Union’s Counterstrike Masterclass Exposes Chicago’s Backup Goaltender and Aggressiveness
Philadelphia Union's Tai Baribo celebrates after scoring a goal during the first half of an MLS soccer playoff match against the Chicago Fire, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, in Bridgeview, III. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
Going into game two in the first round, the only road game the Philadelphia Union will play in these playoffs, the thought was that the Union would sit in the deep block and let the game form in front of them, so that they can find the pace and dictate it. It was obvious that the Chicago Fire would start aggressively, and coach Bradley Carnell knew that, so the defensive strategy to start the game seemed to be straightforward. Well, to everyone’s surprise, the Union brought the heat and the pressure early on, and the Fire looked like they didn’t know what to do.
What most likely was a reason for the pressure was that Chicago goalkeeper Chris Brady suffered an injury during the week and could not play in Saturday night’s match, leaving Chicago native Jeffrey Gal to take the net for the game. Carnell made the right choice, put the pressure on. The Fire started very aggressively, and the counterattack in the midfield really set up the first goal by Tai Baribo. The second goal scored was also by Baribo, but in this case, the counter strike caught Gal out of position, and Baribo stole it from the Chicago keeper, and quickly pushed it past Gal.
As a juxtaposition to Gal, Union keeper Andre Blake hadn’t seen too much action in the first 45, but the action he did see was when Brian Gutierrez was awarded a penalty kick, and shot it low to Blake’s left, which Blake was leaning to and made the save with limited drama.
The third goal was the biggest mistake by Gal of the game, on a clearing, he was pressured by Milan Iloski at the baseline on the right side of the box, and as Iloski crashed, Gal shuffled the ball to try and deke him off the ball, but Iloski stole it and sent it to the crashing Bruno Damiani who sent it home for a 3-0 lead. Gal made the only play that gave Iloski a chance to win that interaction. If Gal moved the ball to his defender to the right, he would have cleared it, but the game looked like the first half was moving too fast for him.
Carnell stated at halftime that Gal getting the start was not the reason that they pushed the counter strike hard, but stated that the second half would be important to have emotional control.
The second half started with Gutierrez putting the pressure on Blake and in an errant clear, Blake tried to clear it over Gutierrez, which caromed backwards and into the goal, however, when Gutierrez turned to brace for the strong impact, the ball went off an elbow which erased the goal, and most importantly for the Union, sapped the energy that was just released by the home crowd.
This showed something that sometimes gets lost in the shuffle when talking about building a championship roster: the goalkeeping is an incredibly important part of the mix. In the game, the Fire had possession in their favor most of the match, but the Union had an answer for everything. In an elimination game, the last thing you want to do is to go to your backup keeper, but it was the only chance that Gregg Berhalter had Saturday. Granted, Gal settled in the second half, but by then, the damage had been done after the 17th minute.
While the play from the Union’s starters couldn’t have been much better, the next round will be a new challenge. In this challenge, I am sure that Blake will be called upon in a heroic moment against the winner of the Charlotte/New York series. This team’s resolve was tested in game one and shown off in game two. Blake and his teammates will be ready for whatever challenge arises.
Steve Hamilton
Steve may have been born in California, but don’t let that fool you. After dating a local woman and clashing with her and her family over sports for decades, he has an affinity for Philly sports. Balancing love for Philly and Bay Area sports teams may seem impossible, we can all agree that the Cowboys are the true evil.
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