Photo courtesy Marjorie Elzey
Kai Wagner’s stoppage time strike saw his Philadelphia Union clinch a comeback victory on the road against Toronto FC with a final score of 2-1. The Union’s 10th win of the season sees them continue to pace MLS’ Eastern Conference.
First Half
A fiery ending to the game began with 45 minutes of dreary football from two sides on opposite ends of the Eastern Conference table. Football that mirrored the cool, damp weather at BMO Field on Wednesday evening in Canada’s largest city. The conference leading Philadelphia Union were a class above second-bottom Toronto FC, but the latter would have been the more pleased of the two to enter the halftime break even at nil-nil.
Philadelphia, donning their electric blue and yellow away kits, found early success down their left-hand side thanks to the usual partnership of Kai Wagner and Indiana Vassilev. There was a clear attempt to exploit an out-of-position Derrick Etienne Jr. at filling in at right-wingback. Former Italy and Juventus star Federico Bernardeschi left a massive void on his typical side of the pitch due to suspension (yellow card accumulation). Fellow Serie A and Italian Starman Lorenzo Insigne also found himself out of the starting 11 and was an unused substitute.
This exploitation by the Union culminated in their best first-half chance at goal in the 12th minute when Bruno Damiani connected on an eye-catching volley. The looping effort forced former USMNT keeper Sean Johnson to make a save at full stretch.
A pair of first-time strikes from Jesus Bueno kept the hosts on their heels, but were ultimately not enough to break the deadlock. His efforts were also not enough to keep him on the field longer than 66 minutes after a rare start in place of Danley Jean Jacques. Bradley Carnell made five lineup changes in this match after what has been a jam-packed month of matches.
Toronto’s best first half chance came in the 42nd minute via a cross from the beforementioned Derrick Etienne Jr. His ball, whipped in from the right wing, found itself destined for the foot of Johnathan Osorio. Toronto’s talisman took his strike first time trying to beat Blake to his near post, but Blake showed no signs of rust in his first call to action since his last appearance on May 3rd and did well to keep the shot out.
Second Half
The second half saw a much more lively home side. Head coach Robin Fraser made it a clear point to come out of the halftime interval with more intensity and it showed. Toronto sustained longer spells of possession thanks to a collective effort to press and squeeze the Union higher up the pitch. The game became more stretched as both teams committed more players forward.
Union head coach Bradley Carnell doubled-down by making a pair of attacking substitutions in Danley Jean Jacques and Mikael Uhre, The change did not deter The Reds and they continued to pick and choose their moments to attack the holes left in the visitor’s defense.
The 75th minute saw a long-ball from Toronto bypass the Union back line, leaving forward Ola Brynhildsen one-on-one with Andre Blake and the Norwegian made no mistake. A vicious strike off his right foot bruised the crossbar and left Blake rooted to his spot.
Desperate to pick up their fourth win of the campaign, Toronto dropped deeper and challenged the Union to keep the ball and attack their goal for the remainder of the match. The approach from from MLS’s 14th ranked defense ultimately played into the hands of the Union. Philadelphia, with a league leading 10 set piece goals, were more than content to hold possession and let the corner kick count rack up.
The pressure saw Toronto’s backline give way in the 86th minute when Nathan Hariel scored an emphatic header to level the scoring. Kai Wagner’s inswinging corner led to what was the 11th Union goal from a dead-ball this season.
Philadelphia’s left-footed German was not done there.
Wagner found a pocket of space 25 yards from the opposition’s goal and let one fly in the second minute of second-half stoppage-time. A little fortune saw his effort deflect off the foot of Matt Longstaff and loop over the helpless Sean Johnson. Wagner’s Man-of-the-Match performance would lift the boys in blue to their tenth win of the season, becoming first in the East to do so.
Three points
Toronto Curse (?) Lifted
Philly entered this match having not won in Toronto since pre-COVID. May 2019 was the last time this team saw themselves in the win column after a trip to Canada’s largest city. A curse? You decide. Either way, it is over and the Union get the job done.
Second Best Left Foot in MLS
Kai Wagner put in one of his best performances of the season in the later stages of this one, right when his team needed it the most. Toronto had some success getting at his left side of defense in the the latter parts of the first half and certainly in the second half, but the All-Star left-back stuffed the stat sheet on the offensive end and willed his side to victory.
Scandinavian Showdown
It was an interesting duel all night between the teams’ two big Norwegians. Toronto’s Ola Brynhildsen looked dynamic at times and provided his team’s only threat in behind the Union’s backline — a backline led by the Union’s own Norwegian, Jakob Glesnes. It was Brynhildsen who won the initial battle with his opening goal, but it was Glesnes and company who ultimately won the war.
Lineups
Philadelphia Union
Andre Blake, Nathan Harriel, Jakob Glesnes, Kai Wagner, Francis Westfield, Jovan Lukic, Jesus Bueno (Danley Jean Jacques), Indiana Vassilev (Ben Bender), Quinn Sullivan, Bruno Damiani (Mikkel Uhre), Tai Baribo
Unused substitutes: Jeremy Rafanello, Cavan Sullivan, Olwethu Makhanya, Alejandro Bedoya, Andrew Rick, Oliver Mbaizo
Toronto FC
Sean Johnson, Raoul Petretta, Zane Monlouis (Kevin Long), Tyrese Spicer, Henry Wingo (Sigurd Rosted), Deybi Flores, Alonso Coello (Matthew Longstaff), Theo Corbeanu, Johnathan Osorio, Ola Brynhildsen (Charles Sharp), Derrick Etienne Jr.
Unused substitutes: Lazar Stefanovic, Markus Cimermancic, Lorenzo Insigne, Luka Gavran, Maxime Dominguez
Scoring summary
Toronto: 75′ Ola Brynhildsen (Deybi Flores)
Union: 86′ Nathan Hariel (Kai Wagner)
Union: 90 +2′ Kai Wagner
Disciplinary summary
Union: 89′ Tai Baribo (Yellow Card)
Union: 90 + 7′ Alejandro Bedoya (Yellow card)
This game can be summed up by a quote from the great one, Wayne Gretzky. “One hundred percent of the shots you don’t take, don’t score”. Thank you Kai Wagner for putting the Union top of the table.
Well they sure waited till the end to win this one. It didn’t look like they could connect a pass, let alone two or more. Happy for the defenses’ offensive prowess.
Thank you for the article; well described. As a footnote, Ale Bedoya came in as a sub and got a yellow card—can’t remember who came off.
Nate Harriel at fault on the goal made up for it with the equalizer. But Wagner. My word.
I also thought that Glesnes could have helped slow the attack down. Sure, he had an attacker on his backside which he would have to shadow, but he could have done a better job of hedging and slowing the attack down.
He obviously tried once he realized Nate wasn’t going to, but he was tracking his runner. Arguably, job #1. You can see him turn the burners on and suddenly he’s the fastest one on the field.
Came here to say exactly this. Harriel got pretty badly beat on the goal. But then atoned with that sweet header.
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Anybody else think Blake should’ve come out more aggressively to close off the angle on Brynhildsen?
+1. Harriel giveth and Harriel taketh away. He is awfully good in the air!
Fun end to a chaotic game. I had a feeling they were going to pull it off, too, which is an odd thing to experience as a Union fan.
I was watching the highlights after the game, and they showed maybe 3 Toronto highlights. A casual observer would think the Union were in complete control of that game.
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This is a new team to me. For those of us who have been here since the beginning, this is such an odd feeling to be on the good end of an extra time goal. There was a time when we had draw or a one-goal lead and we KNEW the other team would find one at the end. Last night, I don’t know why, but I knew there was a goal coming for us after Toronto went up.
It’s a very odd feeling, and I’m still working through how to process it…
+1
The part I can’t believe is seeing them continually gain ground in the standings against competing teams. I was so bitterly disappointed at the end of the Miami match… until I found out that all the other teams at the top had drawn or lost too. Then I went on a roller coaster with this Toronto match, culminating in the discovery that Cincy, Columbus, Nashville, and Vancouver had all drawn their matches, and Orlando had lost. Now THAT’S a weird feeling for a Union fan…
Was it just me or was this the worst passing effort the Union have had in the past 5 years? Carnell alluded to the pitch in his post-game comments, so maybe that was it. However, I felt like 50% of our passes were either to Toronto or to fast or slow for our teammates. Lately, we have been treated to some incredible passing but this game was certainly not that. Kudos for sticking it out and winning it. Miami shouldn’t have scored that crazy last goal when the ball went between 3 Union players and we shouldn’t have scored the ricochet. Just goes to show you that you never know what happens when you press the issue and go to penetrate and shoot. Anything can happen in the box or just outside of it. It’s the brave teams that get the breaks and the Union were the braver team yesterday (yes, I acknowledge that we missed two sitters at the end of the Miami game), so we were brave against Miami as well.
Totally agree…..my wife and I were both saying “can anyone connect with an accurate pass?”….seemed to be a team-wide ailment. Fortunately I’m old school with the Al Davis “Just Win Baby” mentality, so I don’t concern myself with style points….just the points.
The Union overall did not look their best, particularly in the first half. But I would certainly cut them some slack, given how many games they’ve played in May, plus being on the road. On that note, having played 8 games this month (and with one left), the Union are 6-0-2. And they were this close to making it 7-0-1, twice. You can’t really do much better than that.
Totally fair.
Rough on the eyes that one.
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I’ll never be able to argue for a philosophy of play rooted in the ‘inevitability’ of transitions which are borderline intentional. Ball is simply in the air too much.
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It just is and as a result, ‘at times irritable man yells at the wind.’
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I support them and they are ‘getting results’ with at times moments of aesthetic.
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Carey on.