Make it five straight draws for the Union. Some have disappointed, others felt triumphant. Saturday night’s earns the title as the oddest of the bunch.
The Union went to Columbus, rested their big three for the first half, then navigated all manner of penalty controversy and near red card decisions to escape with a 1-1 draw, earning a point and, most importantly, denying the hosts two.
“I have to give a ton of credit to the players, shorthanded, injuries, everybody still stepping up and earning a hard road point,” manager Jim Curtin said. “Obviously there’s a lot of big decisions in the game. I think almost every one went against us, and they showed a ton of character to grind.”
There was a video review in the 14th minute that had a look at a ball that appeared to strike the hand of Columbus defender Malte Amundsen in the box, but referee Jon Freemon decided not to award a PK.
Then a long talk in the 20th commenced after Alejandro Bedoya was tripped at the top of the box. Possibly a foul, possibly in the box – nothing came of it.
The game irrevocably changed in the 66th, when Mikael Uhre hit the crossbar with a shot in all alone on goalie Patrick Schulte. It came a moment after Amundsen had ripped down Julian Carranza as the last man back, a clear red card. Freemon was reaching for his back pocket, but since the goalscoring opportunity was not truly denied to the Union as a team, he instead brandished yellow at Amundsen.
“We should score and the game should be over, no question about it,” Curtin said. “The red card becomes a yellow, unfortunately. Kind of a fluky, unlucky one, where you’re almost weighing your options of, if it’s almost better for Mikael to not go for the ball there and play up a man.”
Amundsen, living a charmed life, might have gotten a second yellow in the 87th for a tackle through the ankle of Carranza. Nerves were beyond frayed by that point.
Crew forward Christian Ramirez was fouled in the 69th minute by Jack Elliott. The Union center back then extended his upper arm to widen the wall on the ensuing free kick, drawing a penalty and a yellow card. Cucho Hernandez buried the penalty for his 14th goal of the season.
Hernandez and Elliott tangled in the box again in stoppage time, both players with a grab on each other’s shirts. A brief delay ensued, but Freemon wasn’t called to the monitor. It allowed the 50th minute goal by Nathan Harriel, set up by Wagner’s delivery on a corner kick, to stand for a share of the points.
That helped the Union (14-8-9, 51 points) stay above the line for home-field advantage in the Eastern Conference in fourth. They had the peculiar situation of entering Saturday with four games remaining, all against teams immediately behind them in the standings.
After feeling aggrieved not to have gotten three points Wednesday in a 1-1 draw with FC Dallas, the Union were grateful to escape Ohio with a point. Columbus fired 21 shots, nine on target, for an expected goals tally of 2.4 (1.7 if you subtract the PK). Curtin again called Wilfried Nancy’s team, “the best passing and attacking team that our league has at the moment,” and he was content to defend deep in a 3-5-2 formation that allowed the Crew 68.1 percent of possession. With Carranza, Uhre and Daniel Gazdag rested from the start and Jakob Glesnes, Leon Flach and Jose Martinez still out, the team held its own with less than half of its projected starting lineup to start the season.
Andre Blake made eight saves, including a sensational denial of a point-blank Hernandez chance in the 34th, all while playing through groin tightness that prevented him from taking goal kicks.
The result was, once again, not a win for the Union. But it also wasn’t a loss. Much as Curtin was dismayed by the five straight draws, he’s proud of the 4-1-5 mark in the last 10.
“A point at this stage is still big,” Curtin said. “I understand from fans and players and the coaching staff, we want to turn these ties into wins. But at this stage, on the road, that’s still an important point.”
Source: Berkshire mont