Philadelphia Union II falls to Inter Miami II in chaotic affair

Ahead of Sunday’s battle between Philadelphia and Miami’s second teams, Philadelphia Union II needed to sit atop the Eastern Conference and just required a single point to clinch a postseason berth.

Marlon LeBlanc rolled out a rather strong lineup, highlighted by Oliver Semmle getting his second consecutive start for the reserves. However, the absence of Neil Pierre defensively hurt Philadelphia, as second-choice right-back Gavin Wetzel started centrally. After an incredibly dull and chippy first 40 minutes, Miami’s Yuval Cohen took advantage of Wetzel’s inexperience in central defense (at this level) and cut past him, looped a shot over Semmle, and opened the scoring.

Union 2 came out of the break with far more ambition moving forward, highlighted by Markus Anderson replacing Jamir Johnson up top. Anderson quickly got involved and was the key point of distress for the Miami defense in the second half. After a series of half-chances, CJ Olney
found Frankie Westfield’s overlapping run, and the defender slotted home his fifth goal of the MLS Next Pro season.

The match looked destined for penalties, and the singular point was that Philadelphia needed to clinch a playoff berth until the final minutes when chaos ensued. Eighty-four minutes in, Miami surely looked to have stolen the points with a shot that beat Semmle, hit the right post, and trickled along the line; however, the referee deemed that the ball never crossed the goal line amidst the Miami celebrations. The play was given as a corner, which was delivered to an unmarked Ryan Sailor to head home and actually give Miami the lead a moment later.

Just as stoppage time began, Mateo Saja broke through and looked to get around Oliver Semmle, who pulled down the Miami player with a slight bit of contact, leading to a penalty. Dairon Reyes buried the spot-kick and doubled Miam’s lead with just five added minutes remaining.
Immediately at the other end, Markus Anderson found himself through on goal past an unaware

Miami back-line, and he played the ball off for Eddy Davis to bury his team-leading 12th goal of the season. Anderson won a late freekick just as time looked to be up; however, Frankie Westfield’s header from the ensuing cross soared just wide before the final whistle blew.

Philadelphia Union II fell back into second place in the Eastern Conference with the loss and will look to wrap up a postseason berth next Monday at home against New York City.

LINEUPS
Philadelphia Union II: Oliver Semmle; Frankie Westfield, Olwethu Makhanya, Gavin Wetzel, Jamir Berdecio; Zachary Mastrodimos (Nick Pariano 45’); CJ Olney, David Vazquez (Kellan LeBlanc 69’); Cavan Sullivan (Kyle Tucker 85’); Sal Olivas (Edward Davis 69’), Jamir Johnson (Markus Anderson 45’).

Substitutes not used: Carlos Rojas, Henry Bernstein, Jordan Griffin, Gavin Atkinson.

Inter Miami CF II: Cole Jensen; Samuel Basabe, Giovanni Ferraina, Ryan Sailor, Nykolas Sessock; Pep Casas, Ricardo Montenegro, Lawson Sunderland (Dairon Reyes 64’); Ryan Carmichael, Yuval Cohen (Mateo Saja 82’), Alejandro Flores (Idoh Zeltzer-Zubida 75’).

Substitutes not used: Owen Finnerty, Tyler Hall, Cesar Abadia-Reda, Derrek Martinez, Mateo Turletti, Bryan Destin.