Philadelphia Union U17s concede late, fall short of GA Cup semifinal

Closing in on securing a spot in the semifinals of the Generation adidas Cup Premier Division, disaster struck for the Philadelphia Union U17s on Wednesday.

Scoreless through the first 49 minutes of a 50-minute match that would have secured an all important point, Josh Wolff scored twice for the Columbus Crew to stun the Union with a 2-0 loss.

The result meant the Colorado Rapids were crowned the winner of Group D, leaving the Union with six points after posting a 2-3-0 record in group matches.

The Union still have two games to play — they’ll play Chicago Fire this afternoon and they’ll finish up their trip to Frisco, Texas with one last game on Saturday — but it’s all consolation now after missing out on the semifinals, which will feature Tijuana playing Colorado and Midtjylland playing Columbus.

The Union U15 also played on Wednesday, securing a 2-0 win over CF Monterrey in their first game in Frisco on a goal from Nelson Pierre to double the lead after a cross from Quinn Sullivan went in off a Monterrey defender. They have the slight edge on goal differential over Toronto FC and LAFC, which also beat their Liga MX competition their first time out. The Union play Guadalajara and Cruz Azul today before finishing group play against Leon tomorrow.

The top finisher out of the MLS group will play the top Liga MX finisher for the final on Saturday afternoon.

Matthew Ralph

Matthew Ralph is the managing editor of Philadelphia Soccer Now. He's covered soccer at all levels for a decade in the Philadelphia region and has also written for TheCup.us, NPSL, PrepSoccer and other publications. He lives with his wife and two young children in Broomall, Pa., but grew up in South Jersey and is originally from Kansas.

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