Photo: Paul Rudderow

New England Manager Steve Nicol put it best: “Both teams were as bad defensively as each other.”

In a game that featured eight goals—two by way of penalty kicks—the Union overcame a three-goal deficit to salvage a draw at home against the Eastern Conference bottom-dwelling Revolution on Wednesday night. Defensive miscues handed New England a 3–0 lead by the 25th minute before Roger Torres found the back of the net and began the Union rally. Benny Feilhaber added a fourth tally in the first half to dampen the spirits of the PPL crowd, only to see the Union reignite their fans as they came storming back after the break.

Strong build-up play in the 54th minute from Roger Torres and Veljko Paunovic put Danny Mwanga into space where he found Freddy Adu streaking in from the left wing. Adu calmly slotted past Matt Reis for his first goal in a Union shirt and announced the Union’s intentions as they showed grit and determination in their fightback.

When Pat Phelan dragged down Sebastien Le Toux and the Union striker sent Reis the wrong way on the ensuing spot kick, it set up a breathless final ten minutes. An unfortunate injury to Phelan put the match on pause after he required treatment for an accidental knock to the head he took from acting captain Danny Califf and, when he was declared unfit to continue, more of the wind left the Revolution’s already wilting sails. It was Le Toux again, in added time, who earned the Union a point on the night as he lashed home Paunovic’s knock down for his second goal on the night.

In the dying seconds, the Union tried in vain to steal the most improbable of victories, but, in the end, a draw was a better result than any could have expected following their dire defensive performance in the first half.

Set piece defense rears its ugly head

With the Union in the early ascendancy, it was the Revolution who were able to cap off an early chance and draw first blood when A.J. Soares powered home a free header in the 9th minute after shaking free of Sheanon Williams’ mark. Having opened the game in a 4–2–3–1 with Roger Torres centering Sebastien Le Toux and Freddy Adu, all three midfielders featured prominently in the initial movements of the game with Adu providing service to Le Toux and Paunovic only to find Revs goalkeeper Matt Reis equal to the task. It was end-to-end stuff with both sides finding space in the center of the park as they searched for an opener. But it was to be New England who would strike first after Moncef Zerka’s bump on Le Toux went uncalled and Gabriel Farfan responded with a foul on the Moroccan international, allowing Chris Tierney to step up and provide the service for the game’s first goal.

A soft second…and third

Twelve minutes later things would get worse for the Union after an innocuous throw from Zerka landed in the top corner of the box for a 50-50 challenge between Stefani Miglioranzi and Rejko Lekic. The Revolution striker won the race to the ball and, while little contact was made by Miglioranzi, his high boot gave referee Jorge Gonzalez little choice but to point to the spot following the clumsy and unnecessary challenge. Lekic stepped up and converted his penalty, calmly chipping the ball past a helpless Zac MacMath, who would have hoped for a much different experience in his first start for the Union.

Four minutes later it would get still worse when Carlos Valdes failed to adequately clear a ball in the corner, allowing New England to come straight back at the Union. Tierney again played an inch perfect cross into the box and this time it was Zerka who slid in behind a helpless Gabriel Farfan to power a near-side header past MacMath. The header was the picture of perfection, but Farfan had come too far central and the Union defender’s suspect positioning gifted Zerka the opportunity.

The comeback begins

With their backs against the wall, the Union discovered their urgency and threw numbers forward. Only three minutes after Zerka’s goal, Sheanon Williams burst into the attack and laid the ball to Roger Torres. Rather than return the pass to his onrushing fullback, Torres spun to face goal and curled a delicate shot beyond the outstretched fingers of Matt Reis.

Momentum killer

The resurgence of the Union was to be short lived, however, as the Union defense continued to collapse deep into their own penalty area. Benny Feilhaber took advantage of the space left at the top of the box to skip past Brian Carroll and bury a low drive to the right of a helpless MacMath.

Halftime Reboot

With the introduction of Danny Mwanga and Michael Farfan for Gabriel Farfan and Stefani Miglioranzi, the Union made their intentions clear as they chased the three goal deficit. They would not have to wait long as they forced waves of pressure onto the New England defense. While the Union spurned multiple chances as they attempted to engineer the perfect final ball, the pressure was showing and the breakthrough seemed inevitable. With a rare Revolution counterattack  stopped, the field became stretched and, in the 54th minute, Roger Torres quickly switched the field of play to Veljko Paunovic, who slid a clever pass into Danny Mwanga. Mwanga reacted quickly to guide the ball into the path of the onrushing Freddy Adu who composed himself before thumping the ball beyond Reis.

Clawing back

Nicol brought on Pat Phelan and Ryan Guy in an effort to stop the bleeding, but it would be the former that would help the Union back into the match in the 79th minute. The Union’s pressure was unceasing and their attack was reinvigorated following Adu’s goal, but whether it was Mwanga failing to trouble Reis with a shot from the top of the box, Torres fizzing a volley over the frame or Darrius Barnes doing just enough to keep Williams out, the Union were stymied in their efforts to cut the deficit to a single goal.

Still, with the unrelenting pressure came the inevitable breakthrough and in this instance, a long Williams’ throw was flicked toward the backpost by Califf, where Sebastien Le Toux was wrestled to the ground by Phelan, again giving the referee little choice but to point to the spot. Up stepped Le Toux to convert the penalty and he dutifully sent Reis the wrong way with a low drive to the back of the net, setting up a frantic finish at PPL Park.

Further misfortune then struck the Revolution when Phelan slid to ground as he applied pressure to the Union defense high up the pitch. Danny Califf did all he could to hurdle the prone player but his knee connected with Phelan’s head and Phelan stayed down for a number of minutes as he received treatment. While he ultimately, and fortunately, left the field under his own power, Phelan would play no further part in the match with New England finishing the contest down to ten men.

The equalizer

As the game pushed deep into stoppage time, the Union’s persistence finally was rewarded. Again the reward came from a Sheanon Williams throw in, this time with the headed clearance reaching only as far as Carlos Valdes at the top of the box. Valdes’ touch lofted the ball back into the mixer where Paunovic found the opening to knock the ball into Le Toux’s path. His vicious strike left Reis with no chance and blew the roof off of PPL Park.

The Union’s fourth goal of the night had brought them all the way back and while each side still found time to squander a golden opportunity in the dying moments of the game, each came away from this wide open and entertaining contest with a hard-fought point.