Photo: Marjorie Elzey
On Saturday night, the Philadelphia Union met Toronto FC at BMO Field. Both teams looked to end nine-match winless streaks with depleted squads. Toronto had just lost the first leg of the Canadian Championship semifinal to Canadian Premier League side Forge FC three days prior. After 90+ minutes, Toronto FC secured the win and the Union went winless in 10 for the first time in club history.
Despite rumors of them returning to the squad, Andre Blake and José Martínez did not travel. Cavan Sullivan was also rumored to make his first appearance on the bench for the senior team, but he did not due to Canadian child labor laws. Amidst the squad chaos, CJ Olney received a fifth short-term loan from Union II.
“Due to the release of players for the 2024 Summer Olympics from July 9 to August 9, the League and the MLSPA have agreed to allow an exception to the limitations on Short-Term SPAs for clubs with players unavailable due to Olympics national team call-ups,” per the team’s press release.
Jim Curtin held onto the 3-5-2 formation that earned a clean sheet against the New York Red Bulls, with Jack McGlynn and Nate Harriel replaced with Jesús Bueno and Olivier Mbaizo while the two homegrowns are on the Olympic squad. Mikael Uhre returned from injury over Chris Donovan.
First half
Play began very back-and-forth, with multiple fouls for both sides. The Union’s earliest chance came in the 12th minute when Tai Baribo attempted a scorpion kick off a cross from Daniel Gazdag.
Toronto almost had their opener on a long shot from Frederico Bernardeschi after Damion Lowe and Kai Wagner were caught up the field. His shot sailed over the bar and away from Andrew Rick’s goal.
Defenders being caught out of position and luck were common themes for the half.
In the 26th minute, Bueno received a cross from Mbaizo and barely missed the back post. Uhre had a breakaway chance almost immediately after, but couldn’t get the shot past Sean Johnson.
Baribo put the Union ahead on a free kick from Wagner in the 39th minute. His header beat Johnson at his near post.
After a solid defensive clearance from Elliot in the 45th minute, Uhre missed another tap-in chance to put the Union ahead by another goal.
Second half
The second half began fairly calm as both teams made tactical subs to try and shake things up. Most notably, Lorenzo Insigne came on at halftime for Toronto in an attempt to get one back for the Canadian side.
The Union allowed Toronto to hold onto the ball but prevented them from getting any decent chances — until the 74th minute when Toronto’s Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty had a cross tapped in by Jack Elliott.
Minutes later, another mistake from Elliott put the ball at a Toronto player’s feet. Deandre Kerr put it past an outstretched Rick and Lowe to make it 2-1.
The Union collapsed late in a match yet again due to another defensive mistake. Elliott was later pulled for Donovan — who had one chance on a bicycle kick at the death but couldn’t get it on frame.
Three points:
- Winless in 10: For the first time in Philadelphia Union history, the club is winless in 10 straight matches. There’s nothing much to say other than ask what has to change to turn things around.
- The depth issue: The Union fielded the 3-5-2 again, which has proven to hold decent results. While this formation caters to the thin roster of midfielders, the Union only had one defender on the bench. They’ve gotten lucky without needing to put Olwethu Makhanya on the field for the first team. With Harriel out for the Olympics, there might be a need to find an outside back.
- Jack Elliott: After two crucial mistakes to hand Toronto the equalizer and subsequent lead, he was unceremoniously brought to the bench in favor of Donovan. How much longer can his poor run of form last before change occurs?
Lineups
Philadelphia
Starters: Andrew Rick, Olivier Mbaizo, Jakob Glesnes, Jack Elliott (Chris Donovan 83’), Damion Lowe, Kai Wagner, Leon Flach, Jesús Bueno (Alejandro Bedoya 59’), Daniel Gazdag, Tai Baribo, Mikeal Uhre (Quinn Sullivan 59’)
Unused subs: Oliver Semmle, Owelthu Makhanya, CJ Olney, David Vazquez, Jeremy Rafanello, Markus Anderson
Opponent
Starters: Sean Johnson, Shane O’Neill (Nicksoen Gomis 46’), Kevin Long, Sigurd Rosted (Deybi Flores 62’), Raoul Petretta (Lorenzo Insigne 46’), Matthew Longstaff, Kosi Thompson, Federico Bernardeschi, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, Derrick Etienne Jr. (Aime Mabika 87’), Prince Osei Owusu (Deandre Kerr 62’)
Unused Subs: Luka Gavran, Kobe Franklin, Cassius Mailula, Julian Altobelli
Scoring summary:
PHI: Tai Baribo – 39’
TOR: Deandre Kerr – 74’
Discipline Summary:
PHI: Quinn Sullivan – 77’
Referee: Allen Chapman
In light of real world events taking place this evening my attention was elsewhere but I did have The Slop on and the tv feed was terrible, the quality of play from what I saw was actually worse then the tv and now — this iteration of Union sadly are nearly unwatchable.
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Meanwhile, Toronto bring on a $14,000,000 player pushing for a goal.
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Union bring on a $68,000 player pushing for a goal & nothing ever before tells a story better than this about what we are dealing with and how ridiculous it is.
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Hard to imagine all Toronto get for theirs currently is 8th place… meanwhile the weight of 14 teams on Union shoulders has them buried. Rightfully. Lord we are officially the worst team in the league.
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Just
Play
Well.
The persistent presence of Chris Donovan is a monument to this club leaderhip’s hubris and disregard for actual results.
The coach says he plays only those who train the hardest in practice sessions. If Chris D is at the top of the list of alternatives, that speaks volumes about what management has done to provide and/or train viable alternatives. Frankly I feel bad for Chris that he’s being put in this position. It’s just not his fault.
When it was 1-0 at the half, the only question was whether they would lose 2-1 or 3-1.
The cliff is over crowded already and more are coming.
The old pre-2018 feeling of “how will we fail?” has returned.
Its time to hear from Tanner. It feels like our owner and sporting director are hanging him out to take all the heat. While jim has not been great this year, I believe the majority of the fault relies on those two
I wrote an email to my rep to pass on to leadership and got a call from the ticketing VP- same guy that apparently was policing the banners at the river end. My message was just what you said. The response was a comical defense of the team and the last 5 years. Nothing was done and I felt nothing but being patronized. I join you again saying that the Sr leadership really should address the increasingly frustrated and soon to be diminishing numbers of fans with some sort of recovery plan, that includes new and additional talent. It is disgraceful that they allowed this to happen to a championship caliber team…
+1. Fully agree that the communication of a recovery plan is essential to calm the fans – especially long time STHs.
Without reading others comments below – I was also disappointed to hear that one of the main takeaways from Jim’s post game press conference was that they wanted to have Cavan in the 18. He is clearly, in my opinion, not the solution in the near term.
Beautiful Game, I had the same thought about the Cavan plan. Seemed more like a desperate act to build some short-term fan interest than a considered plan to further his long-term development.
Last in the east. Second to last overall thanks to a truly awful San Jose. They have 1 win in their last 17 matches, and it’ll be a full 2 months since their last victory if they lose on Wednesday.
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I watched the entire match and it felt like those two TFC goals were inevitable. Team does not have the necessary talent to compete for a trophy, but beyond that they’re just flat out mentally weak.
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No offense to Donovan because he seems like a nice kid that tries hard, but he is not a MLS level striker. His presence on this roster drives home how deeply unserious this organization is about winning.
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Summer transfer window opens later this week. It seems like a great opportunity to move on from players and bring new guys in. I don’t expect much though.
+1
After falling behind 2-1 on the road I was hoping vainly stupidly naively that the Union would muster something, anything, to generate the tying goal and walk away with a consolation point. But there was nothing and Uhre and Gazdag were absent and the Union were listless until the final whistle. And then Curtin postgame with his weekly Michael Stipe impression about everybody hurting and his insistence that this match was an uncharacteristic display of fragility but they were fragile last week and the week before that and the week before that and last month but that was only because a portion of the squad were committed elsewhere on international duty. But really what’s uncharacteristic is in fact the norm.
If I may speak plainly, I am tired of the bullshit. I am tired of this unpaid internship of a team where every homegrown and every bargain-bin signing is just a flipper-upper to enrich the owner and his investment. There is no commitment to winning unless it is profitable. To (mis)quote Scent of a Woman, you’ve gotten so wrapped up in sugar, you forgot the taste of real honey.
I still like the homegrowns, but an apprenticeship is only as good as the instructors. You won’t pay for teachers and school is out.
“weekly Michael Stipe impression”
LOL…
Someone with plenty of time on their hands should do a compilation video of Uhre”s misses.
Uhre was atrocious last night. How many times did the Union have numbers going forward and end the sequence without a shot, and how many times could the blame for that outcome be placed at his stone feet – to say nothing of his shot, as he does, directly at the goalkeeper?
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Meanwhile, Elliott has been off all season. Last night was the epitome: lose a man making a run to the 6 (as direct as it comes) and then simply pass the ball directly the opposition in the middle of the field. It looked like Lowe was here to take his job last year, but frankly he hasn’t been much better.
Are we allowed to say that about Uhre or are we still supposed to be all Trea Turner about him and tell him he’s great when he shows thay he’s not. Nothing about him has ever shown as anything but average. Should’ve kept Cory Burke…
What were the next two or three cities in line for a franchise behind San Diego
( Do they have someone who could buy a team with petty cash ?)
Oooph!
I feel sorry for Andrew Rick. The Union’s MLS website list his place of birth as “Unknown, USA,” and they just cast the kid out there and set him up for failure. The website’s first item is a celebration of Carranza’s transfer. “Yay! We are so good, that some mediocre Europe teams actually buy our best players.”
These days I just look at the hightlights on the morning after and take a morning after pill.
I agree with the comment above about how the blame should be place squarely on Sugarman and Tanner. But, hey, maybe Tanner will find us the next Uhre! At least the Wagner find was golden, and he set up Taribo nicely last night. Gotta find the positive somewhere….
Meanwhile, God help us all, nation-wide, if the US hires Curtin to take over for the World Cup!
I would hardly characterize Feyenoord as a mediocre team. They qualified for the champions league and the Eredivisie is among the top Euro leagues.
Right, but my point stands: MLS will always be pathetic when its clubs celbrate selling off their players to European sides. Eredivisie is so good that Altidore and Bradley excelled there. Puh-leez.
I am going to now spin the PU’s ongoing failure like so many of you have spun their success over the last few years: the PU are NOT in last place in the MLS! They are in 28th place in the 29-team overall MLS table!
I tried to tell you all in 2018 and 2019 to stop falsely inflating their success and giving money to this owner — revisit that advice here: https://phillysoccerpage.net/2018/12/19/fans-view-a-former-union-season-ticket-holder-chews-out-his-team/
and here:
https://phillysoccerpage.net/2019/11/06/fans-view-im-still-done-with-philadelphia-union-and-you-can-be-too/
Tim Herring
Former Philadelphia Union founding member and season ticket-holder
LOL, perhaps you’re overdue for another Fans View post with the headline of:
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“Hey everyone, I’m sure that you all woke up today thinking about what I’ve been doing for the last five plus years, but yes, I’m still done with the Union.”
I’m not going to make excuses for this team. It’s clearly bottomed out in every way. But after last night, I can’t help but wonder how we – members the general soccer appreciating public – are supposed to take this league seriously when it’s taking place in the shadow of two major tournaments and the Olympics, its rosters depleted by international call-ups. The league is so uninterested in its own season that it compresses it to make room for a tournament meant to do little more than show off Messi and sell tickets to Liga MX fans. It’s a fourth rate competition at best. Also wondering why I paid for MLS Season Pass. I’m looking forward to the palate cleanser of today’s Euro final.
Low whistle.. truth bomb incoming.
Spot on!
Cleansing your palate to watch Colombia extend its unbeaten streak?
No watching Spain play the game brilliantly as England chokes once again. But the best team won in the end.
I do hope Colombia can upset the script! Second half incoming.
Thanks for the summary. I was home but didn’t bother to watch the Union game. Seems like the Union highlight of the night was JP Dellacamera getting to call the Copa America 3rd place game. In typical Union fashion, Canada was ahead going into stoppage time but gave up the tying goal and then lost in PK’s.
This page is a clear representation of the resignation of the club’s most fervent fans. In years past, whether winning or losing, there would be at least 50, and in some cases 100 comments after a game. There is still interest, but I fear that hope is what is missing. I still love the experience with friends at the stadium, but there is a resignation due lack of competitiveness and front office ambition this year that reminds me of 12-15 years ago. Sad.
I‘ve been a die-hard fan since season 1, finally bought a partial season ticket package this year. Last night I did not watch because I had concert tickets. But the real point is that I am so utterly checked out on this team that I completely forgot they were playing until my son told me this morning that they lost. I will not be renewing for next season.
Blow it up, sell McGlynn, Brujo and anyone else who might get you some allocation money. Roster overhaul was coming after this season anyway, get a head start.
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Curtin always says players earn minutes based on how they perform in practice. If that’s true, either Glesnes and Elliott are Rio Ferdinand and Virgil van Dyk on the old parking lots, or a player taking up a U-22 Initiative spot must practice like at a U-14 level if he can’t beat out these two. It’s an indictment of the coaching staff and the front office.
Do you trust this organization as currently constituted to be effective in the selling and purchasing of players right now? Will we get enough value? Will they actually spend any of the money they get on an actual difference maker?
Who cares?
Two thoughts…
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(1) At some point, one must step back and be ruthlessly objective in evaluating why they are willingly giving time, energy, and emotional capital to… anything. For Union fans, the math and “why” is unique for each of us, but those who give more than most must be honest with themselves. It might hurt. I’ll stop there.
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(2) It should be no surprise to anyone paying attention that MLS and Union ownership is taking a particular business approach. Here is the opening line from Union’s Club History page:
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“The Philadelphia Union is an innovative, forward-thinking professional soccer club…”
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If true, it is time for the organization to consider its mission (if it has one) and challenge the current process. Every business process is designed to avoid variance from the plan. But when external variables change and the process no longer yields the desired results, the process/plan must be challenged.
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It is time.
Well said HopkinsMD. I said the same, with much detail, in 2018 and 2019 in two articles published in the Philly Soccer Page here: here: https://phillysoccerpage.net/2018/12/19/fans-view-a-former-union-season-ticket-holder-chews-out-his-team/
and here:
https://phillysoccerpage.net/2019/11/06/fans-view-im-still-done-with-philadelphia-union-and-you-can-be-too/
I think one of the issues for me is that at this point I’m not sure how much of the money I’m spending on tickets is going to the Union and how much is going to the league to help pay Messi’s salary. If any of it is for the latter or if price increases (17% per game from last year to this) are because of him, I feel like my ticket money is no longer going to support my team.
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In about 2.5 weeks I expect an e-mail reminding me of my autorenewal. If there is an increase of more than 3% (for inflation), the team is going to receive a response indicating that they have lost two longtime fans unless they reconsider the increase.
Andy your money is going into Jay Sugarman’s pocket (plus pockets of others you mention), and what you continue to get in return is a team that has never won an MLS Cup/Championship despite 14+ years of trying, and a team that is now in 28th place in the MLS Table (the real table). I suggest that you stop enabling Sugarman et al in their lack of creative leadership of the organization.
They have won a Supporters Shield which I consider the most important trophy (a lot less randomness than single elimination playoff) and in any other league would have won 2. From 2020-2022 they were by far the best team overall and were totally screwed out of their chance in 2021. So I don’t mind supporting the Union’s owners IF they keep prices the same after such a disappointing season.
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I do have an issue if the money is going to support the ability of other teams to sign players looking for large retirement paychecks with other teams.
Andy – you’re spot on. It’s clear the organization knows how to make a successful team. They’ve done it. The question now is whether they can replicate it, and whether fans believe they’re doing so amidst this mess.
Your definition of “successful” is substandard and deficient. Nothing less than winning an MLS Cup is acceptable.
That’s your opinion. IMO, best record over a full season is a much more telling measure of the best team and Union have effectively done that twice (or would have in any country that actually knows how to run the sport).
No Andy, that is not my opinion. That is how the MLS have defined the champion of league and thus how teams plan their strategies etc. for progressing through the regular season and qualifying for and progressing through the playoffs. If the MLS defined the Champion as the best record after the regular season and thus did not have a playoff, then you would be correct — but the MLS does not do that and thus you are incorrect. We have to deal with the reality of the set-up and not opinions of who is best. Again, this is all about results. The supporters’ shield is just a bright shiny object — it is not the champions trophy.
Given that I have 0 respect for MLS, I couldn’t give a shit how they define the champion.
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If you want to kiss Don Garber’s ass and buy into the idea that the league is a way to promote 35+ year old foreigners looking to collect an easy paycheck because they are no longer good enough for the top teams in Europe but want to show how much better they are than the Americans, then by all means you can go on giving YOUR OPINION that MLS Cup is the only thing that matters.
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Of course that begs the question as to why they award a bunch of other trophies as well.
Andy, no I do not “buy” into that MLS model of signing players — again, I stopped giving them my money 5 years ago — but apparently you and many others continue to give money to them. Also, no I did not say/write that the MLS Cup is the “only thing that matters” — please read more carefully. What I said/wrote it that the MLS defines the champion of their league in a particular way (i.e., winner of the MLS Cup), and hence that is what we have as the most important measure of teams’ success in that league — this is the reality, unless and until it is changed. The reason they award other trophies is simply for PR purposes — and for fans who settle for less than a championship.
This mess is on the owner. Every home match, once in each half, say 21st and 71st minute, the entire crowd should chant SUGARMAN SUCKS for a minute. Do this until he sells or increases the salary budget.
Gruncle Bob your diagnosis is correct, but your prescription is not correct. The best treatment of the owner is for the crowd to stop giving him its money. I guarantee you that substantially empty stands and lower revenues will impact his thinking much more than mere chants of “sucks…”
I went to an Arsenal game a few years ago during a low point and the whole stadium was chanting “Spend the F*ing Money” when they lost to a lower ranked team.
The turn around happened with lots of money spent on the right players and the right manager.
Not sure that will happen here sadly.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we found out that Sugarman doesn’t watch any of the games. Chanting against him might be no better than yelling into the void.
Used to see Sugarman in his box fairly regularly. Used to say hi to him as I walked to my seats. Cant remember the last time I have seen him. He’s probably read the room and knows he wouldn’t be appreciated.
But appreciation is the problem – franchise value appreciation. He makes money whether they win or loose because all the franchises keep appreciating in value. All over the world where they have promotion/relegation there is a very real financial penalty to being relegated. But there is no relegation in MLS, so no real long-term penalty to having a really shitty product.
What Union need are owners who don’t just see the team as a diversification asset in their portfolio and instead want to win. I doubt Jay really cares if his team wins as long as his portfolio does.
Forge Hamilton>>Toronto FC>>>Union.
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Any other MLS side fires Curtin an hour after the game.