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Stop here if you’ve heard this before: A Union team bent on possessing the ball were scored on against the run of play…

Or this: A runner found space between the Union’s center back and fullback, punishing the Boys in Blue for their miscommunication…

Now, keep reading if you’ve rarely read this before:

The Union possessed the ball, made their usual set of defensive mistakes, and still found their themselves victorious by delivering the knock-out punch they’ve had such difficultly in throwing in 2018. That was the story from sunny Chester, PA over the weekend and here are the player ratings.

Player ratings

Andre Blake – 4

The Union talisman had little to do on Saturday besides take goal kicks and pick the ball out of his net. He was the lowest rated player on the entire Union team (according to whoscored.com), namely because one out of every three touches he had ended up in United hands (feet) and one out of every two shots he faced ended up as a goal. Not a great day, despite the win.

Keegan Rosenberry – 4

Rosenberry and the rest of the Union midfield did some truly productive attacking on Saturday. As Adam Cann pointed out, he was one of four Union men playing Right Wing.

“That’s a bold strategy, Cotton. Let’s see how it plays out for ’em.”

In fact, Rosenberry was listed in his usual Right Back position and was among the team’s best in possession and passing. He gets a below-average score for two reasons: any defender on a line who gives up two goals should know he didn’t have his best game, and in both instances Rosenberry had some fault: the first, when he let himself be eliminated as a passing option for Jack Elliott because of his positioning too far up the line, and the second when he could have closed down the crosser (and, yes, lost some of the team’s shape) but instead waved Fafa Picault to cover instead, resulting in ample time for the D.C. attacker and the resulting wonder-cross that said time afforded.

Jack Elliott – 4

Back in the XI after missing some matches to injury, Elliott had an unspectacular game. His score is mostly a result of his errant pass that led to a final-third turnover and United’s first goal. His reaction with the ball in the net suggests he knew the fault was initially his, and though he was solid in the air (after having a few bad matches in that regard before going off injured), defenders are judged by few other things than goals against.

Auston Trusty – 4

Smooth on the ball and stout in the air, the rookie’s score is below average for his mistakes on both goals: stepping to a less-than-50/50 ball on the first and ceding fatal space behind him on the first, and getting caught ball-watching while his man glided in behind him on the second.

Raymon Gaddis – 4

Gaddis had his typical day on the left side: he was solid 1v1, did his best in adding to the attack (actually a solid contribution, all things considered), but found himself on the wrong shoulder of the attacker on both United goals.

Alejandro Bedoya – 6

Alejandro Bedoya looked his “Captain America” self on Saturday, and it was about time. He and his midfield mates appeared as though they understood what the others might be doing AND finally turned that understanding into actual goals. His assist on C.J. Sapong’s 2nd of the season was vintage Bedoya: his pass wasn’t the prettiest of the sequence (that honor goes to Haris Medunjanin), nor was he the one who wrote his name on the score sheet.

For Bedoya, his contribution was as “the guy behind the guy behind the guy.”

Haris Medunjanin – 6

D.C.’s press threatened to break the Union all afternoon. After the visitor’s early goal, that threat was clear and present. Medujanin was there to open the release valve, a metronomic presence all afternoon in linking up 97% of his passes. His score will always be limited by his defensive contributions, which were few and occasionally guffaw-able. However, in this delicately balanced Union midfield, someone else will just have to step up on his behalf.

Until then, let the man pass.

Ilsinho – 8

The list of Union players capable of an afternoon like the Brazilian had on Saturday is short. Boreck Dockal certainly has the vision and David Accam the requisite guile. Right now, neither offer the kind of consistently defense-paralyzing combination that Ilsinho brought on the afternoon. Finally his teammates were moving into space for him, and the difference it made in the winger’s game was profound: 2nd most shots on target, dribbles, and key passes on the team.

Boreck Dockal – 8

The reader may recall the Union’s long and winding search for a #10 this offseason, and the subsequent hand-wringing when said player arrived and looked like yet another of the misfit toys on Union Island. For one day, at least, Union fans can eschew wringing for clapping. Dockal wasn’t perfect, but he asserted himself all day in United’s half of the field, relentlessly searching for the final pass as well as a goal of his own. Though an assist never came, his first tally in Union hoops will be remembered as the kind of strike that only a slightly cocky man with a chip on his shoulder might ever even attempt, let alone score.

(For historical reference, please accept this submission of a “slightly cocky man with a chip on his shoulder.”)

David Accam – 6

Accam was a buzzsaw on the wing, the kind of assertive afternoon Union fans hoped he might have when he arrived on Super Bowl Sunday. None of his five shots hit their target, but he offered two key passes in the final third and enough possession to quiet some of the supporter’s groaning (even if only for a week).

C.J. Sapong – 6

Give the man his due: a bunkered United side made every ball in the air a difficult one for C.J. Sapong to even find, let alone win. But win he did, with the most aerials won on the team, in addition to his side’s crucial second goal. If the narrative goes, “the Union midfield are starting to learn each other’s tendencies and will be better as the season goes,” then Sapong’s subplot will sound something like this: “If there comes a time when the target forward doesn’t also have to play the hold up man, the winger, and the creator, Union fans might end up with a striker whose capabilities far exceed anything they’ve seen before.”

(For those keeping score at home, one of Sapong’s shots on goal over the weekend came from outside the 18-yard box. Without a super computer at this site’s disposal, it’s difficult to say on what date that happened prior.)

Substitutes

Fafa Picault (for Ilsinho, 68′) – 4

Picault didn’t see much of the ball in his 25 minutes of work, and he didn’t do much with it when he got it. His passing percentage was lowest on the team by any field player and, though he brought his usual energy and acceleration, he’ll have to add another dimension to his running if he hopes to find a spot in the starting XI again. United had him figured out and bottled up.

Cory Burke (for David Accam, 82′) – 5

Cory Burke is lean, strong, and assertive with the ball. Though his touch is never quite right, it gets him in the right spots more often than not. It’s unclear exactly how he should be deployed for the Union right now, though, because he’s struggling to exert himself in games with only 10 minutes to do so.

His floor is probably former Union man, Brian Brown. His ceiling could be much higher.

Warren Creavalle (for Borek Dockal, 88′) – N/A

Dockal got his curtain call and Curtin made his expected, if not anticipated, defensive substitution (it was only for a minute or two, but it technically counts). Creavalle didn’t have a single touch in his brief cameo. His performance, then, might be entitled, “Modern Soccer: Playing without the ball.”

Geiger counter

Armando Villareal – 5

Villareal was a bit inconsistent, may have missed a hand ball in the box on Jack Elliott’s second half shot, and seemed to forget that many players on Ben Olsen-coached teams inexplicably fall down. In the end, though, the match was decided by the play on the field and not the official’s whistle. In Major League Soccer, that’s enough.

Player of the game

Ilsinho

This award should probably go to Borek Dockal for a number of reasons: passing, shooting, and scoring. It goes, instead, to the jaunty jogador because his change of pace and poise on the ball most thoroughly undid the wall of defenders that is Benny Ball. So different was his contribution to the player who replaced him that his performance must be recognized.