Union win 2-0 to advance to Leagues Cup round of 16 behind Baribo brace
Courtesy of Philadelphia Union
The Leagues Cup round of 32 continued Friday with a matchup between the Philadelphia Union and Montreal FC from Chester, Pennsylvania. Both the Union and Montreal currently have 27 points, sitting at 6-9-10 in MLS play. The two teams have already met twice in 2024, both in June, Montreal winning 4-2 at home on the 29th and a 2-2 draw in Chester on the first of the month, both teams finishing that fixture with ten men.
A rainy day around the city gave way to a pretty nice night when the contest kicked off and both teams tried to reward the commitment of the fans in attendance. Montreal coach Laurent Courtois made an interesting decision going into the fixture, not having Josef Martinez in the lineup or available on the bench, as his team started out in a 3-4-2-1. Philadelphia opened in Jim Curtin‘s 4-4-2 diamond middle, making four changes from the last game. Nathan Harriel returned to the starting lineup after representing the United States in the Olympics while Jakub Glesnes moved back over to a central defender role. Leon Flach started on the midfield wing in place of Alejandro Bedoya while Samuel Adeniran opened up top with man of the match Tai Baribo.
In the ninth minute, Montreal nearly opened the scoring with some good give-and-go work from Bryce Duke and Matias Coccaro. Duke gained possession just inside his own half and played ahead to Coccaro in the center of the pitch. He chested the ball down into Duke’s path, Duke’s first touch with the outside of his boot going back to the Uruguayan #9. Just before Jack Elliott could step up and intercept, Coccaro got a foot to the ball and set Duke in on goal from the left wing. Blake came out to challenge and, as Duke opened his hips to pass the ball by him with his right foot, he went down with his right leg outstretched to make the save, smothering the ball underneath him.
Just two minutes later, the Union had their first chance off a Kai Wagner corner. Jakob Glesnes got a flicking header at the near post. The ball bounced around and landed at the feet of Jack Elliott on the edge of the six-yard box. Joel Waterman went down to block Elliott’s toe-poke attempt and inadvertently caught the ball with his trailing arm. No penalty was called, rightly, and Elliott’s follow-up shot was stopped off the hip of a sprawling Jonathan Sirois, who was scrambling out to cover the loose ball. After the Union were able to recycle the clearance to Kai Wagner on the wing, his cross found the head of Elliott at the near-post. His header hit off the shoulder of the defender and went safely into the arms of the Montreal keeper.
Sirois came up big again in the 25th minute, this chance for Adeniran created by a great pass from Quinn Sullivan. Sullivan gathered his own blocked pass and navigated forward until he found a little space in the attacking third, After assessing his options and spinning back towards his left, Sullivan played the ball through a small channel on the left, barely splitting the outstretched toes of two FC defenders. Adeniran took the ball off his shins forward, gathered, and fired low with his left foot. The Canadian goalkeeper was quick to drop to his hind parts and was able to kick the shot away with both feet out front.
Just before the Union found their goal, Montreal’s Duke had another chance, although I believe it would have been offside if reviewed. Coccaro got free down the right side and his cross managed to roll all the way through the box to find Duke about twelve yards out. His shot never came close to the target, sailing high and wide right enough to give Scott Norwood shivers.
Philadelphia’s breakthrough finally came in the first minute of first-half stoppage time. The Union had passed the ball around, searching for an opening, before working the ball to Leon Flach in the middle. Flach switched play out wide left to Wagner. Adeniran made a nearside run towards Wagner, who played into his feet. Adeniran let it roll before clipping it by the defender with the back of his left heel. As he clipped the ball by his marker, Adeniran had peeled away towards his right shoulder and the endline. As he got to the ball, he fired across goal, right at Sirois. The ball stung Sirois’ palms and came right off them out in front of the goal, hitting Tai Baribo in stride and deflecting into the Montreal goal for a one-nil Philadelphia lead at the break.
Philadelphia came out in the second half hungry to build on their lead and Samuel Adeniran was involved again. Elliott got a foot to a clearance near midfield and popped the ball up in the air towards the Montreal goal. The ball was knocked down by a header and ended up around the feet of Daniel Gazdag. As Gazdag stumbled, he managed to somewhat keep the ball with his right foot. The ball found its way forward to Adeniran, who swiveled quickly and hammered a shot with his left foot. Unfortunately for him, it was straight at Sirois and cleared away.
Montreal worked to level in the 55th minute after a Samuel Piette switch to the left touchline side for Tom Pearce. Pearce played a great ball for Coccaro right on the line of the six but Jakub Glesnes timed a perfect challenge to slide in, block the pass, and get up to clear the ball.
Laurent Courtois‘ squad kept pushing for the equalizer and some Union miscommunication nearly gifted it to the visitors in the 81st minute.
Olivier Mbaizo and Jack Elliott both stepped across and dispossessed second-half substitute Dominik Yankov. The problem began when both thought the other was taking possession and allowed Coccaro to charge forward with the ball at his feet. His left-footed cross was delivered shin-high and ten yards out from goal. Yankov tried to meet it and redirect it into the corner with the inside of his right foot. Fortunately for the Philadelphia defense, he missed getting the shot on target and the ball went off his foot well wide and out for a goal kick.
Subaru Park got a collective scare in the 84th minute when an Olivier Mbaizo challenge just outside of the box was deemed to be a red card by referee Daniel Quintero Huitron. Mbaizo had just stripped Raheem Edwards of the ball and went in to challenge Sunusi Ibrahim for the ball and swung his right leg, Sunusi going down like soccer players do nowadays. Replays showed Mbaio’s studs were not up and his leg did not swing high so it was going to be on VAR to encourage Huitron and they did just that. After a brief look, the red card was rescinded and replaced with a yellow. The Union were able to defend the ensuing free kick well and set out to put the game to bed.
Philadelphia found their chance and delivered the dagger just over halfway into the eight minutes of stoppage time. 61st-minute substitute Jack McGlynn took possession after a throw-in by Montreal and played to 90th-minute sub-Jeremy Rafanello. Rafanello sprung McGlynn off to the races with a ball down the right side and the Union had a 2 on 1 break. McGlynn used a banana kick, which is when you bend the ball with the outside of your boot, to hook the ball around the back of his defender to Baribo arriving at the top of the box. With Sirois trying to come out and challenge, Baribo casually opened up and side-footed the ball high into the back of the net, Sirois was left with nothing to do but watch. Baribo had his brace and the boys in blue had another win under their belt.
Since getting most of his lineup back together, Jim Curtin‘s squad has been in much better form. They have now gone unbeaten in five games with four wins over that time. They move on to the Leagues Cup round of 16 to play FC Cincinnati at TQL Stadium in Ohio, time and date to be determined. FC Cincinnati advanced beating Santos 6-5 on penalty kicks.
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