Photo: Marjorie Elzey
It was a physical and frantic matchup between the 4th and 5th place teams in the Eastern Conference Saturday night. End to end action saw both teams take home a point and hold their current playoff positions.
Player ratings
Andre Blake — 8
A great night for Blake, who made numerous big saves to keep Columbus off the board. Tough ask to save a penalty on top of it all.
Nathan Harriel — 7
A well taken goal where he found himself free on a set piece. Did well recovering defensively on the night.
Damian Lowe — 7
No glaring mistakes from Lowe on the night. Another nice outing filling in for Jakob Glesnes.
Jack Elliott — 6
An average match for Elliott, who was unlucky to have a shot glance off his arm for the penalty.
Kai Wagner — 7
A good outing for Wagner who provided a great cross for Harriel’s goal.
Jack McGlynn — 6
Another start for McGlynn, but seems to be struggling in transition. Good passes but slow to recover.
Jesus Bueno — 6
A good night filling in for fellow countryman Jose Martinez. Bueno did well recovering defensively and shielding the backline.
Alejandro Bedoya— 6
An increasingly rare start for the captain, had a shout for a penalty which didn’t go the Union’s way.
Olivier Mbaizo — 6
An okay night for Mabizo who was involved in the attack. Recovered more defensively which Philadelphia needed.
Quinn Sullivan — 6
Brought a lot of energy but had chances to find teammates in the box but was unable to connect on any.
Chris Donovan — 5
Not many chances for Donovan to find in his one half of action.
Substitutes
Daniel Gazdag — 6
Made some good passes leading to shots but needs to be more involved near the goal.
Julian Carranza — 6
Did well to make runs to unlock the defense and should have drawn a red card on one.
Mikael Uhre – 5
Had a golden opportunity for the second goal but clanked his shot off the crossbar.
Matt Real – 6
A good 15 minutes to help see out the draw.
Geiger Counter
Jon Freemon- 5
An evenly called game with a lot of emotions with sides fighting for playoff positions.
Man of the Match — Andre Blake
Many big saves from the Jamaican in goal helped Philadelphia take a point on the night.
any disagreement here would be nitpicking. Could Blake be higher (because penalties are hard), could Jack be lower (because penalties, man)? no arguments here.
I love Jack Elliott, but I think you’re being too kind when you say he was “unlucky”. His arm was a way out chicken wing, that’s lack of focus, nothing to do with bad luck.
I agree with you, he should not have extended his elbow out like that. I used to like Elliott, but I really prefer D. Lowe at this point.
Elliott’s score is the most complex. VAR thought he drew a PK in the first half but the ref disagreed. He obviously committed the PK that was called. He could have been called for one at the end (although even if he was, it might have been overturned given that there was a foul by Columbus earlier on the play that wasn’t called).
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I think a couple of the other players were scored a little high as well, but none by more than a point.