Player of the Week / Union Academy

Players of the week: Union U17s

Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union

Philadelphia lost 2-0 at home to New York City FC. Bethlehem travelled to Harrisburg but left all three points in the capital city and fell 3-2.

It was a lousy week of soccer for the professional teams of the Union.

An amateur team, however, deserves recognition.

Philadelphia Union’s U17 squad travelled to Frisco, TX for the final round of the Generation Adidas Cup. After qualifying, the team ended up in Group B with Monterrey, New England Revolution, and Chicago Fire. With four groups, only the winner of each would advance to the semifinals.

The Union’s first game came against New England. Philadelphia controlled the match and the scoreline read 5-0 at full time.

In the second match, the blue and gold took on Monterrey. The Mexican side had beaten Chicago 3-1 in their first contest, setting up the pivotal game of the group stage. Philadelphia earned a 2-1 victory thanks in part to a late stoppage time goal and a red card shown to Monterrey early in the second half.

Brenden Aaronson scored both goals for the Union. It gave him a total of four through the first two games.

Philadelphia needed only a point to advance as they concluded group play against Chicago. Instead, they took all three. Iverson Brisma provided the decisive goal and Chad Letts scored his third in as many games. With a 2-1 victory, the Union took all nine points from group play.

The semifinal saw Philadelphia take on Tigres UANL. Despite another red card to their Mexican opposition, the Union failed to score and lost 2-0.  In the third place match, San Jose Earthquakes earned a 1-0 victory.

Despite the finish, the U17s can hold their heads high. It was a performance that merits respect. They are PSP’s players of the week.

Previous Winners

3 Comments

  1. el Pachyderm says:

    I watched each game available via stream and actually feel like the game they lost against Tigres was the best they played in possession, shape and off ball movement. There were some really quality ideas…then the Mexican team stopped fucking around and decided to pretty well dominate.
    .
    The game against Monterrey, in high winds was really challenging as the press from Monterrey caused havoc and almost zero possession for the Union kids…even when Monterrey went down a man. Yes they beat Monterrey but…hmm unconvinced there.
    .
    Otherwise they dominated the MLS teams it seems which I suppose is a good thing. Congratulations Chris Brewer.

  2. Old Soccer Coach says:

    Good choice, Nick.

  3. Andy Muenz says:

    “Philadelphia controlled the match and the scoreline read 5-0 at full time.”
    .
    I’m assuming that the Union team won. With the first team I could see them dominating but losing 5-0.

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