Now this is the Subaru Park Beast Mode that the Union supporters at the Chester Waterfront were waiting for! The Union got back some of the scoring touch that has been missing for the past few months, racking up three goals in the first half on their way to a 3-1 victory over the New England Revolution in Game 1 of the Best-of-3 First Round series in the 2023 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs on Saturday evening. Daniel Gazdag, Mikael Uhre and Nathan Harriel scored for the Union, and Gustavo Bou scored his 3rd goal against the Union in a week for the Revolution.
New England got the first good look early on when Noel Buck hit the crossbar in the 9th minute and the rebound just barely missed going over the goal line on the bounce down from the crossbar. Things quickly went downhill for New England from there, especially with captain Carles Gil aggravating a pre-existing knee injury which caused him to leave the game in the 23rd minute. In the 15th minute, Julián Carranza ran up to field a through ball as New England goalie Jacob Jackson was also coming for the ball but instead smashed into Carranza’s right side knocking him to the ground. The officials checked VAR and assessed a penalty to Jackson, setting up Daniel Gazdag for a chance from his favorite spot. Jim Curtin’s automatic PK power tool the Hungarian Hammer delivered to put the Union ahead 1-0 in the 19th minute. A few minutes later in the 26th minute Kai Wagner sent a cross into the box from the far left side of the field which caught a weird bounce off New England defender Dave Romney that Jacob Jackson narrowly blocked to prevent the own goal. Mikael Uhre was right there to put the rebound back into the net from point blank range to give the Union a two goal advantage. In the 37th minute Wagner set up for a free kick from the far right side of the field for a restart after a Tomás Chancalay yellow card. Wagner’s kick sailed over the pack to find a streaking Nathan Harriel for a leaping header from the left side of the box to give the Union a comfortable 3-0 halftime lead.
The pace slowed down dramatically in the second half which wasn’t much of a surprise with both teams trying to pace themselves for Game 2 and a possible game 3. José “El Brujo” Martínez got his crowd favorite long range screamer shot from outside the box in the 64th minute but it curled a few inches wide outside the left post. The clean sheet left in the 68th minute when Gustavo Bou fielded a pass from Giacomo Vrioni and dribbled between Jack Elliott and Nathan Harriel and fired a shot to the left side of the net that bounced off the crossbar and in, putting the Revs on the board. Some fireworks went off down the stretch in the 87th minute when Vrioni drilled Harriel as he was passing the ball, putting Harriel down on the pitch for a while. El Brujo retaliated in defense of his teammate, leading to both being assessed yellow cards and likely raising the temperature for Game 2 up in Foxboro.
News and Notes:
- This was the first time since the CCL Semifinals Leg 1 against LAFC in late April that the Union’s Front 6 lineup of Strikers Mikael Uhre and Julian Carranza along with Midfielders Daniel Gazdag, Jose “El Brujo” Martinez, Team Captain Alejandro Bedoya, and home grown sensation Jack McGlynn were all healthy enough to start a match together.
- Defender Jakob Glesnes was not available for the match due to a nagging sports hernia which Union coach Jim Curtin announced in the postgame press conference that the injury had progressed to the point where Glesnes was in too much pain to continue after playing through the injury for several months. Glesnes is set to have surgery to address the issue next week. Jim said of the Norwegian: “He’s played through one of the more painful injuries that you can have in this sport.” later adding “He gives everything for the badge (the Union crest), left everything he could on the field this year, but unfortunately the pain has gotten to a point where it’s not tolerable. There’s no one tougher than Jakob too, so when I say pain…it hits a point where he’s about as tough as it gets. He’s a viking, a true viking! He wants to be out there but sometimes your body tells you and you have to listen…he’ll be basically a coach with me on the sidelines…it’s going to take a “couple weeks” to heal from that one.”
- With his goal tonight, midfielder Daniel Gazdag became the leading scorer in Union playoff history. (Four Goals)
- Homegrown defender Nathan Harriel and forward Mikael Uhre scored their first career playoff goals.
- Defender Kai Wagner registered his second career playoff assist.
- Homegrown midfielder Quinn Sullivan made his first career playoff appearance.
- Philadelphia Union travel to Gillette Stadium to face New England Revolution in the second match of the 2023 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs Round One Best-of-3 series on Wednesday, November 8 (7:00 p.m. / Apple TV).
JD Walker is one of the co-founders of Stream Punk Entertainment and has covered the Philadelphia Union 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.
