Photo: Darby Winter/Special to The Philly Soccer Page
The Union had a few bounces go their way but ultimately buried their chances when they arose to take all three points in their 3-1 victory against the Portland Timbers. With eight rostered players unavailable to international duty, several players had an opportunity to impress and, mostly, seized it.
GK Oliver Semmle – 9
An incredible save in the 17′ prevented Portland from taking an early lead which would have changed the entire trajectory of the match. Semmle had several more impressive saves throughout the night, without which Portland’s tally easily could’ve been 2 or 3. It was an impressive night for the German.
RB Olivier Mbaizo – 5
He looked sharper on the attack in this match but still got beat defensively a few times, including on Portland’s goal (granted the entire Union defense broke down on that sequence). He did get a crucial touch on a ball across the box early in the second half that prevented what would have been a tap-in goal for Portland.
CB Jakob Glesnes – 6
The Norwegian looked much steadier in this match defensively. He had some strong headed clearances early on and a high soccer IQ play with the quick restart pass to Uhre that led to Carranza’s second goal.
CB Jack Elliott – 5
Elliott will make a great play every so often, including his clearance off the line in the 21′. But there is still an air of uncertainty whenever the opposition is moving towards him with the ball.
LB Kai Wagner – 7
Great delivery from the corner spot on the opening goal. Wagner continues to show he is one of the most valuable leftbacks in the league.
CM/RM Alejandro Bedoya – 7
The veteran put in a veteran performance.
CM Jeremy Rafanello – 7
A noticeable improvement in his positioning from his last start, and he was a solid presence in the middle of the field all night. He added some spice into the attack with a decent long-range shot in the 44′ and then again in the 58′, which led to the Sullivan goal. A really positive performance from Rafanello.
LM Markus Anderson – 5
Anderson put in solid minutes tonight when the team needed it. He looked uncomfortable at times playing out of his normal position, but he had a mostly mistake free night.
RM/RW Quinn Sullivan – 7
He got involved early, grinded, and played smart soccer all night and was rewarded in the 58′ with a goal off the rebound of the Rafanello long distance strike. Sullivan continues to be a bright spot early on this season.
FWD Juliàn Carranza – 9
Great individual effort muscling off the defense on the opening goal. He provided great pressure in the attacking third to win the ball back, which set up a clear chance for Uhre in the 35′. His work rate was rewarded with a second goal in the 67′ to give the Union a commanding 3-0 lead.
FWD Mikael Uhre -5
He was redeemed with the assist on Carranza’s second goal, but the Dane should have had a goal, if not multiple, for himself in this match. There’s a lack of killer instinct from Uhre around goal at the moment, with the forward wishing for the goal rather than commanding it.
(87′) Chris Donovan – N/A
Man of the Match – Oliver Semmle
This is a totally different match and scoreline if not for multiple impressive saves from Semmle throughout the night. A really strong performance from the back-up, on the road.
Geiger Counter
REF Cristian Campo Hernandez – 7
Very little mention of Hernandez in this match, which is a good thing.
The only downside of staying up to watch the game was having to sit through the bad production and even worse commentary. Kind of curious if anyone else thought that grabbing a Union player by the arm and swinging him to the ground should of gotten Chara a second yellow.
As usual, Apple doesn’t know what it’s doing. I wonder if any of the Spanish language commentators had English as their first language and Spanish as their second since I have no idea why those guys were doing the English broadcast rather than the Spanish.
…not to mention the Portland bias they consistently displayed, until the second Union goal when they flipped their script, cause they really had to.
What a great pleasure it was listening to JP and DH, BA (Before Apple). They took the time to really know the Union, other teams of course, but they felt more like home announcers, like McCarthy & Kruk doing the Phillies or Merrill Reese for the Eagles.
Forget about Danny, he’s in another league. It was a pleasure to listen to JP and Bob Rigby or JP and Tommy compared to most of the Apple idiots.
Yes on JP. Tommy was pretty awful, and Rigby even worse. Neither ever offered a shred of insight.
Gotta wonder how much Bedoya’s veteran presence meant to their success. Stats might not have shown much but a steadying influence at the 6 means a lot.
I suspect a lot to Rafanello, Matt.
Mr. Spartin, I feel like Bedoya has been a very steady veteran presence for a few years now. I also wonder how much the young guys have sparked him to stay around and be “ that guy”. Semmle was outstanding in goal!
My MLS season pass got cancelled some how… I’m new to iPhones so I may have done it by accident! So I have only seen highlights on YouTube!
I think Donovan deserves a score for the defensive work he put in at the end. I’d give him a 6.