Photo: 215pix
Cory Burke scored the only goal of the game as the Union saw off the Revolution in an ugly one at Talen Energy Stadium. The biggest plays of the match came when Burke scored a goal that had to be confirmed onside by the Video Assistant Referee, and another class performance from Andre Blake.
Player Ratings
Andre Blake – 8
A couple of top drawer saves kept the clean sheet as New England tried to find an equalizer in the second half. The saves on Penilla and then Agudelo were of the highest quality and locked down the points.
Keegan Rosenberry – 5
Hit or miss evening from a feisty Rosenberry. Had a couple of good forays up the right flank, particularly in the first half, but also whiffed a few clearances and misplayed a few balls at the wrong moment.
Jack Elliott – 8
Mark McKenzie made the bench after missing the last few weeks from injury, but won’t have an easy time getting his starting spot back. Elliott continued his good run of form and was the best defender on the field for the Union. Nine clearances and five recoveries for the Englishman on the night.
Auston Trusty – 6
A looser match from Trusty than we are used to seeing. Was his usual strong presence in the air, but struggled with his passing, perfectly illustrated by the one he kicked into touch and then screamed after toward the end of the first half.
Ray Gaddis – 6
A quiet night for the left back as he broke the Union’s all time record for minutes played. New England didn’t have much luck heading up his left side, and did make a few lung busting runs as the Union looked to break, but a night he’ll mostly remember for his record.
Haris Medunjanin – 6
Struggled to get free for most of the first half with New England doing their best to man mark the midfield trio out of the match. But found one of the best moments of quality in a dire match with the through ball to feed Burke in the second half.
Alejandro Bedoya – 6
Another hardworking shift from Bedoya. Struggled to find the ball much in the way Medunjanin and Dockal did, but another night of runs to create space, tireless defensive work, and smart soccer from the Union captain.
Borek Dockal – 5
New England did a good job taking away the Union playmaker on the night. Did well for spurts of the first half to combine with Burke and make inroads down the right, but it was sensible to sacrifice the #10 for the more defensive Jones in the second half.
Fafa Picault – 5
Quiet night for the speed merchant on the left. With New England containing the balls through the midfield, perhaps a more direct approach could have benefited Philly, but Picault could find little space to get behind for balls over the top. Ended the night with just one attempted cross.
C.J. Sapong – 5
On a night when New England took the midfield trio out of the game, more was needed from the Union wingmen to advance play and like Picault, Sapong wasn’t able to create much.
Cory Burke – 7
Seven goals in seven starts for Burke. Makes a great run to lead to his goal and tremendously smart to finish the play and put the ball in the net. Can point to a lack of service for fewer touches than his past few starts, but the quality at the big moment is what mattered against the Revs on Saturday.
Subs
Derrick Jones – 7
Strong cameo for the young midfielder. Broke up play well and used his physical presence to hold the ball and kill off the game. Good to see him with the confidence to ask the crowd for more late in the match.
Ilsinho – 7
Did well in possession and used his trickery to keep the ball, and kill off the clock, in the second half.
Warren Creavalle – n/a
Geiger Counter
Drew Fischer – 6
Got the biggest call of the match right by not blowing the whistle and allowing Burke to finish his breakaway. Before that, typical MLS mixed bag refereeing of missing some clear cut fouls but making sure every throw in was taken from the exact spot the ball went out.
Man of the match: Cory Burke
Seven goals in seven starts. The kid can score.
I agree with most of these, especially Elliott. Hard for McKenzie to get back in the lineup when Elliott is making MLS team of the week over and over again.
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I think Dockal is a little low here. He helped control possession in the midfield during the first half when the team as a whole was not at their best.
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6 is high for Fisher. He got the key call correct, but over and over again, he kept warning New England players to back up on Union free kicks but they kept standing over the ball and he never gave them a card for it. (It was funny one time how loud he yelled at them to “Get Back” that I could hear it as if my wife said it…but next time it was the same thing.)
I hear you on Fischer, and a 6 is high from me for a referee in MLS. But getting the goal correct was a big thing and probably bumped his rating 2-3 points on its own.
I agree with these, for the most part. I hear you on Fisher, but he made some egregious errors that, even with the correct call on the goal, should drag him into the 4-5 range.
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I have to say, I’m very happy with the depth the team is showing, and the competition for playing time that is pushing everyone to play better. Been a long time coming….
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Looking forward to seeing what the kids do against Rooney….
These are high numbers overall for a match in which the Union were largely sloppy and had difficulty connecting passes. I’d lower most of the midfield and frontline players by a point.
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This might be the first match of the year for which we can say that Blake truly saved us the points. He’s MOTM for sure (despite Burke’s outstanding run of form and his very nice finish).
Just give Blake a 10. He deserves it, if only for the importance of the performance. For a guy that routinely makes stunning athletic plays, he rose to the occasion in a game with very little – anemic – offense, he won us the game by keeping them off the board. This was a playoff-winning effort from the kid when the team needed it. Bravo, Andre. Bravo.
+1; he was stellar!
I think a 5 for Fafa and Sapong are a tad low. Twice Fafa beat his man to the line and dropped a pass back into open space in front of the goal with nobody making a run into that open space. One of the midfielder should recognize this and take advantage of this space created in the future.
Sapong I thought was starting to find his game with Corey and moved to the front of the goal as he almost scored if Burke could have gotten a little better cross to him. Replacing him with Ilsinho after he has worn down the defender has made for making Ilsinho seem even more dangerous. Ilsinho’s ability to hold the ball and kill off the game kept this game in the three point column instead of the late goal that they’ve been known to give up in the past.
How often have we’ve described the Union winning when they haven’t played that well?
I can see your argument but even though I think they both were decent, NE really focused on taking away the middle and the wings did not take advantage of that.
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Fafa constantly crosses to no one so I think you have to blame part of that on him. He races down the sideline so fast a crosses that no one has time to catch up. He needs to try and round the defender around the end line sometimes and get into even more dangerous positions.
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CJ missed (badly) yet another easy goal. I do like his play out on the wing so far because it has stabilized a lot of things, but man this team would be so dangerous with a winger that could actually score goals (cough..Accam..cough).
Accam seems even worse at scoring goals than CJ and is a defensive liability.
Yeah. I meant what he was supposed to be. Poorly worded on my part.