The knock on the Philadelphia Union through most of this season has been against whom their points have been accrued.
The Union have maximized the return against the many teams inferior to them in the Eastern Conference. But against the fellow elites, they’ve been unconvincing.
Not only did that narrative fail Saturday night after a 1-0 win in Cincinnati, but the result showed exactly what kind of games the club has been built for this season.
The goal was a combination between the striker the Union signed for a record fee in the offseason and the forward/midfielder reinforcement acquired in a rare summer transfer splash. The clean sheet was kept by a reserve Homegrown goalie, who’s proven ability at the first-team level was lacking desperately last year. A team that was unusually mentally weak in big moments last year managed to close out a win despite being down a man for the last 30 minutes after Olwethu Makhanya’s second yellow card.
And whereas clinching a playoff spot before Sept. 1 once would’ve been nice but hardly newsworthy, the interruption last season of a six-year playoff run that occasioned a coaching change means that the Union being the first Eastern Conference team to clinch this year is meaningful.
At least, within the context of what else they’re chasing.
“I was very quick to identify that this team has a winning mentality and a drive and a strive for more,” coach Bradley Carnell said. “So what does it mean? It means, yeah, you can pat yourself on the back, but that’s all it is. There’s nothing that this team wants to stop at now, and we’re taking nothing for granted. We want to rack up the points here. We want to gain momentum. We want to become a real dominant team.”
The Union (17-6-6, 57 points) moved five points clear of Cincinnati at the summit in the East with five games remaining. With Nashville losing at home to seemingly dead Atlanta United and Minnesota United dropping points, the Union have more breathing room in the Shield race, pending San Diego’s game against LAFC late Sunday.
The “how” of Saturday’s result is arguably more impressive. The Union played the hosts even for the first half, perhaps unlucky not to go into the locker room leading after a woodwork strike by Quinn Sullivan early, a big miss by Tai Baribo on a half-hour and a fast break by Danley Jean Jacques denied in stoppage time.
The goal came in the 49th minute.
The Union applied pressure defensively, leading Cincy center back Matt Miazga to hit a doomed pass up the middle of the field to no one in particular. Jakob Glesnes picked it off and fed Baribo, who found Milan Iloski on the left wing. The summer signee clipped a cross. Bruno Damiano eluded Miazga’s attempted defense, got to the ball and place a header across the face of goal.
The fifth goal of the season was a great individual effort from Damiani, who has underachieved his expected goals at one of the highest rates in the league. His missed penalty left the door open for the loss in New York two weeks ago. And while Carnell is plenty happy with the other things other than scoring that the Uruguayan does, he’s paid to score goals.
Saturday, he did.
“If you see the way we play, if you see the way he opens up space for others, if you see the way he battles in and around and occupies three center backs at the same time, it’s incredible,” Carnell said of Damiani. “And he doesn’t get enough credit for that, but it’s all sort of like the cherry on the cake now that he gets to get the goal.”
The rest was down to a defense that has stayed together. The Union missed the playoffs last year because of allowing 55 goals in 34 games, keeping eight clean sheets. They’re already at 11 zeroes this year, the goals conceded plummeting to 26 in 29 matches. Rick, who posted his sixth clean sheet, is a significant part, going from overmatched at times last year to rock steady this season.
But where last year everything that could go wrong did, this year’s team has stayed together.
Carnell and the fresh air he’s injected deserve some credit. But so do players who are executing much better this time around, the central duo of Glesnes and Nathan Harriel that manned the final stretch last night as perfect examples.
“I saw our boys suffer and enjoy the suffer,” Carnell said. “They really took it personal and did it with a smile on their face and almost emotionless.”
The result clinches nothing. It proves little if they don’t back it up.
They’ll miss Makhanya for two games thanks to twin suspensions for accumulation on his first yellow card and then the red. They have the U.S. Open Cup semifinal looming on Sept. 15 after a trip to Vancouver, which is third in the West, on Sept. 13.
There’s a lot left to the season, both for the Union to achieve and to fall short of a trophy.
So Saturday was special to Carnell, in part for what the performance was, and in part for what it can mean.
“It’s an enjoyment just to watch this group go,” he said. “And from not knowing in the beginning of the season where it’s going to go and how it’s going to end, just to see the confidence, the swagger and the positivity of this group, growing every single day and sticking together, it’s a season for me already to cherish. But we want to make sure that you know these memories last for years to come.”
Contact Matthew De George at mdegeorge@delcotimes.com.
Source: Berkshire mont