Photo: Howie Pollard
The Union kept their scoring form intact as they powered themselves to another multi-tally victory, this time defeating Orlando City by a 4-goal margin. Daniel Gazdag and Mikael Uhre found themselves on the score sheet once again, as did defenders Olivier Mbaizo and Jack Elliott.
On to the ratings.
Player Ratings
Andre Blake – 7
Not much for Andre Blake to do on the night, as Orlando didn’t test him much. Can’t fault him on the goal, which he had no shot at saving.
Olivier Mbaizo– 7
A pretty good night offensively for Mbaizo, who got his way onto the scoresheet – even if it was very fortunate. A bit of fault on the Orlando goal for not challenging the ball into the box though.
Jack Elliott – 8
Elliott and the rest of the back line don’t get to put another clean sheet under their belt, but Elliott did nod home a goal off a Kai Wagner corner kick. Never really caught out defensively either.
Jakob Glesnes – 7
Glesnes can share a bit of the blame with Mbaizo on the Orlando goal for not clearing away the inital ball, but overall a strong night for the Norwegian.
Kai Wagner– 8
Another shut down performance on the left side by the German, delivered a great ball in for Elliott to put home to add to his assist total.
Leon Flach – 7
Flach gets a lot of slack for his offensive inability, but he was the one who played the ball to Gazdag to start the second goal. Another great defensive performance.
Alejandro Bedoya– 8
A great performance from the captain covering a lot of ground in the midfield, capped off with a diving header for a goal. Here’s to hoping his injury isn’t too serious.
Daniel Gazdag – 8
Yet another goal and assist for the Hungarian on the night, who just seems to be scoring or setting up goals at will. Found the right pass in the attacking third several times throughout the night.
Jose Martinez- 7
Credit to Martinez for somehow not ending in the referee’s book this match, as he was clearly targeted by Orlando to get physical with. Did his job and escaped discipline, can’t ask for much more.
Mikael Uhre – 8
Another game and another extremely well taken goal by Uhre, hit with the outside of the foot to send the keeper the wrong way and tucked near post. His runs into the box make it easy for Gazdag to play him in stride, a lethal combination.
Julian Carranza– 6
Carranza didn’t get on the score sheet himself, he was close on an offside call, but he did make several good runs to draw defenders away from eventual goal scorers like on Uhre’s goal.
Subs
Paxten Aaronson – N/A
A short outing replacing Gazdag to see out the win.
Quinn Sullivan – N/A
A short outing replacing Carranza in the 89th minute.
Cory Burke – 6
Brought some energy to the press for the Philly attack which helped see out the win.
Jack McGlynn – 6
Replaced Bedoya for a 25 minute cameo and did well to link passes and keep defensive shape.
Player of the Match – Daniel Gazdag
Gazdag became the first Union player to score in 5 straight matches when he converted his penalty and is always setting up teammates for opportunities. To stop the Union, you first have to stop Gazdag and no one has been able to the past month.
Geiger Counter
Armando Villarreal – 2
Jim Curtin summed up Villarreal’s performance at half pretty well “If they want a street-fight or to play soccer for 45 minutes, we can do that too.” Far too physical of a match for only 1 yellow card on each side, with many fouls let go. A questionable penalty call puts the cherry on top.
Not sure Jose ultimately gets away with his evening’s stupidity…retro discipline coming?
You would think. Pretty amazing he didn’t see yellow for that chest/head butt thing he did early on the game.
Did he actually make contact though? It wasn’t clear on the replay – though the acting was good. If the VAR had an angle, wouldn’t they have looked at it?
I’m with Chris if they didn’t show a replay of actual contact maybe they went with it was acting.
Based on the video, it appears to be a bona fide chest bump which was then exaggerated. Definitely should have been a yellow, pending something that shows actual noggin contact.
Nicely done!
Hope Ale is alright
Let’s win out and take the shield !
We won 5-1. We’re at the top of the table. I’ve lost track how many games we’ve won with a 3+ margin. Maybe it’s time to reward our guys with 9s, not 7s.
It’s 7. Or as the Union tweeted at the Cowboys last night: We’ve scored more than 3 goals in 7 games so far this season.
I would add a point the referee’s score .
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PRO assigned one of its more experienced better refs to a game between two sides fighting for postseason positioning who detest each other.
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I thought his restraint with the cards reflected the attempt to not have refereeing decisions affect the outcome of the the stretch run.
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Were many of his no-calls difficult to understand and even more difficulty to swallow? you betcha!
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If Martinez is further disciplined, we may find out how Richard Odada does at the level of the first team. He looked dominant with the second team on Sunday.
To me the biggest issue was the complete inconsistency as to what was a foul and what wasn’t. Add to that the extremely question PK (even though it was in the Union’s favor) and I think the score is justified.
Exactly. It was the same the first time around. A takedown ought to be carded, even if play is allowed to continue and even if the takedown is in the first half.
To me it wasn’t a question about yellow cards as much as there were three very obvious takedowns of Union players in the first half that should have been called as fouls. I am all for card restraint, but…
I don’t think you see Odada with the first team unless both Martinez and Flach are out.
Really glad Jose avoided a card.
Hope Bedoya’s ok. He can still play! What a great dive to head that one home. He may not have the speed or gas tank he did a few years ago, but his footie IQ more than makes up for that.
McGlynn just keeps improving and impressing!
Great game! And I can’t say enough about the team effort! The scores are good IMO. They didn’t play a great first half.
Obada makes it easy to Transfer and maximize value for Martinez… Riasco was the answer, but never “arrived”! McGlynn is ready. His passing recently has been sublime and just the beginning. And I just think Flach is another who is just coming into his own.
Consider this…. Nick and those former idiots signed “waning stars”… The list is endless the first 10 seasons, because they had a small market mentality [they thought]… so they signed guys like Marco Fabian and others who could never play in a system… All about them, right?
As a young coach, Curtin’s couldn’t handle guys like that, or fit them into a winning system. No one could. Jim was just a hard working middle of the road defender, coach too. What Tanner and the academy finally provided Jim is why it’s all clicking. Curtin FINALLY has the proper players in HIS system… which has NOTHING to do with any formation.
Jim’s a “players” coach, egos in check a rule… just like he was a defender… and like that player, he’s one of the major reasons and part of a system that will win the MLS Cup several times the next few years.
This IS the new normal and man it is just great to watch. Herr Tanner and the academy gave us this team, a GREAT Team… an historic, selfless, relaxed scoring & defensive machine…. with a HUGE chip on it’s shoulder thanks to “Head Clown” Garber…
And this historic squad will run the schedule, host and WIN MLS Cup 2022 in Chester! Doop!
Depending on where his kids are in school, I think if the Union win the Cup (or even better the Shield / Cup duo) Jim is going to be getting offers to / going to Europe. And much like Graham Potter going to Chelsea, he almost has to take the offer when it comes because you don’t know what the team is going to look like a year or two in the future and at that point it might be “your fault” they are losing.
Wasn’t Marco Fabian brought in by Tanner?