Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Union

The Philadelphia Union defeated CF Montreal 2-1 at Subaru Park on Wednesday evening. On a night where Montreal’s man marking system forced the Union into some untimely errors, goals from Tai Baribo and Olwethu Makhanya were enough to clinch the victory.

After a very disjointed opening to the match, where the Union struggled to connect passes cleanly, Danley Jean-Jacques took matters into his own hands and drove into the Montreal box. Off a Montreal challenge, the ball fell to the feet of Baribo who placed a shot home in an empty net heading into the 45th minute.

But Montreal drew it even just before the end of the first half. Former Union academy product, Brandan Craig, sprayed a beauty of a pass out wide left to spring an attack via John Waterman. Waterman beautifully curled a ball into the feet of Prince Owusu, who easily placed it to Andre Blake’s right.

The Montreal striker came into the match with ten goals, and surprisingly only left with eleven. Owusu was unlucky not to capitalize on multiple other opportunities throughout the match as the German’s pace and power gave the Union backline fits for much of the tilt.

Five minutes into the second half, Olwethu Makhanya earned his first Union goal, finding ample space and heading home a Kai Wagner corner to put the Union in front.

As the match wore on, the Union’s tired legs conceded significant space to the Montreal attack. After a sub to save Jakob Glesnes from a potential second yellow card, Montreal broke through a Nathan Harriel and Makhanya center back pairing with ease. Luckily for the Union, a good angle by Harriel, and a bad pass behind Owusu set the striker off balance and the Union recovered possession desperately.

The Union would bring on Cavan Sullivan and Alejandro Bedoya to help see out the one goal margin. The pair’s fresh legs helped the Union sustain pressure higher up the field – and see the game out by taking the ball to the corner flags.

Next up, the Union head to Houston where they will visit Jack McGlynn and the Houston Dynamo on Saturday at 8:30 pm.

GOALS/ASSISTS
PHI – Tai Baribo (unassisted) 37’
MTL – Prince Owusu (Waterman) 45+2’
PHI – Olwethu Makhanya (Wagner) 50’

DISCIPLINARY SUMMARY
PHI – Jakob Glesnes (caution) 21’
MTL – Victor Loturi (caution) 41’
PHI – Quinn Sullivan (caution) 42’
MTL – Brandan Craig (caution) 72’

Lineups
Philadelphia Union: Andre Blake; Nathan Harriel, Jakob Glesnes (Frankie Westfield 60’), Olwethu Makhanya, Kai Wagner, Danley Jean Jacques, Jovan Lukic, Quinn Sullivan (Cavan Sullivan 86’), Indiana Vassilev (Alejandro Bedoya 82’), Tai Baribo (Mikael Uhre 60’), Bruno Damiani (Chris Donovan 82’).

Substitutes not used: Andrew Rick, Olivier Mbaizo, Ben Bender, Jeremy Rafanello.

CF Montreal: Sébastian Breza; Brandan Craig, Joel Waterman, Luca Petrasso (Olger Escobar 82’) , Dawid Bugaj (Fernando Álvarez 80’),  Fabian Herbers (Tom Pearce 45’), Victor Loturi, Samuel Piette (Bryce Duke 66’), Prince Owusu, Hennadii Synchuk (Caden Clark 60’), Dante Sealy.

Substitutes not used: Kwadwo Opoku, Owen Graham-Roache, Jonathan Sirois, Aleksandr Guboglo.