Philadelphia Union
Union keep unbeaten streak going in chippy draw against Miami
Goals are almost always assured in a game between the Philadelphia Union and Inter Miami and while there were plenty of those in a 2-2 draw at Subaru Park on Wednesday, there were far too many missed chances that would’ve deservedly extended Philadelphia Union’s win streak to five.
Playing against a Lionel Messi-led side that put six past them in Bradley Carnell’s final game as head coach before the World Cup break, the Philadelphia Union showed early how different a team they’ve been since the World Cup break.
Instead of the star-studded Miami squad making Subaru Park – with far too many pink-clad fans in the stands – their home away from home, it was the resurgent Boys in Blue creating the noise early. The early chances led to a quick breakthrough in the 11th minute through Indiana Vassilev, who was served up on a platter by a cross from Frankie Westfield near the corner flag.
It was the first of many bright moments for the hosts, which put themselves in position to take a 2-0 lead nine minutes later when Milan Iloski played Bruno Damiani in with a clever back heel pass from near midfield. Damiani was all alone on the break with only Dayne St. Clair to beat but was unable to beat the 6-foot-3 Canadian. A minute later Inter Miami went to work for basically the first time of the match with Messi curling a ball toward Luis Suarez in the box for the Uruguayan to head across to Daniel Pinter on the back post for the equalizer. Five minutes later, Messi went to work again with the ball in the box and was able to shake Kai Wagner to his left and line up a left-footed shot past Andre Blake to make it 2-1.
The momentum shifted back to the Union’s favor into the second half and it was an Ian Frey foul on Kai Wagner ruled to be just outside the box that led to the equalizer in the 52nd minute. Taking the dead ball at the 18 on the right side of the box, Iloski sent a ball in buzzing toward the near post that Neil Pierre was able to get on the end of with his head to put in. The goal was the 18-year-old’s third of the season in five games and brought life back to the stadium. Pierre was involved again on a dead ball two minutes later in what looked like the go ahead goal with a header that was spilled by St. Clair to Iloski for the finish. This time, VAR – which had already been involved in a check for offside on Pierre’s equalizer and on determining if the foul on Wagner was in the box – took the goal away to keep the game at 2-2.
The teams traded big chances to take the lead with Messi playing a pretty through ball in to Pinter on a chance denied by Blake and Cavan Sullivan playing in Iloski with a leading pass into the box that was denied by St. Clair. Iloski returned the favor with a pass to set up Cavan in the box after Damiani had a nice forward pass to play Iloski in but Cavan’s shot went wide of the mark in the last real chance for either side.
With both teams tiring from a back-and-forth game and a handsome amount of stoppage time added (9 minutes), flaring tempers replaced back-and-forth chances as the theme through much of stoppage time with Maximiliano Falcón in the middle of a couple dust-ups, including one ending in a two-handed shove by Iloski. Quinn Sullivan and Frey created the drama in the closing moments when Frey stood over Sullivan after he went down in the box and Sullivan wrestled the defender to the ground. Yannick Bright and Cavan Sullivan then entered the fray and both were sent off with straight red cards for a nearby tussle. It was an ugly end to an entertaining game that again showed both a resiliency from the hosts and a belief that the resurgence is more than just a passing fad.
While it’s disappointing to not win a game so lopsided in favor of the Union (their xG was 3.5 to Miami’s 1.5), it was the first real demonstration of the Union’s now even more realistic prospects of making the playoffs. With their five-game match unbeaten streak the Union have collection 13 points in 5 games out of the World Cup break and are now 4 points back of a wild card spot and 6 points behind a guaranteed playoff berth.
Two challenging road contests await with Austin FC next Saturday followed by a trip up I-95 to take on the Red Bull to cap the month of August.
