Photo Credit: Philadelphia Union
The Union suffered a troublesome 3-1 defeat Saturday night in Chester to Western Conference leaders Portland Timbers. The Union were at the mercy of Portland by the end of the night, but it wasn’t so throughout the match. While the Union never really looked sharp, they did control long stretches of play. Unfortunately despite having 50% of the possessions, the Union struggled to do much with it. The stats looked largely even in the final score card in every category but goals scored.
The Union needed an edge tonight, but the blunt, brittle edge of the Philadelphia attack crumbled against the stalwart Timbers team. Heavy touches, loose passes, and mistakes in the defensive third cost the Union against a Timbers team that can, and did, punish the Union’s errors. Overall Portland’s play wasn’t stellar, despite the 3 goal product. More onus should be put on the Union’s timid play than the Timbers strong performance. The fans in Philadelphia were upset at the end of the night, extending the Union’s winless streak to 12 games starting at the end of last season. Despite results the Union has a lot to lean on, and should be positive going into its next game.
The Union has time to pull itself from the dredges of the Eastern Conference. With 30+ games left to play it isn’t time to lose hope, but work and turn the season around. Meanwhile Portland continues to cruise, and along with the faithful fans that attended can fly cross-country with happy dreams as they remain atop the Western Conference.
Below is the game summary, my thoughts throughout the game, starting line-ups, and box score from the match:
Summary:
First Half:
First chance of the game came to the Philadelphia Union. CJ Sapong took a long ball down well 25 yards out, and with a touch of flair hit a flying backheel to put Fabinho 1v1 with keeper Jake Gleeson. The Portland keeper did well to make the save, splaying his legs and booting the shot out of the danger area.
After a giveaway just outside his penalty area and a foul by David Guzman, the Union were in a prime position to strike at Gleeson’s goal. From 24 yards out Haris Medunjanin tried to catch the keeper off guard, opting to shoot low in the far corner. Gleeson, initial wrong-footed, made the necessary adjustment to shift his weight to his left foot and parry the ball at full stretch. It looked like Medunjanin wanted to test the keeper, opting for an easier shot as opposed to curling one over the wall. While it didn’t go in, it was a good attempt to keep the keeper honest.
On the third attempt of the night the Union broke through off of a corner kick. Medunjanin served the ball up and Richie Marquez just towered over 2 Portland defenders, putting the ball in the lower right-hand corner. 1-0
With its first shot of the game the Portland Timbers equalized in the 32nd minute. Darlington Nagbe plowed through a challenge with Derrick Jones and found enough space to hit a shot across the net. The ball rolled just under Richie Marquez’s extended foot and caught Blake wrong-footed from 22 yards at the near post. 1-1
Not long after, Nagbe almost notched a second, with a curling effort from the left side of the 18. There wasn’t enough dip on the shot to put it on target, as it dropped on the roof of the net. Blake would have had no chance if the ball dipped more, and would have been a goal of the month candidate.
The first chance for Fanendo Adi went wanting. He received a great pass in front of the Union 6 yard box with enough time to settle and shoot. With Marquez pressuring late in front he pulled the shot wide of the Union net.
1-1 at the half. The Union had the better chances, but gave away too many counter attacks from turnovers. They must be wary, and wily with the ball.
Second half:
A great run from Ilsinho resulted in the first shot of the second half. He zigged and zagged through the Porland defense, hitting a left-footed shot atop the 18. His shot had too much tail and dipped away from the top corner to go just wide.
Valeri almost had a terrific assist in the 53rd minute. His perfectly weighted through pass came to a halt right in from of Andre Blake, unfortunately for him Sebastian Blanco could only put the ball in the brick-wall of Blake, who gathered the rebound with ease.
A great chance for Portland to take the lead in the 58th minute fell to Blanco. He played a one two pass with Fanendo Adi, breaking through the Union defense and going 1v1 with Blake after a deflection off of Rosenberry. He tried to hit an outside of the foot shot but mishit it, sending it wide. In truth Medunjanin should have tracked the run, but just let the runner continue. Rosenberry did his best to pinch in and make a play, getting slightly unlucky as his touch hit back off of Blanco, right into the attackers path.
Portland took the lead in the 66th minute through Roy Miller. Diego Valleri served up a great free-kick, putting pace and direction on the ball and all Miller had to do was glance his header, which fell to the back post leaving Blake stranded. 2-1
A Portland penalty shout in the 70th minute looked justified but referee Robert Sibiga waved it away. Fanendo Adi and Oguchi Onyewu were 1v1 in the Philly box, and jostling for position. Legs got tangled, and in the end Onyewu went down, taking with him Adi. The ref indicated the contact wasn’t enough to justify a penalty, or maybe Adi had caused enough of his own downfall for a foul to be given.
Some shocking play saw Portland gifted a penalty. First on one end, a perfectly headed pass off of a cross by Richie Marquez put the ball right in front of the Portland 6 yard box, but all 3 Union attackers had overran the ball, leaving an uncontested clear for Portland. The resulting clearance saw Fabinho swing and miss on a ball under pressure and facing his own net. Darren Mattocks took the ball and rounded Blake, who tripped up the attacker in the process. Adi stepped up and converted the penalty down the middle, sealing the Union’s fate.
At full time the score ended 3-1 to Portland, scoring 3 unanswered goals after going down 1-0. After taking the 2-1 lead Portland looked solid on defense, and the Union never looked like getting the equalizer. Woe to the Union who remain in last.
Thoughts:
Sapong looked active early on, taking on defenders and wining duels. He is showing extreme confidence so far this year.
Blanco doesn’t look bothered by the long runs by Fabinho, leaving him instead for midfielders David Guzman or Diego Chara to slide over cover.
There were a couple sloppy touches in the middle in the first 20 minutes. 1 from Portland already led to a good Union chance, the others less impactful for now.
Defensively Oguchi Onyewu has done terrifically to control Fanendo Adi. He isn’t letting the big forward get any space or use his size at all.
In a 5-minute span, Porland has gotten 3 open shots just outside the Union 18. A defender will have to start denying these opportunities as Nagbe has already capitalized on one. That or the midfield has to provide better back-pressure.
Bedoya has been sloppy in the final third on several occasions, giving slow passes or otherwise poorly time balls, which were easily cut out and left the Union to defend a counter. But he is not alone here, the whole team is overly aggressive on offense and has left themselves susceptible to counters, especially with the lazy turnovers.
After the first hour the midfield has been lackluster. Medunjanin looked lazy, and Jones hasn’t gotten as involved as past games. Meanwhile Bedoya hasn’t created the spark necessary to jumpstart the offense. After Jones was taken out things didn’t change much. Any chance creation came from the wings.
Line-ups:
Andre Blake (18)
Keegan Rosenberry (12), Oguchi Onyewu (5), Richie Marquez (16), Fabinho (33)
Derrick Jones (21), Haris Medunjanin (6)
Ilsinho (25), Alejandro Bedoya (11), Chris Pontius (13)
CJ Sapong (17)
Fanendo Adi (9)
Darlington Nagbe (6), Diego Valeri (8), Sebastian Blanco (10)
David Guzman (20), Diego Chara (21)
Marco Farfan (32), Roy Miller (7), Lawrence Olum (13), Alvas Powell (2)
Jake Gleeson (90)
Box Score:
Yellow POR: David Guzman 16’
Goal PHL: Richie Marquez (Medunjanin assist) 26′
Goal POR: Darlington Nagbe 32′
Yellow PHL: Haris Medunjanin 45+3’
Sub PHL: Roland Alberg (10) for Chris Pontius 65’
Sub PHL: Fabian Herbers (14) for Derrick Jones 65’
Goal POR: Roy Miller (Valeri assist) 66′
Sub POR: Darren Mattocks (11) for Sebastian Blanco 71’
Yellow POR: Lawrence Olum 73’
Sub PHL: Jay Simpson (27) for Ilsinho 78’
Sub POR: Omobi Okugo (18) for Diego Valeri 82’
Goal POR: Fanendo Adi (PEN) 88′
Yellow POR: Fanendo Adi 89’
SUB POR: Jack Barmby (23) for Fanendo Adi 90’
Yellow PHL: Oguchi Onyewu 90’
Philadelphia Union
Portland
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