It wasn’t pretty, but a late Auston Trusty goal saw the Union move back into first place in the Eastern Conference, defeating Minnesota 3-2 on Sunday afternoon. After failing to beat Seattle, Portland, and Colorado at home, Philadelphia went on the road and became the first team to beat United in St. Paul after twice letting the hosts come back to tie the match. The result was probably the grittiest of the season for Jim Curtin’s men, who were thoroughly outplayed for portions of the match, their third in eight days.
Player Ratings
Andre Blake – 7
Finished with only four saves, but all of them were of the highest quality. Did well to come claim almost anything he could crossed into the box as well. Won’t like being beaten at his near post from distance on the Minnesota first.
Ray Gaddis – 4
Minnesota found a lot of room attacking the Union right side and Gaddis struggled to stem the tide. The right back did come up with three blocks, all within 12 yards of goal, including a huge one in the second half to save a good United scoring chance.
Jack Elliott – 5
In a helter-skelter match, Elliott put out a lot of fires – finishing with five recoveries, eight clearances and two blocked shots.
Auston Trusty – 6
What a time to come up with his first goal of the season. And an extremely well taken goal – superb control and no doubt about the finish. Also finished with nine clearances and 10 recoveries.
Kai Wagner – 5
Some good last ditch defending when it counted – five clearances inside the Union box – to go along with five blocked shots.
Haris Medunjanin – 5
Great free kick to finally net his first goal of the season. But like the other midfielders found himself chasing shadows and too easily turned over in bad places on the pitch.
Alejandro Bedoya – 4
The midfield bulldog looked tired playing his third game of the week. Bedoya, and the midfield diamond just couldn’t find a way to exert their possession style against a swarming United side.
Jamiro Monteiro – 5
Good composure to score his second penalty kick of the season (bumped him up from a 4 to a 5 for me). We’ve become so accustomed to Monteiro taking over the midfield in games, but United did a great job to win their battles with him. He also seemed off his passing game, missing a number of easy plays.
Brenden Aaronson – 4
Lots of running but not a lot of reward for the youngster. He struggled to find the match for one of the only times this season. Had one good chance to shoot from the edge of the area and fired into Row Z.
Sergio Santos – 6
Santos had the chance to be more active against a team that wasn’t bunkered in as deep as past Union opponents. He earned both the penalty and the free kick that Medunjanin scored from with his speed and ability to get to the ball. Should have finished his first half chance though – a goal that would have likely changed the match to give the Union a 2-0 lead.
Kacper Przybylko – 4
Jim Curtin talked about wanting Przybylko to stay a little higher up the field, but the striker was still forced to drop back to find the ball for large portions of the match. His chemistry with Santos is still a work in process, but the two could compliment each other well given Kacper’s size and hold up play and Santos ability to run behind.
Subs
Marco Fabian – 3
Felt like it was the right move to bring in Fabian on 63 minutes for Santos. But the Mexican found little room to operate and could not help the Union gather possession further up the field.
Warren Creavalle – 3
With the Union being over run in the midfield, Creavalle arriving in the 70th minute was supposed to help clog the center. But it didn’t and his introduction did little to slow the Minnesota attack.
Ilsinho – 7
Another moment of brilliance for the second half ace. Arriving in the 86th minute, the Brazilian floated a beautiful ball into the box that Trusty expertly dispatched.
Man of the Match – Andre Blake
Came up with the saves when they counted.
Geiger Counter
Allen Chapman – 3
Slow to the whistle, Chapman never quite had a handle on the match. The time-wasting cards seemed harsh after some of the other shenanigans we’ve seen at Talen this season. Got the PK call right, though Santos might have had two or three more fouls drawn on a different day.
Fabián’s score a little harsh. looked a little more commanding and confident than recent subs, but the walls were caving in around him. wish he made more of an impact. hope he gets at least a starting 60 next outing. frustrating to see no growth/gelling
Hopefully he’ll get 60 against the cows and then 90 in the Open Cup game. Curtin recently mentioned that he was rushed back a bit too quickly for the Toronto game and reaggravated his injury.
I don’t think Fabian will be available against NJRB as he has left the Union to join up with Mexico for the Gold Cup.
Agreed – Fabian was better than a 3. He did move to the ball and find some nice passes when the ball was in the offensive end. It just wasn’t there much for the last 25 minutes. Cant do a lot as #10 in your own end. He has to start sat.
seems harsh for sure.
Fair scores for the most part. Glad to see that the midfield rather than the defense was rightly downgraded for failing to keep possession. Probably would have given an additional point to Santos. Failing to finish after carrying the ball 70 yards is much more forgivable than failing to finish when you receive the ball inside the box.
agreed. that run was fantastic. a finish would’ve been amazing
Santos also whiffed on a beautiful cross from Kacper. So there were 2 great opportunities he missed in this match.
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OTOH, he drew the PK, and he also drew the foul that resulted in Medunjanin’s free kick goal. And he was generally active and sometimes in good positions. I think a 6 is exactly what he deserves.
For it being one of the most fun matches to watch think all the scores are too low (except Ilsinho’s and Kasper’s).
defending in the zone way too much. the record-setting defending was offset by the fact they put themselves in that situation, repeatedly. the second half equalizer was a long time coming. in my eyes, almost everyone took a point dip based on the failure to control that half.
Respectfully disagree Guido. Game was way too open with way too many clearances to no one. It was very ugly game and we were lucky to come away with the win.
Agree on the ratings. I think I’m going to be a founding member of the Przybylko lobby. I see him doing a lot of really good things every match. Might be my favorite player at the moment. He’s so involved in play going both ways. He was so close to scoring a couple times, too. I’d give him at least a 5.
How astonishing to watch Santos put distance between himself and a chasing defender WITH THE BALL. Whether it was Chaco in the Open Cup Final against Seattle or Ilsinho against someone I can’t recall right now, it’s rare to have a Union player go full field and win like that.
LOL- I think that was Yedlin that chased down Chaco in that final, wasn’t it? Maidana looked like he was carrying a piano. That had all the suspense of Betty White with a 10 yard head start racing a cheetah.
Remember the moment well. Had to laugh when the broadcast team for the match (not Union homers) were gushing about how fast Yedlin was in catching Chaco. When any Union fan knew Chaco was not going to outrun anyone in that situation.
individual scores are not as important as the team playing together with intuition and confidence, each player’s performance is dependent on service,passing and support. I’m encouraged by the team performance, subbing, and coaching. doop
thank you jim curtin for giving your team a chance to win by subbing ilsinio in the final minutes of the game. things were looking very bleak before he saved the day. thank you ernst for seeing his value to the union.
86′ incredibly late to bring on the one guy who was an actual game-changer. Old Jim habits still exist
Except we were winning until like the 80′.
Way to high on Blake. Both goals could have been saved, especially by the “best” shot stopper in MLS.
Disagree. The first goal was placed with surgical precision, bouncing in off the inside of the post. If it’s a few inches to the right, Blake stops it, and if it’s a few inches to the left it caroms out. And the second goal was point blank.
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Meanwhile there was the series of fantastic stops mentioned above, plus his aggressive play coming out to grab crosses etc. I think a 7 is exactly right. And I think most observers would disagree with your assessment, since Blake made the MLS Team of the Week.
Yeah, clearly basically everyone is disagreeing with me, but he was late on both goals and honestly only 1 of his saves was impressive. Granted I’m grading on a big curve here, but I though the defenders getting the body in the way bailed him out a couple times and I just expect more.
Unsure about the Creavalle rating—I think he deserves another point for his work setting up the Trusty goal. The highlights don’t do it justice but he did uncharacteristically well pulling defenders to free up Ilsinho before passing to him.
I think the ratings are spot-on this week. I thought they would be inflated by the victory, but they show a fair balance of each player’s contribution (except maybe for Fabiàn deserving a little higher).
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Man, when Monteiro came out for Ilsinho so late in the match, I was stratching my head. “Jim, you’re bringing him on NOW?? And taking off our best player??” And all it did was get us 3 points. Jim, I was calling for your head when the season started, but now I raise my glass to you, sir!