CHESTER, Pa.— Coming off a tough loss to Red Bull New York II that saw a lot of positives in the performance, Union II looked to gain traction in the standings against an opponent one spot below them. Playing on Kinetic Field at the WSFS Bank Sportsplex for the first time in MLS Next Pro play, Union II hosted New England Revolution II for the first time this season. Coming into the match, Union II were in 7th in the East at 4-3-1, while Revs II were tied with them in points at 14, but had a record of 3-2-3.
With the first team playing simultaneously in Orlando, the question was who would be available for Union II as some players go back and forth. After featuring in three straight games for Union II, Stas Korzeniowski was off with the first team, and Malik Jakupovic stayed back. He was paired at striker with Sal Olivas.
The midfield saw little change as Willyam Ferreira and Kellan LeBlanc were the attacking mids, while Matheus DePaula and Mamoutou Berthé were the defensive mids.
One change in the back line was no Finn Sundstrom, who was with the first team. Instead, Academy amateur Andrew Craig got his first start with Union II at center back, paired with Rafael Uzcátegui. Jordan Griffin and Giovanny Sequera were once again the outside backs, and Pierce Holbrook was in goal.
The match was physical right off the bat, and in the 8th minute a yellow card to Sal Olivas for a hard tackle. Union II was having trouble in the early going getting any shots off, however New England saw a few early chances. Holbrook made his first save in the 18th minute after Union II turned the ball over.
Griffin was shown a yellow for a foul in the 26th minute as Revs II were going on the attack. Olivas was then shown a second yellow in the 31st minute, leading to his ejection and rendering Union II down a man for the majority of the match. As the red card was shown, Olivas grabbed the card and threw it to the ground before walking off, likely earning him more disciplinary action. Assistant coach Henry Apaloo also appeared to be shown a yellow card right after. Ferreira and New England’s Chris Mbai-Assem were both down on the ground shortly after, with the latter leaving the match in the 36th minute.
Union II finally got a decent chance on a header by Uzcátegui that went just a bit over the crossbar in the 43rd minute. Revs II followed up with a shot that went right into the hands of Holbrook. As seven minutes of stoppage time was commencing, Ferreira went down with what appeared to be a leg injury rendering him unable to put weight on it, and needed to leave the match. Nehan Hassan was substituted on in his place.
Stoppage time would extend to about ten minutes, including a yellow card for Berthé for a foul just outside the box, leading to a dangerous free kick that nearly went in. After a very tumultuous first half, it finally ended scoreless.
At the start of the second half, Union II brought on Óscar Benítez as a halftime substitution for Berthé. The half continued much as the first half had gone: very physical. New England had some chances early in the half, but the Union II defense, including a very impressive Craig, did well to clear out the threats. More bookings came in the 57th minute as Jakupovic and Revs II’s Damario McIntosh were both shown yellow cards. De Paula followed with his own in the 61st minute.
Revs II brought immense pressure on the Union II goal, leading to a few fantastic saves for Holbrook. Making his Union II debut, Academy amateur Abdoulaye Diop subbed on for LeBlanc in the 70th minute. The chaos continued with fouls left and right, including Diop being down for a bit, hard tackles, and then Sequera getting a yellow in the 75th minute.
Revs II looked to get a good chance in the 78th minute, but a great sliding tackle by Craig negated the threat, which Griffin then cleared out. Holbrook then made another great save in the 82nd minute. Revs II nearly got a goal when they crossed in front of the goal moments later, but no one was there to finish, luckily for Union II.
Unfortunately, that luck ran out in the 86th minute when Jake Shannon put the ball past Holbrook to make it 1-0. Despite a push at the end, even bringing Holbrook all the way up on a Union II corner in the dying moments that saw Benítez miss to the right on a header. Despite putting up a fight being down a man for two-thirds of the match and coming so close to at least getting a point for their efforts, it was a second straight home loss for the young squad. They were unable to register a single shot on target, which, of course, was mostly a by-product of being down to ten men, and had six yellow cards, one red card, and 20 fouls. They also had 20 clearances, and Holbrook had a career-high seven saves.
Head coach Ryan Richter reflected after the match:
“It’s tough to play down a man for that long. You know, that’s the reality. We hung in there, and we fought, and you know, a lot of good last ditch efforts to like stop the final action, but it’s tough to play down a man for that long and to hang on. Almost did it, but couldn’t quite. So we’ll have to look back at the minutes before the red card to see how we were, because right now we’re just thinking of the result in the last 60 minutes of the game where you played down the man. But that’s part of the game. It’s something that we have to learn to deal with. We almost made it there. We almost got across the line, but just couldn’t quite do it. I am proud of the way that the guys fought for that long. And yeah, that’s the story of the game.”
One aspect of the match that was very noticeable was how aggressively New England celebrated their goal on the field, and then their victory heading into the locker room, considering they were playing up a man against a much younger squad when average ages were compared. Perhaps some motivation for when the squads meet again? Richter had his thoughts on the matter:
“It’s not motivation, just that, you know, if my team was acting like that, you’ve got to have class when you win and class when you lose. You know, so for us, having class when you lose, even if something like that might bother you—and you know, it will bother you—is, you know, to not pay too much attention to it in the moment. But I think that that coach probably would have some words with the players of how to conduct yourself in a classy manner when you when you win a game.”
Despite the loss, some positive and big moments were to be had in the match. Richter was very high on Andrew Craig’s first start, saying, “Thought he was excellent, and didn’t have an easy task. And you know, the one thing with him that he has, is he has the mentality. He’s not afraid. He’s capable of stepping into any environment and playing at his limit, at his max, and he did that today, and I was really proud of him for his first start of the season.”
Additionally, 16 year old Abdoulaye Diop made his Union II debut, coming off the bench. Richter also had praise for the midfielder. “I mean, again, it’s a tough moment to come into it when you’re like, you’re basically coming in and you’re touching the ball a couple times in a situation where you got to get out of trouble. And I thought even in the few touches he had, he showed a couple clever decisions, and his work against the ball was great. So for his first minutes with Union II, I thought really positive, and he’s earned that for the way he’s performing in the Academy and the way he’s trained over the last two weeks with us. He’s shown that the only thing is, when you put him in the game, then you really know, is he ready for this level? And the answer is one hundred percent yes.”
Union II will only have a few days to regroup before they return to action, once again at home on the WSFS Bank Sportsplex field. They will face off on Sunday, May 17 at 3:00 PM versus Columbus Crew 2.
Main article photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union II.
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