Gazdag hat trick leads Union to second straight win

Daniel Gazdag made it two straight hat tricks and two straight wins for the Philadelphia Union in a 3-0 victory over Nashville on Saturday night.

Gazdag scored a pair of goals in the first half and completed the hat trick after a bad giveaway from Nashville in the box to lead the resurgence for a Union team that is suddenly only one point out of a playoff spot heading into the 34-day $$$ Cup break.

The Union went up early with Gazdag chipping Joe Willis in the 10th minute after receiving a feed from Leon Flach. Nineteen minutes later Gazdag was in behind the defense again receiving a ball in tight space from Mikael Uhre and beat Willis again to make it 2-0.

Playing behind by two goals, Nashville started to find some success trying to get back into the game and was a pair of Andre Blake saves away from twice cutting the lead to 2-1. The first came on a Jacob Shaffelburg cross Hany Mukhtar redirected on frame with his head in the 50th minute and the second on a Teal Bunbury volley from close range off a Mukhtar pass in the 85th minute. Minutes after that second big stop, Gazdag took advantage of a Brent Kallman slip in the box to complete his hat trick.

Kallman was one of Nashville’s offensive weapons on a night they were missing leading goal scorer Sam Surridge to injury. The center back had a chance off a corner in the 28th minute he skied high of the bar and pinged the crossbar with another chance off a Muhtkar corner in the 67th minute. Blake made a routine save on a Forster Ajago header in the box off a Mukhtar cross in the 35th minute prior to his pair of point saving second half saves.

Nashville came into the game with just three goals in their last five games (all losses) and despite coming close on a couple occasions, left Chester in a rut not all that unfamiliar to a Union team that is back on the upswing, hoping to ride the momentum of a six-point week into the final 9 games left in the regular season. Though the top two playoff spots are an insurmountable 21+ points away, making the playoffs as a higher seed is very much top of mind again. In fact, the Union are just a point below the playoff line after entering the day in 14th place in the Eastern Conference.

They’ll welcome Columbus to Subaru Park on August 24 and then go on a critical three-game road trip that includes games at New York Red Bulls and NYCFC and another in Fort Lauderdale against the Supporters’ Shield leaders in hopes of righting a ship that felt all but sunk after last Saturday’s loss in Toronto.