Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Most Union followers would probably say that the trade that sent Jack McInerney to Montreal and brought Andrew Wenger to Philly was ill-fated. While Jack Mac hasn’t exactly set the world alight on a terrible Montreal squad, he’s continued to score at his career rate, which is about a goal every other game.

Wenger, for his part, has done the same, which is to say, not score very often at all. Indeed, while his overall play has seen a fairly dramatic improvement over the last few weeks—his powerful and direct dribbling causing defenses all sorts of problems—his final ball has remained inconsistent. Indeed, Wenger’s assist for Sébastien Le Toux’s second goal against Montreal a few weeks ago was a pass poorly mishit behind Vincent Nogueira, which Le Toux just gobbled up opportunistically.

So, against San Jose on Sunday night, few expected the Man of the Match performance that Wenger put in. It started early. In the tenth minute, Conor Casey played Le Toux up the left touchline in the San Jose half. Wenger was on the opposite side of the field, but as Le Toux’s run took him wide, Wenger made a darting run across the field to toward the near post. Le Toux cut the ball back and fed Wenger inside the box. Wenger’s first touch took him what at first appeared to be too wide, but Wenger took a stutter step and whipped his hips around the ball, blasting a left-footed shot into the far-post side netting.

It was a classy move and a classier finish. It was also the sort of goal that Wenger had never produced for the Union, and the stadium erupted in surprise and glee. Fans could be forgiven for thinking it a fluke, but Wenger would go on to terrorize San Jose’s defense all game long. Time and again, Wenger got the ball on the left side and simply ate Ty Harden, the San Jose right back, for lunch. He had Harden for pace; he had Harden for power. And his final ball was dangerous. Wenger repeatedly skinned his man and sent dangerous low crosses into the box that teammates just couldn’t convert.

The Union would score a second, then give up two, allowing San Jose to tie things up. After Sheanon Williams had reasserted the Union’s lead in the 72nd minute, the game was poised. While San Jose appeared demoralized, any set piece or flukey goal could have stolen a point for the away side.

Everyone in the stadium knew that Wenger had the hot hand, and San Jose subbed in a new right back with fresher, faster legs, Shaun Francis, to protect against his running.

But it was all for naught. In the 79th minute, Wenger picked the ball up on the half way line. With Francis close, Wenger poked the ball past him and took off. Francis tried to body Wenger, then just tried to hold on, but nothing worked. Wenger bulled himself to the top of the 18-yard box and ripped a knuckling, right-footed toe poke past Jon Busch in San Jose’s goal, putting the game away for good.

It was another composed and confident—and unexpected—finish from Wenger, and the capper to what was a truly outstanding performance.

Outlier performances happen from time to time. Players perform well above their average capacity and then can never replicate it again. Perhaps that will be the case for Wenger, but the type of game he had wasn’t marked by chance or luck, or outrageous skill. It was a game in which Wenger finally made full use of his prodigious athleticism and allied it with better decision-making and more confident final touches.

It’s the sort of performance that could push his career to another level, and perhaps allow him to finally live up to his No. 1 draft pick status. It was a performance to build on.

You know you’ve had a good night when you’ve been the best player on the field by some distance, everyone on your team knows it and has been trying to get you the ball, and yet, the whole stadium feels like you still haven’t gotten the ball enough. Andrew Wenger had one of those nights on Sunday, and that’s why he’s PSP’s Player of the Week.

Honorable mention: Sébastien Le Toux. Three assists (though to call his pass for Wenger’s second an assist is maybe stretching it) and a goal ain’t too shabby, either. His volley for his goal was very well taken, requiring quick shifting of his feet to prepare for the ball’s arrival. The Le Toux revival continues.