By Julian Cardillo
With his team trailing 1-0 at the hour-mark to the Philadelphia Union, Teal Bunbury headed for the sideline to be substituted into the game, just wanting to contribute in any way he could.
But Bunbury did that and more, sparking an incredible second half comeback with a goal and an assist to help the Revolution beat Philadelphia 2-1 at PPL Park in Chester, PA and extend their unbeaten run to five games.
It was only Bunbury’s third appearance of the season—his second since recovering from a shoulder injury suffered in week one—but he looked poised and sharp from the moment he took Kelyn Rowe’s place on the field.
Less than four minutes after entering, Bunbury found Charlie Davies wide open in the box for a slick finish at the back post. Then, in the 76th minute, Bunbury gave the Revolution the lead with his first goal of the year as he easily put away a feed from Diego Fagundez.
“I always try to contribute as much as I can, whether I’m starting or coming off the bench,” Bunbury said after the game. “It was a great effort from all the guys. The whole 90 minutes, we didn’t stop.
“I wanted to try to be dangerous when I came in, to have a killer instinct, try to produce, to maybe get an assist or score a goal. I know we had opportunities and I’m glad we were able to win the game.”
Philadelphia’s home crowd was left disappointed. The Union have allowed their opponents to come back from being down and win often this season and have only won once in eight games. During that same period, they’ve lost four times.
But for a while, it appeared that the Union weren’t going to cave. They bossed the entirety of the first half, coming up with two clear chances. The first was an effort from just outside the six-yard box by Fernando Aristeguieta that clanged off the crossbar after first getting deflected by goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth’s foot.
The second was the Union’s goal, a freekick from roughly 25 yards out that Christian Maidana sent curling into the back of the net—this time coming off the post and going in—in the 43rd minute. Philadelphia had earned a foul after Jermaine Jones bulldozered a charging Maurice Edu, Maidana making the Revolution pay with his sweet curling shot.
The goal snapped the Revolution’s two-game shutout streak, though they still haven’t allowed a goal in the run of play since week two in New York.
Revolution head coach Jay Heaps went for a bevy of new tactics to go after Philadelphia. With injuries to Jose Goncalves, Daigo Kobayashi, and Darrius Barnes, Heaps went with his usual 4-2-3-1 formation but shuffled his players’ positions.
Jermaine Jones moved from central midfield to central defense, while Andy Dorman took his place in the middle alongside Scott Caldwell. London Woodberry earned his first start of the season at right back and performed admirably, playing a solid, two-way, offensive and defensive performance and helping win the ball on the play that led to Davies’ goal.
Heaps also brought on Chris Tierney for Kevin Alston at the hour mark, which helped stretch the game and gave the Revolution another reliable crosser, then introduced Bunbury’s set-up man, Fagundez, in the 71st minute for Juan Agudelo.
But Heaps’ best move—the one that changed the game entirely—was bringing on Bunbury.
Once he took the field, the Revolution were a different team.
“We have the pieces there,” Bunbury said. “We have a lot of depth. In training it shows, we’re putting the work in. When it comes to the games, all glory to God, we’re able to have fun and we’re able to win.”
If you want to reach Julian, email him at julianccardillo@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @juliancardillo
