Photo: Paul Rudderow
After a sleepy and sloppy first 30 minutes from the Union, a goal from Brenden Aaronson woke the squad up and lifted them to a 3-0 over the New York Red Bulls. A great second half performance helped the Union easily handle an under performing New York team.
Unto the ratings….
Player Ratings
Andre Blake – 6
Not much for Blake to do on the night with the Red Bulls not registering a shot on goal. Wasn’t challenged on corners or crosses into the box, kept his positioning solid.
Ray Gaddis – 7
Good night defensively for Gaddis with New York deciding to attack down Mbazio’s side. Got up into the attack on occasion and wasn’t really tested by the Red Bull attack.
Jakob Glesnes – 8
Gets an extra point for coming off the bench and playing shut down defense. Blocked shots, stayed with his man and shut down passing lanes.
Mark McKenzie – 7
Had one bad giveaway that lead to a Red Bull chance early on, but recovered nicely. Like Glesnes, wasn’t really tested and shutdown the few opportunities Red Bull had.
Olivier Mbaizo – 8
Red Bull decided to attack Mbazio thinking he was the weak link. Shut down Daniel Royer for the most part and was solid defensively. Pushed up into the attack, something he couldn’t do against Columbus.
Jose Martinez – 7
A pretty quiet night for El Brujo, which is probably a good thing. Strung passes into the attack and made sure New York didn’t get the counter going. Avoided a yellow card which is huge.
Alejandro Bedoya – 7
A quiet start to the game for the captain, created Aaronson’s goal from a beautiful pass. Looked more energized in the second half, creating the play that lead to Kacper Przybylko’s strike.
Jamiro Monteiro – 4
A fatigued and frustrated Monteiro just isn’t good. Seemed out of sync with his teammates and only occasionally pressure the ball. A deserved sub in the 60th minute.
Brenden Aaronson – 8
An extra point for the long distance strike from the kid, something we haven’t really seen from him. Pressed the Red Bull defense and midfield and linked midfield well with the attack.
Sergio Santos – 5
Not much to go off of for Santos, leaving early in the first half with injury. Passed to Przybylko this time after a nice run, ball may have been slightly behind him.
Kacper Przybylko – 7
Another goal for the friendly striker, made some dangerous runs into the box. Probably wishes he had Santos’ cross back, but overall a good night.
Subs
Andrew Wooten – 6
Hard for Wooten to get into the game coming into the match on short notice. Didn’t do much but made some good runs and crosses, played a beautiful cut pass to Przybylko for the tap in goal.
Ilsinho – 6
Came in to be greeted with double teams, as is normal now. Played at the 10 role coming on for Aaronson, played a nice ball in for Matt Real to smash home.
Matt Real – 7
Real wasn’t too happy to start on the bench, which makes a nice time to slam home your first MLS goal. Wasn’t tested defensively and a better attack option than Mbazio.
Anthony Fontana – 6
Brought some energy onto the field which was needed after the second goal. Set up the Real goal by creating a turnover and dishing to Ilsinho.
Player of the Match – Alejandro Bedoya
Looked tired for a few games, and after a short rest the captain is back. Two assists on the night is hard to beat, his second half was much better than the first.
Geiger Counter
Robert Sibiga – 6
Not too many calls for the referee in the match, stayed consistent and didn’t produce any cards. No big missed calls. A solid night
Not quite sure I agree with this comment on Wooten…”Didn’t do much”. He also had the secondary assist on the Aaronson goal. Not sure how much more you want than two assists.
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Note that Gaddis and Aaronson would have had tertiary assists on the first two goals if they gave those. It was nice to see two goals that were the result of multiplayer setups like that.
Agreed, and let’s not forget Wooten’s fantastic cross to set up Fontana’s late chance.
Any news on Sergio’s condition ?
I was pretty damned impressed with Fontana in his brief stint on the field. Created the pressure that led to Real’s goal, and just looked lively and active. Hoping he gets outta Jim’s doghouse so we can see more of him.
Not to mention he had a cracker of a shot that bounced off the woodwork. All in all ai thought it was a good day for Fontana and I wouldn’t mind seeing more of him.
I guess I am seeing something else when it comes to Mbaizo because I thought he looked a little shaky and out of his depth when the Red Bulls actually got their shit together and attacked. He allowed 4 or 5 crosses into the box from his wing / defensive area (not just from memory, you can look up the stats) including the one where their guy missed an absolute sitter !
He also lost 4 out of 6 tackles in his own half. Too many times he just whacked the ball blindly away downfield instead of looking for a teammate. To give him 8 / 10 feels way off to me.
I’m not hating on the kid, I just don’t get why everyone is fawning over his game when there were many defensive shortcomings – the crosses especially are woriesome. A better team that doesn’t have clowns for strikers could have scored two or three goals from his wing alone. A good team will destroy him if he doesn’t tighten up those areas. Please don’t just react and gnash your teeth. Watch the WHOLE GAME not just the highlights and focus on his play alone, then you can scream at me (LOL).