in until Philly’s 5th match of the year.


Fabian was signed by Philadelphia ahead of the 2019 season to a Designated Player contract. He most recently played for Eintracht Frankfurt of the Bundesliga.