CHESTER, Pa.—It was Star Wars Night at Subaru Park as the last-place Philadelphia Union took on first-place Nashville. While there were glimmers of hope and many positive aspects of the match, the Force, in the end, was not strong enough with the Union on the night. Despite facing a rotated Nashville squad and getting a good amount of chances, the match ended in a scoreless draw.
While the Union lineup did not have the amount of rotation Nashville did, there were a few changes of note in the lineup. At striker, Ezekiel Alladoh got the start in place of Bruno Damiani, and was paired with Milan Iloski. Cavan Sullivan had his second straight start, along with Indiana Vassilev, Jovan Lukic, and Danley Jean Jacques. Frankie Westfield returned to the lineup at right back, with Nate Harriel at left back. Japhet Sery Larsen and Olwethu Makhanya were at center back, and Andre Blake was in goal.
The Union put some early pressure on Nashville in the 4th minute as some nifty passing after a Nashville turnover led to some traffic near the 6-yard box, but the threat was cleared out, and Nashville took it down the field for their own chance, which Woobens Pacius missed wide right. The Union saw another opportunity in the 8th minute when Sullivan crossed the ball in front of goal, where it was intercepted by Nashville and went out for a corner.
After some fantastic buildup, the Union missed a huge chance in the 11th minute when Lukic found himself in front of net with what appeared to be a sitter, but air-mailed it over the crossbar.
In an unfortunate turn of events, considering he had been made available for the match after his red card from Columbus was rescinded, Sery had to leave the match with an injury in the 15th minute, and was replaced by Geiner Martinez. Carnell remarked postgame that Sery had sustained a shoulder injury when he was fouled at Columbus in the sequence that had led to the now-rescinded red card, and it got aggravated after being pulled on. “What a game he had. I thought he was excellent on the night. He commanded the space very well. He defended forwards very well. He used his body excellently, and he creates a different physicality on that back line,” Carnell said of Martinez.
In the 29th minute, the Union earned a free kick, taken by Iloski, that Sullivan was able to shoot on goal, but it was easily scooped up by the Nashville keeper, Brian Schwake. Possession went almost equal during the first half, and the Union saw some opportunities in their attacking end, but were unable to finish, and the first half ended scoreless. The Union had five shots (two on target) while Nashville had one shot and none on target. It was a missed chance to take advantage of a rotated Nashville squad that clearly had bigger things on their mind with Concacaf Champions Cup.
No changes were made at halftime. Lukic and Iloski had some early chances that missed. Meanwhile, Nashville just narrowly missed a goal on a free kick that led to Josh Bauer hitting the post before the Union cleared it out. This was followed by a narrow miss by the Union after Sullivan set up Vassilev nicely, but the latter’s shot in the 53rd minute hit the right post and was gathered by Schwake.
The Union probably wished they had taken advantage of Nashville’s rotated squad and put some balls in the net while not having to deal with Hany Mukhtar and Cristian Espinoza. Those two, and Andy Najar, were brought on in the 62nd minute, and Nashville almost immediately earned a dangerous free kick. Martinez was shown a yellow card for his foul on Ahmed Qasem, the first of the evening. The free kick was cleared out, however, Nashville saw some chances just miss.
Bruno Damiani and Agustín Anello subbed on for Vassilev and Sullivan in the 69th minute, shifting Iloski back. It was a strong shift by Sullivan, who Carnell said post-game “created havoc” along with Anello. He also said he thought it was Sullivan’s best game yet.
“We designed the game plan around Cavan,” Carnell said. We try to get him more space, we try to get him a little bit more on the ball. And I think in certain moments, you could see that, right? So, playing against [Maxwell] Woledzi, and [Patrick] Yazbek and all the other names that come around, they’re physical, right? And we know Cavan’s not there yet in terms of that physicality, but how do we free him up with space that, you know, we can let his qualities thrive a little bit more? The way we built with Nate [Harriel], a little bit more shallow, which helped Cavan out a little bit.”
Once again, the post got in the way as Anello’s shot in the 72nd minute hit the right side of the goal. Blake then made a fantastic save on Qasem’s shot in the 74th minute, and shortly after had another stop.
The Union came back with some chances in the 78th minute, first with a shot by Iloski that deflected out for a corner, and Damiani’s two shots blocked. The Union brought more pressure in the next few minutes, with Damiani getting another header, but it sailed wide. Alladoh followed with a shot of his own. Continuing to push for that elusive goal, Damiani sailed one over the River End in the 85th minute.
As three minutes of stoppage time commenced, the Union were pushing hard for a goal. Daniel Lovitz was shown a yellow card for a foul on Iloski, and the Union earned a corner shortly after that was fruitless after a foul. After a Westfield throw-in, the Union made one final push, but the shot from Anello was saved by Schwake, and the referee blew the whistle, ending the match in a 0-0 draw. While that result may have seemed decent against the top team in the East, considering the chances and playing against a rotated squad, it left a lot to be desired. There were positives, such as the clean sheet and out-shooting their opponent, but it was definitely a missed opportunity to claw their way back up the standings a bit.
“Structurally, to keep another clean sheet, you know, I’m proud of the guys there, but we have to take the chances. We have to create the moments that we did, and take advantage of those. We know that few and far between at the moment, and I feel sorry for the guys, but you know, we’ll take something of the clean sheet and think defensively, we’re rock solid.”
It does seem that the Union have their defense more in order, but the attack still needs to finish. It was a welcome return for Frankie Westfield, who remarked post-game, “I’m always looking to build off something. And I think that’s especially for the defense, something to build off of. We’re always looking to get a clean sheet, so it helps the defense out a lot. We’re very happy about that tonight.”
Westfield was also optimistic about the Union getting back to scoring goals. “You know goals are going to come,” he said after the match. “We’re working every single day to create those chances, create those goals, I think it’s a matter of time. You know those goals are going to start coming with that chemistry and all that stuff, because we’re still a new group where we have a bunch of new attackers, like [Alladoh] and [Anello] is coming back now after a two week injury. So I think we’re gonna start clicking soon. We’re working hard to get those goals and get those chances. And I think tonight you saw we created so many chances. We hit the post twice, so I think those goals are gonna start coming in. We got a little bit unlucky, hit the post and hit the goalie and died right there. I thought it could have went in, but, yeah, they’re gonna start coming for sure.”
The strikers, though they had their chances, still have yet to score. Damiani showed how hungry he was for a goal, but was still kept off the scoresheet. Anello, who came in with Damiani and was doing his part to get things going, shared his belief in his teammate. He said post-game, “Bruno is a very close friend of mine, since I know him, he’s a goal scorer, so I have no doubt that when one goes in, there’s going to be a lot more that go in. So yeah, we help each other a lot, and I think it’s going to come sooner or later.”
It was a performance by the Union that felt like a step in the right direction, albeit without the scoring, and the post being quite pesky on the night. Anello summed it up: “Few inches make a difference. But yeah, we’re still fighting. We’re close. We feel it. I think it was positive energy today. So I think we’ve got to feed off of that.”
Main article photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Union
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