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Philadelphia Union bests Charlotte FC 1-0 for third straight win

Published

11 months ago

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Photo by Jack Verdeur

The Philadelphia Union earned a victory over Charlotte FC on Wednesday night, taking a 1-0 win at Subaru Park. A lone own goal from Charlotte gave Philadelphia the win as it continues its strong form in MLS action.

Jim Curtin rolled out a five-man backline against the Crown, as he has become more accustomed to doing. Curtin didn’t add much creativity into the lineup, settling for the usual suspects for his first eleven.

Philadelphia came out swinging, as Julian Carranza pinged a shot off of the crossbar within the first minute of play. While Carranza failed to find the net, he sent a strong message to start the match.

Still, it took some time for the Union to really settle into the match. It wasn’t until around the 20th minute that Philadelphia really started making waves in the match. Several good runs into the box came up short, but the Union was pushing.

The Union nearly got their first goal of the match as well midway through the first half, as a promising run from Mikael Uhre ended up with his shot in the back of the net. However, the assistant referee’s flag was raised for offside, and after a video review, the call was confirmed.

Jose Martinez even got in the action, blasting a shot from distance that sailed just over the crossbar.

Despite the Union’s best efforts, the game was drawn 0-0 going into the break. Philadelphia had been the better team in the match, even if the statistics didn’t quite reflect that.

It took some time for Philadelphia to start challenging Charlotte in the second half. Even after 15 minutes of play, Charlotte had controlled more of the game than the Union liked. At the very least, the home side was struggling to create many strong chances.

Finally, Daniel Gazdag gave Philadelphia the lead in the 71st minute. The midfielder received a cross from Kai Wagner, which he placed past the near post with a clean header to take a 1-0 lead. However, MLS ruled the score an own goal against Charlotte’s Kristijan Khalina, so Gazdag wasn’t able to boost any statistics from the score.

The Union continued to have chances throughout the match. Chris Donovan nearly had a chance to put the game away in the 83rd minute, but poor shot selection and the offside flag kept the score at 1-0. Gazdag nearly finished the game as well in stoppage time but was also stopped by the assistant referee.

Instead, the Union relied on the referee’s whistle to close out the match. After 90 minutes of regulation and a whopping seven minutes of stoppage time at the end of the second half, Philadelphia left Subaru Park with its third win in as many games, and its 19th point in seven games.

Across the board, the Union played exceptional soccer. However, the man of the match goes to Leon Flach. While the midfielder has often struggled this season, he made some strong plays against the Crown. Not only did he create strong offensive chances, but he also had this massive stop.

Philadelphia returns to action on Saturday, May 2 when it takes on CF Montreal at 7:30 p.m. The match will be broadcast on Apple TV for free.

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Joe is a junior at Penn State studying journalism and sports studies, among other things. He's covered the Union since 2017 and has written for Brotherly Game / Philadelphia Soccer Now since 2019. He seeks to answer life's greatest questions, such as, "How did I get here?" and "Where is that large automobile?" You can find Joe on Twitter (iamjoelister) or via email (jlister2021@gmail.com).

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