Photo: Courtesy of Philadelphia Union

Given that he scored the only goal by a Philadelphia Union player, and he had no fault in the following stoppage time collapse, Fernando Aristeguieta was unanimously voted as PSP’s Player of the Week. It’s a bittersweet award given his team’s incompetence in defending set pieces, but in Kansas City, Aristeguieta continued to show his desire to succeed with the Union.

Aristeguieta made his initial mark on the game when he brilliantly headed Sebastien Le Toux’s free kick in from long range, all while getting wrestled to the ground by a certain Matt Besler (who like our starting goalkeeper, played in a certain tournament back in 2014). He was also instrumental as a set piece defender, with several clearing headers off of various long throws and set pieces.

Unfortunately, his day will probably be remembered for his ultimately unsuccessful 70 yard breakaway to set up a tremendous chance for the trailing Le Toux and Michael Lahoud, both of whom missed their shots. It was a moment that showed that for all of the qualities that Fernando possesses, speed certainly isn’t one of them.

His lack of speed aside, El Colorado has doubtlessly been Philadelphia’s strongest and most consistent performer thus far. He leads the league in both shots (19) and shots on target (9) while his 3 goals have him at second place behind Vancouver’s Octavio Rivero. It should also be noted that he was briefly tied for the team lead in goals behind Jamison Olave and Jacob Peterson, who have done well in their support for the Union cause with their respective own goals. He was able to recover however, and continues to lead his team in scoring. The way things are looking at the moment, he’ll probably do so for all of 2015.

To be blunt, the Philadelphia Union have been absolutely atrocious this year thanks to a combination of injuries, suspensions, poor goalkeeping, and the like. We can only imagine how much worse it would be if it weren’t for Fernando. For that, he is our player of the week.