CHESTER — There will be ways to dissect the Union’s loss to New York City FC in the Eastern Conference semifinal Sunday night for whatever length of brief offseason MLS has.
Or there is the easy way to describe what happened.
Maxi Moralez scored. The Union, over the course of 18 shot attempts and five on target, did not, an ill-timed second home shoutout of the season. And while boiling down the 1-0 loss to “ball doesn’t go in net” is too zoomed in to be useful, it was a version of the truth.
The top-seeded Union could’ve done more to extend their season. They could’ve started more quickly, off the 22-day hiatus since their last game. A few degrees more angled for Tai Baribo’s foot in the first half or a few milliseconds quicker off the foot of Milan Iloski in the second, and the conversation is different.
But the answer to why the Union’s season ended is sometimes just that simple.
“We know the first half wasn’t our standard, and it was a bit off, and we worked our way into the game and really made a push for it,” coach Bradley Carnell said. “I thought we could have got, should have got something out of the game, just unfortunate that we didn’t. They have an excellent goalkeeper in between the sticks, and it wasn’t our night.”
Some of the lingering pain stems from that sluggish start. The Union trailed in the 28th minute when Moralez was played in by Nicolas Fernandez and scored what is unofficially his 800th goal against the Union. The real number is six, but since four of them have come in four separate playoff tries eight seasons apart, they occupy more than the usual mental real estate.
The Union had chances. Baribo’s attempt to redirect Danley Jean Jacques’ low-and-hard service through the box in the 42nd. Iloski’s drive from distance in the 40th minute. Jakob Glesnes’ poke in the 45th at a long throw that fell to him. Frankie Westfield’s utter stoning by Matt Freese in the 75th on an Iloski back-post ball. Westfield’s volley skied in the 87th off a delectable Kai Wagner ball. Freese’s diving fingertip denial of Iloski in the first minute of stoppage time. All enter fans’ nightmare reel where space beckons for championship parade footage.
“We weren’t ourselves,” Iloski said. “I think it was more on us than on them, to be honest. We were very prepared. I think we just didn’t play out to our standards, and we didn’t perform the way we have been for, you know, at least since I’ve been here.”
The Union made the right adjustments. Carnell was decisive in the 60th minute to add Uhre and Westfield to the mix, flipping to a 4-1-2-3 that was more vertical and direct. Westfield got into positions to change games. He just didn’t do it as well as Freese did, a second time in four seasons that the Union’s seasons end at the gloved hands of one of their former goalies.
“I think we didn’t play vertical enough,” Carnell said. “I thought it was a little bit too side-to-side. I thought it was a little bit backwards and around. So once we broke a line, we went straight backwards again. The second balls weren’t falling in our favor, and they were a little bit more active against the ball than they’ve shown. And credit to them.”
Whether a 22-day layoff played into it wasn’t an excuse that Carnell and others wanted to lean on. But it may well have played a role. The Union wrapped up their best-of-3 playoff series on Nov. 1 against Chicago. New York City played a Game 3 against Charlotte on Nov. 7, a more normal transition into the international break.
“It’s not ideal to have a three-week break in the playoffs,” Iloski said. “We said in the beginning, we were trying to treat it like a new preseason. So it’s definitely not ideal to sweep a team in the first round and feel like you get punished, but it’s not my job to sort that out. At the end of the day, we have to take responsibility. We did everything we could to be prepared, and it was on the players to perform better.”
The next steps for the Union’s franchise are suitably opaque.
They’re in a much better place now than they were at last season’s conclusion, when they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2017 and fired coach Jim Curtin. That would be unequivocally so if sporting director Ernst Tanner wasn’t on administrative leave while being investigated by MLS for allegations of racist and misogynist comments.
Tanner’s future notwithstanding, the Union’s roster is in a strong place. They have some business already sorted, with reports in Europe placing them close to acquiring Ghanaian striker Ezekial Alladoh, plus the natural progression of young center back Neil Pierre and a greater role for Cavan Sullivan looming. The increased workload of CONCACAF Champions Cup next year will test that depth, but it will offer opportunities to a broader swath of the roster. Carnell did well this year to play his young players, with the main challenge being how many minutes were available in a Supporters’ Shield chase.
Whether the Union will ever get over the postseason hump is the question. And that answer will remain ever elusive until they do.
“It gives us something to be hungry for down the line here, starting in the new year,” Carnell said. “That gives me motivation to come back and think that we can do this thing one step further.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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