Photo courtesy of Marjorie Elzey
The Philadelphia Union continued their impressive second-half turnaround on Saturday night, defeating CF Montréal 2-0 at Subaru Park to extend their unbeaten run to eight MLS matches. After a scoreless first half, Danley Jean Jacques broke the deadlock in the 57th minute before Cavan Sullivan added a goal 18 minutes later. Andre Blake also came up huge, saving a Prince Owusu penalty in the second half to preserve the Union’s advantage and ultimately earn the clean sheet.
With another three points secured, here are the player, referee and head coach ratings from Philadelphia’s latest victory.
Player Ratings
Andre Blake — 9
Came up with the biggest save of the night, denying Prince Owusu from the penalty to preserve the Union’s lead.
Kai Wagner — 7.5
Consistently involved from the left, taking corners and getting forward to create opportunities. He also tested Breza with a shot early in the second half, though his yellow card slightly dampens the performance.
Neil Pierre — 7
Steady defensive performance that helped the Union keep Montréal scoreless. He was called for several fouls, but generally handled the workload well.
Nathan Harriel — 7.5
Quietly effective defensively and helped the Union limit Montréal’s attacking threat.
Frankie Westfield — 7
Solid overall outing with involvement forward. He did commit a few fouls, including one that gave Montréal a free kick late, but nothing damaging.
Danley Jean Jacques — 9
The midfielder delivered when the Union needed him, scoring the opening goal in the 57th minute. He also continued to get involved around the box and provided the physical presence Philadelphia needed.
Jovan Lukic — 6.5
His early yellow card put him under pressure almost immediately, and he committed several fouls throughout the first half.
Cavan Sullivan — 9
Another outstanding performance from Sullivan, capped by a goal that made MLS history. He was dangerous throughout and continued his remarkable run of goal contributions.
Indiana Vassilev — 7
He was involved in the physical side of the match but didn’t have a major attacking contribution before coming off.
Bruno Damiani — 6.5
Had plenty of opportunities to break through, including multiple first-half shots, but couldn’t convert any of them. He also picked up a yellow card for a foul on Owusu, making for a frustrating night despite his activity.
Milan Iloski — 7
Was active around the box and created several opportunities, including two shots immediately after halftime and a dangerous header later on. He couldn’t find the net, but his movement and set-piece involvement remained valuable.
Substitutes
(69′) Quinn Sullivan — 7.5
Injected attacking energy after coming on and repeatedly looked to test Breza, registering three shots in the final stages. He couldn’t add to the scoreline, but was a consistent threat.
(69′) Jesus Bueno — 6.5
Came on to help see out the final portion of the match, but picked up a yellow and committed a couple of fouls late. Effective enough in closing the game, but not especially influential.
(82′) Alejandro Bedoya — N/A
(82′) Ezekiel Alladoh — N/A
(90′) Malik Jakupovic — N/A
Geiger Counter
REF — Chris Penso — 7
Penso handed out eight yellow cards (four to each side) and attempted to keep the game under control without allowing the physicality to escalate. His biggest decision of the night, awarding Montréal a penalty after Neil Pierre’s foul on Gennadiy Synchuk, was a consequential call, but Penso ultimately got the major moment right in terms of managing the situation.
Richter Scale:
Ryan Richter – 9
The lineup worked, the substitutions worked, the team scored twice after halftime, and the Union comfortably saw out another three points. The only reason not to give him a 10 is that Montréal’s early threat and the missed chances in the first half showed there was still room for improvement.
Player of the Match: Cavan Sullivan
Sullivan gets Player of the Match narrowly over Blake and Danley because his goal not only sealed the three points but continued his historic run of five straight regular-season matches with a goal contribution.
What’s Next…
Some seem a bit high for not their best game but directionally correct. Only one I would definitely change is Pierre. If you’re going to give Blake credit for the penalty save even though he didn’t have to move, Pierre should be docked for conceding it.
I would counter by saying part of the skill for a GK these days is being patient with all the stutter step PKs and resisting the urge to commit to a side too early.
Fair. My point was primarily the Pierre should be docked for giving up the penalty, not so much that Blake shouldn’t get credit for the save.
I get how frustrating Damiani is with his lack of finishing, but he’s doing so many other things well. His pass to Iloski that led to the second goal was fantastic. Weighted perfectly under pressure and delivered in stride.
I’m not going to be an apologist, but he’s played some pretty good supporting soccer since the break. Now, if he could only find the net…
Even though the Union ended up winning this one, it’s another example in which MLS referees can’t or won’t make the proper calls. Take Montreal’s goal in the first 2 minutes that was eventually ruled offsides. Glad VAR recommended to the ref to take a look but the sideline ref completely missed it and never raised his flag.
Another example was where the ref awarded the PK to Montreal for a flop on the edge of the box. Was it a foul? It was soft but I guess you could stretch to consider it a foul. VAR might have shown the minimal contact and flop by the Montreal player, but the ref chose not to look at it. At the time of the call, the game was still very close. Lucky for us that Prince Owusu blew the shot, kicking a soft grounder directly at Blake.
However, there was much more aggressive contact that the ref failed to call. It was near the end of the match and Malik Jakupovic entered the game in extra time. A Montreal defender horse collared him and pulled him down in the box. Yes it was late in the game and the outcome seemed decided but it was a violent foul and a referee chose to ignore it. Seems to me if you’re going to call the first foul, you need to definitely call the second one. Otherwise it’s not fair.
I’m going to disagree with much of your premise here.
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On the offsides call, clearly the linesman missed it. He’s human. That’s the whole point of VAR, to correct clear and obvious errors which that was. 10 years ago that would have been a goal and we would be screaming bloody murder.
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On the PK, when I saw the replay (it was too far away for me to have a great view live), I agreed it was a foul. Others disagree. That’s fine, but again, VAR is for clear and obvious errors. Even in your description, you say it was soft but could be considered a foul. Therefore it’s not a clear and obvious error and VAR shouldn’t send the ref to the monitor. Speaking of which, the ref doesn’t choose to look at a play on the monitor. The VAR either recommends that the ref look at it in which case he does or they don’t recommend it and he doesn’t. It’s not something he decides on his own.
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Regarding Jakupovic, I didn’t see that, either live or on replay, so I can’t comment as to what happened.
These ratings are way too high. Handing out four 9’s in one of the worst played matched of the year is just crazy. I don’t care how much off the ball work Damiani does, you can’t rate any striker above a 5 after missing three easy conversion attempts. Vassilev a 7? He was invisible the whole match.