Chester – The Philadelphia Union returned home on Saturday night to face Eastern Conference foe Atlanta United in a game that held significance for both teams fighting for the final two play-in spots. While the Union ended the night still in 9th place in the standings, it would be remiss to say it wasn’t a missed opportunity at home to only come away with 1 point instead of a vital 3.

“Not taking thoseextra two points tonight makes it a little bit more challenging,” head Coach Jim Curtin said post game. “There’s no question about that. Still played some decent soccer for stretches, but at this stage, no one remembers the amount of chances you create. They only care if it’s three points and tonight wasn’t good enough.”

As the match started, the first five minutes were both teams feeling each other out, with the Union winning a corner that led to a Quinn Sullivan shot on goal, which went wide of the target. Jack McGlynn had the first real chance in the 9th minute, which was saved by Atlanta United’s goalkeeper, Brad Guzan. During that sequence, Daniel Gazdag, the team’s leading scorer, was injured in a collision with Guzan.

However, Jim Curtin later stated that Daniel was fine and continued to play the rest of the game. “He took a good shot to the head,” Jim echoed. “Brad came out and punched the ball, and he got a piece of Danny on that play. But Dani was typical Dani, you know, solid all night, worked hard defensively, created some chances, had some shots, couple that were close, but just didn’t go in tonight.”

In the 18th minute, the Union had two opportunities to capitalize, but neither chance materialized. The second opportunity, which was a deflected tap-in by Mikael Uhre, was ruled offside and was probably the Union’s best chance of the night at that point. It was the same story for most of the evening: the Union could create chances but just could not finish.

In the 28th minute, Atlanta’s Aleksey Miranchuk received a pass that led to a breakaway run, which was snuffed out by Union center back Jakob Glesnes. Glesnes then found Tai Baribo with a dump-off to Uhre, whose shot went just wide of the net.

Atlanta had the first big chance of the half when a through ball almost found the feet of Tyler Wolf, but Nate Harriel made a crucial break-up. However, the Union countered in the 52nd minute with a chance of their own when the ball found Tai Baribo, who again could not get a decent shot off.

The Union then had a chance in the 55th minute, with Uhre passing to Baribo, who beat Guzan. However, the goal was once again ruled offside, marking the second missed opportunity of the night for the squad.

Finally, in the 61st minute, Nate Harriel found the back of the net to make it 1-0 Union. The Union exploited the top of the attacking 18 all night. With the assist on Harriel’s goal, Kai Wagner picked up his 51st assist, becoming the Union’s all-time assist leader in MLS league play.

However, the Union’s lead would be short-lived, as Atlanta United equalized when Saba Labadze found the back of the net on a cross to make it 1-1, giving Atlanta hope and momentum. For the Union, having played solid defense most of the evening, the inability to finish meant mistakes like this came back to haunt them, as has been the case all season.

“We have like, a half chance to score and Leon gets a little bit of a foot on it,” Curtin said. Jack maybe gets pulled out of the middle, which is never good for a center back. And then Jacob has to go and cover the near post, and we lose our mark at the back post.”

The Union had one real last chance to take the lead, resulting in a blocked shot that bounced outside the 18-yard box, landing in the lap of Jakob Glesnes, who shot the ball over the net as the final whistle blew.

Even with the draw, the Union still remain in 9th place. One could argue that it was a significant missed opportunity for the Union to deliver a better performance on the night. With their upcoming matches against Orlando and Columbus, the missed opportunities make it even more difficult to bounce back, as has been seen all season.

“What we do know is our next game in Orlando is going to be a real fight, and we have to make up for the the two points that we missed tonight. You guys see how tight it is in and around the bottom of the Eastern Conference, there’s a lot of teams that are still alive, a lot of teams that shouldn’t still be alive that are and that’s the reality of the league, and we have to find a way to get in the playoffs, then anything can happen.”

They can still make the playoffs to be sure, but 3 points would have been huge on the night, making Wednesday’s showdown with a red-hot Orlando City even more critical and leaving the Union with even less margin for error.