Have Mercy – Alejandro Bedoya’s late goal stuns KC
Courtesy of Philadelphia Union
The Philadelphia Union traveled to Kansas City on Saturday for their first MLS road test of 2024. Sporting KC was looking to get their first win of the season in front of a raucous Children’s Mercy Park crowd.
Due to numerous factors (health, schedule, card accumulation, etc.), Jim Curtin rolled out another new line-up to combat the Sporting KC home opener. Leading scorer Julian Carranza did not make the trip for the Union, paving the way for Quinn Sullivan and Chris Donovan to start up front. Twenty-three-year-old Delran native, and homegrown midfielder, Jeremy Rafanello got his first MLS start at the top of the midfield diamond with Jose Martinez as the pivot for Jack McGlynn and Jesus Bueno on the wings. Nathan Harriel was playing out of position on the backline alongside Damion Lowe while Oliver Semmle once again started in goal for a banged-up Andre Blake.
To quote French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac, “Behind every great fortune lies a great crime.” Thanks to great fortune, the Philadelphia Union stole a point Saturday night and the judges in the striped shirts found them not guilty, much to the chagrin of the roughly 20,000 in attendance.
I have been blessed to have good games to write about so far this year but this was not one of them, until the end. Being in front of their home crowd for the first time, Sporting KC came out on the front foot and controlled the flow of the game from the start. Eric Thommy was the early catalyst for SKC, having a run at Damion Lowe thirty seconds into the game, however Lowe did well to shoulder him off the ball for a goal kick. Two and a half minutes later, Tommy’s dummy run allowed Johnny Russell to get behind the defense. Jack Elliott’s positioning prevented a layoff to Alan Pulido and forced a left-footed shot by Russell. At the tight angle, Semmle was able to stick his right boot out and make the save for a corner kick.
In the ninth minute, the Union finally got a little bit of pressure down the left side with McGlynn, Sullivan, and Rafanello before it was broken up by Jacob Davis. Just two minutes later, SKC thought they had opened the scoring. Dániel Sallói cleverly played Thommy through the defense before he pulled back to Pulido who slotted in the bottom left corner, though the offside flag came up almost immediately.
After the wake-up call, the Union finally posed another threat. Jack McGlynn made a strong run down the left side before laying off to Quinn Sullivan, whose cross was defended out only to be teed up for Jose Martinez five yards outside of the 18. Martinez struck through the ball with unbridled animosity only for Daniel Rosero Valencia to catch it right in his sternum and it then to deflect off Chris Donovan for a goal kick. After the strike, Martinez collided with Rémi Walter leaving both players aching a bit. Those two would intersect very soon after.
In the 19th minute, Walter would exact some revenge due to Martinez’s misfortune. Johnny Russell worked down the right side before playing a ball that was slightly off the mark to Davis. Davis got a toe on the ball pushing it towards the middle of the field. As Jose Martinez went to attempt to clear the ball, his foot slid on top of it and pushed it right to Walter. Walter took one touch with the outside of his left boot to push the ball slightly further outside then calmly shaped a left-footed shot right into the left corner, Semmle left frozen in place.
The rest of the first half played out with SKC in control but rather quietly, partially due to poor quality in the final third. Near the 40th minute, the commentator described it as “The Union chasing shadows” with Sporting KC completing 95%+ of their passes though only a .02XG (expected goals). Dániel Sallói forced another big save from Semmle, going to his left, right before halftime. The follow from Johnny Russell was steered just wide. In possession but not often dangerous and only being up one goal would prove costly for SKC.
Jim Curtin tried to spark the squad with three halftime substitutes, bringing on Alejandro Bedoya for José Martínez who took multiple knocks in the 1st half. Kai Wagner came on for Olivier Mbaizo while
Dániel Gazdag replaced Jeremy Rafanello. The Union looked a little better with Bedoya getting off a left-footed shot attempt in the 54th minute. That was followed by a Gazdag strike that was just over the crossbar. Mikkel Uhre came on in the 57th minute for Chris Donovan and found himself down the left channel a few times. In the 71st minute, he won a free kick for the Union over near the right sideline. Wagner’s left-footed delivery from 35 yards out was headed just high by Nathan Harriel and you just felt it wasn’t the night for the Boys in Blue.
In the 85th minute, off the foot of SKC defender Tim Leibold, the Union nearly had the tying goal. Quinn Sullivan sent an in-swinging ball from the left wing to the back post. Sensing the runner behind him, Leibold tried to clear but sent the ball off the intersection of the post and the crossbar. Markus Anderson was subbed on for Jack McGlynn in the 83rd minute and nearly headed home the tying goal in the 90th minute off another Quinn Sullivan cross. In the 88th minute, Johnny Russell nearly sealed the game with Oliver Semmle making another late save on the right foot shot to keep it a one-goal game.
Stoppage time called for four extra minutes and did the Union need every one of them? It looked like the clock had struck midnight when, at 90+4, Gazdag played a ball off the back of Uhre’s foot out of bounds. The referees awarded the Union a throw and they subsequently won a corner kick in 90+5 of stoppage time. Wagner’s left-footed delivery was half-heartedly punched away by Tim Melia right to Alejandro Bedoya, who popped the ball over everyone and into the back of the net, setting off mayhem on the Philadelphia sideline and amongst the disbelieving fans. Sporting KC had one more shot at creating opening night magic when they won a corner in 90+7 of stoppage time. Oliver Semmle was called on to make one final save on Memo Rodríguez’ shot down the middle and the Union managed to take a point they had no real business grabbing. The Philadelphia Union return home Tuesday, March 5th to face Pachuca in the first leg of the second round of the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
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