Three poorly defended goals by the Union gave last-place Toronto FC their first win since May 27.
(Photo courtesy of AP News.)
Starting XI's:
Toronto FC: Tomas Romero, Raoul Petretta, Michael Bradley, Sigurd Rosted, Kobe Franklin, Jonathan Osorio (Hugo Mbongue), Alonso Cello, Franco Ibarra (Brandon Servania), Lorenzo Insigne, Deandre Kerr (Victor Vasquez), Federico Bernardeschi
Philadelphia Union: Andre Blake, Kai Wagner, Jack Elliott, Jakob Glesnes, Olivier Mbaizo, Jose Martinez, Leon Flach (Jack McGlynn), Alejandro Bedoya (Jesus Bueno), Daniel Gazdag (Joaquin Torres), Mikael Uhre (Quinn Sullivan), Julian Carranza (Chris Donovan)
Goal Scoring Summary:
23' Lorenzo Insigne
45' Julian Carranza
58' Deandre Kerr
63' Jonathan Osorio
First Half Recap:
The Philadelphia Union started the game off well by building some possession and creating some chances. Toronto FC, however, defended well and were able to block shots by Uhre and Carranza. Around the nineteenth minute of play, the ball deflected outside the box and was met with the foot of an onrushing Martinez, but his strike sailed over the bar. Right after that golden chance was missed by the Union, Toronto surged forward. A poorly headed ball back from Martinez and an even worse clearance from Glesnes allowed the ball to fall to Osorio. Osorio was able to play Kerr, who found Insigne in the box for the tap-in. Soon later, Flach went down with an injury and was replaced by McGlynn. Toronto gained momentum and pushed forward looking for an insurance goal, and nearly thought they had it when Petretta had a free header, but Blake was alert to stop it. The Union thought they earned a penalty when Rosted seemed to block Uhre's shot with his arm, but VAR disagreed and said no penalty. Right before the break, the Union found the equalizer. Good strength from Uhre gave him separation from his defender and he served in a teasing ball that was poorly misjudged from Romero and fell to Carranza for the easy finish. The scored was tied 1-1 at half.
Second Half Recap:
Not much action happened in the first ten minutes of the second half as both teams tried to find their footing. Toronto had the majority of the possession during this time and waited until a chance opened up. Around the fifty-eighth minute, Toronto exploited the Union with a simple through ball. Franklin played Bernardeschi who calmly waited on the ball before finding Kerr for the shot. Kerr was poorly defended by Glesnes, who gave him too much separation. Toronto added to their advantage soon after. An inch-perfect cross by Franklin was headed home by the veteran Osorio giving Toronto a two goal lead. Toronto continued to dominate the midfield and gain chances. Kerr found himself open on a four on three counter attack, but his shot struck the post. Minutes later, Elliott hit the crossbar for the Union. An embarrassing game for the Union went from bad to worse as Bueno hacked down Petretta and received a red card. In addition, Martinez received a late yellow, getting himself suspended due to yellow card accumulation for the Union's next match.
3 Points to Note:
The Union offense disappointed yet again. The Union had seventeen shots this game and were only able to put two on target against a backup keeper. Gazdag was awful and had trouble finding the game from the playmaking role. Donovan and Sullivan offered nothing off the bench as usual.
The defense made too many uncharacteristic mistakes. Wagner played alright defensively but offered nothing going forward, which really hurts the Union. Elliott and Glesnes had shocking games as they always seemed to be out of position and could never stick with their man. Mbaizo got burned a couple of times and continues to have no offensive ability at all.
There is no discipline in this team. Curtin was unable to control the tempers of the Union team towards the end of the match. This resulted in a red card for Bueno and (basically) a red card for Martinez. Curtin needs to do better in these situations from a coaching standpoint to make sure that things like these don't happen. To make matters worse, Flach was injured, so now all the Union have in the midfield for the Red Bull game is McGlynn and Bedoya.
My Player Ratings:
Andre Blake: 3
Kai Wagner: 4
Jack Elliott: 3
Jakob Glesnes: 1
Olivier Mbaizo: 2
Jose Martinez: 3
Leon Flach: 2.5
Alejandro Bedoya: 5
Daniel Gazdag: 2.5
Mikael Uhre: 6
Julian Carranza: 6
Quinn Sullivan: 3
Jesus Bueno: 1
Chris Donovan: 3
Joaquin Torres: 3
Next Match:
The Philadelphia Union return home on Sunday, September 3rd, to face the New York Red Bulls at 7:30 P.M.
Ben Brecher
Twitter: @BenBrecher18
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