Closing out big games continues to trouble the Union

The Philadelphia Union continue to show fans the team’s most frustrating flaw: the inability to finish strong. Despite taking early leads, the Union have repeatedly failed to secure wins in high-stakes matches, most recently against Columbus on May 10 and Inter Miami on May 24.

In both matches, the Union jumped ahead, only to collapse late.

On May 24, in front of a packed Subaru Park crowd, the Union dominated the first half against a stacked Miami side. Quinn Sullivan opened the scoring with a beautiful strike into the top-right corner, and Tai Baribo capitalized on a deflection to double the lead. At halftime, Union looked every bit like a top contender, heading to the locker room up 2-0.

But the second half told a different story.

In the 60th minute, Miami’s Noah Allen delivered a perfect cross to an unmarked Tadeo Allende, who cut the lead to one. Though Baribo answered in the 72nd with his second goal, pushing the score to 3-1, the Union’s defense began to unravel.

In the 87th minute, Jakob Glesnes fouled Lionel Messi just outside the box. This was a mistake that proved costly. Messi buried the free kick with world-class precision, cutting the deficit to one. From there, Miami piled on pressure. The Union couldn’t hold their shape, and in the 95th minute, Telasco Segovia split the defense and slotted home the equalizer past a helpless Andrew Rick.

It was a meltdown that mirrored the Union’s performance two weeks earlier.

Against Columbus on May 10, the Union also led in the second half, 2-1 by the 64th minute. But again, defensive mistakes cost them. Columbus’ Sean Zawadzki was left unmarked on a corner and headed home the equalizer, sealing another disappointing draw for the Union.

Two leads. Two blown opportunities. One clear message: if the Union wants to contend for the top of the table, they’ll need to fix their late-game collapses as soon as possible.