We are back! The Union faithful were glad to be at Subaru Park for two home games in the past week, but our shoes weren’t the only things being tied. The Union drew with Chicago 2-2 and Saprissa 3-3, but won 6-5 on aggregate to advance. Read on for some musings and observations for both on and off the field action from these two games.

Cold and Frustrating: The MLS Home Opener vs. Chicago Fire

It was great to be back at the Sons of Ben lot for the first tailgate of the season, and there was an excellent crowd. We had such a wonderful time catching up with friends and getting hyped up for the game. While the sun was out, it was quite tolerable, but once it got dark, it got frigid very quickly and multiple layers were essential. As Union Yards is getting redone, the SOB lot is the place to be even more. The plaza had the usual attractions, and a visit is never complete without seeing the rescue dogs.

Once inside, the best way to describe the concourse is a compound word beginning with “cluster.” I did not even attempt to go in the team store, because it was a complete bottleneck in that area, and the line was quite long. It was also warm in the store (and the bathrooms) so that probably added to the line. While I did not venture out of the stands at halftime, I heard it was a nightmare in the concourse. Hopefully the Union can come up with some solutions (maybe some kind of expansion…) as the club continues in its growth.

The game featured the MLS debut of goalkeeper Oliver Semmle, in for the injured Andre Blake. For his first time featuring for us, he did a respectable job and made a very big save late on a breakaway by Tom Barlow. It felt like a lot was going against us. The replacement referees were not great and seemed to not know what a handball was, but maybe not as poor as when that egregious second yellow issued to Mark Delgado during the LA/Miami match, which later was rescinded by the Independent Review Panel.

The Union’s defense was shaky at best. The U went down 1-0 in the first half, and they had two goals negated by VAR due to offside calls. It felt like the Union couldn’t catch a break. Thankfully, Mikael Uhre leveled it with the kind of goal we had been wishing for from him after great passes from Gazdag to Sullivan. After conceding another goal late, it was looking grim until Dániel Gazdag scored on a beautiful header in stoppage time after a phenomenal pass by José Martínez. Sullivan and his connection with Nate Harriel were bright spots and bode well for the future if their strength of play continues. The Union managed to salvage a draw, but the way the Union seemed to dominate the game, it was two points dropped at home.

Concacaf’ed: Home Leg vs. Saprissa

What many thought would be a very uphill battle for the visiting Costa Rican team turned out to be an almost blown opportunity to advance in the CCC tournament. With the Union leading in the aggregate score after three away goals, no one thought Saprissa could match that, but they put on a show for their huge fanbase that showed up and were very loud, much to the chagrin of the Union faithful. Credit has to be given to the Saprissa team and their fans. The team showed a lot of fight, and their fans were very spirited. I saw complaints on social media about the lack of Union fans there on a Tuesday night, but quite honestly, our fans got loud, especially when it was crunch time at the end. After watching the Nashville vs. Moca FC match, which felt like it had 20 Nashville fans there in an admittedly larger stadium, I felt a little better about our turnout. Now if only we could get very spirited fans like those we saw cheering on Saprissa to buy into the Union, because you know some of them were local (Jose Nuñez confirmed this at the game speaking with fans).

The Sons of Ben had an “unofficial tailgate” and it actually had a pretty decent crowd for a Tuesday night. It was thankfully much more comfortable temperature-wise. It is unfortunate that we do not get the crowd we get for regular games for an international competition like CCC, and it always feels a little strange not marching in or having the hype we normally have.

Let’s get the major issues out of the way first. The refereeing was abysmal. I have great respect for people who do a job I could never do, and do what often amounts to a thankless job that takes a lot of abuse. That being said, it seemed like the refs lost their cards when it came to fouls on the Union players, but were quick to book Union players for what were some soft fouls. Yes, the Jack Elliott one was probably the correct call as a straight red when you look at the studs being up. The penalty given to Saprissa after Jakob Glesnes caught a bad break with Javon East acting like his leg got broken off inside the box was a rough one to take. I had a great view of the embarrassing display of acting and it was so over the top. Semmle guessed correctly on the PK but unfortunately missed, leaving the Union behind 1-0 early on. Probably the worst call by the refs would come extra time when they gave Semmle a yellow for time wasting, when in fact he was waiting for the second ball that was on the pitch to be removed, which he tried to indicate to no avail.

Thankfully, once again the Union were resilient, and Julián Carranza leveled the match a few minutes later with a header, followed by a goal by Quinn Sullivan, who was outstanding once again and earned man of the match honors. Quinn has been so exciting so far, and I’m really excited to see if he continues this tear that he’s on. The young guys have been shining brightly. Jack McGlynn and Nate Harriel continue to impress (Nate came in very late). Markus Anderson also had his first start and showed a lot of promise.

After the Union gave up the go-ahead goal in the 62nd minute, things were starting to look grim as the aggregate score was now tied. Jim Curtin brought in the big guns with Mikael Uhre and José Martínez right away, and thank goodness he did. After Jack Elliott got the straight red in second half stoppage time, the prospect of going into extra time down a man was not ideal, but Mikael Uhre came to the rescue and scored in just the 94th minute. At this point, my fellow fans in 136 with me were exchanging cautious looks of, “Okay, maybe we can finish this out.” The crowd was rocking, more so on the Union side the closer it got to the end. After a collective “souls leaving our bodies” moment when the ball hit the crossbar multiple times late in the game, the Union managed to come away with the 3-3 draw and a win on aggregate. It wasn’t pretty, but I was impressed once again with the Union’s ability to fight back. Moving forward, for the sake of everyone’s blood pressure, hopefully the Union can tighten it up and not concede first.

With Elliott’s red card and Damion Lowe getting a second yellow, leading to him also missing the next CCC match, the Union’s already shaky center back situation will not be helped. Will Jim have Nate Harriel fill in, or will Olwethu Makhanya get his first start? The former is more likely in my opinion. One thing is for certain: when the Union face Pachuca at home next Tuesday, Union fans to show up and be loud. I’m not holding my breath though with it being a weeknight, but the good news is as of now it also looks like it won’t be freezing, and the game is at 7:00 PM. Pachuca will almost certainly have a good showing from their fanbase when I recall how their fans showed up in 2022 for the friendly we played that summer (the one Richard Odada appearance for the first team, by the way). If the Union can get it together on defense, get Andre Blake back, and continue with the strong attack, this team could be scary good. Time will tell!

(Main photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Union)