Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union II. 

On a cool Memorial Day Weekend afternoon, Philadelphia Union II matched up against Inter Miami II at Subaru Park. Miami won on a breakaway goal in the first half, and Philadelphia could not finish its chances to get back into things. 

Despite outshooting their opponent 23-3, Union II’s unbeaten streak to start the season ended after seven matches. 

In advance

Coming into the contest, Philadelphia has three games in hand over Inter Miami II, and as many as five over other teams in MLS Next Pro. As matches begin to become more frequent in June, the gap will eventually close, and Philadelphia will be able to contest at the top of the table.

Multiple Union II players are either already on international duty, in the case of Malik Jakupovic, or will be heading there in the near future. Cavan Sullivan and Jamir Johnson will join the US Under-17 squad in Spain from June 2-10. The U-19 and U-20 rosters, which may impact other players on both the first and second teams, have not been announced yet. 

Isaiah LeFlore was absent from the matchday squad, giving Jordan Griffin his first professional start in his place at left back. Injured Neil Pierre was also absent from the squad, but is back in training, and his return should be expected soon. 

Head Coach Ryan Richter opted to start the defense identically to how they lined up against Columbus Crew II two weeks ago, with amateur Gavin Wetzel at center back and captain Nick Pariano on the right. Cavan Sullivan and CJ Olney started their afternoons on the bench. 

Philadelphia started three amateurs in Jordan Griffin, Henry Berstein, and Gavin Wetzel.

First half

Union II entered the match looking slightly overconfident against a team six places below them in the table. There were moments of cohesiveness, but they spent most of the opening 10 minutes struggling to get to second balls. Luckily, Miami also had trouble holding onto possession, and both teams’ best chances early on were called offsides. 

The home team showed more of that same overconfidence that Ryan Richter discussed following the exhibition against Ocean City Nor’easters. Multiple attacking opportunities ended in an easy save for Miami goalkeeper Ivan Schmid when the Union attacker on the ball had one or more diagonal passing options. 

The visitors opened the scoring in the 36th minute with a goal by Daniel Pinter. He caught Union II on the break, and Rafael Uzcategui could not catch his run. Semmle came off his line, and Pinter easily slotted it past him. 

Aside from that, the half was mostly back and forth between the sides, and head official Luis Diego Arroya inserted himself several times to award free kicks to Miami on objectively soft calls. Markus Anderson played well in the attacking midfield position and frequently recovered to help on defense when out of possesion. 

Second half

Cavan Sullivan, Oscar Benitez, and CJ Olney entered at halftime for Kellan LeBlanc, Eddy Davis, and Henry Bernstein. Benitez slid Gavin Wetzel to his more natural right back and allowed Nick Pariano to join the midfield. Olney’s entrance allowed Markus Anderson to move to striker. 

These adjustments had an immediate impact, making Philadelphia initially look more comfortable on both sides of the ball, but Miami matched the intensity by becoming more physical and were awarded two yellow cards for fouls in their defensive half. 

As the half progressed, Philadelphia started to become frustrated with each other. Jamir Johnson and Giovanny Sequera entered to try and shake things up, moving David Vazquez to left back in the process. At no point did Union II look out of the match, but they still lacked the final product in the box. 

Miami’s Christian Ortiz received a straight red card in the 80th minute for a hard and unnecessary challenge on Nick Pariano. Pariano had been the target of multiple fouls leading up to the challenge. 

Five minutes later, Miami committed a handball in the box, and Nick Pariano stepped to the spot. His shot bounced off the bottom of the right post. Union II increased the intensity in the final minutes of the match, but were unable to find an equalizer to send the match to penalties. 

Cavan Sullivan

The fifteen-year-old entered the match at halftime. With the first team travelling to Toronto on Wednesday, there may be a chance for him to feature against the bottom-of-the-table side. 

Next match

Union II will travel to face FC Cincinnati 2 in exactly a week on Sunday, June 1. 

 Three Points:

•  Jordan Griffin made his first professional start for Union II. 
• Nick Pariano, despite missing the game-tying penalty, was still a crucial force in both the defense and the midfield throughout the match. 
• Miami II had just one shot on goal during the match, which was Daniel Pinter’s 36th-minute game winner. 

Lineups

Union II (4-2-2-2, L-R) Head coach Ryan Richter, Bethlehem Steel FC’s original captain. 1st – 6+2; UII – 2+2; A – 3+1.

Oliver Semmle; Nick Pariano, Rafael Uzcategui, Gavin Wetzel, Jordan Griffin (Giovanny Sequera–72’) , David Vazquez, Kellan LeBlanc (Cavan Sullivan– 46’), Henry Bernstein (Oscar Benitez– 46’), Markus Anderson (Jamir Johnson–72’) , Sal Olivas, Eddy Davis (CJ Olney– 46’)

Unused subs: Mike Sheridan, Leandro Soria, 

Miami II (4-3-3) Head Coach Christian Ledesma

Ivan Schmid; Tyler Hall, Cesar Abadia-Reda, Giovanny Marchetti, Theo Vorenkamp (Daniel Sumalla– 66’), Ricardo Montenegro, Derrek Martinez, Bailey Sparks, Santiago Morales (Samuel Basabe– 79’), Mateo Saja (Bryan Destin– 90’), Daniel Pinter (Christian Ortiz– 46’)

Unused Subs: Matias Marin, Lesther Garcia-Spencer, Jack Pymm, Santiago Ledesma, Alejandro Flores

Scoring Summary:

MIA: Pinter– 36’

Discipline Summary:

MIA: Martinez– 52’ (caution)

MIA: Saja– 57’ (caution)

PHI: Uzcategui– 69’ (caution)

MIA: Ortiz– 80’ (ejection)

MIA: Basabe– 90+’ (caution)

MIA: Marchetti– 90+’ (caution)

Stats

Whistle and flags: 

Ref: Luis Diego Arroyo, AR1: Listen Lopez, AR2: Logan Reeves, 4th: Marie Durr.