Photo: Marjorie Elzey
The Union kept their winning streak alive and well with a 1-0 win over Orlando City on Saturday night, extending their current streak to a run of 4 games.
It was a game of minimal scoring chances and few attacking sequences, which suited Philadelphia’s style of play. VAR also played a pivotal role in the match, allowing Daniel Gazdag’s goal and intervening in stoppage time to settle an Orlando City penalty claim.
On to the ratings.
Player Ratings
Andre Blake – 7
Not much for the goalkeeper to do on the night, but had most of his angles covered and was in position to make saves.
Olivier Mbaizo– 6
Another start for Mbaizo recently, who is being re-introduced to try and help offensively. Did get in advanced positions throughout the match, but was caught too far up on defensively responsibilities and looked to be the weak link on the back line.
Jack Elliott – 7
A good night for the big man in the center of defense after returning from a knee injury. Was caught out of position on Orlando’s good chance in the first half, but did recover slightly. Made some good blocks and clearances to keep Orlando at bay.
Jakob Glesnes – 7
A similar outing to Elliott for the big Norwegian, who also picked up an assist on Gazdag’s goal. Plenty of blocks and good recoveries on the night.
Kai Wagner– 7
A hockey assist for Wagner on the Gazdag goal and wasn’t caught out defensively during the match.
Jose Martinez – 6
Had to take a early yellow card to cover defensively, which causes him to miss the next match. Did well to recover on most occasions, but hit some wayward passes. Appeared to pick up a slight injury in the second half leading to his exit.
Jack McGlynn – 6
A couple good passes for the homegrown filling in for Alejandro Bedoya. Linked midfield and defense well and was involved in most areas of the match.
Daniel Gazdag – 7
Another goal for Gazdag on the season, notching his 10th for the game winner. Got lucky with VAR at the end of the match but was doing well combining with Carranza and Uhre up top.
Leon Flach – 6
A good outing for the young midfielder, who switched to a more defensive role when Martinez was subbed out. Did well making recovery tackles and keeping the Orlando attack in front of him.
Mikael Uhre – 5
Not too involved in the match from the Dane. Was getting open for Gazdag’s passes but wasn’t really finding any looks towards goal.
Julian Carranza – 5
Similar to Uhre in having trouble finding good looks. Had a good attempt on a header from a corner that was blocked and tried the long distant effort in the first half, other than that there was not much from the attack.
Subs
Paxten Aaronson – 5
A productive 20 minutes for Aaronson, had a look at goal which he put just wide and helped see out the win.
Quinn Sullivan – N/A
A brief 10 minute spell for Sullivan as a concussion sub for Cory Burke.
Chris Donovan- N/A
A late sub for Carranza to help see out the win with fresh legs.
Cory Burke – N/A
Hard to rate Burke coming into a game with little offense, and then picking up a concussion 15 minutes after coming on. Here’s to a quick recovery.
Player of the Match – Daniel Gazdag
When Philadelphia needs a goal, it’s usually Gazdag who is finding the net. His team-leading 10th goal was all the Union needed for the win.
Geiger Counter
Alex Chilowicz- 5
An even called game from the man in orange with the whistle. Gave out cards for worthy fouls and ultimately got the VAR decisions correct.
I disagree a little on McGlynn. He’s a great passer, but seems lethargic and slow defensively. I guess we have to hope he’s another Pirlo, who had the same qualities, but I worry he might not up to requirements.
He just turned 19. If any team is going to get him fit and faster, it’s this one. He has plenty of room to grow physically.
It should be noted that while Martinez’ yellow was “forced”, he was also the one responsible for putting himself in the position to take it, first with a poor attempt at recycling a corner kick and then with a poor job controlling the ball when it came to him on the subsequent clearance.
Agree totally! Also, not sure his injury is “minor.” The fact that he asked to be taken out, and was holding his side, says “broken rib(s)” to me. I guess we’ll know in two weeks, after his suspension.
I have to respectfully disagree on the Geiger Counter and with many of our fans on various message boards. The Gazdag goal was too close but I have to believe that Chilowicz had a frame that showed him on otherwise why change the call. But objectively, I believe that should have been a foul on Gazdag at the end of the game. I also understand the argument that they were holding each other’s jerseys. But if this were the other way around and the Union were pushing for a late stoppage time equalizer at home and Gazdag went up for a header, at point blank range, and was being dragged down with both hands by an Orlando player I think many of you would be livid.
I recently got into an discussion with a NYFC fan about why many MLS fans have such disdain for NYFC and their fans. He was baffled when I informed him that it wasn’t because of how “great” his team was. I compared Castellanos rolling around on the ground holding his face as if he just had acid thrown on it because he went shoulder to chest with aaron long early in the NYRB game to Stuart Findlay staying to start 2 games for us after a sale to Oxford United had been agreed upon. Castellanos is the face of NYFC, their players follow his lead. Stuart Findlay stood to gain nothing by playing these two games but risked everything had he of been injured. My assertion was that our culture is far better than theirs. Let’s reflect that as fans and call these games objectively. I’ve been a fan long enough to remember all the horrible calls that used to go against us because we were the basement dwellers of the league and good teams get the calls. We’re a good team now but let’s have some humility. Blake should have faced that PK. I was ready for him to save the 2 points.
Doop!
I think the Gazdag foul in the box came down to the simple determination of who fouled who first. The Orlando player (can’t recall who it was) grabbed Gazdag’s shirt first and pulled him away to get by. Gazdag pulling him down was certainly a foul, but it came after the first foul. You can’t call that while ignoring the initial shirt pull and foul.
Well said. If a shirt pull in the box is a penalty, then a shirt pull is a foul. Their guy pulled first. It’s really quite simple. This is the utility of replay and I really, really do not care what the initial call was or was not. Look at the replay, get it right.
I would agree with you on the late VAR call if Chilowicz had just said, “Nope, nothing to see here. I got it right the first time.” Instead, he said, “I missed a foul on the Orlando player” and brought the ball back for a Blake free kick rather than continuing from where things had left off. So while Gazdag did pull on the shirt, it was only in reaction to being fouled. Without VAR there are plenty of times where the ref misses the initial foul and only calls the retaliation. With VAR, the ref should be able to call the initial foul (which he did).
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That’s also why when there is an incident in the box, players should get back up and play rather than continue to try and draw a foul or argue with the ref. If there’s a foul, VAR will tell us.
The Geiger counter is to high. The yellow on Carranza was beyond harsh. He was walking away from the play and the Orlando player literally kick the ball straight into his back. Not to mention he missed a possible second yellow on Moutino when he sized up burke and barreled into him from behind on a header in midfield. And he missed a clear foul on Burke, where he likely picked up his concussion prior to Moutino clattering into hin.
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Every Union game this ref has been in charge of has not been managed well, and usually has boiling over points and controversial calls.
+1 on the Carranza yellow.