December 10, 2023

Union Pick Up First 3 Points On the Road

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CF Montreal's goalkeeper Sebastian Breza clears the ball as Philadelphia Union's Julian Carranza moves in during the first half of an MLS soccer game Saturday, March 5, 2022 in Montreal.(Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)

The Union had their very first away game of the 2022 MLS season today against CF Montreal. The Union were able to come out on top and get out of Montreal with a narrow 2-1 win and three points.

The Union had another slow start and went down first again with a goal in the 32nd minute by Montreal forward Lassi Lappalainen. The shot took an unlucky deflection off of Union defender Nathan Harriel which left goalkeeper Andre Blake motionless, and the ball landed in the back of the net. After two consecutive horrible first halves by the Union, it is time to expect that we will concede early on into games and have to play our way back into games the remainder of the season. However, I will give credit to our responses and resilience which have drove us into comebacks in both games so far this season.

Luckily, Montreal midfielder Djordje Mihailovic had a goal overturned by VAR and this ignited Union’s comeback. Then Union captain, Alejandro Bedoya got on the scoresheet in the 53rd minute to level the game at one. Just three minutes later Union midfielder Daniel Gazdag tapped one in and got the go ahead and game winning goal.

Although things were looking good, Union striker Julian Carranza got sent off in the 71st minute after receiving two yellow cards. This put the Union’s lead in jeopardy, but they buckled down and held Montreal off and got the win.

I am very happy we are heading back to Philly with three points, but I was once again very disappointed with the Union’s play. The Montreal pitch was very narrow and wasn’t in great condition, however this was no excuse for the Union’s play. There was little to no passing at all and they lacked movement off the ball. This created very few chances for them and forced lots of long balls which resulted in turnovers. There was once again another debut disappointment by Mikael Uhre who missed two big time chances. I would really like to see more creativity, possession, and having more players take risks in the attacking third from the Union. Until they do this, they will be a mid-table playoff team and we will not get the success we want. However, we came out with three points and that’s all you can ask for.

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