Photo: Marjorie Elzey
Looking to rebound from their first loss of the MLS season, the Philadelphia Union fought to a 1-1 draw with the Montreal Impact at Subaru Park on Saturday afternoon. Philadelphia jumped out to an early lead, as Julian Carranza earned a penalty and converted the spot kick. Montreal later equalized on a counter attack finished by Kei Kamara.
On to the ratings.
Player Ratings
Andre Blake – 6
Not much Blake could have done on the Montreal goal, and wasn’t tested that much otherwise. Made a good save on a Montreal corner but mostly an inactive night for the keeper.
Nathan Harriel– 6
Harriel wasn’t caught out defensively much, but wasn’t involved in the attack as much as the Union needed him to be. Overall, he did a pretty good job containing Montreal’s playmakers.
Jack Elliott – 6
An alright game for the backline as a whole, especially for Elliott. He had some good clearances out of the back but was caught in between two attackers on Montreal’s goal.
Jakob Glesnes– 5
Similar to Elliott in his general effectiveness, but more of a 5.5 rating for Glesnes. The Norwegian had some good clearances but lost Kamara on the goal and wasn’t able to recover as quickly as he normally does.
Kai Wagner– 6
An okay outing for Wagner on the left, who offered some good balls in attack and recovered defensively but wasn’t noticeable for large parts of the game.
Leon Flach – 4
This was a match that particularly showed Flach’s weakness in the offense. He had a great chance to set up another Union goal but misplayed the pass to both attackers and struggled to get into the offense much beyond that.
Alejandro Bedoya – 5
A lot of running for the captain but not much to show for it, and not a lot of stand out moments on the night.
Daniel Gazdag – 6
Gazdag had a pretty good outing in setting up chances for the offense, but seemed to mis-hit a few passes for the strikers.
Jose Martinez – 5
Seemed a step slow on some of the Montreal counter attacks, and got a needless yellow card later in the game.
Julian Carranza – 6
Carranza did well to earn the penalty and convert it, but was a step too slow on other chances to grab the second goal.
Mikael Uhre – 6
Uhre does well in helping set up teammates for opportunities, which all just lacked a finish. Needs to start getting himself in positions to finish chances.
Subs
Cory Burke – 4
A short 20 minute stint for Burke, who seemed to get the ball stuck in his feet and was slow to play to open teammates.
Jack McGlynn – 5
Also a short 20 minute span for McGlynn, who showed some flashes in offense but nothing overly involved.
Paxten Aaronson – N/A
Played the final 4 minutes to try and find a winner.
Player of the Match – Kei Kamara
Scored the game winner and was a thorn in the Union’s side all of the second half. He brought the Montreal offense to life and was a much needed sub from Wilfred Nancy.
Geiger Counter
Lukasz Szpala – 4
The Union penalty probably wasn’t a penalty to begin with, and Szpala gave out too many unnecessary cards. An up and down performance from the young ref.
How did Martinez get the nickname El Brujo ? Because when I think of a Wizard in sports, I think of someone who can make things happen that others can’t. And he’s the furthest thing from that. Offensively he might be one of the worst players on the team. He can’t pass. He can’t shoot. He’s had one notable offensively play that I can think of off the top of my head that was impressive, and it was a goalie blunder that actually caused it so.
Dude really needs to step his passing game up. I mean tbf most of the team does as well, but he sticks out like a sore thumb.
He’s got a 4 from me, and that’s only because he is decent defensively.
Gasdag should have been give a 4. As a number 10 he should have passed a lot better. Curtin should also have been given 4 for the late subs. 2nd half was screaming out for getting more subs in earlier.
My man…
I think our best sub to change that game a bit was unavailable: Sergio Santos. But I agree on getting the midfield kids in there a little earlier. It would be nice to try and play for a little possession when the opposing team is also trying to play on the counter.
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I thought Gazdag did fine given his circumstances. When you’re playing this style, when the ball is played as often as possible over the heads of your midfield, your 10 is only going to get the ball at his feet so many times. He clearly needs time to get on the same page as Uhre. He works better with Carranza, the result of more time in training, for sure.
I seem to be in the minority on Gazdag’s performance Saturday. To me he was our best player on the field. All the things that we’ve all complained about from our rotating door of 10s(except aaronson, dockel, barnetta), he was not guilty of. I saw a man who was flashing in the middle of the field calling for the ball. I saw a player taking some contested touches and probing the defense. I saw a 10 who is not far from putting some truly dangerous balls into the box for our new strikers to bury. No he wasn’t perfect and yes some of his passes seemed just plain missed but I’m chalking some of those up to a lack of chemistry with the 2 forwards that he’s had almost no time playing with. It’s ok to be critical right now and it usually takes guys a year to acclimate to mls but I think we’re about 6 weeks away from this offense becoming very dangerous. In the meantime I’ll be in 101 watching our defense buy our offense the time it needs to figure it out.
I think Kai might be a bit high this week. Glesnes gets docked for “losing” Kamara on the goal, but the cross wouldn’t of been possible if Kai hadn’t done what contributed to Mbaizo losing his starting job. (Over committing to trying to intercept and not getting a piece of the ball)
I’m not seeing enough offence from the forwards. Mikael Uhre for example, since coming on board this season seems a bit slow commiting to the ball & ends up doing alot of chasing. I know it takes awhile for new players to get comfortable w/ new teammates. But he’s late in getting forward to be ready to score. Credit, he’s had an assist or two but we need goal scorers if we want to get to the top at the end of the season.
I left the game feeling that the better midfield started on the bench. I really think we’d do better with McGlynn, Aaronson, and Sullivan replacing Flach, Gazdag, and Bedoya.
I can’t agree on Aaronson over Gazdag based on what I saw when Aaronson played with Union II a couple of weeks ago. He did not look strong enough yet to get serious minutes with the Union.
Agreed, I’d like to see Aaronson more but Gazdag to me is a stronger player. I would like to see Bedoya subbed more. Love the guy but like to see the kids more than 4 to 5 minute!
Kamara didn’t score the game winner goal. A goal to tied the game, yes, but I still agree with being the player of the match. He was the player to ignite the offence for Montreal. IMO the way I was hoping our fabulous three would start igniting our offense. It is only a matter of time! DOOP!