Photo courtesy of Ryan McElroy
The Philadelphia Union staged a late comeback to leave BMO Field with a win for the first time in six years, pulling off a 2-1 victory over Toronto FC. It was far from the Union’s best performance of the season, but the team showed resilience and belief to secure their spot at the top of the Eastern Conference.
Player Ratings:
GK Andre Blake – 6
Blake didn’t have much to do in his return from injury, aside from one good kick save on Osorio in the 42nd minute. He might have come out of net quicker on Toronto’s goal, but probably didn’t expect that neither of his center-backs would make the challenge.
LB Kai Wagner – 9
After putting in great service all night long, including one cross that somehow went between Sean Johnson and the near post without going into the net, Wagner was finally rewarded late with a goal and an assist to win the game for the Union.
CB Nathan Harriel – 6.5
Put in a thunderous header for his goal, once again proving himself as one of the most dangerous aerial threats in the league despite his relatively shorter stature. I’m not sure what happened on Toronto’s goal – he almost seemed gassed and was not able to make up any ground to challenge Brynhildsen’s long run.
CB Jakob Glesnes – 6.5
For most of the night, Glesnes was near-perfect in his positioning, distribution, and veteran savvy. Unfortunately, his one miscalculation cost the Union a goal: he waited far too long to challenge Brynhildsen, seemingly thinking that Harriel would be able to recover.
RB Frankie Westfield – 6
A quieter night from Westfield, who did well to deal with the occasional foray from Spicer defensively, but wasn’t very involved going forward.
DM Jesus Bueno – 6
Had a few nervy moments on the ball in the middle of the park, but also got forward to good effect, including with two nice shots in the first half.
DM Jovan Lukic – 6
The metronome in the Union’s midfield was typically competent, but quiet.
AM Quinn Sullivan – 5.5
Sullivan wasn’t at his best tonight, even after switching to the left side to try to get more involved.
AM Indiana Vassilev – 5.5
Got into great positions out wide all night long, but rarely put in any good service.
FWD Bruno Damiani – 6
Unfortunate not to score on spectacular scissor kick in the 12th minute. Showed a lot of strong hold-up play throughout.
FWD Tai Baribo – 5
The Golden Boot leader had a few chances off set pieces, but ultimately it was a quiet night by his standards.
Substitutes:
(67’) Danley Jean-Jacques – 7
Pushed forward well as the Union sought a comeback, then put in a few heroic blocks in stoppage time to preserve the lead.
(67’) Mikael Uhre – 5
Spent a lot of time determinedly chasing Toronto defenders and giving away fouls.
(78’) Alejandro Bedoya – 6
Contributed to the attack as the Union chased a goal.
(82’) Ben Bender – N/A
Geiger Counter
Guido Gonzales Jr. – 4
Too many whistles on soft fouls from Gonzales Jr., who should have let the game flow more, particularly in the second half.
Player of the Match – Kai Wagner
A goal and an assist don’t even tell the full story for Wagner, who put near-constant dangerous service into the box for the Union. I struggle to think what Philly’s attack would have looked like without him.
What’s Next…
The Union travel to Dallas to finish out their May gauntlet on Saturday night.
Great comeback, everybody gets .5 for that.
I think Quinn is too high, though. He has been on fire all season but last night his passing was way off, too many unforced giveaways.
I love Indiana’s energy and work rate but he just didn’t contribute much to the attack. And I’ve got to be honest that I’m getting annoyed with his default routine of shrugging his shoulders and sticking out his palms every time he loses the ball or doesn’t connect a pass.
And Vassilev is not very good at soccer. He’s good at running around and arguing with the ref about everything. Which I detest. And is actually counterproductive. Would be one thing if he were the captain. Or he was really good at soccer. He’s neither.
His lack of offensive prowess is frustrating, and limits his effectiveness on the pitch. But more than anything else he’s an energy player, and on a heavy-pressing team, you need guys like that. That’s why Carnell likes him. Personally I would like to see an upgrade at that position, but I think he would be fine as a backup and spot starter.
Agree. He hustles to get the ball then usually turns over. An upgrade would be awesome.
Also, should Carnell be allowed to call him “Indie”? Isn’t that a character played by Harrison Ford?
Indiana was the dog’s name.
Named after the dog?!?!
Indiana Jones was Harrison Ford’s character in “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. The name is in the title of the sequels:
“Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”, etc.
Indy was what some of the characters called him in the movies.
He did run around a lot in the movies so maybe there is a comparision lol!
Kai had a great game and I hope that he is rewarded with a night off at Dallas. I though Makhanya had a good game against Miami and if he plays CB Harriel can slide to the left for Kai.
I’d like Kai to start on the bench and brought on only if that magic left foot is really needed. It is a long season and he is one of the older guys. Got to leave a little in his tank.
Kai – “One of the older guys”? He’s 28.
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Fun game and I was impressed by the fight back and desire to win. After Nate’s goal, Danley Jean Jacques is immediately retrieving the ball from the net to restart ASAP. The mentality was “we want the win!!”. — Nice.
You just proved you know nothing about soccer or about the team
I would drop Harriel by a full point. Yes, nice goal but an even nicer ball in. As noted above, he looked gassed (in the 76th minute) on the goal OR he slowed down for some inexplicable reason. Either way it was awful. He is not a center back. Fortunately, the U are rather good at scoring and Toronto is bad. If Harriel continues to play CB it will bite the U in the butt at some point. It seems to me that BC may not want to choose between Westfield and Harriel at RB and this is his way of getting them both minutes.
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Yes, they are 10 3 3 and 1st in the conference, so this is moderate to low level criticism. Winning is good.
I think the RB point is half of it, and the other half is that Makhanya has been a bit erratic and with Glavinovich/Pierre out there’s not a more dependable setup to play with.
I think that Harriel and Glesnes are a point to high. But that’s just nitpicking by me. The schedule load is at least partially to blame for the boys having some mental and physical drop off. Although I feel like they are less tired than in years past. It was a good comeback win and I really felt like it was going to happen. When was the last time you could say that?? Carnell and the team are having a good run of form! Let’s hope they can keep going!