The summertime party is officially in full force at Subaru Park. The Philadelphia Union took down visiting CF Montreal on Pride Night in Chester 3-0 Saturday evening. Julian Carranza led the Union with two goals and Andre Blake put up his second straight clean sheet to extend Philadelphia’s unbeaten streak to 9 MLS matches.
Nathan Harriel put on the pressure early for the boys in blue with a clear shot from the right center of the box in the 8th minute but it sailed over the crossbar. In the 12th minute Matthew Real fielded a ball in the far left corner sending a pass out to Carranza just outside the corner of the box and sent a liner from his right foot through traffic into the bottom right corner of the net to put the Union on the board first. Montreal nearly countered in the 30th minute when Lassi Lappalainen had a good look from the center of the box but Andre Blake made a sliding save and Matthew Real quickly cleared the ball before Montreal knew what happened. A few minutes later in the 36th when Carranza took a shot from the right side of the box that was saved by Montreal goalie James Pantemis but Mikael Uhre was right in front of him to get the rebound and send it high over Pantemis into the back of the net to put the Union up 2-0 at halftime.
Buy Union Merch Here!Montreal brought in three substitutes for the second half to try with the hope of fresh legs to break Philly’s defensive pressure but the brick wall held firm. In the 61st minute Carranza sent a pass up to Daniel Gazdag, who tapped it promptly back to Carranza. Carranza then took a shot from just outside the top of the box which deflected off Gabriele Corbo’s foot, then into Joel Waterman’s shoulder, sending the ball on a high arc over the goalie Pantemis’s head into the net. Carranza had another chance in the 65th minute off a rebound with a wide open net taking a shot from the center of the box which went high over the crossbar into the Sons of Ben supporter section, denying the Argentinian striker an elusive hat trick. In the 78th minute Kai Wagner sent a free kick from the right corner into the scrum which eventually found Jack Elliott just to the left of the net who took a shot which was blocked by Joel Waterman who appeared to have both feet behind the goal line when he cleared the ball but the league replay center did not deem the play worthy of a stoppage for video review. In the 88th minute tempers flared when Matko Miljevic of Montreal pulled down Jose Martinez by his leg, resulting in Martinez turning around and pushing Miljevic who promptly flopped to the ground. Several players got involved in the extracurricular activities with some words and shoves being exchanged, but things did not escalate and Miljevic and Martinez both earned yellow cards for their shenanigans as the final minutes ticked off on the 3-0 victory which was a few bounces away from 5-0.
After the game coach Jim Curtin was very complimentary of the young striker Julian Carranza, saying “The best strikers in the world are ruthless and Julian has that in him.” Both goal scorers sounded like they thought they had a little luck on their side. Carranza said of his two goals: “The first goal, I saw I had a space to come in and I came in and took the shot and it went in. The second one I got a little lucky with the two rebounds. It counts as a goal so I’m happy with that, and for helping the team with the win.” Mikael Uhre shared his thoughts: “You should always hope that the keeper is making a mistake and go for it. Nine times out of ten, maybe 99 out of 100 it doesn’t fall for you but that one time it does fall for you, it’s nice!”
News and Notes:
- Alejandro Bedoya (quad) missed his fourth straight game with injury. Damion Lowe was slowed by a knee injury and held from the Starting XI but came into the game in the 64th minute. Jim Curtin said in the press conference Lowe had “the most fluid drained out of a knee I’ve ever seen” earlier this week.
- The Union and Montreal split their season series for the year as CF Montreal defeated Philadelphia 3-2 at Olympic Stadium on March 18.
- On Thursday the Union signed Jose Martinez to a contract extension for the 2024-25 seasons with an option for 2026.
- This match ends a grueling stretch of six games in 22 days for the Union in which they went 5-0-1, earning 16 of a possible 18 points to move up to third place in the Eastern Conference, one point behind Nashville SC in second place.
- The Union now face a much calmer stretch of one game in their next 17 days, which will be in San Jose on Saturday June 10 at 10:30pm. All MLS matches are streaming on Apple TV+.
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