Chester – On a sticky midsummer night, the Philadelphia Union took on CF Montreal for the second time this season that pitted the two ends of the table against each other. Returning to the lineup after getting injured in May was striker Mikael Uhre, who began the match on the bench. Otherwise, the lineup looked much as it did in their previous match, when the Union defeated New York Red Bulls 2-0. Nathan Harriel made his 100th appearance for the Union, becoming the second homegrown to do so (after Quinn Sullivan). For Montreal, it was a homecoming for Philadelphian and former Union homegrown Brandan Craig.
While the Union began the game taking the ball down toward Montreal’s goal, it was the visitor that was putting some pressure on the Union and had Andre Blake and the defense having to put some work in early on. Things were a bit chippy at times as Nate Harriel was shoved to the ground by Victor Loturi after Danley had a foul, and the crowd erupted in boos when the referee only talked to Loturi and Montreal took the free kick, and then again when Kai Wagner was called for a foul that earned Montreal another free kick. It may not have been a huge crowd for the evening, but they were vocal.
The first real chance for the Union came in the 16th minute when Harriel crossed the ball from the right corner that Tai Baribo almost flicked in near the right post, but Montreal’s keeper, Sebastian Breza, got a hand on it, knocking it out for a Union corner, which would be followed by a couple more corners as the Union were on the attack.
Jakob Glesnes was shown the first yellow card of the night as he fouled Prince Owusu just outside the box, setting up a dangerous free kick, which Andre Blake made a nice save on, and the shot on the rebound was sailed over the goal.
The Union finally found the back of the net in the 38th minute on a goal by Baribo- his 14th of the season. It was set up by a nice run by Danley and sent over by Quinn Sullivan, where it deflected to Baribo who sent it home. Baribo notably celebrated his goal by putting the ball under his jersey and doing the thumb sucking motion, as he and his wife announced recently that they are expecting, so it was an extra special moment for Tai that was not only about getting his first goal in a while.
Some yellow cards followed during back and forth play as Loturi fouled Kai Wagner in the 41st and Quinn Sullivan fouled Dante Sealy in the 42nd minute. Montreal did not let the Union enjoy a lead for long as Prince Owusu got the ball by Andre Blake after a cross from Joel Waterman to level the match in first half stoppage time. It was, overall, a first half that the Union were not playing to their standard and was a clear departure from the strong first half they had against Red Bulls in the previous match.
The goal conceded would seemingly serve as a wake up call. The second half began with the Union coming out aggressively, with Quinn Sullivan getting two quality shots. The Union would earn a corner, and Wagner sent the ball in where Olwethu Makhanya headed it in for his first career MLS goal to put the Union up 2-1 in the 50th minute.
The Union’s first subs came in the 60th minute as Mikael Uhre replaced Baribo and Frankie Westfield replaced Glesnes, who was on a yellow card, and Harriel moved over to center back. The Union were mostly on the attack, earning multiple corners and free kicks. They got a good chance on a free kick that was awarded after Brandan Craig fouled Bruno Damiani and was awarded a yellow in the 72nd minute. The ensuing free kick led to Craig colliding with his own keeper and being down for a moment. Shortly after, Westfield sent a great ball across to Uhre who just missed heading it in at the left post.
The post, in fact, would come up big moments later when a shot by Owusu ricocheted off the right post, and then Blake made a save shortly after. Blake made another great save in the 81st minute that deflected out for a Montreal corner. On the night, Blake came up huge and kept the Union in it, putting on the masterclass that has been seen so many times in his tenure with the Union.
More changes for the Union came in the 82nd minute as Alejandro Bedoya and Chris Donovan came on for Indy Vassilev and Bruno Damiani. Blake made another huge save in the 84th minute as Owusu slipped receiving a cross and tried to bicycle it in. Carnell’s final substitution came in the 86th minute as Sullivans were traded with Cavan coming on for Quinn.
There would be six minutes of stoppage time to wrap it up, while there were some chances for both teams, the score would hold at 2-1. Makhanya would be named player of the game, and the Union remained at the top of the table.
It was not a pretty win, but it was a win nonetheless, and how the Union could regroup in a game was on full display. Carnell and some of the players mentioned the halftime mood and message.
“There was a bit of… I love it when I don’t have to walk into the locker room and when I get there, the message has already been spoken about in within the team and that’s that’s part of a good team who challenge each other,” Carnell shared. “I could hear it from my coach’s office for sure, and then walking in there, it was business.”
“The locker room was not calm, let’s say,” Baribo mentioned post-game, “because everyone has his own opinion, what we should do because we saw that in the first half, some things worked, some things didn’t work. But as a team, as one unit to all the time speak about this nobody is keeping nothing inside you because we believe we have to speak respectful, obviously, and we saw some videos that what we need to do, and we did, and create much more chances on the second half.”
Bringing on Mikael Uhre, who had been out with an injury since late May, provided a good spark in the second half, and Carnell was pleased with the minutes he had, noting his runs and hold up play and that he was glad to have him back in the group.
“Oh, it was obviously lovely to be back,” Uhre shared post-game. “Good that we get the win. Yeah, again, just happy to be back with the boys. They’ve supported me, I know it’s not a long, long injury, but still six weeks. It’s a long time to be out, so I’m happy to be back with the guys.”
A bright spot for the Union in the match, of course, was Olwethu Makhanya getting his first MLS goal after working hard with Union II last season and showing continual growth and improvement at the MLS level this season. “I mean, obviously, I’m happy to score my first goal for the team,” Makhanya shared postgame, beaming with joy, “and it means a lot, you know, for me, and to contribute in this manner for the team- the goal means a lot to me.”
Plenty of others have noted how Makhanya has made a successful jump from MLS Next Pro to MLS, and Carnell was pleased with his fellow South African’s performance and how the players have stepped up when given the opportunity:
“Yeah, I mean it’s incredible, right? Again, if he continues this pathway and this trajectory at his age, you know, I think he can achieve a lot, but it’s our job to keep him grounded, to keep him hungry and energized and excited about what he’s actually doing right now because like I said, everyone’s contributing, and from a season that in the beginning we get the injury to to Ian Glavinovich and then we bring in Olwethu and then all of a sudden he’s thriving, and then Frankie [Westfield] thriving and then we have competition at right back, center, back and somebody else is now taking up the reigns and now dominating and making it his own. So, you know, really like to see this pathway of our players coming through. It just shows a lot of hunger, determination, good vision from Ernst [Tanner] and the club to sign Olwethu one and a half years ago, whatever it was. So credit to Ernst as well.”
Makhanya became the 16th different goal scorer for the Union on the season, and had really been the last regular starter who had not scored (aside from Andre Blake and Andrew Rick of course) showing how the whole team finds ways to contribute, and is not just dependent on one or two stars. They will need that to continue on this run in an Eastern Conference that is very tight. While they are in first in the East and for the Supporters’ Shield, it is all very close.
The Union will travel to Houston to take on the Dynamo this Saturday night, kicking off at 8:30 PM ET.
Main article photo credit: Philadelphia Union
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