Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Union
The Philadelphia Union dominated nearly every meaningful metric on Saturday night, but were ultimately left wanting more in a 0-0 draw against D.C. United at Subaru Park. Despite outshooting their rivals by a wide margin and not conceding a single shot on target, the Union couldn’t sneak one past DCU goalkeeper Sean Johnson.
Philadelphia Union continues a busy stretch of games as they hit the road for a midweek clash at Toronto FC. Kick off is set for 7:30PM on Wednesday, April 22nd, with coverage on Apple TV.
First Half
Philadelphia came out electrified and never let up, generating wave after wave of attacking pressure. Jesús Bueno nearly opened the scoring early, rattling the post in the 12th minute with a long distance effort. The Union continued to take chances, with Milan Iloski delivering dangerous service to his teammates, including a corner that nearly found Ezekiel Alladoh in front of goal.
As the half played on, the chances only got closer and closer. Bueno saw another promising strike blocked, while a slick sequence between Indiana Vassilev and Iloski set up Bruno Damiani for a late volley that was just wide. Despite controlling possession and creating the better chances, Philadelphia went into the half unable to get past Johnson.
Second Half
The Union picked up right where they left off before the break, unleashing a series of chances in the opening minutes. Iloski and Bueno continued to lead the charge, combining for multiple efforts as Philadelphia collected shots and corners in rapid succession. Time and time again Johnson denied close-range opportunities and kept the match scoreless.
Substitutions brought on fresh legs, but the flow of the match remained the same. Damiani came close with a header that drifted just off target, and Iloski nearly produced a moment of magic with a long-range blast.
Even as the Union kept up the late pressure, they couldn’t find the breakthrough. Andre Blake was left without much to do for most of the game, but stayed alert when called upon, ensuring the clean sheet.
Three Points
- Defensive Strength: The stats don’t lie. The Union came out swinging tonight, but even more importantly, they came out remembering what it’s like to make Subaru Park a defensive fortress.
- Control without Reward: It’s no secret, Philadelphia settled for a point in a game they’ll feel should have been three.
- The (Still) Missing Piece: From Bueno hitting the post to multiple late near-misses, the Union generated more than enough opportunities, but what’s lacking right now is the clinical edge to put games away.
Lineups
Philadelphia Union (4-4-2):
Andre Blake; Nathan Harriel, Olwethu Makhanya, Japhet Sery, Frankie Westfield; Jesús Bueno (Danley Jean Jacques – 76′), Milan Iloski, Jovan Lukic, Indiana Vassilev (Cavan Sullivan – 64 ‘); Ezekiel Alladoh, Bruno Damiani.
Unused Substitutes: Andrew Rick; Geiner Martinez, Phillipe Ndinga, Alejandro Bedoya, Ben Bender, Jeremy Rafanello, Malik Jakupovic
D.C. United (4-4-2):
Sean Johnson; Kye Rowles, Lucas Bartlett, Keisuke Kurokawa, Silvan Hefti; Nikola Markovic Matti Peltola, João Peglow (Caden Clark – 75′), Aaron Herrera; Jackson Hopkins (Gavin Turner – 75′), Tai Baribo
Unused Substitutes: Jacob Murrell, Jared Stroud, Brandon Servania, Hosei Kijima, Jordan Farr, Alex Bono, Conner Antley
Scoring Summary:
N/A
Disciplinary Summary:
DCU: Tai Baribo (Yellow – Foul) – 35‘
DCU: João Peglow (Yellow – Foul) – 37′
DCU: Nikola Markovic (Yellow – Foul) – 60′
Alright. Yes, dominated them. But man there is such a lack of quality with these players. What’s with the set up touches on perfectly weighted balls. Just take it. Lord.
Case in point, Cavan Sullivan comes on and provides genuine central passing lane threat and players fumble fuck the gifts. Amazing he is only getting 30 min a game. Genuinely amazing.
Whatever.
2 hours of my life I’ll never get back. (4 hours if you include travel time and not getting there at the last minute.)
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Highlight – 4th official only showed 2 minutes of stoppage time so our boredom wasn’t prolonged.
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Lowlight – When one of the pregame fireworks didn’t go off but instead caught fire so there was a black mark on the field near midfield. Completely unprofessional of the organization.
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Other lowlight – The Union’s complete inability to legally execute the opening kickoff in under 3 tries. Come on, the ref shouldn’t have to tell them to do it again at all, much less twice.
The lowest light was paying to watch either squad.
Westchester Predators might beat the Union…
B-O-R-I-N-G… at the 26 minute mark, I literally thought we were approaching half time.
On such a beautiful night for soccer, those were the two teams we paid to watch.
Here’s something I noticed last night in particular… our midfielders do NOT control the game, nor are they able (capable?) of feeding Domiani or ANY of the strikers. My opinion, but it seems like the strikers are working hard to get open, and nothing. Bueno and Sullivan seem to be working hard too… and when Bedoya comes in it seems to get better.
Maybe I’m missing something, but the defense back line is forming and will be better as each game is played.
But so far, midfield is a just a disappointment including all set pieces and throw ins.
So is it the players in the system or the system itself?
For me, like many, it’s head scratching and RED BULL BORING.
My wife and I were making similar comments about the game being B-O-R-I-N-G on the drive home. Even during the inaugural season and the early Curtin years the games were more exciting than Saturday night.
Absolutely 100% this. The Vassilevs, Anellos and Benders cannot create offensively. The Sullivans, especially Cavan, can and I’m starting to think Bueno might be able too, as well. Maybe try him as an AM. The strikers are on an island and they are starving.
The author of this article is far too kind. The team’s offensive skills are very poor. Corner kick opportunities are wasted. Good crossing passes are nonexistent. Final passes are inaccurate. Who knows if the strikers could finish; they don’t get good opportunities.
Very sad.
The boys are definitely putting in the effort on the pitch. It’s a chaotic effort but it’s effort. Was glad to see the defense keep a clean sheet. DC helped with a lack of shots but still nice to keep a clean sheet. I thought neither team wanted to win it! The U had a few chances that they want back. We lack finishers! But I think I’m preaching to the choir
Watching on Apple TV and the commentators were brutal on Damiani & Alladoh. It was brutally honest but they question their knowledge of the game as they don’t understand how to create space for each other.
It’s interesting how the bar moves. Through the first 6 games of the season I would’ve been thrilled to have the standard Union problem of dominating a game and crushing the xG battle with little actual goals to show for it. Presumably that’s why our 2 biggest spends to date have been for strikers. We finally see that team show up for the first time this season and it immediately becomes the finishing issue again. For me I’ll just try and see a half full glass and hope we are trending in the right direction. Bueno has been the one bright spot levelling up. Lukic is at least improving if not back to his performance level last year and still making too many mistakes. Alladoh at least showed some spark and appeared to actually care, hope that’s the new norm and not just an outlier. The strikers sure take a beating and started to even drop back below midfield to get involved, but until they start getting more reliable service I’m not going to be surprised when they continue to scuff their rare chances. Worried Carnell suffering from some of the Curtin myopia when it comes to player loyalty, there’s zero reason for Cavan to not be starting in front of Vassilev every game. If Lukic and Danley can reignite their lockdown midfield play from last year and move Bueno into an attacking mid position along with one or the other Sullivan, we might actually start to unlock things. I’m just going to trust the defense is an ongoing work in progress and will eventually gel. Freeing up Iloski to go up top into his preferred positioning would hopefully get him going again as well. Almost feels like the pieces could be there, just hope they can get them to fit together before the season turns into a throw away year.