Photo: Ron Soliman
The Boys in Blue journeyed east to face FC Cincinnati in an elimination game – the third in all competitions in three years between the two teams – in this Leagues Cup round of 16 match-up. The two teams last faced each other just over six weeks ago in a wild MLS match at TQL Stadium that saw FC Cincinnati win a shocking 4-3 match in the 100th minute.
Well, the Philadelphia Union exacted revenge on FC Cincinnati with a 4-2 thrashing at the same TQL Stadium. The Union took a 2-0 lead early in the second half, only to concede two quick goals to Cincinnati. In the four minutes following Cincinnati’s second goal, the Union scored twice to take a 4-2 lead and close out the game. Tai Baribo had his fourth multiple goal game in Union blue, while Andre Blake is now undefeated in six matches since he returned to the starting lineup.
Blake started in goal, while the defense was anchored by Jack Elliott and Jakob Glesnes. They were flanked by ever present Kai Wagner on the left and Oliver Mbaizo on the right. José Martínez started in his usual defensive midfield role, while Jack McGlynn and Alejandro Bedoya and played on the left and right of the diamond respectively. Daniel Gazdag played in his usual attacking midfield role, right behind strikers Mikael Uhre and the in-form Baribo.
First Half
The Union came out looking to start on the front foot, and it looked like a Bedoya pass to Uhre in the 5th minute led to a goal. Uhre got in behind the defender marking him and ran onto Bedoya’s looping pass and shot into the net, only for him to be ruled offsides by a ridiculously small margin after a lengthy VAR review.
For the next thirty minutes the teams settled into back-and-forth pressing which didn’t really pose much of a problem for either team. Then in the 35th minute Cincinnati had a chance to take the lead when former Union striker Sergio Santos got in behind the Union’s defense and squared a pass for an onrushing Kubo, whose shot deflected off the post before the Union were able to clear it.
In the 38th minute Nathan Harriel replaced Mbaizo, who could not continue after an injury.
The 40th minute saw a scramble in front of Blake and the Union net, but the U defense was able to clear it. Moments later at the other end of the field, Harriel had a wonderful shot on goal blocked inside the six-yard box by DeAndre Yedlin. Only a minute later, once again at the other end of the field, Santos again got in the six-yard box and posed a problem, before Blake was able to parry Santos’ shot out for a corner.
The first half ended scoreless after four minutes of injury time. While the Union had a slight edge in terms of possession (53% to 47%), Cincinnati had the edge in shots (10 to 7) and shots on goal (2 to 1). It was an exciting half of soccer – both teams had numerous chances, and it was frankly surprising that that the half ended nil-nil.
A Golazo Second Half
The second half kicked off with Luciano Acosta replacing Corey Baird in Cincinnati’s 11 and the Union returning the same 11 as they ended the half with. The half started off much the same as the first had, as the Union had the first good chance. Just six minutes into the half saw Gazdag flick a nice pass in the air to an onside Uhre who made no mistake, beating keeper Roman Celentano at the near post and netting the game’s first goal in the 52nd minute.
Just nine minutes later the Union doubled its lead, when Uhre had the ball on the right side of the field where he found a running Gazdag pushing forward, who then found Baribo at the top of the box. An onrushing McGlynn created some space for Baribo to turn, square and shoot from outside the 18-yard box, beating Celentano with a brilliant strike.
Cincinnati got one back in the 66th minute when a nice kick-save by Blake rebounded out and was put into the back of the next by Pavel Bucha. What had been a dead-quiet TQL Stadium became more raucous as the home crowd got back into the game. Cincinnati kept the pressure on, forcing Blake into another save just a few minutes later. Then the 73rd minute saw Blake make an incredible diving save to his left, palming the ball away in front of the goal line.
Luciano Acosta looked to play spoiler again in the 80th minute, when he squared a pass from the end line to Yedlin in front of the goal. Yedlin had an easy tap-in to tie the game at 2-2. The Union however, did not shy away from the contest, and retook the lead two minutes later, when Quinn Sullivan found Tai Baribo open again outside the 18-yard box. Baribo’s strike again found the net for his second on the night to make it 3-2. Then only two minutes later Quinn Sullivan made it 4-2 when he took a shot that was saved, but he found the rebound himself which he then put into the net. The Union then spent the remaining time playing defense and running out the clock on a dejected FC Cincinatti.
Three points
Tai Baribo: 11 goals in 7 weeks. 4 multi-goal games. Enough said.
Put me in coach: Quinn Sullivan comes on the 75th minute and reminded Coach Jim Curtin that he should be starting, brilliantly assisting Baribo on one goal and scoring a terrific goal himself.
Blake is Back: Six undefeated games (not including the shootout loss) since his return to the starting lineup. He makes the defense play better.
Lineups
Philadelphia Union (4-4-2)
Andre Blake, Jack Elliott, Jakob Glesnes, Kai Wagner, Olivier Mbaizo (Nathan Harriel 38′), Jose Martínez, Alejandro Bedoya (Quinn Sullivan 75′), Jack McGlynn (Leon Flach 86′), Daniel Gazdag, Tai Baribo, Mikael Uhre (Samuel Adeniran 75′)
Unused Subs: Holden Trent, Oliver Semmle, Damion Lowe, Cavan Sullivan, C.J. Olney, Jr., Jeremy Rafanello, Jesus Bueno, Chris Donovan
FC Cincinnati (3-4-2-1) Roman Celentano, Miles Robinson, Chidozie Awaziem, Ian Murphy (Kipp Keller 62′), DeAndre Yedlin (Bret Halsey 86′), Obinna Nwobodo (Gerardo Valenzuela 85′), Pavel Bucha, Corey Baird (Luciano Acosta 45′), Luca Orellano, Yuya Kubo, Sergio Santos (Kevin Kelsy 62′)
Unused subs: Evan Louro, Paul Walters, Alvas Powell, London Aghedo, Kenji Mboma Den, Malik Pinto, Stiven Jimenez,
Referee – Rubiel Vazquez
Scoring summary
PHI – Mikael Uhre – 52′
PHI – Tai Baribo – 61′
CIN – Pavel Bucha – 66′
CIN – DeAndre Yedlin – 80′
PHI – Tai Baribo – 82′
PHI – Quinn Sullivan – 84′
Discipline summary
CIN – Miles Robinson – yellow card (foul) – 43′
PHI – Kai Wagner – yellow card (foul) – 90+2′
What. A. Match. I swear this looks like the 2022 Union.
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Obviously Blake is back and making great saves — the one he made in the 73rd minute was absolutely astonishing — but his presence seems to have galvanized the whole team. There’s no denying it any more.
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Meanwhile, the goals tonight were also astonishing. Uhre looked like the assassin from 2022 when he put that first-touch strike into the near post. Then Baribo said, “I can score a goal that good… twice.” And then Quinn! Maybe he shouldn’t be starting?? Maybe he should be our late-game energy super sub? Driving against tired legs makes him even more dangerous…
P.S. I am surely in the minority, but… I like the Leagues Cup.
I’ve purposely been avoiding Leagues Cup commentary but tonight I’ll chime in.
This may have been the most complete and entertaining game they’ve played since before Copa break – when after a rough start to season they were finding a good rhythm.
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No doubt having Andre & a VERY focused Jose Martinez has tightened up the defensive side of equation and has them looking more themselves. The counter is crisp. The passing and movement crisper and Tai Baribo currently has many of taking a long, long cleansing breath. Ale instrumental and spry.
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Need more from Jack McGlynn IMO but that’s a different discussion for a different day. He made some key off ball runs which is yeomans work.
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Uhre drives me bat shit crazy for months on end then catches the goalkeeper (who had just checked his near post two times) with a cat like quick finish to serve notice the first one called back was not a fluke. Despite my typical exhortations watching him play with fiddle faddle feet his gol was Excellent.
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Cincy is a very good team. Cincy at home is almost unbeatable. Cincy subbed on the league MVP at half time and we beat them at their own game in their own house and set up a final showdown on the last day of season which will likely be ultra important for Union.
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I crush them when they need it. I laud them when they earn it. I’ve learned to accept this team over the years for who they are not who I wished they could, should or would be —> then evaluate their merit on that model. There has been enormous room for improvement this season and they seem to be on an improvement ascendency.
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All of a sudden the last handful of games—with a full compliment of players, this team could do what I’ve been saying — since the flat start to the season….”If they get their shit together by September they could be a very difficult & dangerous team.”
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Carry on.
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I second everything. I was disappointed to see Mbaizo sub off, because Harriel has been driving me nuts with killing the attack. Then, as with you and Uhre, he does a decent job at it. If nothing else, it builds a little hope… and who knows? A title?
Really great comeback win – everyone played well !
Gonna miss Jose. 🙁
I thought Ale started the game really strong and was important in the first half. But he had 4 or 5 errant passes in the 2nd half and was fading. Curtin actually pulled him promptly and sent on Quinn, who changed the game. Can you believe it? Maybe old dogs can learn new tricks!
I thought that Ale had an off night. It will be interesting to see how he plays on Saturday and if Curtin will tolerate errant passes. Ale is not alone in this category, there are several players who
turn the ball over more then the team can afford to do.
Ale and Gazdag both had a few howlers.
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But that shoulda-been assist from Ale was world class. Better even than Gazdag’s actual assist, which was excellent.
What an incredible game! The passing (other than Ale who struggled with many of his) was far and away the best I have ever seen the Union. The final pass was lacking in many cases but overall, the team looks fully united! I do hate to mention this, but I am a lot more comfortable with Harriel back there than Mbaizo.
I noticed something the first time Baribo played and not sure if it was just me. He plays a lot better with Danny, Quinn, and Uhre than Julian ever did. His passing and positioning is extraordinary and his work rate too. I don’t recall many Uhre to Carranza passes or vice versa and yet we see it a lot now. I love Julian, however, it is hard to go against Baribo. Maybe another reason Jim is giving people more chances to play??? Thoughts?
That’s recency bias. The last season and a half, Julian and Uhre weren’t connecting. But the run to MLS Cup was great play between the front 3.
So Tai Baribo. Couldn’t buy his way off the bench last season.Or the beginning of this one. Now he’s got 9 goals in 14 games across all comps. He’s got almost a goal per 90. At that rate, he’s looking at almost a half a goal better per 90 than Julian Carranza’s 2022. (.90 vs .52, so .38 to be precise). Is he suddenly the best striker we’ve ever had?
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Too early to get excited. The sample size is small, but Tai has proven to be very reliable in a short period of time. I liked his goals last night. They’re striker’s goals. Thought Uhre’s was good, too. And Sullivan’s was spectacular, which seems to be a regular feature of his goals.
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Exciting times for the team. They might just be the hot hand going into the post season.
I don’t think anybody will relish facing us right now.
Made a mistake. Stats I looked at this morning didn’t include his goals and minutes from last night. He’s actually now at 1.025 goals per 90 — 11 goals in 15 games.
It’s a crime that Curtin let Baribo rot on the bench for almost a year, refusing to give him playing time over Donovan.
I’m hoping Saturday will feel like a home game. I’m guessing Mazatlan doesn’t have anywhere near the following of Cruz Azul
My only complaint on the night was that I though Jim should of replaced Ali and Jack earlier with Quinn and Leon. (Like shortly after the second goal.)
If El Brujo really is off to Brazil, only one thing to say:
GRACIAS!
The most Philly player that the Union has ever had. And the hardest worker. And one of the wildest. He will be missed.
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Jose Martinez and Danny Califf have been the two most “Philly” players to ever wear the badge.