Union draw Atlanta United 1-1, remain in 9th place

On a wet, dreary, Saturday night in Chester, PA, the Philadelphia Union welcomed Atlanta United in a matchup of utmost importance to the MLS table. The Eastern Conference had six teams separated by three points heading into the weekend’s matchdays and this was the one fixture featuring two of them.

The Union came out with the same starting eleven from their 4-0 win last Sunday versus Dc United but things did not appear as usual. Contrary to the norm, Jim Curtin‘s team came out in the first half and held the majority of possession. Quinn Sullivan and Nathan Harriel both missed attempts wide while Jack McGlynn forced the first save from Brad Guzan in the 8th minute. In the 19th minute, they thought they had finally found a breakthrough.

The analyst had just got done saying “this is the moment Atlanta just need to get their foot on the ball a bit… and they lost it”, Quinn Sullivan’s tackle allowing Jack McGlynn to gain possession back for the Union. McGlynn played the ball through the right channel to Mikael Uhre, who tried to play across to Tai Baribo. Guzan was able to get a touch to the ball and push it behind goal to give Philadelphia a corner kick to his right.

Kai Wagner played short to Quinn Sullivan, who whipped a ball deep to the back post. Atlanta used two headers to clear as far as 30+ yards away near the right touchline. Jakub Glesnes played into the center of the box to Jack Elliott, Elliott chesting the ball up in the air for the first time and then heading it forward for Daniel Gazdag. As he was turning towards goal to position his body better, the ball bounced up. The bounce allowed Guzan to come out and get a punch to it before Gazdag could get his head to it. The punch fell to Nathan Harriel at the top corner of the box, his low, right-foot strike aimed towards the far corner. It appeared that Mikael Uhre got a slight back-heeled flick to it as it went through the box, the ball scooting its way into the far corner. As the shot rolled through the box, the far official’s flag appeared visibly up, for offside on Gazdag in the build-up, and it was the correct decision.

Each team had another golden opportunity to put the first one on the board before halftime (from twelve yards and six out respectively), Mikael Uhre bending his right-foot shot just wide of the far post in the 32nd minute and Daniel Rios steering Tyler Wolff‘s cross just wide of Andre Blake‘s near post in the 39th minute for Atlanta. The missed opportunities led to a scoreless draw at the break and it would be interesting to see what both teams would do.

The Union came out with jump again in the second half, to no avail early. Quinn Sullivan and Kai Wagner both had an attempt blocked in the opening two minutes of the second half and Daniel Gazdag put the ball in the back of the net in the 54th minute but it had already been whistled down correctly for offside before the cross. In the 61st minute, Jim Curtin’s gut feeling paid dividends.

Normally Jim Curtin alternates starting Nathan Harriel and Olivier Mbaizo at right-back but decided to start Harriel again in this contest. In the 61st minute, Elliott had possession at the center circle and chipped out to Sullivan on the left side. Sullivan moved the ball along to Wagner ahead of him and Wagner got himself to about 15 yards out, just outside the box. He picked his head up, took one touch, and rolled a perfect ball between two defenders to the top of the box. Harriel stepped onto it right at the top of the box, central in the half circle. He guided the ball into the corner, toward his left shoulder, flawlessly with the inside of his right boot, the ball gliding past a diving Guzan. The Union had finally found their goal.

And Wagner made history, becoming the all-time leader in assists in Union history.

Philadelphia almost squandered the lead immediately off the restart when Rios found a step on Glesnes. Ajani Fortune had played him in on Blake but his near-side shot hit the side netting and did not test the Jamaican keeper. The Union would survive this chance but Atlanta would soon find the equalizer ten minutes later.

Atlanta had a decent spell of passing and possession before they worked the ball from left to right. The Union had a brief chance to intercept, Leon Flach getting a foot to it but unable to control. The ball ended up with Rios who laid off on his right to Brooks Lennon at the goal-line. Lennon stood the ball up towards the back-post and Saba Lobjanidze had gotten inside position on Nathan Harriel for an easy, tap-in header from two yards out.

Samuel Adeniran was brought on in the 77th minute to replace Leon Flach and had two opportunities to break the deadlock. The first came in the 86th minute when a bouncing ball managed to find Adeniran in the center of the box, the forward unable to generate much power on his left-footed shot. The second chance came in the 89th minute, the Union working their way up the pitch before finding Adeniran about 20 yards out to Guzan’s left. He worked the ball to his left foot and found a better angle before getting a shot off with three Atlanta players around him. The left-foot shot was ticketed for the far corner until Guzan went down with a strong right hand and pushed the shot away. Quinn Sullivan followed this attempt up with a right-foot shot from the top of the box that did not bend back enough to find the far corner, missing just wide to Guzan’s left.

Three games remain in the Union’s MLS regular season and, at this moment, they cling to a playoff spot. That leaves three games to determine whether they maintain that grip or if an up-and-down regular season ends in disappointment. We all get a chance to find out Wednesday when the Union travel south to take on Orlando City SC. Gametime is 7:30 pm EST.

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