Yaw Yeboah’s 75th-Minute Goal Steals Columbus Three Points as Crew Get Best of Union Once Again
Photo via the Philadelphia Union
The Philadelphia Union returned to the home pitch Wednesday for a rescheduled fixture from Saturday. Saturday’s matchday was moved due to the conflicts with the Leagues Cup conclusion on Sunday, which went differently for these two sides. Philadelphia missed out on an automatic qualification to next year’s Leagues Cup when they lost Sunday’s third-place game to the Colorado Rapids at Subaru Park. After a 2-2 draw in regulation, the Union were downed 3-1 in penalties. Meanwhile, Columbus’ victory Wednesday sent them to the Leagues Cup final, which they won 3-1 on Sunday over LAFC.
Wilfried Nancy’s squad looked much different to start this game than they did last Wednesday. Nancy changed nine of 11 starters, giving guys some rest as a reward for the team securing the Leagues Cup trophy. Philadelphia also looked different this time, playing a flat 4-4-2. Their lineup also looked different with Tai Baribo making the start, after missing last Wednesday’s game due to red-card suspension, and Damion Lowe gone, having been transferred to Saudi club Al Okhdood. Before the game, Baribo was honored in a small ceremony for being the top goal-scorer in the Leagues Cup 2024.
With a win Wednesday, Philadelphia could climb above the MLS Playoff line so, despite the stifling heat in Chester, PA, or maybe due to the heat, Jim Curtin’s eleven came out with their hair on fire. They won a corner inside the first minute and had five in the first five minutes. Nathan Harriel and Jack Elliott both missed contested headers, Harriel wide right while Jack Elliott mishit one wide left. Haitian midfielder Danley Jean Jacques, making his first start for the Union, got a clean header, central in the box, in the sixth minute but put it just over the bar to Patrick Schulte’s right. Other than Jean Jacques’ header, Columbus did a pretty good job of defending the early set piece barrage from the home side.
In the 13th minute, Baribo looked to continue his sizzling form off a Columbus giveaway. Daniel Gazdag received the errant pass central on the pitch, did a 180, and played wide right for Quinn Sullivan to track onto. He took the pass and carried down the right, beating DeJuan Jones to the goal line and keeping his right-foot cross low. Baribo made a near-post run and got to Sullivan’s ball with his left foot. The Israeli striker got quite a bit unfortunate when his redirect/flick beat Schulte to the short side but rang off the post before being cleared away by the Crew.
In the 17th minute, Jim Curtin and the home fans got a scare. Andre Blake played a ball out wide but high to Nathan Harriel. Harriel went up to bring it down in bounds and played a ball towards Gazdag that was intercepted. After brief Columbus possession, Harriel went down with what appeared to be discomfort in his back. The referee blew the play dead (as the ball was near midfield) and trainers came on. After a five-minute delay, Harriel was unable to continue. Philadelphia played with ten men for about four minutes before Olivier Mbaizo was brought on in place of Harriel.
Andre Blake was forced to make his first save in the 23rd minute when a Columbus counter had the Union backline stretched thin. Jack Elliott did a good job forcing Aziel Jackson wider right, though he was able to get off a low right-footed shot. Blake went down on his near post and palmed the shot behind goal with his left hand, taking no chance on the ball going wide.
Quinn Sullivan continued to put his foot to the pedal in the first 45, attempting an ambitious chip (I believe) of Schulte, from about 35 yards out, early in the 27th minute and then getting his best chance in the 38th minute.
The 38th-minute opportunity all started with him being aggressive and trying to dribble through the Crew defense at the top of the box. He was dispossessed but the ball was turned right back over to Baribo. He laid off to Gazdag who then played out wide to the injury substitute Mbaizo. Mbaizo’s cross was knocked down by then studs of a Crew defender but fell right to Sullivan. He absolutely hammered his right foot strike from point-blank range, Schulte somehow getting a hand up to make a miraculous save, deflecting it off the underside of the crossbar.
Philadelphia had one more opportunity before the half, Kai Wagner whipping a tantalizing set-piece ball to the back post that Baribo just missed getting his boot on before it went out for a goal kick.
The second half continued to be a stalemate, Schulte stopping a sharp angle header from Baribo in the 54th and Blake saving a low left-foot shot right at him by Jacen Russell-Rowe in the 59th, before Wilfried Nancy decided to stir things up for the last thirty minutes or so in the 62nd. He brought on Leagues Cup semifinal hero Diego Rossi, as well as Max Arfsten and Yaw Yeboah, to replace Russell-Rowe, DeJuan Jones, and Marcelo Herrera, making his first MLS start.
Those substitutions turned the tide a bit for the Crew and one of them forced Blake into action almost immediately.
Yaw Yeboah waited patiently on the edge of the box to Blake’s right as his team maintained possession on the right side. As the ball made its way centrally back to Malte Amundsen, he picked his head up and spotted Yeboah’s perfectly timed run in behind Mbaizo. The Ghanan midfielder took the chipped ball over the top, chested it down, and fired for Blake’s five-hole. The Jamaican keeper was able to keep his legs closed as he went down to make the save and give the visitors a corner kick.
Semifinal antagonist Cucho Hernandez was next to be subbed on for Nancy’s side replacing Aziel Jackson while Darlington Nagbe was called on just a minute later after an injury to Alexandru Matan. Jim Curtin responded with Jack McGlynn for Danley Jean Jacques while Alejandro Bedoya made way for Mikael Uhre. The substitutions worked out almost immediately for Columbus as they finally found the game’s breakthrough goal (and eventual winner).
In the 75th minute, Amundsen played a long ball down the left side of the field to Yeboah. He laid it off first-time to Cucho and he pressed towards the center of the attacking half. His switch out wide left allowed another sub, Arfsten, to go 1 v. 1 with Kai Wagner. He was able to get a step toward the goal line and chip a ball across to the back post. Yeboah was able to come onto the ball from just outside the far post, unmarked, and meet it with his head right on the six-yard line. The header was spiked off the ground, skipping up and eluding Jack Elliott’s foot as well as Olivier Mbaizo’s attempt to head it clear off the line. In MLS play, eight of the Union’s last ten goals conceded have been in the final twenty minutes.
The Union look to regain some of the momentum they had started to build, before seeing Columbus twice in a week, and keep their playoff chances going when they head to Red Bull Arena Saturday for a date with New York Red Bulls. Gametime is at 7:30 PM EST.
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