Photo courtesy Philadelphia Union Communications
An upcoming US Open Cup clash meant that the Supporters Shield leaders fielded a much changed lineup away to the Vancouver Whitecaps, with disastrous results. Vancouver entered the game sitting third in the West and in the hunt for a playoff spot. After tonight’s performance, they are definitely well on their way. Andrew Rick started in goal, with a very changed defensive line in front of him. Makhanya missed the game through suspension. Nathan Harriel started in the center with Glesnes, with Westfield taking left back and Bedoya platooning at right back, as he had done successfully against Chicago.
First half
The Whitecaps came out strong from the start, fast–and physical, collecting two yellow cards in the first 15 minutes. The Union looked tentative and struggled to put together passes or to get behind the Vancouver defense. Ali Ahmed for the Whitecaps, had no such problems getting behind the defense, where he repeatedly torched Bedoya down the right, creating spaces in the middle as Glesnes moved wide to assist.
The first goal for Vancouver came in the 18th minute off a well worked corner from Berhalter that found the head of Laborda and the back of the net. Six minutes later, a cross from Ahmed found Sabbi for the ‘Caps second goal of the night. By the half, more than half of Vancouver’s attacks would come down the Union’s right side. A cross into the box in 30th minute found Jose Bueno’s arm in an unnatural position, resulting in a penalty kick. Thomas Mueller, 36 years old today, converted to make it 3-0.
Then, in the 40th minute, a beautiful searching ball from Glesnes found an onrushing Bedoya who crossed to a streaking Mikael Uhre, who slotted it into the net first time–only for the goal to be chalked off by VAR for a hair’s breadth of offside, leaving the visitors goalless. In the 40th minute, Bedoya left a leg out that brought down Ahmed, as he tried to corral him, resulting in a second penalty kick. Mueller converted.
The half ended with a triple substitution in stoppage time, before the half–Wagner, Baribo and Jean Jacques.
Second half
The second half started much stronger for the Union, with some incisive passing and buildup that led to some early good looks at goal. It looked like the Union might be starting to grow into the game. Until the 61st minute. The threat Mueller carried drew defenders toward the middle, this time leaving Sabbi open on the left to curl in a high, hard shot for Vancouver’s fifth goal and Sabbi’s second on the night. In the 80th minute, it was 6-0, when the 17 year old Rayan Elloumi, with only one previous appearance, headed on a flick from Mueller. In the 88th minute, Thomas Mueller got his hat trick, making it 7-0.
In the end, it was a disastrous, confused Union performance. The Whitecaps capitalized. Union passing and buildup, except for a few passages early in the second half, were very poor. Marking was poor. Where the Union was predictable, heavy-legged and out of ideas, Vancouver pressed, was dynamic. Let’s hope the memory of this game will enliven the Union for the Tuesday matchup against Nashville in the Open Cup semi-finals.
Defender Kai Wagner earned his 200th MLS appearance with the Philadelphia Union, and homegrown defender Neil Pierre made his MLS debut.
Three points:
- Bedoya: Using Bedoya as a right back worked against Chicago, but he is clearly more valuable as a midfielder. His cross to Uhre in the first half was pure class. While it’s true that Mbaizo gets caught out from time to time, the threat of his speed and crosses can pin back attacking wingers.
- Rotation: Rotating the squad in May during the high number of games worked well, and with the USOC semis coming up so soon (Tuesday), it made sense to rest players. But did the experience of May make Carnell and players complacent about the risks? Westfield is not a natural substitute for Wagner, and the defensive line really missed Makhanya.
- Resilience: Goals change games, and the VAR-disallowed goal in the 40th minute might have emboldened the Union. They continued to chase the game, but as the scoreline makes abundantly clear, they couldn’t stop shipping goals. There was an uncharacteristic franticness in the defense and through the midfield. The fact they could cut through Vancouver during the opening minutes of the second half demonstrates that even on the night, they were a better team than they showed. But they didn’t keep it up. Andrew Rick made some important saves that kept the scoreline from being worse.
GOALS/ASSISTS
VAN – Mathias Laborda (Berhalter) 18’
VAN – Emmanuel Sabbi (Ahmed) 24’
VAN – Thomas Müller (PK) 29’
VAN – Thomas Müller (PK) 45+1’
VAN – Emmanuel Sabbi (Müller, Berhalter) 61’
VAN – Rayan Elloumi (Berhalter, Nelson ) 80’
VAN – Thomas Müller (unassisted) 88’
DISCIPLINARY SUMMARY
VAN – Thomas Müller (caution) 8’
VAN – Tristan Blackmon (caution) 16’
PHI – Milan Iloski (caution) 68’
VAN – Tate Johnson (caution) 74’
PHI – Tai Baribo (caution) 75’
PHI – Jovan Lukic (caution) 87’
Lineups
Philadelphia Union: Andrew Rick; Jakob Glesnes, Alejandro Bedoya (Kai Wagner 47’), Nathan Harriel, Frankie Westfield, Jovan Lukic, Jesus Bueno (Danley Jean Jacques 47’ ), Indiana Vassilev (Bruno Damiani 62’) , Quine Sullivan, Mikael Uhre (Tai Baribo 47’), Milan Iloski (Neil Pierre 70’)
Substitutes not used: George Marks, Olivier Mbaizo, Jeremey Rafanello, Cavan Sullivan
Vancouver Whitecaps FC: Yohei Takaoka; Mathias Laborda, Belal Halbouni, Tristan Blackmon, Edier Ocampo (Tate Johnson 68’ ), Andres Cubas (Jeevan Badwal 81’), Sebastian Berhalter ( Giuseppe Bovalina 87’), Ali Ahmed (Jayden Nelson 67’ ), Thomas Müller, Emmanuel Sabbi, Daniel Rios (Rayan Elloumi 68’)
Substitutes not used: Ralph Priso, Isaac Boehmer, Jean-Claude Ngando, Kenji Cabrera
Referee: Allen Chapman
Gross! Lost the goal differential to SDFC too. Burn the tape and move on.. fast!
How ’bout those Phils, eh? Go Birds.
That was…*emmmmm*…malodorous.
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The Caps were even missing key players like Ryan Gauld, Brian White, and Ranko Veselinović. Having Thomas Müller also helps.
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The big sacrifice here–including in goal differential–is the USOC. We’re still in slight pole position to win the East/SS. Let’s hope the cost pays off.
Well Carnell tried to insult Vancouver with our starting lineup then got slapped around 7 ways till Sunday. Treated it as a throwaway game. Hope that strategy pays off but a senseless loss.
It was obvious in the first minute that Bedoya was overmatched. His mark had superior pace and agility.
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Turf plays faster than grass. And the pace of play is now end-of-season level. Bedoya simply could not cope.
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WE learned just how valuable and important Kai Wagner is at left back. He anticipates defensive needs a count faster than Westfield, and he completes passes consistently. West field did not on the night.
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In fairness Westfield has played little at eft back for the first team.
In other words: 12 to 1.
That’s how it should have finished. Microcosm of everything I’ve felt about this cluster club for years.
Thank you ‘caps, for exposing the truth. Fans talk all the time about the beautiful game, and what they want to see. Did ya miss it? The couv were missing key guys from last year’s playoff run. Didn’t seem to affect them any .
2 shits not given about line up changes. They brought many on. Looked as bad as the starters. Talent, speed, skill and an actual ATTACKING PLAN win in this sport. Running into people and hoping for a lucky bounce not as much.
They toyed with you. Frauds.
Suga: Mueller sends his regards.
Bradley Carnell rolled the lineup rotational dice and this time it came up snake eyes. This was always going to be a difficult game on the road against a good team on turf. Ale Bedoya cannot play RB against a good team, period. It didn’t take Vancouver very long to figure that out, and then Vancouver just played Ahmed vs. Bedoya one on one to their advantage. The two worst losses this season have come when the starting CBs were suspended, and that should surprise no one. I watched the replay of the disallowed goal and I don’t understand how it could have been disallowed because Bedoya was played on by the Van RB–but, after that goal was overturned, there was no way back. If we needed it, this game was proof how valuable Wagner, Danley and Makhanya are to this team.
Carnell lost us this one from the opening whistle with the lineup. This was then compounded by uncharacteristicly awful Union play, and I have to assume that the massive travel to Vancouver has something to do with how flat they came up. And then add a big dose of bad luck on top. Perhaps the worst of it is that we’ve now squandered a lead in GD that we’ve held for most of the season.
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Oh well. At least SD also lost by multiple goals. We’re about to learn a lot about this Union team in a few days…
Unacceptable.
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Every phase of play was shit from jump. Thankfully i snuffed it out by the 30th min and took my rest.
Union still control their own destiny in the Open Cup and barring Miami or Vancouver winning out, the Supporters Shield.
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If they win Tuesday, last night won’t matter. If they lose, however, the weight of the club’s past failures and Carnell’s playoff failure with St. Louis really start to weigh heavily.
I was at an event and did not watch. Thank goodness. Sounds rough. But I will say, I had this chalked up as a probable loss in my season planner. Cross country games are difficult on the best of days. Looking at the table SD and Miami both lost. SD has a couple of trap games but otherwise they would be expected to win out. Union v Charlotte on the last day may decide everything.
The only problem I had is that he didn’t go all in from the outset and accept it as a schedule loss. This was obvious when we drew the schedule at the beginning of the year and got more so when we had a bunch of guys called into national teams AND had a midweek game scheduled to follow.
Start Pierre, and save Bedoya’s legs. If we lose 7-0, fine. If not, great. If we steal a point, so be it.
For the same reason I didn’t like the desperation changes at 0-4. Those are guys we needed rested. Play the other guys.
And this is why we need three more back of the roster first-teamers. Yes, there’s a cost on development timelines. But having three more scrubinos to play at each level would have saved our better players for Tuesday night and the key six games (if we make USOC) to come. Those were the games we have to win, not this one.
I was fine with the idea of rotating the lineup in prep for the US Open Cup match. But subbing on regular starters at 45 puzzled me, too. I’m sure Carnell had his reasons.
I’m sure he was thinking ‘goal-differential’.
I’m wondering if the half-time subs were on purpose. You’re back on the road in 2 days… game speed and a good “training” session? Then take it easy into the Nashville game? So basically 2 rest days… just a thought.
I haven’t rewatched any replays but on the brief live replays I initially thought the ball went off Bueno’s head and thought Bedoya got to the ball first which would’ve negated both PKs. Also I find it hard to believe that in just a brief glimpse Chapman could be sure that Bedoya was clearly offside negating the no call on the field. That would’ve been 1-2 at the half. But even then I don’t think we’re pulling a point out in that game. Just baffles me that you’d put Bedoya in at RB in any situation other than an emergency sub when you have Mbaizo on the bench. And Westfield at left back wasn’t helping anything either.