Union shows fight to earn a point with late goal, but Curtin expects more from his team

It was 84 minutes of frustration at Subaru Park.

Many around the stadium felt that the Philadelphia Union should’ve held a 2-0 lead over the New England Revolution, with two Kacper Przybyłko penalty shouts denied. It looked increasingly likely that the Union were going to finish with an extremely frustrating 0-0 draw. In the 85th minute though, those groans of frustration would quickly turn into gasps of panic in Chester.

After going the entire season undefeated on their home grounds in an abbreviated 2020 schedule, a Teal Bunbury sliding effort that found the back of the net threatened to give the Union what would’ve been their third home loss for the first time since 2012. 

“Goals are going to happen but we really want to do a better job making teams work for them, especially at home, and we didn’t do the best job on that play” manager Jim Curtin commented on New England’s late goal.

“…But again we showed some grit,  showed some character to get a tie out of things.” 

Against their toughest opponent of the season so far, the Union put their heads down, equalized, and managed to snatch a point from the jaws of defeat. Kacper Przybyłko was the man to get it done, winning an aerial scramble in the box to draw the Union level in the 88th minute. Despite his red hot form in the Concacaf Champions League, it was only the Polish striker’s first goal of the current MLS campaign.

Fans in attendance may have been relieved, but Curtin wants more from his players in their next match against the New York Red Bulls.

“Overall not our best night, we know that, I have to say though the New England team is the best team we’ve played this season,” he said. “We want to win our home games obviously, but overall you know, not good enough for us, we’ll regroup quickly, and we have Red Bull coming in.” 

The Philadelphia Union will host the Red Bulls on Saturday, looking to improve on their 1-1-2 MLS record four games into the season.