Co-written with Jillian Almoney

Flushing, NY – On an unseasonably cold, dismal, and rainy April evening, the Philadelphia Union turned in a performance fitting of the weather. In their first match without Dániel Gazdag, the squad looked decidedly disjointed. Between the challenges of playing on a baseball field with its dimensions and a roster shakeup, the Union struggled to finish the many chances they created and were unable to score for the second straight game, losing to NYCFC, 1-0.

Wagner Returns, Blake Out

When Bradley Carnell announced his starting eleven for Saturday night’s match up, Kai Wagner notably returned to the line up from his abdominal/oblique injury after missing the last two matches. Andrew Rick made his second first-team start of the season, replacing Andre Blake who was out with an adductor injury. Carnell mentioned post game that Andre was day-to-day and he hoped to have Andre back starting as soon as next week.

After an initial delay at the beginning due to a goal issue, the match began as a back and forth battle with both teams creating chances, but really nothing coming from either team. The first real chance of the match came in the 12th minute for NYCFC, but Union goalkeeper Andrew Rick made a huge save to keep the game scoreless early on.

Other notes of interest included Olivier Mbaizo not being on the game day roster on Saturday. In his post game presser, Carnell noted he was still struggling with his hamstring. Frankie Westfield made his seventh roster appearance of the year (this time on the bench), so per MLS rules, he will need to be added to the supplemental roster (nothing official has been released as of this article being written). Carnell noted post-game that it was more of a tactical decision with the match up as to why Frankie did not start. Also, Neil Pierre made his second appearance of the season on the bench, so he has four more short term loans as an off-roster homegrown. Depending on the recovery time of Ian Glavinovich, there will likely be more appearances.

Philadelphia had about three really big opportunities in the first 28 minutes, however they could not break through NYCFC’s defense. In fact, through 45 minutes, the Union had seven shots with zero on target. NYCFC was not much better as they only had six shots, but one on target.

In the second half, NYCFC started attacking Philadelphia right from the get-go, creating a few more dangerous chances in which the Union were able to defend. However, as the second half wore on, NYCFC was able to break through in the scoring when Makhanya was caught in no man’s land, causing Rick to come out and get beat by Alonso Martinez who had an easy tap in for the goal in the 55th minute.

Looking for an offensive spark, Carnell subbed out Danley Jean Jacques in the 66th minute, bringing on a third striker in Mikael Uhre. This was the first time all three were on the field at once. The Union’s best chance probably came in the 80th minute when Nate Harriel passed a beautiful ball into the box which Chris Donovan headed in. New York City keeper Matt Freese made an amazing save on the shot to keep it scoreless.

Overall on the night, Philadelphia just looked lost and uninspired in our opinion. They were creating chances, but few were very dangerous. The defense struggled, and some young players had big learning moments. Players like Makhanya and Rick have shown they are improving and learning from mistakes, but unfortunately, in a game that had thin margins. Despite some last minute chances via corners late in the game, the Union were held off the scoreboard as the final whistle blew, giving the Philadelphia Union their third loss of the season.

Post Game Remarks

After the match, we spoke with Kai Wagner on his return and the performance of the team. When asked how he was feeling being back in after missing the last two matches, Kai responded:

“Like personally, I feel happy to be back. I’m really disappointed. I thought, I can bring… when I’m back like it gets a little bit more energy on the field and I think that’s what we completely missed today. That wasn’t our best game today. We weren’t ourselves, so, it’s a game just to forget.”

It seemed like there was some disconnect with passing on the attack, especially in the midfield, and when asked about it, Kai noted:

“I think we had like a couple of good connections in the midfield. We also defended, I think, pretty good- like we didn’t let them shoot a lot on the goal. But, I mean, at the end we missed our chances. We didn’t create enough chances in the front. I think we were a little bit off on the last pass, probably, in the last cross, and overall and I think our front four weren’t connected at all today. They didn’t play good enough today, didn’t play with each other and yeah, that’s how we lost the game today.”

Following up on the lack of connection, Kai was asked about his thoughts on Dániel Gazdag’s departure: “I mean, that happens in football. You never know where you are in the next week, so, I mean, we just have to keep going. Of course with Dáni, everybody was sad to see him go. But on the other side, to be all professionals… we have to go out there, be ourselves, and all the times we step on the pitch, we want to win the games.”

The Union will look to regroup when they return to Subaru Park next Saturday at 7:30 PM as they face a struggling Atlanta United, which will be followed by a match on April 26 with an also struggling DC United. Getting six points could be huge as they head into a tough, busy May.

Main article photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union