Sapong celebrating his 10th goal of the season (Photo courtesy of Charlotte Thomas)
Philadelphia came away with a win in the second match against Columbus Crew in 2017. The teams split decisions in back-to-back games this week, with the Crew SC winning 1-0 in the first game, and the Union taking the second game 3-0. Two red cards boosted the Union, and deflated Columbus. The Union got the first goal while the game was still level, and a red card to Jonathan Mensah and penalty late in the first half opened the game for Philadelphia. Despite playing with a man advantage, Philadelphia didn’t look entirely convincing defensively, and it wasn’t until a second red card, this time to Lalas Abubakar, that the Union began to control the game. Here is the play-by-play summary of the match.
Marcus Epps came close in the 10th minute, and recorded first chance of the game. He cut inside after receiving the ball with a chance to go 1v1 with Hector Jimenez. The Columbus player allowed Epps to cut inside, and Epps put a dangerous ball across the goal. The shot flashed across CJ Sapong, causing keeper Zack Steffen , and bounce off of the outside of the far post.
Ilsinho opened the scoring in the 20th minute with a powerful left-footed volley. The ball was played into the box by Ray Gaddis, and it flew all the way to the back post where neither Jonathan Mensah, nor Marcus Epps committed to the ball. The result was a loose ball in the air at the corner of the 6. CJ Sapong attempted the impossible, with a bicycle kick from 8 yards out at a tough angle. His shot, not unexpectedly, flew wide, across the net, and right into the path of Ilsinho who hammered it past Zack Steffen in goal.
Manneh creating a chance that was saved by Elliott (Photo courtesy of Charlotte Thomas)
Columbus should have had an equalizer in the 26th minute but was denied by Jack Elliot with a goal line clearance and the crossbar seconds later. Kekuta Manneh latched onto a pass played behind Jack Elliott, and used his pace to cut past Elliott and in front of the net. John McCarthy came out of his net and attempted to make the save, but Manneh slotted behind the keeper. Elliott, making a recovery run, stepped in to block the shot, and followed up with a challenge, forcing Ola Kamara into hitting the crossbar from close range.
The referee then made a game changing decision in the 35th minute after a Union counter attack was stopped by Jonathan Mensah. A well executed attack, started from Haris Medunjanin well inside Union territory, proceeded wide to Ilsinho, who slotted Roland Alberg in the channel. Alberg picked up his head and played CJ Sapong in on goal. Mensah toppled over Sapong in the box to receive a red card and penalty kick. Coach Craig Berhalter seemed upset at the call, both red card and penalty. In the post game press conference the Crew coach demanded the inclusion of VAR, slamming the referee’s decision.
Roland Alberg stepped up to take the shot and was denied spectacularly by Steffen in goal. The keeper dove right, but got his hand up to parry the shot in the middle of the goal off the crossbar. Alberg will get stick for his shot but it was a tremendous save to deny the Dutchman.
McCarthy looked solid as a replacement for Blake (Photo courtesy of Charlotte Thomas)
Union had a great chance in the 46th minute, just after the start of the second half, but the shot from Marcus Epps flew over the net from 14 yards out. Ilsinho showed off some fancy footwork on the wing to nutmeg his defender, then find the run of Alejandro Bedoya bursting to the near post. Bedoya rolled a dangerous cross across the net and Epps connected cleanly with his shot, however the winger was leaning back and put his shot 5 feet over the bar.
Marcus Epps again looked threatening in the box, but again missed his chance. Medunjanin played the winger 1v1 with Jimenez, and Epps went at his defender, though hesitantly. Epps waited for the opening and tried a curling shot from 12 yards and missed by a few feet.
Columbus had a chance to strike back in the 57th minute, but the shot from Artur was too high, as the midfielder was leaning back in his volley attempt. Substitute Mohammed Abu got to the end-line and pulled the ball back with a flick into the air. Artur found enough space to chest the ball and hit a volley before he was closed down.
CJ Sapong rattled the woodwork in the 58th minute off of a lovely pass from Medunjanin. The midfielder played a great early cross for Sapong, floated over the head of Lalas Abubakar for Sapong. The Union forward hit his shot first-time and nearly scored, hitting the near-post and sending the ball back into play.
The Crew hit a post of its own in the 62nd minute through Ola Kamara, who has hit the crossbar twice so far now. Kekuta Manneh, created problems for the Union defenders and put the ball in the box for Kamara at the back-post. His shot had some dip to it, but it came down too late and hit the top of the crossbar before careening out-of-bounds.
CJ Sapong finally found his breakthrough in the 66th minute. Giliano Wijnaldum put the ball on a platter for the big forward who, unfortunate at first, headed the ball off the right post. The ball came back into play, unfortunately for Steffen, and Sapong stepped in and got his toe to the ball to put it into the net from close range.
With the two-man advantage the Union got a 3rd, and Marcus Epps notched his first MLS goal. Ilsinho curled a great back-post cross for CJ Sapong, who had the wherewithal to head the ball back across net for the youngster. Epps made no mistake in putting the ball to the back-post from close range.
Jay Simpson tried to get in on the action, making a great run to the near post and was found perfectly by CJ Sapong with a great cross. Zack Steffen was brave, though, and put himself in danger, diving in to the feet of Simpson to smother his shot. The keeper picked up a knock in the process but was find to continue.
