After a Leagues Cup run which ended with the Philadelphia Union finishing a crushing 4th in a tournament where the top 3 finishers get a spot in next year’s CONCACAF Champions Cup, the Union had to quickly dust themselves off and get back into league play. The first MLS match on Wednesday was against the Columbus Crew who just won the Leagues Cup trophy on Sunday over LAFC. I will get back to my review of Leagues Cup in a separate article. My lack of writing on it wasn’t any kind of boycott or statement, just a busy stressful month that did not allow much time for extensive writing. There is always more up to date video coverage on our YouTube channel Stream Punk Soccer. As expected, the Crew went with a rotated lineup in which nine starters from the Leagues Cup Final started Wednesday’s match on the bench. The Union are back to being short handed themselves due to the departures of Jose Martinez to Corinthians in Brazil and Damion Lowe to Al-Akhdoud in Saudi Arabia along with other injuries, so even with an opportunity to pick up points “Crew 1.5” it still felt like a steep uphill battle. The fears were correct as the Union failed to convert a few key early opportunities and fell 1-0 at a steamy Subaru Park Wednesday evening. Tai Baribo was honored before the game for leading all goal scorers in Leagues Cup with seven goals in the tournament.
The clear plan for a Union squad that is losing depth pieces fast was to try and attack Columbus early and often and then probably try to park the bus late when the Crew brought in their reinforcements. This held true to form with the Union forcing five corner kicks in the first five minutes, but none could break through. In the 13th minute Tai Baribo had a chance from close range which dinged off the right post to keep the game scoreless. The first 15 minutes went according to plan with everything except for scoring an actual goal. A few minutes later, things started coming apart as Nathan Harriel went down to the pitch with back spasms and could not continue in the match, being replaced by Olivier Mbaizo in the 22nd minute blowing whatever was left of the Union’s formerly impressive back line depth into the Delaware River. On the defensive side Andre Blake held up his end of the deal in the first half, saving an Aziel Jackson shot on target in the 23rd minute. Quinn Sullivan had another fantastic chance in the 38th minute from the edge of the six yard box which hit the right post again keeping the Union off the board. Both squads rolled into halftime with a score of Philadelphia 0 – Columbus 0 – Right Post 2.
In the second half Kai Wagner set up from the corner in the 54th minute and found Baribo in the left side of the box for a header on target but Patrick Schulte made the save for Columbus. At the 62nd minute Wilfried Nancy called in the cavalry as expected, with Diego Rossi, Yaw Yeboah, and Max Arfsten checking in and completely changing the tone of the game with Rossi getting a shot off in the 67th minute just missing wide right. Wave two of the Columbus charge came in the 72nd minute with Darlington Nagbe and Cucho Hernandez checking into the game. The Union countered with the fresh legs of Mikael Uhre and Jack McGlynn in the same substitution window. This wasn’t quite Gareth Bale vs Chris Donovan in extra time of the MLS Cup, but it felt close. The whole stadium tensed up just like it did during the worst of the Union’s struggles earlier this season, feeling the inevitable bearing down on the boys in blue, but holding out hope for a miracle. It only took a few minutes for the prophecy to fulfill itself. In the 75th minute Arfsten sent a cross from the right side of the pitch over to the left side of the box where Yaw Yeboah rose up for a header while Blake covered the near post on the right side but a series of shifted defensive assignments left Mbaizo alone covering the far post for Yeboah to easily head the ball past him to put the Crew on the board and it was all they needed in a 1-0 victory leaving the Union still one point short of the playoff line with a stretch of three brutal road games coming up. This brought the return of the Sad Jimbo postgame press conference and a shell shocked Mikael Uhre chatting with us in the locker room after the match.
Where do the Union go from here? A match on Saturday up the Turnpike to North Jersey for a rivalry grudge match against the Red Bulls who sit in 4th place in the East at 10-4-12 (42 points) is their next tall task. The Union sit tied for 10th place at 6-11-9 (27 points), likely needing at least 15 points over their final 8 games to have any hope of landing a playoff spot. These teams met earlier in the season at Subaru Park on July 6 and played to a 0-0 draw extending the Union’s 13 match undefeated streak against their bitter rivals with RBNY’s last win over the Union was September 22, 2019 nearly five years ago. Philadelphia needs every point they can get with the September FIFA break coming up and then two more road matches at Inter Miami on September 14 and NYCFC on September 18. Jim Curtin said last week that Nathan Harriel was the backup center back (in addition to being the starting Right Back and also the backup Left Back) so the Union were ok with depth. Now Harriel will be a game time decision depending how his back responds to treatment so he might be available off the bench. Olwethu Makhanya would in theory be the next man up as the current 5th defender if Harriel is unavailable, but Curtin has alluded to Makhanya’s struggles in training with the first team. Jim said on Friday before traveling that everybody is practicing with the first team and everybody should be ready when called upon.
Game info: Philadelphia Union at Red Bull NY at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ kicks off at 7:30 Saturday evening August 31. All matches are streamed on Apple TV+ along with local radio coverage on 97.5FM The Fanatic.
JD Walker is one of the co-founders of Stream Punk Entertainment and has covered the Philadelphia Union, Big East Basketball, and New Jersey high school basketball since 2022. He has a wide-spanning career with experience in a variety of roles inside and outside the world of sports including basketball operations, gameday entertainment, promotions, broadcasting, and finance. He’s a Jersey Shore native sprung from a cage on Highway 9, and loves to geek out on the business and legal side of the games we all love.