Photo: Ron Soliman
The Union returned home after a disappointing semi-final defeat to the Columbus Crew to face the Colorado Rapids in the Leagues Cup third-place consolation game. A sparse crowd graced the western bank of the Delaware River at Subaru Park as a place in Concacaf’s Champions Cup was on the line. Both teams were playing their seventh game of the Leagues Cup.
Colorado scored the only goal of the second half, tying the game at 2 apiece. Regulation ended knotted at 2 and the match moved to PKs, where Colorado clinched 3rd place in the Cup and a guaranteed berth in the Champions Cup.
Andre Blake once again started in goal, but it was the first Leagues Cup match in two years without Damion Lowe and José Martínez wearing Union blue, as both have departed the Union for other teams. Center backs Jack Elliott and Jakob Glesnes anchored the defense in front of Blake, and were flanked by Kai Wagner on the left and Oliver Mbaizo on the right. Jesus Bueno got a start at the base of the 4-4-2 diamond, replacing Martínez as the 6, while Leon Flach moved back to his usual 8 position on the left. Quinn Sullivan started on the right of the diamond and Daniel Gazdag played in his usual attacking midfield role as the 10. Tai Baribo returned from his red card suspension to start up front with Mikael Uhre.
First Half
The Union dominated possession for the first thirty minutes, forcing Union Academy product and Manchester Citizen Zach Steffen into three saves, while Andre Blake was also forced into a terrific diving save in the 29th minute.
A counter-attacking Colorado scored first, against the run of play, when Glesnes was caught out and allowed a pass behind him which led to a two on one. Rafael Navarro took the pass down the left, ran in on goal and found an attacking Calvin Harris on his right, who beat an unprotected Blake in the 38th minute.
It didn’t take long, however, for the Union to level the game, when a cross from Uhre on the left was headed back across goal from Wagner to Baribo, who headed past a diving Steffen in the 41st minute. It was Baribo’s sixth goal in the Leagues Cup, leveling him with the Cup’s Golden Boot leaders. Minutes later, Baribo took the Golden Boot lead in the 44th minute, when a Sullivan strike was rifled off the left post to Wagner, whose shot was stopped but rebounded to an onrushing Baribo who again made no mistake with his shot. The Union took a deserved 2-1 lead into halftime, coming back from a goal down.
Second Half
The second half kicked off with the same eleven for both teams. It didn’t take Colorado long to tie the game in the 49th minute, as a Djordje Mihailovic corner was partially cleared by an Elliott header, but only to the foot of a charging Oliver Larraz who put it past a diving Blake. An offside Lalas Abubakar may have obstructed Blake, who saw the shot late and was beaten at the near post. VAR looked at it quickly, but the goal stood.
For a while the Union were content to play long balls to Uhre and Sullivan while Colorado continued to have the better chances. Union Coach Jim Curtain made three changes in the 62nd minute in attempt to inject some liveliness into a Union side that was getting outplayed, bringing on Jack McGlynn for Uhre, Alejandro Bedoya for Flach, and Danley Jean Jaques for Bueno. Meanwhile, the Rapids brought on Jackson Travis for an injured Samuel Vines in the 64th minute.
The Union were saved by the post in 78th minute when an Abubakar shot came close. The Union recovered and started to put some pressure on Colorado. In the interim, Samuel Adeniran replaced Sullivan in the 80th minute and Jonathan Lewis replaced Harris in the 84th minute. Colorado made another substitution in the 89th minute as a shootout approached, bringing on Darren Yapi for Navarro. Neither team scored in five minutes of injury time, and the match progressed to penalty kicks to determine the winner.
Penalty Kicks
The game moved to the River End where Colorado shot first. Mihailovic went first, sending Blake the wrong way and scoring his attempt. Gazdag went first for the Union, but his attempt was saved by Steffen. Cole Bassett went next, going high and scoring over Blake. Baribo went next, but Steffen once again guessed the right way and saved Baribo’s attempt. The Union were down 2-0 in PKs. Andreas Maxso scored his penalty to give Colorado a dominating 3-0 lead in PKs. Elliott whipped one past Steffen to keep the Union alive, and Connor Ronan skied his attempt, allowing the Union another chance. Mbaizo took his shot from the spot, clanging it off the crossbar, and Colorado advanced to the Concacaf Champions Cup.
Three points
Tai Baribo: 7 goals in 6 League Cup games. Golden Boot leader (for now).
Gazdag PK woes: Normally a sure thing from the spot, Gazdag once again missed his PK attempt, the second in this Leagues Cup. (Let’s not forget the miss in the 2022 MLS Cup as well.) Gotta be better.
Zach Steffen: Two saves in PKs won the match for Colorado. He stepped up.
Lineups
Philadelphia Union (4-4-2)
Andre Blake, Jack Elliott, Jakob Glesnes, Kai Wagner, Olivier Mbaizo, Jesus Bueno (Danley Jean Jaques 62′), Leon Flach (Alejandro Bedoya 62′), Quinn Sullivan (Samuel Adeniran 80′), Daniel Gazdag, Tai Baribo, Mikael Uhre (Jack McGlynn 62′)
Unused Subs: Holden Trent, Oliver Semmle, Nathan Harriel, Olwethu Makhanya, C.J. Olney, Jr., Jeremy Rafanello, Chris Donovan
Colorado Rapids (4-2-3-1) Zach Steffen, Samuel Vines (Jackson Travis 64′), Andreas Maxso, Lalas Abubakar, Keegan Rosenberry, Oliver Larraz, Connor Ronan, Cole Bassett, Djordje Mihailovic, Calvin Harris (Jonathan Lewis 84′), Rafael Navarro (Darren Yapi 89′)
Unused subs: Adam Beaudry, Ethan Bandre, Michael Edwards, Sebastian Anderson, Jasper Loffelsend, Wayne Frederick, Kimani Stewart, Omir Fernandez
Referee –
Scoring summary
COL – Calvin Harris – 39′
PHI – Tai Baribo – 41′
PHI – Tai Baribo – 44′
COL – Oliver Larraz – 49′
Discipline summary
COL – Andreas Maxso – yellow card (foul) – 25′
PHI – Kai Wagner – yellow card (foul) – 26′
Out. Of. Gas.
I think they miss Martinez.
Dude, they lost. Rapids beat them 3-1 in PKs. Were up 2-1 in regulation and then coughed up the tying goal.
Thanks for the write-up.
Maybe their second goal was offsides ?
Hope Tai gets the golden boot !
Dude they lost on PKs.
Out of gas, out of hope, out of time.
The Silence is deafening.
Three of four PKs missed. Unacceptable, and been there done that. CCC gone, and that was our last chance to see CCC for the foreseeable future. Of course, no trophy.
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If we long shot make the playoffs, we’ll have no chance anyway. For next year’s LC, we’ll have garbage seeding, playing on the road against top tier MLS and Liga MX teams right from group stage. Fuggedaboudit. Book your August plans anywhere else worthwhile.
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We’re going nowhere except Back to the Future (2014) unless Sugarman and upstairs make serious purchases for once. I’ll be the Queen of England before they’ll do that, given everything we know about them.
Maybe anticipated large-scale revenue drops might motivate them, but I’m not holding my breath.
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Since we’re bad enough, they’ll hopefully work out a first team USOC place for us next year. If CCC teams aren’t playing, we’ll have a long shot at something.
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Sorry for the Negadelphia, but ownership and management deserve it and we don’t.
They need to know it from us (and I’ve spoken to some management) and be concerned about the financial consequences of their apparent permanent lack of commitment to winning. They’re pissing down our backs and telling us it’s raining. They need to prove it for once.
Amen
This team is out of gas. McGlinn has been a major disappointment this year. Lack of spending by ownership continues to show up in the U being the bridesmaids. Maybe at some point people will realize this team is committed to being good but not great. Please get an owner in here who cares about Philadelphia. No more New York investors.
This team is out of gas overall. McGlinn has been a major disappointment this year. Lack of spending by ownership continues to show up in the U being the bridesmaids. Maybe at some point people will realize this team is committed to being good but not great. Please get an owner in here who cares about Philadelphia. No more New York investors.
I think when we had a chance to win this game but after substituting you realized right away that this wasn’t going to be their day. Danley, Bedoya & McGlynn turned into the team looking much less dangerous and slower, giving Colorado time to press and win the ball. Bedoya is starting to look his age as completing a pass is not happening anymore and running a ball down just turns into losing possession. Does anyone think Adeniran shows more promise then Donovan? The comments from Saint Louis fans is he’s lazy and they were happy to get rid of him. He is suppose to be fast but I just don’t see that. Running against tired players in the 80th minute and all I saw was a jog for ten minutes when it came to pressing and letting Colorado keep possession and momentum.
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Now the champs come here on a short week hungover from celebrating yet another success was the season resumes. Chances are they’ll know how to deal with a hangover.
+1. This is year 2 of “they’re not a serious team if Bedoya is consistently playing 60 mins a game”. And I don’t like Adeniran at all. He doesn’t make any effort in pressing. Which, isn’t that what’s kept so many attackers in the doghouse?? Why does he get all those minutes when at least Donovan is active in pressing? Failed signing so far. I think they need to clean house on a lot of players and sign upgrades but they won’t so here we are.
I actually thought Bedoya looked good. Danley has potential but he is not ready yet. He needs time to gel with his teammates. Mcglynn gave nothing. And overall they looked worse. I could tell Uhre was tired and needed a break, but you bring on Adeniran. One sub. Done. Keep the stuff that works.
Only so their is no confusion as I am confident Deez Nuggs was watching closely, McGlynn, Bedoya, and Jean-Jacques were all subbed on around the 62nd minute, switching Sullivan up to striker for Uhre.
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On a speculative roster technicality, Olney was dressed on the bench without an announcement of a special short-term agreement? May we infer that he is no longer an off-roster Homegrown player?
Tim, I’m pretty sure I saw something that they had signed Olney as a homegrown a couple of weeks ago.
Yes, they did, but this unknown category of “off-roster homegrown players” exists, I think, because on the total roster profiles issued by the league on May1st, there are 32 such, and Union roster announcements have previously mentioned them as necessitating short-term agreements to dress for first team games. The’ve mention Cavan Sullivan, David Vazquez, and Olney all three. Of course Olney may have been a Union II contract at the time.
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It is a grey area.
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I appreciate your attempts to get further clarification as always, Andy. I will dig further later. U II match starts in 10 minutes.
Tim, the Union have moved on Damion Lowe, Martinez, and Ngabo this month…. that’s three open roster spots. They signed Olney to a HG contract on August 6.
I don’t whether Adeniran has more upside than Donovan ultimately, the sample size is still small. I do know however that Donovan is not good and can’t score. So given that the season is hopelessly over, I am willing to endure him to know whether he is worth keeping.
Remember that short 3-4 year period when we were proud to be fans and excited to go to a match or watch on “tv”? They hadn’t won anything but they kept improving year after year. It was fun.
Then they stopped investing in key pieces and began selling off key assets without having already backfilled adequately. Poor planning, no monetary outlay and no real commitment to winning trophies. That defines the Union today. It’s no longer fun. But it is So Union.
So glad we put league play on hold for a whole month for that…
One bright spot: Baribo is the real deal.
Golden Boot.
Good to be out of the CCC for once? Maybe concentrate on MLS for a change in 2025? Call me crazy (I probably am) but losing 3rd place could be a good thing, especially if the fan base repudiates the current process and demands a different course. Curtin’s “We’re going to try to win every competition we’re in” philosophy was foolish to begin with. Just win MLS. That’s what the STH is paying for.
+1
The only cautionary point is how losing 3rd place effects the players mindset.
Jim with tournaments is like a kid at the cookie table. Standing there with a half eaten Leagues cup in one hand, a half eaten CCC in the other, when he gets to the end of the table and can’t pick up the best MLS season cookie. Goes home disappointed, but does the same thing again next time- just can’t help himself.
+1
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Team can’t handle multiple competitions. This lets them focus on league play and maybe USOC if we happen to be in it.
An out-of-gas team now plays twice in five days before it gets two weeks off for FIFA’s September international window.
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Columbus may still be hung over, but Reb Bull won’t.
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Gazdag will be asked to be an iron man.
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Looks like the other three midfield spots will be rotating, with Quin Sullivan’s rotation being shifted to striker rather than the bench.
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Perhaps it is a good thing they have missed CCC, and that they will leave 2025 Leagues Cup early.
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If a second rank European side has a striker go down hurt, the Union may get an offer for Baribo they cannot refuse.
“I don’t judge guys by PKs”–Jim Curtin. Well Jim, you should.
. . .
You can’t control speed or height, but you can control tradecraft, and you’ll constantly lose big matches on the pitch and in shootouts until you recognize that. Winners excel at free kick tradecraft.
+1
Sugarman, please prove me wrong that your only goal is increasing the teams value by building the accademy, selling off young players who show promise for big fees and there by increasing profits and team value. This is your master business plan. Every fan should know this is Sugarmans # 1 goal. We will never win an MLS championship with this model. This management only gives the fans enough to stay slightly interested. There is no incentive for Sugarman to change his business model. He is a good businessman It’s all very controlled and calculated. This fan owner relationship has been a 15 year courtship where ownership has never fully committed to doing what is needed to win a championship for the first team. It’s just so sad for the Philly Soccer Fans
In terms of spending money, Sugarman makes Connie Mack look like the Saudi Pro League.
In terms of salaries, Sugarman makes Connie Mack look like the Saudi Pro League.