October 28, 2020
Chester, PA
The Philadelphia Union felt the pinch of playing without Jose Martinez and Jamiro Monteiro on Wednesday against the Chicago Fire FC. Philadelphia managed to eke out three points, thanks to successfully converting a penalty kick and a red card to Chicago, but it lacked the tempo and control of Saturday’s game against Toronto.
Kacper Przybylko scored his season’s eighth on a penalty kick at the twenty-eighth due to a handball in the box by Chicago’s Francisco Calvo (see photo below). The win for Philadelphia seemed a foregone conclusion at the thirty-third minute, when Calvo was shown a red card for clipping the heel of Alejandro Bedoya after Bedoya completed a pass (see photo below).
But the Fire played the remaining two-thirds of the match as if fully manned. Just before the half, Philadelphia’s Andre Blake saved an Ignacio Aliseda shot from the left, but the ball looped up and to the right. Blake got back to the goal just as Chicago’s Djordje Mihailovic somehow made a perfect cross to Robert Beric on a ball that was perilously close to the end line. Beric burried the ball past Blake (see photo below).
But the game hero was Cory Burke, whose immigration purgatory recently came to an end. In his second game back, Burke scored the winner at the sixty-fifth minute with a bouncing header on a cross by Olivier Mbaizo, also assisted by Brenden Aaronson (see photo below).
Philadelphia’s Przybylko going left on the penalty kick.
Philadelphia’s Jakob Glesnes still airborne from a header, while Aliseda has landed.
Przybylko closing in on the heels of Chicago’s Gastón Giménez.
Calvo had a tough evening, with the handball penalty and a red card.
That outstanding cross from Mihailovic resulted in this shot from Beric. Blake had no chance.
Philadelphia’s Captain closely following Beric.
Philadelphia’s Jack Elliott holding back the advancing Giménez.
Totally in character, Ilsinho dances his way in between Chicago’s Jonathan Bornstein and Mihailović
Shown in the upper left corner, Cory Burke’s bouncing header won the game for the Philadelphia Union.
Welcome Home, Cory.
Additional photographs of the game can be seen at https://prostamerika.smugmug.com/MLS-Photos/Philadelphia/Philadelphia-Union-2020-Season/
