Rate the U: Andre Blake is your man of the match from the season opener

Andre Blake may not have won Goalkeeper of the Year last season, but he came into the 2022 season as the overwhelming favorite with Matt Turner on his way abroad this summer.

He showed on Saturday that he hasn’t missed a beat since his heroics in the postseason, making two key stops to prevent a smash and grab of all three points by Minnesota United in the season opener at Subaru Park.

Blake’s finger tip save in stoppage time was probably on a lot of voters minds when filling out our Community Player Ratings poll.

Blake received the same honor in the Philadelphia Union’s first game of 2021 and was the highest rated player in a total of 10 games last season.

Jose Martinez, who was outstanding but a little loose with the ball at times, came in second. Olivier Mbaizo finished last with an average 2 rating after losing his man in the build-up to Minnesota’s goal. Julian Carranza’s debut didn’t impress many of the voters, who gave him an average 2.89 rating. One commenter said the Argentine forward on loan from Inter Miami “looked like our fourth striker.”

There were also some negative comments about Daniel Gazdag, Mbaizo, calls for more playing time for homegrown players, the timing of Jim Curtin’s substitutes and a couple people who were unhappy with the pre-game host. The word beast was used to describe the performances of both Martinez and Jakob Glesnes and several were impressed with Cory Burke, who was the highest rated Union player in ratings on Whoscored and FotMob.

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