Player ratings / Union

Player ratings: Philadelphia Union 3-0 CF Montreal

Photo: Marjorie Elzey

The Philadelphia Union continued their winning ways with a 3-0 victory over conference foes CF Montreal. Julian Carranza got the party started with a beautiful strike, while Mikael Uhre added a second in the first half. Jesus Bueno and Matt Real were given rare starts, and hope their showings earn even more opportunities.

Player ratings

Andre Blake — 8

Made a pretty big save to keep Montreal from equalizing, and then kept another clean sheet. Blake is back to making his one big stop after long periods of inactivity.

Nathan Harriel — 7

A rare start as a wingback for Harriel, who showed rather well. Was very effective in his pressing and had several good looks in attack.

Jakob Glesnes — 7

Not much for Glesnes to do on the night, but felt he did a good job dealing with Montreal’s speed all night.

Jack Elliott — 7

Ran down several Montreal counters and made some key blocks. Like Glesnes though, wasn’t tested very much.

Kai Wagner – 7

Much like the other two centerbacks, Wagner did well dealing with any Montreal counters. Some of his corners and free kicks were mis-hit though.

Matt Real — 7

Another rotation starter, Real exceled in his left wing back role. A position more natural to his skill set and extremely effective in turning Montreal over.

Jesus Bueno — 8

Are we sure that wasn’t Jose Martinez in Bueno’s jersey out there. Much like his countrymen, Bueno was all over the field putting in tackles and pushing play.

Leon Flach — 7

Leon Flach showed that his performances aren’t solely dependent on playing with Martinez. Put in his defensive tackles and created turnovers off the press. An expected outing from the hard working midifielder.

Dániel Gazdag — 7

A quieter game from Gazdag in this recent run of form. Didn’t find his way onto the scoresheet this time but played effective passes and found good looks.

Mikael Uhre — 8

Another hard working shift from the Dane and he gets a goal to show for it. Should have had another assist to show but Carranza missed the chance.

Julián Carranza — 8

Another goal for the Argentine, who has now scored in 3 of the 4 last games. A beautiful strike but truthfully should have had more goals on the night.

Authors note: I know Carranza got credit for the third goal, but that really didn’t have much business being his goal

Substitutes

Damian Lowe — 6

A 20-minute stint in defense were he helped keep a clean sheet. Not too many complaints.

Jose Martinez — 6

Replaced Bueno in a surprisingly like for like substitution. Kept the clean sheet and played the ball around the field.

Joaquin Torres – 5

Set up some nice attacks but seemed to struggle finding the game off the bench.

Andres Perea – 5

A brief 10 minute stint of action for the midfielder. Made some plays but overall nothing noticeable.

Geiger Counter

Jon Freemon- 6

A pretty good night for the man in yellow. Kept the match in control and no major complaints from either team with his decisions.

Man of the Match — Jesus Bueno

A very good outing for the young defensive midifielder, who was a very bright spot on a very good evening.

24 Comments

  1. Jose: 4. Moronic yellow, suspension. Lets call it what it is for a change.

    • pragmatist says:

      Maybe it was intentional. Now he gets almost 3 weeks off before heading into the summer stretch. Not the worst-case scenario.
      Yes, I’m going with the silver-lining approach, but it’s actually a pretty valid silver lining.

      • More than3 weeks, he’s on the Venezuelan national team.

      • Andy Muenz says:

        A player should never intentionally get himself suspended. I agree with Phil that the score should be 4 (or lower), especially given the situation and the type of infraction that led to the yellow.
        .
        Given that Venezuela’s friendlies in the upcoming window are both on the east coast of the US, there is no reason he can’t play 90 minutes in Orlando on June 21.
        .
        Unfortunately, Blake, Lowe, and Gazdag will likely miss the Orlando game since their teams play in Europe on June 19 and 20.

      • Tim Jones says:

        according to the match report for the Mexico-Jamaica game on 26-Mar found on Concacaf’s website, Andre Blake was not in goal that game. Jahmali Waite was.
        .
        Waite is currently with Pittsburgh Riverhounds, and may possibly have kept goal in their two recent U.S. Open cupsets of MLS sides. I haven’t run that detail to earth yet.
        .
        Remember Blake was in bad odor with the bosses of the Jamaican national Federation, and such pissing contests are much more important to such folk than is putting the best player on the field.
        .
        Very selfishly, I would love it if the Reggae Boyz leave him home.
        .
        incidental fact, Waite is a graduate of Philadelphia Union’s Academy from back in the day.

      • Andy Muenz says:

        While it would be nice to have Blake for the game in Orlando, we can’t take much from the fact that he wasn’t with Jamaica in March. He was recovering from injury and wasn’t in the lineup for the Union either.

    • I was a little surprised they didn’t pull back that sub, given they scored goal number 3 while he was waiting to come on. No great need to even play him at that point.

      • Andy Muenz says:

        Bueno was at his highest minutes for a game this season and Martinez did need to get on the field for at least a cameo in order to get credit for the game towards getting his card total reduced by 1.

    • I will have to watch it again, but it was a soft yellow from what I recall. I’ve certainly seen him do worse, especially after the type of take-down he was subject to, to give him much grief about it.

      • Deez Nuggs says:

        The Montreal player grabbed Jose’s leg as he was trying to stand and pulled it. Literally two arm pull like a fire hose. Jose got booked for daring to give the dude a gentle push in the chest to back off, and the dude grabs his face like Mike Tyson popped him and goes down screaming. If anything that guy should get a match for simulation and Jose should have his card expunged. But. This is mls.

      • Andy Muenz says:

        Doesn’t matter whether it was a soft yellow or not or whether he was bated into it. The game was 3-0 and he was one yellow away from suspension. He has to be aware of the situation and not give the ref the opportunity to card him. He is not El Brujo, he is El Stupido.

      • Deez Nuggs says:

        I don’t care who you are or what the situation is. Someone grabs you, you’re pushing them off.

      • Andy Muenz says:

        Deez, That’s an attitude which says my ego is more important than my commitment to the team.

  2. Chris Gibbons says:

    I would have given the ref an 8 or 9. I thought he handled himself really well, kept a chippy and lopsided game from getting out of hand, and didn’t insert himself at all. Was notable for me.

  3. @Andy Muenz Isn’t Mbaizo also off to Cameroon’ national team? I think the Apple TV announcer mentioned this the other night.

    • Andy Muenz says:

      What I saw (on Wikipedia) shows that Cameroon plays in San Diego next Saturday which is their only international game this month. The international window is officially from June 12 – June 20 so technically the Union aren’t required to release him Saturday. My thought is that they should only release him if they have some guarantee that he will play, since I he sat on the bench the whole time in Qatar and was in Chester for the March window.

  4. soccerdad720 says:

    Carranza’s second goal is absolutely his. If you don’t buy a lottery ticket you never win. He ripped the shot. Yeah, if caromed off two guys, but its his goal. All the way.

    • Tim Jones says:

      the evaluative standard I have heard unofficially is whether the original strike would have been on goal undeflected.
      .
      Probably that is English Premier league announcers talking.

      • Andy Muenz says:

        That’s what I’ve heard too, Tim (and it makes sense). That’s why Gazdag’s header off the post, off the keeper and in on Wednesday was an own goal. If the keeper wasn’t there, the ball would have continued away from goal

  5. “USMNT star Brenden Aaronson ranked as the WORST Premier League player of the season by football stats company.”
    ——–
    Trying to wrap my ‘sentimental side’ around the idea of Aaronson replacing Bedoya, playing along side Gazdag, behind Caranza and Urhe… with Martinez flanked by Wagner & Olivier, Lowe, Glenses and Elliott anchoring. Bueno, McGlynn, Sullivan/Donovan first off the bench at 60th.

    Just imagine……

    • SoccerDad says:

      And at the same time I saw a statistic that said Aaronson was second in the Premier League in distance covered per 90min. (for players who played a minimum of 900 min.

  6. narbrich says:

    As much as I admire El Brujo, I have to give him a 1. When he is a sub in a match that is 3-0 and he is one yellow card from suspension, his only job is to stay out of trouble. I also thought that, even though Gazdag was not on the scoresheet, he had an excellent game all around. I cannot remember a game this year in which he set up more chances than this one–I would give him an 8. No arguments with regard to the rest.

    • SoccerDad says:

      What struck me watching the game was just how much fun the front 3 seemed to be having. The giant smiles on their faces just made me happy.

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