Union use three 1st half goals, beat NYCFC 5-1

Following Saturday’s 3-1 loss to Inter Miami CF, it was gut-check time for the squad from Philadelphia. In that contest, Mikkel Uhre scored a minute into the game but they proceeded to concede three straight goals, two to Lionel Messi, to fall again to Miami. With only six games remaining in MLS regular season play and sitting outside the playoff picture, Jim Curtin‘s Philadelphia Union headed to the Bronx, NY, in desperate need of three points.

When these two teams last met, just over 4 months ago, New York used first-half goals from Adrian Martinez (1′) and Hannes Wolf (45 +1) to claim a 2-1 victory in Chester, PA. How different was Philadelphia then? Oliver Semmle started in goal for Philadelphia and Julian Carranza was the team’s lone goal scorer. Semmle has not played for Jim Curtin’s squad since the beginning of July and Carranza was transferred to Feyenoord, a Dutch squad that plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, at the end of June.

While the Union looked drastically different from the last time they played NYCFC, they remained similar to how they have appeared recently. 18-year-old Andrew Rick was back starting in goal for Andre Blake and Nathan Harriel slid over to left center-back, alongside Jakub Glesnes, allowing Olivier Mbaizo to go back to his usual right fullback spot but other than that, the diamond remained the same four of Gazdag, Bedoya, Flach, and McGlynn (from the top point, clock-wise) with Mikael Uhre and Tai Baribo spearheading the offensive attack up front.

For Nick Cushing’s New York squad, they had three changes from the last meeting but one of them was not former Philadelphia Union member Matt Freese in net. To put it bluntly, Freese did not have his finest hour and a half on this night and in the 15th minute, Philadelphia got the scoring started.

The Union had won themselves a corner kick to Freese’s right and Kai Wagner‘s delivery was not the quality we’ve become accustomed to. His initial ball was headed away centrally to about 25 yards out. Olivier Mbaizo came up and headed the ball back towards goal off the bounce. The New York defense all had stepped up and somehow allowed Tai Baribo to be standing by his lonesome six yards out from goal. With his back to goal, he allowed the ball to almost travel over him before whipping his head and knocking the ball towards Freese’s left corner. Freese went down, although to me it seemed late (and with a very weak left-handed effort), to push the shot away but could not prevent Baribo from notching another big goal for the Union.

A one-goal lead was never going to feel comfortable for the Union and, thanks to two more blunders by New York, it did not have to be.

In the 25th minute, Kai Wagner recovered a loose clearance out near the midfield stripe. He rolled a harmless, bouncing ball, down the center of the pitch, that made its way to defender Thiago Martins. Martins tried to volley the ball away with his right foot but managed to hit over it and knock it down with his studs right to Baribo. Baribo had the ball bounce away enough for the NY defenders to recover, although nobody went to mark Uhre. Baribo found the time and space to turn, from facing his right, and play the ball to Uhre on his left. Nonchalantly, Uhre met the ball with the inside of his right cleat and passed it beautifully into the far corner, Freese dropping to his knees for a second before hopping up to have a word with his team.

New York’s first big opportunity to get back into the contest came in the 30th minute when Andrew Rick was able to deny Keaton Parks trick-or-treating on the goalkeeper’s doorstep. The ball had gotten shifted over to Tayvon Gray on the right attacking side for New York. Gray had enough time and space to chip a beautiful ball to the back post. Olivier Mbaizo had completely lost track of Parks and could only watch helplessly as Parks met the cross beautifully, for the first time, with the inside of his left boot. Rick was down to his left hip quickly and did a great job of making the save with a strong left hand and smothering the rebound to his chest.

When I mentioned earlier that Freese did not have his best ninety minutes, the 3rd goal was the one that instantly came to mind because to me it was the dagger for this game. It was the dagger, in my opinion, not only because of the three-goal cushion it provided but how quickly it came after New York’s missed opportunity.

Following Rick’s save on Parks, Leon Flach was fouled in his defensive half. Off the restart, Jakub Glesnes played a long ball over the top down the left touchline. Kai Wagner was able to get on the end of it and head it down to Jack McGlynn. McGlynn’s first touch was a floated ball to the back post and Tai Baribo was able to get his head on it, though it lacked any power. Freese claimed it, caught it, and then, all of a sudden, dropped it. Daniel Gazdag had the good fortune of standing right there as the ball came free and all he had to do was get a touch to the ball. Three- nil Philadelphia and game over right? Right? On this night, the answer was yes.

In first-half stoppage time, New York pulled a goal back right before the break to plant a small seed of doubt in Philadelphia and their supporters alike. Alonso Martinez was able to make his run straight between Jakub Glesnes and Nathan Harriel (playing out of position from the start) and get onto the end of Kevin O’Toole‘s left-footed cross. Martinez met it first time on the half-volley and spiked it off the ground past a diving Rick.

In the 60th minute, Mitja Ilenic tried to pull his squad even closer with a left-foot strike from the top right corner of the box. Rick was on it and used his left hand to repel it over the bar. Shortly after this attempt, the Union defense fell asleep and allowed Keaton Parks in central 1v1 with Rick. Parks used his left foot to beat Rick but got extremely unlucky as the ball clanged off the goalpost and out.

Momentum could have turned slightly a few times in this contest but Rick came up with some crucial saves to allow his team to walk away with a comfortable victory in the end. That victory was put to bed with goals 4 and 5, courtesy of Jakub Glesnes and Jesus Bueno respectively.

Glesnes’ 74th-minute goal was courtesy of a Kai Wagner corner kick, the big Norwegian going straight down the center of the NY defense to meet Wagner’s cross and power his header just under the crossbar. Bueno, who was subbed on in the 79th for Alejandro Bedoya, made his impact felt almost immediately off a Philly counter-attack. With New York pressing for goals, Sam Adeniran was able to lead the boys off on a 3 on 2 charge in the 85th minute. He played out left to another substitute, Quinn Sullivan, who found Bueno coming late down the middle. The ball got caught up in Bueno’s feet yet managed to pop out in front of him in a perfect spot. Before a defender could get a foot out, Bueno lashed through it with his left foot and fired into the corner to Freese’s left. Game Set Match Union.

With the win and three points, Philadelphia climb to 9th in the table, level with 10th-place DC and just three points back of 8th-seed Toronto, holding a game in hand. Jim Curtin’s Union will look to build on this win, gain separation, and also get hot before (hopefully) a playoff run when they return home to entertain DC United this Sunday at 6:15 PM.

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