Nightmare in Chester: Union unable to overcome poor first half in loss to Messi and co.

On a night when the world’s brightest footballing star came to Chester, PA, it ended up becoming quite a dark evening for the Philadelphia Union. 

Straight from the opening whistle, it was clear the Union weren’t up for the task at hand. Inter Miami and their soccer deity, Lionel Messi, strolled into Subaru Park and took over. In the 3rd minute, the horror film began. Given all day (and night) on the ball, Inter Miami center back Serhiy Kryvtsov went for an evening stroll through the Union midfield and, given his choice of wide open pass, picked out the darting run of Josef Martinez, who got in one on one with Andre Blake and smashed home the match’s opening goal. 1-0 Miami, just like that. 

But the Union showed one of their few signs of life in the first half just four minutes later when a beautiful Kai Wagner ball found the feet of Daniel Gazdag, whose effort was saved by Drake Callender for the first of his many saves on the night. Perhaps a healthier version of Gazdag with more preparation for the match after coming back from injury would have smashed that home for the equalizer. But on this night, no dice.

Then, Messi arrived. In the 20th minute, Josef Martinez led a counter attack and found the feet of Messi surging at the Union backline. However, instead of weaving and dicing through the entire defense like we have come so accustomed to seeing the Argentine legend do, he decided to unleash an effort from 30 yards out that sliced along the surface of the grass and found its way past Andre Blake into the back of the net. To be fair, the strike lacked a certain mustard and probably should have been saved by Blake, but I suppose you just tip your cap to a lad willing to take a crack from that distance. 2-0 Miami. 

Things only got worse from there. In the second minute of first half stoppage time, the Union were killed on the counter yet again. After Nathan Harriel had the ball stripped by Robert Taylor, the break was on. Taylor scampered through the midfield and found the run of another one of the legends of the game, Jordi Alba, who made no mistake in a one on one opportunity with Andre Blake as he coolly slotted home Miami’s third goal of the evening. 

As the halftime whistle blew, Alba pumped his fist and gave a quick “VAMOS” to the crowd before jogging back into the locker room. 

However, despite the odds stacked ever so heavily against the Union completing a second half miracle, they came out strong for the second 45. With Jack McGlynn and Mikael Uhre coming in for Damion Lowe and Leon Flach, the Union began to have the lionshare of possession and grew into the match. After a couple half chances, the Union got their first genuine chance of the second half in the 60th minute when Chris Donovan’s header appeared to be destined for the bottom left corner of the net when Drake Callender sprung like Spiderman to stonewall his effort. Just seven minutes later, from a Kai Wagner cross, Uhre skimmed the ball off the top of his shaved head into the path of Jakob Glesnes, whose sliding effort sailed just over the bar from point blank range. 

The Union finally got their breakthrough in the 73rd minute, when captain and consummate professional, Alejandro Bedoya, found a loose ball in the box and stabbed it into the net with the outside of his boot. 3-1. Game on. 

However, the Union’s comeback hopes were short-lived. In the 84th minute, Miami’s Deandre Yedlin found the feet of 19-year-old David Ruiz, who finished off Miami’s fourth goal of the night and hammered the final nail into the Union’s coffin.  

And beyond a stoppage time scrap between El Brujo and… seemingly everyone on Miami (including Messi), the match had seen its last highlights. The final whistle blew and Miami prevailed 4-1, ending the Union’s Leagues Cup run. 

In the end, the Union were outclassed and perhaps even outwitted on the touchline on the night. For every spell of possession and decent chance that they could muster, Miami was waiting to spring a cutthroat counter. For every blade of grass that Jordi Alba and Deandre Yedlin left unmanned on their own defensive end, they made up for it with their attacking prowess on the other. For every questionable touch or shanked effort that the Union had in their final third, Miami had a clinical finish in theirs. 

The Union were exposed and punched in the mouth, and they will now be forced to bounce back. They will also have to get healthy. But with a third place match on Saturday with a bid to next year’s Concacaf Champions Cup on the line as well as a large chunk of MLS regular season still to play, the Union will have plenty of time to return to good form. The work begins now.