Photo: Paul Rudderow

To start off, we must tip our hats to Alain Rochat. That was a well-hit winner.

Also, please note that there will be no Eric Hassli discussion in this post. If you want to know anything about how Hassli can cure your dog of rabies with a mere shoulder check from his massive and serene frame, just listen to the Union broadcast from Saturday.

Maybes

Maybe we were getting ahead of ourselves. Maybe we looked at the improved play of Kyle Nakazawa in the middle, the rediscovered bromance of Le Toux and Mwanga, and the Jane Austen-level connection of Harvey and Keon Daniel and we thought this team was turning into something special. Something consistent, dangerous and tenacious.

Maybe three games in eight days convinced the technical staff to blow up the squad that allowed one shot on goal by Real Salt Lake (and should have scored four in the first half alone).

Maybe it was the travel. Zooming back and forth from Mountain time to Eastern Standard then out to Pacific..

Maybe it is simply this: The Union can put any front six out on the pitch and compete. But they can only dictate play and dominate a match with the right front six.

The right stuff

Even with a misfiring Le Toux and an inconsistent Nakazawa, the Union can control a game with ease when their midfield and strikers show even a whiff of chemistry. I’m not sure what type of chemistry set Paunovic used growing up, but dropping him into the mix resulted in a frothy mess more fit for Science Fair volcanoes than professional soccer matches.

The message in the post-game locker room probably centered on having a short memory and moving on as quickly as possible. But there are definite lessons to be learned here.

Lessons

1) If the other team is pressuring you high up the pitch (and any coach who watched the first ten minutes of Saturday’s match would be foolish not to do just that), you need ball-moving midfielders. That means one, two touch passes to work the ball from back to front. Kyle Nakazawa was the closest thing the Union had to that player, and he was out of position on the right. Brian Carroll and Stefani Miglioranzi have not responded well to high pressure defense this season, and it is unfair to them to suddenly expect that to change. Justin Mapp’s first (second, and third) instinct is to dribble. That’s a problem when both of your center middies are behind you and your new Serbian hitman just checked so far back that Mondragon had to punt him back up the field.

2) Two deep-lying midfielders is going to result in more long balls. Here is a brief description of what consistently happens when a ball is dumped long in MLS: A defender wins it and nods it down without direction. What this means is that long ball is not an ineffectual strategy in this league. But you can’t play a long game and pretend you aren’t. Teams have success by tucking their midfielders in behind the strikers to collect second balls. But if the midfield sees the long ball as a restart instead of an offensive strategy, you won’t have any support behind the strikers and the opposition will start build-up play without trouble.

Vancouver? Really? Vancouver??

And come on. Vancouver generating passing moves against Philly? If David Chiumiento is out of that lineup they might as well start a kickball team or join the Canucks to toughen that squad up a bit.

The Union are a very good team but they will live and die by their gestalt. There are no superstars that will regularly take over a match. Mwanga could be that in the future and Le Toux was exactly that in 2010. We are stuck in 2011, with a team that needs to be more than the sum of its parts to succeed.

Bewildering list of the Union’s bench players on Saturday

Jack McInerney, Danny Mwanga, Keon Daniel, Michael Farfan, Roger Torres, Juan Diego Gonzalez, Zack MacMath.

Player ratings

Faryd Mondragon – 4

Not going to say Mondragon should have saved the shot. It was very well placed. But will say that if ever there was a time to start Zack MacMath it would be in Vancouver after your 40 year old goalie has traveled across country for the past two weekends. And MacMath was picked fifth overall to get a hand on that very shot.

Jordan Harvey – 3

Jordan played his typical game behind Justin Mapp, which is to say he looked hesitant going forward because he had to constantly be aware of the space Mapp left behind on his wild adventures across the pitch. Harvey was not the physical presence he had to be against the rough and tumble Vancouver front line.

Danny Califf – 4

Califf was a step slower than normal and he gave Hassli more room than he did in the previous fixture. The biggest issue for Califf was his response to Vancouver’s high pressure. He could not find quick outlets and the Union had trouble getting the offense started from the back.

Carlos Valdes – 4

Even though the game winning shot came from his side, Valdes did little wrong in this match. He covered well for Williams, who spent a ton of time up the pitch, and he recovered well to protect the middle when the Whitecaps sent speed up Califf’s side. Valdes might be faulted for Hassli’s open shot in the first half (skyed over, luckily) but otherwise he had a similar match to Califf: No major mistakes but not much distribution.

Sheanon Williams – 7

Yeah, The Sheanomenon has a new nickname thanks to MLS: Snub Williams. How this guy did not make the All-Star ballot is a mystery that would take an entire season of Blue’s Clues to solve. Williams had the energy to push up the wing all game, and some better service would have seen him slip behind the defense on multiple occasions. It does not matter who plays in front of Snub because he dictates play on his side of the pitch.

Justin Mapp – 3

The coaching staff says it after every match: Mapp is supposed to be the outlet for the defense. When he isn’t, or when he tries to dribble through the midfield, he becomes a liability.

Brian Carroll – 4

Whether Carroll was expected to take on a greater distributor role with Migs on the pitch was unclear because neither player did it. Carroll kept Vancouver to the outside for much of the match, but both he and Migs played too deep and allowed Vancouver’s only dangerous player room to run. Chiumiento won this battle.

Stefani Miglioranzi – 2

He did not play well. Missed tackle on Chiumiento’s run to set up the goal. Not sure if he was fully healthy.

Kyle Nakazawa – 3

Naka had one great forty yard ball up to Le Toux that resulted in a blocked shot. Otherwise he was confined to the right and occasionally drifted inside to fill the gaping maw that was the middle of the Union’s setup. Naka played smart defense, which is why Vancouver rarely had opportunities up his wing. It is notable that he and Mapp had switched sides when Rochat had his open look and fine finish.

Veljko Paunovic – n/a

In order to receive a rating, you must play in the game, not just appear on the starting lineup card.

Seba Le Toux – 2

Stranded alone for large portions of the match, Le Toux needsneedsNEEDS to finish in away matches when the opportunities come. One came late in the second half…

Danny Mwanga – 3

Mwanga was able to hold the ball and give the Union a chance to play offense. But he found few holes and did little aside from forcing Vancouver to respect his speed and thus lessen their high pressure on the Union’s back line.

Michael Farfan – 4

Farfan added energy to the midfield but he looked as lost as everyone else. One thing that I did not expect from the rookie is his tough tackling. Farfan may not have his positional sense down pat, but given a chance he gets stuck in as well as anyone in the Philly midfield.

Roger Torres – 4

Torres drove at the Vancouver defense with more purpose than the rest of the midfield combined. Unfortunately that isn’t saying much. He created a good chance late in the match but still overuses on his pitching wedge.

The Geiger Counter – 1.344444

What the heck does it take to get a consistent match out of an MLS referee? And let us be clear: If someone comes through another player from behind it is a foul. There is no ambiguity there. If you have to run over another body to get the ball, you should be called for a foul.

The subs/starting lineup

I’ll let Eli handle this in his rant later this week.