Chester – It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon along the banks of the Delaware River and inside Subaru Park prior to kickoff in an MLS NEXT Pro Eastern Conference contest between Toronto FC II and Philadelphia Union II as both clubs looked to continue to climb up the standings through the summer months.
When Ryan Richter’s starting eleven was announced, there were a few players that made their return to the second team squad for Sunday’s match. Pierce Holbrook made his fourth start of the season in net after not featuring in the previous match. Markus Anderson returned from Saturday’s match at Nashville to get the start alongside Eddy Davis. Other players that returned from the first team the previous night were David Vazquez, Sal Olivas, and Neil Pierre. Malik Jakupovic also made his second appearance on the bench for Union II, and it would be the young forward’s first appearance since the MLS Next Cup with the U-18s.
The first half was primarily spent in Union II’s attacking half with several quality chances for Union II, including shots by Nick Pariano and Eddy Davis that were saved by MLS Next Pro’s Goalkeeper of the Month for June, Adisa De Rosario. Union II were able to frequently dispossess their opponent and win duels, and overall looked like the dominant side, but were having trouble finishing. The breakthrough finally came in the 27th minute when Markus Anderson blasted a shot from the top of the box for his second goal of the season to make it 1-0, assisted by Kellan LeBlanc who had pounced on a Toronto giveaway.
Union II would see some solid defense from midfielder-turned-right back Giovanny Sequera, as well as the rest of the back line that took care of the few threats TFCII produced. Rafael Uzcátegui was once again fantastic at center back along with Neil Pierre.
“Those two guys [Sequera and Uzcátegui], their mentality is amazing,” Richter noted post match. “They’re winners and they’ll do anything to be successful. So I’m so proud of them when they are, and it’s for Gio three games now in this position and he’s doing amazing. So we’ve got to keep that rolling. And Rafa has been consistently good all season long. So it’s kind of what we have come to expect from him, and now Gio, that’s coming too.” The first half ended with Union II registering 13 shots/4 on goal to TFCII’s 5 shots/0 on goal.
The second half began with no changes for Union II, but Toronto making three changes. After Union II took the ball toward goal, De Rosario made a save but collided with one of his teammates as he sprawled out to get the ball he initially spilled. He spent several minutes on the ground getting checked for concussion, and would ultimately exit the match with Shafique Wilson replacing him in goal in the 54th minute.
Union II would strike again after a great buildup by Kellan LeBlanc (who also had a strong performance on the day) and Markus Anderson, leading to a ball that deflected off the keeper and CJ Olney shot into the goal in the 63rd minute for his second of the season. Richter made his first substitution in the 67th minute, bringing on Sal Olivas for Anderson.
After Union II were bringing some serious pressure on Toronto’s goal, David Vazquez was fouled, earning a free kick that he scorched into the back of the net to make it 3-0 in favor of Union II in the 77th minute. Following that, Jamir Johnson and Willyam Ferreira replaced LeBlanc and Pariano.
In the 84th minute, Jordan Griffin and Malik Jakupovic came on for Isaiah LeFlore and Eddy Davis, and shortly after, Óscar Benítez subbed on for Neil Pierre. Late in the match, Toronto was really starting to show fatigue, and Union II were relentless in the attack. Due to multiple injury delays, goals, substitutions, and a hydration break, a minimum of 14 minutes of stoppage time was announced. Union II kept the energy going, and Jakupovic found the back of the net in the 90+4 minute, assisted by Sal Olivas and Willyam Ferreira. Jakupovic then got a brace on the day with a goal in the 90+14, assisted by Olivas, to make it three goals for him in 31 minutes total on the field for Union II over two appearances.
The final score would stand at 5-0 for a statement win for Union II. Toronto was only able to muster one shot on goal, on which Pierce Holbrook made a nice save that he deflected out. With the victory, Union II moved ahead of Chattanooga to take second place in the East with two games in hand over them and at the time of this, are only three points behind first place New York Red Bulls II, with whom they also have two games in hand. Union II are also third overall in MLS Next Pro. Additionally, they improved their league-best goal differential to 22.
Post-match thoughts
“I think it was a another strong performance,” Richter shared after the match. “ In the first half, too, I think we played really well. And then as the game went on, you know, it got so open at the end and it was, yeah… we could score probably three more goals in the last, I don’t know. To be fair, it’s long and hot. They made three subs at half, so they couldn’t make any more of the changes. But no, it was good, obviously. It was five goals. It was a good performance.”
A thoroughly exhausted CJ Olney, who played the entire match, shared his thoughts. “I mean, domination. I thought that we worked so hard. I mean, not often you’re playing 114 minute game in the regular season. The guys that came in, Malik, Willy, Jam, Jordan, all those guys they made a difference. It’s awesome. We worked, we sprinted all the way until the last second of the game, which was awesome to see.”
It seemed like Union II had better communication between midfielders and forwards than in the previous couple of matches, and Richter agreed:
“The timing of their movement and, you know, there’s a lot of, I thought in the first half, there was a lot of the good one touch actions and then runners ahead of the ball. And then so our positioning, the timing of support, good layoffs from the strikers, and the timing of their movement was really good. I just talked to the guys at half- there’s moments where you’re coming in and it doesn’t have to one touch chances. Accept the guy, and then you can drive or return and drive with the back line.
“But there was a lot of really clean actions in the first half. That’s why we were positive at halftime, it’s like, that was really solid, so we keep those kind of actions going, keep trying to play it in the middle, trying to play into Nick [Pariano] and David [Vazquez], try to get the ball on our strikers and touching there.”
Richter was very complimentary of Pariano and Vazquez. “I think Nick gives him [Vazquez] a good balance because he’s more of like a stay in the middle and hold that position. Great in recovering the second balls. And David, for me, has been probably our best player of the season, and that’s been consistent almost every day, so they compliment each other really well.”
Olney also commented on the cohesiveness and playing with Sequera, noting, “It’s communication for the most part. I mean, if Gio’s got legs to go forward, and I’m okay recovering from behind. He’s very good, especially he’s embraced his right back role very well. He’s very good at going forward on that right side. So if he feels brave enough to go 1v1, I’ll cover for him and let him take the space.”
Malik Jakupovic’s big day
It has been a big week for Jakupovic, who a few days ago was named an MLS Next All Star, and then scored a brace in the match against TFCII. “I feel great, honestly,” Jakupovic shared post game. “And again, like I said last time [when he spoke to this writer on Thursday about his debut], my parents came to support, and just excited and happy to score another two goals in front of them.”
When asked about what makes this team so special, Jakupovic said, “I think in training, it’s really competitive. Like, everybody’s pushing each other to be the best every single day. And all the guys really help me. I’m the youngest in the team, and I look up to a lot of guys, like Sal and David, I used to live with them in the academy residency house. So like, I would pay attention to what they eat, when they go to sleep, pay attention to everything because I want to be in their shoes one day. So I think that that’s what makes the team special.”
Olney beamed when asked about Jakupovic. “Oh, I love that kid. I live with him. He’s awesome. He’s always hungry to score. He always takes his chances when he gets them. Great kid.”
Richter also shared his thoughts on Jakupovic. “He knows where the goal is, you know, and you can see kind of the tools that he has, and it’s been fun to see how far he can take it this year. Obviously he comes in the game pressing like crazy, trying to run behind and transition.
You get rewarded for that and the second one’s a really classy finish.”
Jakupovic talked about the communication and running at Toronto’s back line. “We were pretty much saying that they weren’t as fit as us. We’re a really fit team. And our game play kind of was just run at them and make them tired, and that’s what we were doing. We were forcing 4v2s in the back line. That’s why I got my second goal. And it was basically like a 3v1 in the back for my first goal, so it was just, we killed them.”
Looking ahead
Union II will face the team they just leapfrogged in the standings, Chattanooga, on Sunday, July 13 at home. The last time the two teams faced off, May 3 at Chattanooga, the teams had a 0-0 draw with Union II victorious 9:8 on a memorable round of penalty kicks that went for 12 rounds. Interestingly, Chattanooga’s goalkeeper is 40 year old Eldin Jakupović, who this writer has heard apparently has some sort of relation to Malik (but cannot confirm exactly).
“I feel really confident coming in to the Chattanooga game, so I’m excited to see how it goes,” Malik Jakupovic noted, and Olney thought the match against Toronto was good for building momentum going into the next match against a tough opponent. “Chattanooga’s going to be a really tough task,” noted Olney, “but older team, physical team, more fast team, and we showed that we can compete with that today, and we’ve got to continue that grind into the weekend.”
Catch Union II versus Chattanooga FC at Subaru Park on Sunday, July 13 at 3:00 PM or on MLS Season Pass on AppleTV.
Kyle Almoney contributed to this article.
Main article photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union II
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