Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Union
The Philadelphia Union closed out their busy April schedule with a 2-0 road loss to Columbus Crew. Playing their third match in seven days, the Union showed flashes going forward but struggled to recover after falling behind inside five minutes, while a late own goal doubled the deficit before the halftime break.
Philadelphia return home to Subaru Park to take on Nashville SC on May 2nd at 7:30 PM on Apple TV.
First Half
Columbus wasted no time asserting control, striking in the 5th minute when Max Aftsten capitalized on space in the penalty area to give the hosts a 1-0 lead. Just moments later, Arfsten nearly doubled the lead, but Andre Blake came up with a strong save to keep the Union within reach.
Despite the early setback, Philadelphia found an attacking rhythm midway through the half. A flowing transition in the 15th minute nearly produced an equalizer, courtesy of Milan Iloski, but smashed off the post instead. The Union continued to push, generating a handful of chances without ever finding a finishing touch.
The match grew increasingly physical, with fouls piling up and Danley entering the book in the 39th minute. Then came a frantic stretch of stoppage time that swung the match decisively. Following a lengthy sequence involving a potential red card review and an injury to Jesús Bueno, Columbus pressed forward again. A dangerous ball into the box forced Nathan Harriel into a desperate recovery run, but his attempted intervention instead resulted in an old goal, handing the Crew a 2-0 lead before the half.
Second Half
Facing a two-goal deficit, Philadelphia made adjustments at the break and pushed for a response, but clear-cut chances remained difficult to come by. The Union’s best spell came just past the hour mark, when a flurry of opportunities from Damiani and Danley tested the defense, before Iloski finally forced a save from Patrick Schulte in the 64th minute.
As the match wore on, frustration crept in for Philadelphia. A series of late set pieces and half chances failed to cause much trouble for Schulte. The night ended on a sour note in stoppage time when Japhet Sery was shown a straight red card, leaving the Union to finish with ten men.
Three Points
- Depth? What depth? At this point, there might be baby pools out there with more depth than this Union roster.
- The ball is round. Carnell told reporters “the ball is round” – aka, calls aren’t going the Union’s way, but they’ll eventually turn around. Wondering exactly how big the circumference of said ball is, because this streak has lasted a bit too long.
- Sery-ously? After a questionable red card for Union’s Japhet Sery to end the game, the question becomes what the lineup will look like for next week’s game against Nashville.
Lineups
Philadelphia Union (4-4-2):
Andre Blake; Nathan Harriel, Olwethu Makhanya, Philippe Ndinga (Ben Bender – HT), Japhet Sery; Jesús Bueno (Jovan Lukic – 45’+7), Danley Jean Jacques, Jeremy Rafanello (Agustín Anello – 66′), Cavan Sullivan (Indiana Vassilev – 66′); Bruno Damiani (Ezekial Alladoh – 84′), Milan Iloski.
Unused Substitutes: Andrew Rick; Geiner Martinez, Alejandro Bedoya, Malik Jakupovic.
Columbus Crew (4-4-2):
Patrick Schulte; Andres Herrera, Rudy Camacho, Sean Zawadzki, Malte Amundsen; Hugo Picard (Steven Moreira – 63′), Dylan Chambost, Sekou Bangoura (Amar Sejdić – 81′) , Max Arfsten (Mohamed Farsi – 81′); Diego Rossi (Jamal Thiaré – 70′), Taha Habroune (Dániel Gazdag – 70′) .
Unused Substitutes: Yevhen Cheberko, Nicholas Hagen, Cesar Ruvalcaba, Nariman Akhundzada.
Scoring Summary:
CLB: Max Arfsten – 5′
CLB: Nathan Harriel (OG) – 45’+3
Disciplinary Summary:
PHI: Danley Jean Jacques (Yellow – Foul) – 39‘
PHI: Japhet Sery (Red – DOGSO) – 90‘+5
This remains the worst Union team I’ve ever seen. Unwatchable. Yet… I watch.
Joke is on me – it is a joke.
My wife asked me the same thing tonight, why we had to interrupt her binge watching The Pitt for Union soccer. I feel I won’t have a valid reason soon.
Yep. The current state of the Union is like looking at yourself in the mirror when getting out of the shower in the second half of life rather than the first. It’s the opposite of smooth, sleek, pretty, and promising, and keeps degrading until it’s unwatchable. Yet, you watch.
Lol. I’m familiar with the feeling. I can’t let my wife watch either myself or the U!
I’ve stopped bothering to watch the away games. No need to support Apple. I’ll still go to the home games since I have tickets but certainly not caring about them as much as I used to. My prediction for last night’s game was that more Union fans would watch the Flyer’s game than the Union game. No idea if I was right or not.
Yep
For the sake of our collective sanity please find another organization willing to take Damiani
Who would be further insane enough to do so. Somewhere in USL or another lesser league probably for chump change but he’s a bust for MLS purposes. Invisible, two left feet, can’t score in a whorehouse.
I know there is strong competition (as we have a history of horrible signings), but at what point are we ready to declare Damiani as our worst signing ever?
He still has a ways to go to catch M’Bolhi.
This team sucks. But, man, the ref was so bad.
People have commented that this is a rebuilding year for the Union.
But after watching this team.
With who?
Into what?
No rebuild, just another money grab for Sugarman. Decimated the team. He has got to go and the only way is to strangle his revenue by stopping single and season tix purchases. Already starting more and more of the Union logo in the stands. Hope it catches on more.
#selltheteam
Two things are true right now:
With the exception of Sery, the players brought in to replace those that left are not MLS caliber right now. Alladoh, Ndinga and Martinez need to be dropped to Union 2 to learn how to play soccer.
–
Carnell has to realize that the players on his first team roster cannot play his system. He needs to figure out who his best 11 players are and what formation and style they fit. 4-2-3-1, three at the back, false 9, really don’t care. But this roster cannot play the system that the 2025 Union did. If he can’t do that, he needs to go.
This + 1000 !
I’m assuming the new WSSM Bank branch is opening on The Cliff of Union Despair?
Been there for weeks, sadly.
Welcome aboard !
I stopped in at WSSM on the CUD to see if I could get financing for a new striker. Alas, their only offering is a Player Development Line of Credit (PDLOC). The marketing freebie is a small padlock you can put on your trophy case to keep anyone from inadvertently putting a trophy in it. At least the free cookies were warm!
Pure shit and Carnell has no answers. No GM to give us hope for better decision making in the future. And an owner, arrogantly silent, counting all the money he saved. We all want a team to be proud of except Union ownership. Isn’t it time for someone in the leadership team, not the coach, to explain what the plan is to get out of this very deep hole? Someone who really cares about providing real entertainment for us? Anyone?
#selltheteam
I know it’s been said, but it bears repeating.
Development requires mixing young players on the rise with accomplished veterans who have succeeded at the highest level. The gravity needs to pull the youngsters up to proficiency.
When the entire team is a development project the gravity is more liable to pull everyone down – think a U-some-age kids team.
With the exception of Bedoya and Blake, there are no players on this team to learn from.
Unless there are some trades for accomplished veterans, I don’t see this team making any progress at all this year towards competing next year.
I’m not sure Columbus “seized control”. Ndinga placed a perfectly weighted ball right into the path of Arfsten. He hasn’t made a better pass all year I’m sure. It was just to the other team.
.
Clown show.
It’s highly ironic that Bradley was brought in specifically to be a ‘systems’ coach
Then Tanner hands him a bunch of kids that don’t know the system
Improving the Union…… The MLS has to force the issue on owners of franchises to produce quality 1st teams. . Ok , the MLS does not have relegation but the Union Ownership is a disgrace to the fans. The league should set “minimum 1st team total salaries ” for each team based on average team salaries. There should be no revenue sharing or allocation money given to a team who finishes in the bottom 3. Owners should be financially regulated or punished when they don’t allocate enough money to the first team from profits of selling young players to other leagues. A minimum of 75 % of any profit a team receives for a player sold to another league should be used to reinvest into the salary of a new replacement player or current player or the sale would be disaporoved.. This would force owners to work harder to improve the improve the quality of their 1st team or in Phillys case not be able to gut the the 1st team and replace it with low cost MLS 2 players . It’s nice for Cavan Sullivan to get a chance to make a few million playing in the Premier league. but 75% of that profit should go toward salaries of the 1ST team. Some of the mess the Union are is due to poor player evaluation and acquisition of talent Domiani is horrible. Allibabba stinks. I lay that blame on Tanner. Too many quality proven players were sold last without reinvesting in the 1ST team. Baribo, Gazdag, Wagner, Glesnes, Elliot, I blame that on the owner. Before the season ends Carnell will be fired. I don’t like the style of play and will be happy to see him gone. However the root of the Union problems is that the MLS has given them total freedom to put an MLS 2 team on the the field with no repercussions. The league needs to force him to take on new financially solvent Co owners or sell the team.