Baribo completes Union comeback to beat LA Galaxy 3-2

If the Philadelphia Union’s late collapse to draw against the Columbus Crew Saturday night was irksome, drawing to the worst team in the league at home might have been a cause for concern.

The Union (8-3-2) fell behind 2-0 in the first half but clawed their way back in a two-minute span early in the second half, eventually finding the winner through Tai Baribo’s tenth of the season in late stoppage time to beat the LA Galaxy 3-2 Wednesday night at Subaru Park.

The win was the Union’s first against the Galaxy since 2012 and only the second all-time. The Galaxy previously held an eight-game unbeaten streak against the Union. Despite being the defending MLS Champions, the Galaxy (0-10-3) are winless to start the season and were coming off a 7-0 drubbing from the New York Red Bulls Saturday night. The struggling visitors played without a true striker but did not sit back in the opening minutes, determined to make a positive statement. While it took time for the evening fog to lift after a day of heavy downpours, the Union failed to lift their play in the first half, instead playing down
to the worst team in the league days after battling one of the league’s best to a 2-2 draw.

The Galaxy found their deserved breakthrough thirty minutes into the game on a class counter. Danley Jean Jacques had a poor turnover just inside the Galaxy half, which bounced to the feet of Marco Reus. The German international and Borussia Dortmund legend carried the ball toward the Union goal on a three vs two, drawing Jakob Glesnes and Nathan Harriel to the ball before slipping a pass to the right to Mauricio Cuevas, who side-footed the ball past Andrew Rick to stun the hosts. The goal was Cuevas’ first of the season and second in his career.

Six minutes later, the hole grew deeper for the Union. Cuevas reached a harmless ball floating into the box from Galaxy defender Miki Yamane, knocking it down to Reus, who had a three-on-one advantage at the top of the box against Frankie Westfield. Much like his first assist, Reus slipped the ball to his left to Diego Fagúndez, who had enough time to take a long touch and knock it past Rick to double the lead.

The Union responded to an abysmal first half and turned things around quickly. Three minutes in, Kai Wagner sent a deep corner kick to Glesnes, all alone at the back of the six. Glesnes’ bouncing header toward the front post deflected off Harriel and past hometown hero-villain John McCarthy to pull the Union back to within one. McCarthy, the LaSalle grad, made two saves in the fateful penalty shootout to beat the Union in the 2022 MLS Cup Final and earn MVP honors, and many were likely wondering if he’d play the spoiler role again.

Just two minutes later, the Union found the equalizer. Indiana Vassilev, working hard in the left corner, fed a ball to Danley streaking through the channel. Danley’s cross picked out Baribo at the front of the six, and the forward’s snapping header beat McCarthy at the near post. From then on, the Union reached another gear, pressuring the Galaxy with wave after wave of attacks and corners. The introduction of Mikael Uhre and Alejandro Bedoya for Bruno Damiani and Quinn Sullivan respectively, combined with a higher line of pressure, forced a number of turnovers and half chances, all of which failed to produce a winner but gave the home fans optimism that one was coming. Uhre had a number of great chances that couldn’t get through to goal.

The winner finally came in the sixth minute of stoppage time when Uhre got on the end of a Bedoya header and dribbling away from goal, floated a cross to the back post to an unmarked Baribo, who sent Subaru Park into a frenzy with his second of the game. The last Union winner against the Galaxy came from Michael Farfan, also scored in late stoppage time.

With nine games in the month of May, it remains to be seen what squad rotation will look like for Bradley Carnell’s squad. The Union travel to Atlanta on the weekend followed by another home mid-week in the U.S. Open Cup Round of 16 against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. The Union then play Inter Miami next weekend before another mid-week on the road at Toronto, concluding the month at Dallas. In what will be the Union’s toughest stretch of games, depth of the squad could prove to be the difference in these tightly contested games, which was certainly the difference between drawing to the league’s worst and winning a game many will soon forget before Memorial Day.