Union score late to punish ill-disciplined Orlando

First Half:

On a brisk Friday night in Chester, PA, the Philadelphia Union hosted Orlando SC in the Union’s second home game of the year. The Union nabbed the first goal in the early goings thanks to C.J. Sapong in the 2nd minute. A Rosenberry cross found its way across the Orlando goal box. Orlando defender Rafael Ramos’s wayward clearance deflected off of Sapong into the back of the net. The Union saw a lot of possession early on, with Sapong pressing high up the field in an attempt to win the ball in an advanced position.

Blake made his first contribution in the 16th minute with a punch off of a corner. Orlando tried to overload Blake with numbers in hopes he might fumble, but he stayed strong with a good punch. Another corner in the 19th minute saw a similar strategy, the corner was swung further out and after a few deflections the ball rolled just wide of Blake’s net.

An Orlando break in the 43rd minute resulted in the second goal of the game. Adrian Winter received a great pass in front of the Union box, he popped the ball over Rosenberry and slotted past the oncoming Blake to tie the score at 1-1. Philadelphia ended up with a majority of possession in the first half, but Orlando looked the more dangerous. Kaka and Winter did well to combine in the final third and created problems for the Union backline.

Second Half:

Kaka and Winter linked up brilliantly to create an open chance from 15 yards, but the shot from Winter sailed over the bar. The second half was sloppy from both sides, with either team wasting opportunities and making wayward passes while in threatening positions.

The Union were dangerous from several set pieces at this point, with several half chances going to waste. By the 74’ minute the Union had a handful of free kicks, a pair of throw ins, and half a dozen corner kicks, but none have challenged Bendik’s goal. The set pieces culminated in a dead on center freekick, 25 yards from the Orlando goal. Barnetta lined it up but got his angles wrong as the ball flew high and to the left of the goal.

Philadelphia continued to knock on Orlando’s goal, threatening for a long stretch of time. As the game wore on both teams began to tire and fitness began to come into play. With each loss of possession, heads dropped as players tried their best to drop and get in formation. Orlando started to become wasteful with possession as the game neared the final minutes. Suddenly a draw wasn’t such a bad result and defending became the priority for the visitors.

The Union finally struck gold in the form of a free kick. Sapong was fouled just outside the area, and once again Barnetta lined up to take it. His curling effort bounced off the underside of the crossbar and into the net, to the jubilation of the home crowd as the stadium erupted in doops.

Suddenly Orlando came back to life. A delicious cross in the waning seconds found Winter at the back post. Winter’s quick, well placed shot was saved by a flying Blake, to keep the Union in the lead. Coach Curtin was ecstatic about the save afterwards, “that play right there, thats 2 points, that save kept us in the lead.” Blake’s heroics paired with a moment of brilliance from Barnetta hoists the Union, as the game ended 2-1.

After the game Coach Curtin had some good things to say about the performance, and is hopeful about the Union’s offensive capabilities. “We’re a team that creates chances, our recipe for success is good defending, good goalkeeping, and good set pieces. We get chances, we get balls whipped in the box, I’m not concerned with getting goals, I’m concerned with preventing goals. We’ve set the bar at 1 goal allowed per game, 34 for the year, it sounds easy but is really difficult to do. We’re gonna get goals but it’s just a matter of preventing them.