Photo: Paul Rudderow
As expected in a game between two of MLS’ worst sides playing on a football field after the international break, Saturday’s draw between Philadelphia Union and Minnesota United was a frantic and ugly game with little rhythm. After giving up an equalizer late in the first half, Philadelphia were unable to respond. After being dead offensively for much of the game, they failed to put any of their chances on goal as they pushed forward late.
Player ratings
Andre Blake — 7
A couple fantastic saves and powerful control of the box. Can’t be blamed for the goal and not too much to do overall.
Keegan Rosenberry — 5
Keegan being out there really does make a massive difference in how this team builds on offense. Still, his woes are not quite over and the second-year man was caught out of position a few times that could have given ended in a goal. It finally caught up to him as he, Onyewu, Creavalle, and Elliott were all partially culpable on Minnesota’ goal.
Jack Elliott — 5
The sort of quietly solid performance Union fans have come to expect. Did his usual work cleaning up messes and distributing the ball.
Oguchi Onyewu — 4
Looked uncomfortable from the opening whistle. Was really, really lucky to not see red.
Giliano Wijnaldum— 5
The tools are all there and you see the potential, but Gili needs to clean up his time on the ball. Still, he did a solid job blanketing Ethan Finlay all night. Honestly, it’s just refreshing to see a young player get a chance to mature out on the field.
Warren Creavalle — 7
Creavalle was terrific manhandling the middle of the field. He is incredibly consistent and really came into his role once Medunjanin pushed forward.
Haris Medunjanin — 6
Dictated the game with little help from his teammates. Can’t say it enough, but he needs a playmaker in front of him. Really should have put his chance on frame.
Ilsinho — 4
Just wasn’t finding the ball in the right spots and when he did he was content to give it away.
Chris Pontius — 5
Much more involved in possession and build-up, but again with little to show to for it. Put in his usual strong defensive shift.
Fafa Picault — 6
An active, albeit brief performance was rewarded with an assist and eventually hampered by the turnover (and lack of recovery) that led to Minnesota’s equalizer.
C.J. Sapong — 6
A solid game with a goal overshadowed by an absurd miss in the 20′. Did he think Pontius’ shot was going in?
Substitutes
Roland Alberg (57′) — 6
The usual: Came out with a fire beneath him and then quickly tapered off when he didn’t see the ball because, well, he’s not a No. 10. Missed very, very badly off a nice free kick play, but hit some rockets in stoppage time that just couldn’t find the back of the net.
Marcus Epps (79′) — 4
Didn’t do much in his 15 minutes.
Charlie Davies (90’+4) — N/A
Geiger Counter
Sorin Stoica— 6
Controlled the game well in a sloppy affair. Was kind to the Union with the VAR no-penalty call.
Broadcast
Just a side note and a shout out to Minnesota United, who handed their inaugural color commentary reigns to local soccer vet Kyndra de St. Aubin, the only woman in the broadcast booth in the league. For those who watched the game on MLS Live, de St. Aubin did a fantastic job and will hopefully open more doors for other female journalists across American sports.
Player of the Game
Warren Creavalle: Minnesota United’s issues are in the back, not up top, but Creavalle did extremely well to hamper any momentum going forward for the home side.
This team gives you nothing to root for.
In the situation we are in, there is no reason not to see Najem, Jones, Rosenberry, Epps, every game.
Hell, if it were me I would call up Trusty too and give him some starts.
Curtin talks the talk,but is still too “show me it in training!” old school and doesn’t want to accept his team sucks and he needs to give us something to care about.
Hey, 2% is still a mathematical probability to play in a little tournament at season’s end that can be used to say the 30 of 34 games which were essential failure of the beautiful game really do not matter therefore this was a success.
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I couldn’t agree more. As soon as I saw the starting lineup I decided to not even watch the game. I made the correct call. I’m done with the Union until next year if they keep sending guys out who won’t be on the team next year.
Keegan has significant defensive flaws in his game. really concerning.
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one might hear ole ole ole if they listened close enough.
Jim Curtin has ruined any confidence Keegan had. He will only get it back by playing games. I’d rather he make those mistakes in meaningless games.
So was Curtin obligated to play Rosenberry because his play was ass? When Keegan was not being played those games weren’t meaningless.
Maybe instead of letting Keegan rot for 3 months he should’ve been in Bethlehem getting 90 minutes. Sitting on the bench does nothing for a young player. The team wasted a whole year of development.
You would have complained he was playing in Bethlehem. The coulda would shoulda of Union fans is nigh infinite.
Maybe someone would have complained but who cares? Getting minutes somewhere is better than not getting minutes at all.
Curtin really getting great play out of Warren Creavalle will help the Union finish 9th rather than 10th this year.
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You guys think Year 3 of this 5 Year Plan will be any better?
It has to be. I think they’re very aware of empty seats, and more importantly, general apathy that has grown significantly this year. You can only ask for patience from us for so long.
Lotta money coming off the books, and Ernie hopefully is more acclimated to the MLS so…. mayyyybe… I don’t know.
Perhaps I was watching a different game by Rosenberry, but I thought he looked much better than those inconspicuous performances in the open cup games. Sure he gets lost in space and forces Medujanin to foul. I thought his reads in other portions of the game made up for it, intercepting passes and closing quickly when the ball went to the wings. He also wasn’t as loose with the ball, cleaning up his passing.
For me, any two-handed shove to the opponent’s back that knocks someone off balance is a foul.
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VAR may, over time, redefine what is and is not accepted as play on restarts in the box.
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It did not hurt that Stoica recognized that the Great Pyramid of Giza had been caused to move forward, a case when Gooch’s size and strength worked for him in a foul situation.
It was very interesting to see the replay so many times and see the shove from behind. Its not as disrupting as I thought it would be. But I guess I’m used to the nfl way of handling things!
These ratings are great. The U must’ve played great.
How much did we win by?
..at least we have a tattoo guy.