Photo: Marjorie Elzey

On Sunday night the Philadelphia Union hit the road to play the Montreal Impact… at Red Bull Arena. The Union were forced to make a few changes to their lineup due to yellow card accumulation, injury, and just keeping players fresh for their next match versus Cincinnati which comes up quickly on Wednesday.

After a sloppy start, a 16th minute (and deserved) red card by the Impact’s Romell Quioto changed the complexion of the game.  Up a man and facing an opponent on short rest with tired legs, the Union eventually wore down Montreal in the second half for a comfortable 4-1 victory. 

Player Ratings

Andre Blake — 5

Blake had no chance on the free kick goal. He only faced three shots on goal so had a relatively quiet night.  There were a couple of mix-ups in the box but fortunately did not come back to haunt the team.  

Olivier Mbaizo — 4

Back at his natural position on the right wing, Mbaizo often found himself out of position on defense as he was aggressive going forward and pinching in.  This issue  seemed to be ironed out over halftime.  Some of his passes were a bit sloppy but overall brought a lot of energy to the match.

Jakob Glesnes — 5

Pretty solid game for Glesnes. His long passes were not as spot on as in the prior week versus New England, especially early in the match.  Overall for the back line, they earned an open-play shutout.

Mark McKenzie — 8

A typical, seemingly effortless defensive outing for McKenzie. He also got his first MLS assist with a perfect through ball to Aaronson enroute to the Union’s second goal.  Then later left a ball back to Fontana for the fourth goal.  But his most important play of the game was harassing and frustrating Romell Quioto while on the ball.  McKenzie earned a forearm shiver to the chin but Quioto earned a straight red thus changing the entire complexion of the game.

Matt Real — 6

Had two great crosses that led to goals.  That second one that Przybylko ultimately headed in was sublime.  As a side note  –  it was the Union’s first headed goal of the season. He has been a more than adequate fill-in for Wagner and deserves playing time on the left wing.

Warren Creavalle — 4

Creavalle was Creavalle.  He does not add much to buildup and plays OK defense.  He did seem to be further upfield than we are used to seeing.  His foul led to the goal scoring free kick.

Alejandro Bedoya — 7

A typical workmanlike effort for him and as a bonus he scored a goal and just missed another.  Was all over the field and seemed even sharper than usual within his passing.

Jamiro Monteiro — 5

Monteiro led the team with 89 touches and 67 passes with a 88% pass completion rate.  Yet despite all this activity he is not the connecting force we envisioned when brought on as a DP.  Monteiro also strayed away from the end of the wall allowing the space through which the Impact’s lone goal was scored.

Brenden Aaronson — 7

Aaronson certainly did his job as a creator.  He earned an assist and a 96% pass completion rate and just missed a goal for himself.  Every time he touched the ball good things seemed to happen.  A good night aggressively working the press too.

Kacper Przybylko —  7

The striker continues his roll of good form, this time scoring a brace including the aforementioned ethereal header.  Just a great all around performance by the big striker.

Andrew Wooten — 3

Not sure what the deal is with Wooten.  He just cannot get into any groove.  He did earn an assist on Bedoya’s goal but that should probably be chalked up to luck.  The Union don’t have too many options up top with the oft injured Santos and Ngalina unable to get on the pitch, but it may be time to move on.

Substitutes

Ilsinho — 6

Ilsihno must have smelled blood on the pitch as he has never had as much energy as we witnessed Sunday night – including an attempted header where both feet actually left the ground.  

Sergio Santos — 4

Santos did not contribute much in a short run but did stretch his legs a bit for Wednesday’s game in which he will presumably start.

Fontana – 7

Mr. Offense came in at  halftime and had a near miss followed by his third goal in just 70 minutes of playing time over the past two games.  For those of you who are curious, that extrapolates to 131 goals over a full season.  How is he not playing more? Huh?

Cole Turner, Jack de Vries – N/A

Geiger counter

Alan Kelly –6

Kudos to Kelly for going to VAR to review the elbow by Quioto and changing the initial yellow card to a red.  A well called game overall.  

Player of the game

Mark McKenzie

Difficult not to pick Przybylko after he scored a brace – but strikers are supposed to score goals, right.  McKenzie played his usual solid defense, caused a red card –  but man, that pass to Aaronson. Center backs aren’t supposed to do that.