Philadelphia Union
Last gasp goalkeeper goal steals points from the Union in Toronto
A stoppage time equalizer from Toronto FC goalkeeper Luka Gavran kept the Philadelphia Union from grabbing all three points on the road in a wild six-goal match Wednesday night at BMO Field.
Gavran’s goal canceled out a Nathan Harriel header goal off a corner kick in the 89th minute that appeared to give the visitors their second win this month north of the border. With the minimum five minutes of stoppage time already passed and the last remaining seconds of the match ticking down, Alonso Coello sent in a cross off a recycled free kick that found the head of the 6-foot-6 Toronto keeper and he headed it past Andre Blake off his line to secure the 3-3 draw.
The late equalizer was the second comeback of the night for Toronto, which fell behind in the first half on a goal from Milan Iloski deep in first half stoppage time and dug themselves a hole when Danley Jean Jacques deflected a ball off Toronto defender Zane Monlouis into the goal in the 52nd minute. Josh Sargent responded to Jean Jacques’ strike four minutes later and Kobe Franklin banged a ball off the post and in eight minutes later to level the score at 2-2.
Another self-inflicted wound by the Toronto back line with substitutes Alejandro Bedoya and Malik Jakupovic bearing down forced a corner kick that led to the third goal of the game. Jesus Bueno perfectly executed the play off the training ground, finding Bedoya at the near post for a flick on that Nathan Harriel then finished with his head. Like they had only 11 days earlier in Montreal with Bueno finishing off a well-executed set play to earn the team’s first win of the season, Harriel’s goal looked like it was going to cap another victory for the team recovering from an 0-6 start for the first time in club history.
The very late equalizer stole some of the thunder in that Harriel goal celebration but the draw on the road still marked the third straight game with a result and the second straight game scoring first, something that plagued the team in all six of their losses to open the MLS campaign. Though the boys in blue are still near the bottom of the table and have only five points to their name, there were stretches Wednesday night where they were the better team, something that couldn’t have been said for most of the first month of the season.
There’s still plenty of work to do but a chance to quickly erase the bitter taste of Wednesday’s draw with a Saturday match on the road against a Columbus Crew team that has also struggled in the early part of the season.
