Match recap: Philadelphia Union 1, Sporting Kansas City 1

Not a bad way for the Philadelphia Union to head into the Gold Cup break. The first half went as poorly for the Union as it could have. Just looking at the number of corner kicks in the first half will tell you all you need know, as Sporting Kansas City had a nine to zero lead. Sporting started the half fast with a lot of pressure on the Union, with Ray Gaddis looking especially out of depth early on. SKC kept the pressure up with all of their corners, and they were able to get in some good shots on Union goalkeeper John McCarthy, who started for the Gold Cup bound Andre Blake. McCarthy look as though he might have had to come off with a nasty looking injury knee injury, but he was able to stay in the game and continue his strong start. The Union had one good chance on goal in the first half when Ilsinho gathered up a pass into the box from CJ Sapong and put it just to the outside of the right goalposts. Other than that however, the Union were quiet on the offensive side. They had what looked to be a great chance with numbers just before the half ended, but Ilshino had his pocket picked the chance died before it even really got started. Luckily, the Union went into the break tied at zero with Sporting Kansas City

The second half started in much the same way as the first half did, with Sporting Kansas City having a lot of possession and looking dangerous on the ball. The McCarthy dam finally broke in the 49th minute as Diego Rubio, who missed a wide open chance in the first half, was able to give SKC the lead.

This seemed to wake the Union up as they began to put more pressure in the offensive zone. This eventually lead to a Benny Feilhaber foul being called in the box on CJ Sapong. After order was restored when Feilhaber had a meltdown and Ilie Sanchez grabbed Oguchi Onyewu by the throat, freshly subbed on Roland Alberg stepped up to the spot and he was able to blast the ball home and tied the game up for the Union at one to one.

With the tie in place the Union began to play more defensively, trying to preserve the tie. Again SKC had tons of possession and pressure, but McCarthy was up to the task making save after save to keep the tie. The Union had a chance in stoppage time, with CJ Sapong breaking through the back line, only to send the ball high and wide. Seven minutes of stoppage time offered Kansas City plenty of chances to grab the lead, but all their efforts were for nothing as the game ended one to one.