A point earned that felt more like two points dropped

It was a point earned for the Philadelphia Union Saturday night against Montreal, but it felt more like two points dropped.

Nothing was clicking for the Philadelphia Union on a beautiful night in Chester. Philadelphia were a team in control for most of the first half. For 45 minutes of play the Union attempted to break down their Canadian counterparts, 45 minutes in vain. The Union went down before the first half whistle, another disappointing goal to concede for the hosts.

“Silly, stupid goal to give up.” head coach Jim Curtin said of the Djordje Mihailovic goal.

From the miskick that set up the opportunity, to defenders in the box ball watching and letting a streaking Impact forward in behind, it was a comedy of errors for the Union in their own half.

Despite clearly leading on the stat sheet and holding most of the match, to anyone watching it was a disappointing 90 minutes of football for the Union. Despite creating chances in the final third, the Union struggled to give the Montreal defense any real trouble. With the visitors backed into a corner for good portions of the game, the Union attack had no real bite, unable to find that final pass or movement to score.

It’s been a problem for the Union as of late. While they will hold possession well around the opposition’s box, the Union have struggled to be efficient with their chances. They look out of synch as a team, like a squad early in the season, not one over 20 games into league play. 

“We dribbled when we should have passed, we passed when we should have dribbled…” Curtin commented on the team’s performance.

Yes the Union were able to equalize, but it took a fantastic strike from substitute Quinn Sullivan to earn the point for the hosts on what ended up being their only shot on goal of the evening.

Lately, Philadelphia have relied more on these impact moments to win them points, rather than goals off the back of good play. They are a team that has shown signs of their previous self, a team that finished with the most points in last season’s campaign.

Then there are moments like tonight where they look like a team that hasn’t played together in months. They need to find consistency and they need to find it fast. The Union are starting to fall into a dogfight in the Eastern Conference, one where any team can beat another. If they want to pull the season together in time to finally make some noise in the playoffs, they need to pull it together starting against D.C. United next Saturday.