CHESTER, Pa. — Wednesday marked the final time in August that the Philadelphia Union hosted a match, and with an impressive month since the restart of the league, it would only make sense to host Inter Miami and the circus of Lionel Messi fans that it can bring.
And it did not disappoint, either. Hours before kickoff, the area surrounding the stadium was blanketed in Argentina, Inter Miami, and other Messi paraphernalia, such as a metallic statue of the Argentine legend that was created by a fan there to support his favorite player.
And while the Union started off the match strong with the opening goal from Indiana Vassilev, Miami would respond with two goals of their own. A Neil Pierre 58th-minute goal drew the match level as Philadelphia came back to pick up a point on the evening.
“The push we made in the second half, I think we showed ourselves and to the league that we can hang with any team, and I’m really proud of the performance,” interim head coach Ryan Richter said of the match. “A couple chances that maybe we can take in the end that would lead to the win, but overall, yeah, not the result that we wanted because when we’re at home, we go for wins, and you know, not satisfied with a draw. But the performance, the way we battled, the way we attacked the second half, I’m really proud of that.”
Richter’s lineup for the evening was similar to Sunday evening’s starting eleven, outside of Jovan Lukic being suspended for yellow card accumulation.
Andre Blake started in net, and Frankie Westfield, Neil Pierre, Nathan Harriel, and Kai Wagner made up the defensive back line.
The midfield saw Jesús Bueno make the start for the suspended Lukic, pairing with Danley Jean Jacques. Cavan Sullivan and Indiana Vassilev made up the rest of the midfield, while Milan Iloski and Bruno Damiani, coming off a brace against NYCFC, paired up top.
The bench was made up of Japhet Sery Larsen, Alejandro Bedoya, Jeremy Rafanello, Ben Bender, Ezekiel Alladoh, Agustin Anello, Quinn Sullivan, Malik Jakupovic, and Andrew Rick.
As the match started, the stadium filled in nicely prior to kickoff, mostly with colors of pink smattered throughout the stadium.
Philadelphia’s first chance of the match came with Wagner playing a long ball over to Iloski, who snuck in behind Miami’s back line and crossed to a charging Damiani, though the Uruguayan forward just missed connecting with the ball.
The Philadelphia Union struck first in the match in the 11th minute. Indiana Vassilev connected with a cross from Frankie Westfield to beat Dayne St. Clair, giving Philadelphia the early 1-0 lead. Credit to Cavan Sullivan with the secondary assist on the play and Jean Jacques for finding Cavan to start the attack.
“I think it is him getting back to the player that makes him a good player, makes him a national team level player, and playing that role within the team, and he can chip in with goals and assists because he has the quality for that, and he has the ability for that. But it’s the balance that he gives the team, the work that he puts in against the ball, it helps the team and makes the team better, ” Richter said of Vassilev’s performance.
Philadelphia had another goal-scoring chance moments later, though Cavan Sullivan had his shot blocked by St. Clair. The Canadian keeper came up big again on a breakaway by Damiani, who surely would want that attempt back.
And missing those early chances to double their lead was all that Inter Miami would need to get back in the match.
Following a missed clearance from Pierre, both he and Harriel would miss their men on the play, allowing Luis Suarez to find a wide-open Daniel Pinter to drive it home, drawing the match level in the 21st minute. Messi would get credit for the secondary assist on the goal.
Then, five minutes later, Lionel Messi made Philadelphia pay once again with a beautiful curler that Wagner just missed getting a foot on, giving the road side a 2-1 lead, with the assist going to Ian Fray. While Philadelphia’s defense was solid, the Argentine’s ability to get the shot off so quickly was even more impressive.
With Miami taking all the momentum in the match, Philadelphia had a few opportunities toward the end of the first half in which the pink and black either blocked or cleared the ball, or St. Clair made a save on the play.
The boys in blue skirted danger after Wagner fouled Messi just outside the box, giving the German left back a yellow card. Though when Messi went low on the ensuing free kick, the Union’s wall was able to defend and clear it out of harm’s way.
As the halftime whistle sounded, the home side headed to the locker room trailing 2-1, signaling their third straight match in which they trailed at the half.
After Sergio Reguilón fouled Cavan to give Philadelphia a free kick, Iloski fired an attempt that forced St. Clair to spill the ball to his left, with the rebound just missing the target.
Moments later, Philadelphia had a cavalcade of three shots blocked, and referee Filip Dujik was called on to assess a potential penalty, which was not given.
After Yannick Bright fouled Wagner and picked up a yellow card, Pierre collected his third goal of the season, with the assist going to Iloski, to square the match at two goals each in the 58th minute. It is now three goals in five league matches for Pierre.
“I thought he was solid,” Richter said on Pierre’s performance. “You know, still with him every week there’s going to be a couple things that he needs to clean up. You know, and that’s our job, is to to help him get those things out of his game, but yeah, he’s doing great, and he’s on the right path, and he approaches the game the right way, and he makes the team better.”
Then, minutes later, Philadelphia thought they had the lead on what would have been Iloski’s 11th goal of the season, though it was ruled that Pierre was offside during the free kick.
Quinn Sullivan was the first substitution of the evening for Philadelphia, coming on for Vassilev.
The opportunities continued to present themselves for Philadelphia, with Cavan finding a wide-open Milan making a run in on St. Clair, only to have his attempt go right at Miami’s keeper. The shot was deflected to Bruno, who was unable to finish.
Lionel Messi was awarded another free kick after a foul from Kai, and though it was from a dangerous position, Philadelphia’s defense cleared it out.
Cavan Sullivan’s 78th-minute attempt just missed the target in another prime chance for the Philadelphia Union to take the lead, but despite the nice feed from Iloski, the match stayed level at two.
Alladoh and Bedoya came in for Bueno and Damiani.
As both teams kept pressing for the go-ahead goal, nine minutes of stoppage time were announced, which, knowing how both teams have operated this season, left time for anything to happen.
With the supporters in the River End continuing to push for a late winner from the home side, Philadelphia had one more chance to take the lead. However, it was not to be, and the match ended in chaotic fashion.
After Quinn was taken to the ground, Ian Fray of Inter Miami stepped over Sullivan, leading to the older brother grabbing Fray and throwing him to the ground. Both squads confronted one another as the younger Sullivan grabbed Bright by the collar, at which point an enraged Bright, who threw two punches at Cavan, escalating things even further.
“I thought the action that kicked off that whole situation in the scrum was the real lack of respect from Fray when he comes over on top of Quinn, goes out of his way to do this, and you can look at the action for yourself,” Richter said when asked his thoughts. “But so Quinn’s reaction is totally normal of what you would do in that situation, but it’s a real lack of respect, and things like that happen when people behave like that on the field.”
Quinn received a yellow card, while Cavan and Bright were sent off with red cards. After sorting everything out, head referee Dujik blew his whistle, signaling the end of the match to a loud chorus of boos from fans in the stands.
“I didn’t see Cavan’s reaction as a red card,” Richter mentioned about Sullivan’s red card. “He grabs a guy’s shirt and gets punched in the in the head twice. But when we’re on the field, we have to stand up for each other. We have to, you know, it’s funny when it’s brothers standing up for each other. I’m sure their dad is the one that told him you never let something like this go. But as a team, we have to always stand up for each other, and yeah, not go across the line where it’s you know you’re getting suspended for games and you’re getting red cards. But that wasn’t the case in this one. So hopefully, we can review that and get what I think is the fair outcome from it.”
With the result on the evening, Philadelphia remains unbeaten in their previous five league matches coming out of the restart. While the Union currently sit in 13th place in the Eastern Conference, the draw moved them closer to the playoff line, now only four points behind D.C. United for the ninth and final playoff spot as of the end of league play on the evening.
“I just think I think in order to believe something, you have to do it, and once you do it once, you know that you can do it over and over and over again,” Vassilev said of the squad’s recent run of form. “So I think it was wildly important to obviously win games. We need to win games to try and kind of get that playoff picture, but once we won the first game from behind, the belief to do it again is always going to be there, and yeah, to go along, I think we’re playing lucky tonight to not something to come up.”
“Obviously, we wanted all three points, and we think we even showed you could have got three points in the second half. But I think yeah, we’re just moving in the right direction,” Pierre said of the team’s performance on the evening.
The Union will now head back on the road Saturday as they travel to Austin, Texas, to take on Austin FC, who won their match on Wednesday, defeating the Seattle Sounders 2-1.
The match is scheduled for an 9:00 p.m. kickoff (this was a change) from Q2 Stadium in Austin on Saturday, August 22, and will be available on Apple TV.
Main article photo credit: Emily Wallace-Sutton
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