CHESTER, Pa.— The Union entered a busy, challenging stretch of matches as they hosted third-place New England Revolution looking to earn a playoff berth. Several scenarios existed that could have made that happen on the night, but none came to fruition, including the one the Union could control: simply win. Despite a spirited last few minutes, it was too little, too late as the Union fell 2-1, thus ending their incredible 15-game unbeaten streak.
Ryan Richter’s starting lineup had one notable change with Cavan Sullivan out with an ankle injury. His brother, Quinn, took his place in the attacking midfield opposite Indiana Vassilev. Otherwise, the lineup was as expected.
Milan Iloski and Bruno Damiani, who both have been scoring machines lately, paired at striker. The dynamic duo of Danley Jean Jacques and Jovan Lukic held it down at defensive mid. The back line was once again comprised of Kai Wagner, Nathan Harriel, Neil Pierre, and Frankie Westfield, and the captain, Andre Blake, was in net.
Union II midfielder Kellan LeBlanc was called up on a short-term loan and appeared on the bench, but would not get any minutes. Also on the bench were Japhet Sery Larsen, Alejandro Bedoya, Jeremy Rafanello, Ben Bender, Ezekiel Alladoh, Agustin Anello, Malik Jakupovic, and Andrew Rick.
The match began with a good amount of pressure from the Union, with attempts by Iloski, Sullivan, and Vassilev. Westfield and Sullivan were menaces on the right side, with a breakthrough seeming imminent. That almost happened in the 22nd minute when Westfield poked the ball through for Iloski, who dodged a defender and went 1v1 with Matt Turner. The goalkeeper came up with the fantastic save, however, to preserve the deadlock.
“I think we came out in the right way,” Westfield noted after the match. “I think we started the game the first 15 minutes as we wanted to, high energy. But I think we just didn’t maintain that throughout the game, and that showed.”
The tables almost turned a few minutes later when former Union midfielder Dániel Gazdag blasted a shot on goal, but Blake laid out and blocked it, with the rebound shot missed by Peyton Miller. Gazdag forced another Blake save shortly after when a defensive miscue almost turned disastrous.
The visitors were threatening more and more as the first half was winding down, and shortly into stoppage time took the 1-0 lead when the Union’s defense was caught sleeping as Miller’s header went across the goal, pulling Blake over, and Dor Turgeman finished it. The half ended with the Revs holding the lead, and the Union outshooting them 11-7 with nothing to show for it.
The second half began with no changes for either side. Play was stopped briefly after a collision between Gazdag and Pierre that left both in some pain and necessitated them leaving the field temporarily. Both returned to play shortly after.
Wagner thwarted a run by Josh Wynder, and then Carles Gil forced a fine save by Blake in the 58th minute as New England were putting pressure on the Union. If not for Blake being in vintage form and a bright spot in the match, the scoreline could have been far worse.
“Yeah, [Andre’s] been great,” Richter noted to the media. “He’s been great through this entire run from post World Cup. He’s been excellent, and he was tonight too. He was, and he made a number of really good saves. And you know, that’s what he’s done for a long time here. And and you know, despite the two goals, he had a really good game tonight.”
Damiani was issued the first yellow card in the 61st minute for dissent. As he was on yellow card accumulation warning, he will miss the next match—Nashville—which is certainly not helpful for the Union in what will be a very tough match to begin with. This was followed two minutes later by a yellow card to Lukic for a foul on Gazdag, which was probably lucky to have just been a yellow as Lukic appeared to go in studs-up. The match continued to be very physical as Jackson Yueill was shown New England’s first yellow for a foul in the 65th minute.
Richter made his first substitution in the 67th minute, replacing Vassilev with Anello. The next few minutes were marked by players going to ground and interrupting the flow of play. Blake made another big save, this time on Luca Langoni. The Union continued to push for the equalizer as Damiani had a good look on goal, but his shot missed high and wide.
Looking to bring more onto attack, Jakupovic subbed on for Harriel in the 81st minute. Having also coached him with Union II, Richter knows the 17 year old can bring that quality late in a match, and Jakupovic nearly tied it up with a great finish in the 86th minute after a cross from Sullivan. The seasoned veteran Turner, however, once again came up with the save.
Finding one goal to draw it level had seemed like a tall hill to climb, but that became a mountain as regulation was running out. As Gil went running toward the goal and was just inside the box, Pierre tripped him, and though Gil was initially ruled offside, VAR overturned that and a penalty was awarded. Gil buried the penalty in the 90+1 as 12 minutes of stoppage time commenced and the Union down two goals to nil.
The Union were not about to go down quietly, however, and Jakupovic nearly found the back of the net in the 90+11, but the team and the crowd were fired up. It came to a head, literally, when Pierre scored on a header in the 90+12 to cut the deficit in half for his fifth goal of the season. It took a bit of a lucky break as the ball bounced off the corner flagpole to Wagner, who crossed it to Pierre for the finish. It was a bit of redemption for the young defender who otherwise has had a fantastic week filled with accolades.
It had been risky pulling out Harriel and leaving Pierre as the lone center back, but Richter has not been afraid to make those moves, such as against Atlanta when they had two stoppage time goals for the win. It partially paid off, but also included a learning moment for Pierre. Still, he showed resilience with bouncing back and getting that goal, and this writer has seen growth with him since his second team days in that respect.
When asked about that, Richter noted, “Yeah, I mean it was a risk for us that we took to go three in the back at the end there, and you know leaving Neil in that kind of space in those situations. That was a risk that we took, and then the same risk is putting him in the box at the end. That hopefully a ball can be put in that he can attack.”
Richter saw the learning moment for Pierre in the penalty, but also added the team could have done better to prevent that situation. “So for him, it’s one that yeah, I don’t know that he needs to go to ground on it, but also there’s a couple things that we can do differently on the play that led to that. But yeah, good for him to get the goal. But it’s more about the team time. One, the risk that we took in how we approached the last 15 minutes of the game, and then just how we could look at the play and how it was executed exactly, and the things that we could have done a little differently.”
Anello nearly tied it up on a shot that forced a great save by Turner that went out for a corner, which would be the last play. With Blake all the way up, the Union tried one last time, but Westfield’s shot went just wide, and the match ended with the Union’s incredible unbeaten streak also coming to an end.
The most energy of the match had come in the final moments, and showed incredible fight, but much of the game included some sloppy play, coupled with Turner making the timely saves and New England exposing some weaknesses. Perhaps better to see those growth moments now than later.
“Yeah, I think overall we started the game in a really good way, really sharp, good energy, and then we kind of lost control a little bit, and then yeah, we didn’t play our best tonight, and I don’t think it was a lack of effort or intensity, but we just weren’t at our sharpest,” Richter shared after the match.
“And in the end, I love that the guys continue to push and keep pushing to try to get something out out of the game, even though we weren’t at our best. But in the end, I think it was a fair result. We have to take this one on the chin and get back at the next game, with a huge one in Nashville that we can we can turn around and in a good way, and recover from this one. But overall, not our best performance, but still the right attitude to push to the end. We have to take this one on the chin and bounce back from it.”
Kai Wagner reiterated Richter’s point. “Clearly, we were not up for it from minute one today,” the left back said. “I think I have never seen us losing that many tackles in a game. I don’t think in the first half we tackled at all. I don’t think we had a need for crashing forward. We still had the chances in the first half. I think when we are a little bit more clinical, we can maybe score one or put one behind. Fall asleep little bit right before halftime. And we talk a lot about not fouling around the PK spot, but I still think it is a really really soft foul where I don’t think we have to give it, but yeah, fall asleep there, and then in the second half, yeah, tried to push a little bit, didn’t find the rhythm today, and deservedly lost today.”
Making the playoffs did not get any easier with a road trip to the Supporters’ Shield winner Nashville, who are undefeated at home this season, and the Union will have to bring their “A” game for that. When asked about the playoffs, Wagner was blunt:
“We’re not in the playoffs yet, so I don’t want to talk about the playoffs. It’s still a long way to go to the playoffs, and if we don’t get the intensity up, if we don’t put a little bit more effort into training and to everything, recovery now and all the stuff. Put a lot of effort into the game in Nashville, then we can make the playoffs. But right now I don’t want to talk about the playoffs because today was just not good enough. And if we played like today, we don’t deserve to be in the playoffs.”
Quinn Sullivan, who has played his most minutes of the season during the recent stretch since returning from his knee injury, also is keeping the focus on one game at a time, and not the fact they could face New England again soon in the playoffs depending on some factors.
“Honestly, not thinking about the next few weeks,” he shared postgame. “Focused on a really difficult week, Nashville away midweek, who hasn’t lost at home this year, and that’s our next focus. So every game is important right now in terms of making the playoffs still and earning whatever it may be, whatever place it is. We’ll focus on who we’re going to play in the in the first round if and when we get there.”
Facing their first real adversity post-World Cup, now the Union get to show if they can bounce back.
“We’re not gonna give up. We haven’t given up this whole second half of the season. Come from behind, and we know we can come back in big games like this. And I think it’s gonna help us move forward,” Westfield said after the match. “And Augie had a big chance. I had a couple big chances. Neil gets the goal. I just think that that’s the grit that we want to show, especially that that grit’s going to be more important in the playoffs.”
The Union will face Nashville SC at GEODIS Park on Wednesday at 8:30 PM as they look to bounce back.
Be sure to check out Emily Wallace-Sutton’s work (@capturedbyemilygrace) for more match photos!
Main article photo: Emily Wallace-Sutton
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