Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Similar problems occur in second-half collapse for Union
There was a glimmer of good news for the Philadelphia Union Sunday night at Sporting Park.
As the clock in the stadium ticked into the 75th minute, the national Fox Sports 1 broadcast posted what could’ve been a fateful stat: That on six occasions last season, the Union entered the final 15 minutes of matches toting a lead and ended up settling for draws.
Sunday would not be the seventh such instance of that alarming trend.
That’s about the extent of the positives one can draw from the Union’s latest setback, with a pair of stoppage-time fiascos in the penalty area leading to a 3-2 loss to Sporting KC.
If nothing else, Sunday’s stumble provided compelling television in an MLS season short on entertainment. It may be the same story, different chapter for the Union (0-3-2, 2 points) when it comes to a maddening inability to gut out results, but at least this one provided drama to the bitter end … or at least the fourth of six minutes of stoppage time, when MLS debutant Raymond Lee was beaten for a second time in three minutes on Krisztian Nemeth’s game-winning tally.
The appraisal of the problems has grown frighteningly familiar and shows no signs of reversal. Pick a trope, any trope.
The Union allowed two goals off set pieces (the other, Jalil Anibaba’s equalizer, came off a free kick that was cleared then reinserted into a chaos-ridden penalty area) to bring the season total to six restart concessions, tops in the league by far. Their two goal scorers on the season remain the dynamic duo of Fernando Aristeguieta (whose third of the season was an impressive header off a 19th-minute free kick) and soccer journeyman Own Goal (masquerading as wayward SKC forward Jacob Peterson in the third minute).
They received another abysmal performance from Rais M’Bolhi, who fell over on the first goal by Dom Dwyer and was rooted to his line on the stoppage-time markers, both of which were struck from inside the sixyard box that a purported world-class goalkeeper would presumably control. M’Bolhi was also beaten by a Dwyer header in the 59th minute that was waved off for a questionable foul call, and he went for a stroll in the box in the 84th minute, bailed out only by a goal-line clearance from an alert Ray Gaddis.
The three goals allowed bring the Algerian’s tally on the season to an MLS-worst nine, against just 10 saves.
Befitting the bundle of contradictions that the Union have become, Jim Curtin’s team was simultaneously wretched in possession and yet in control of the game for 80-some minutes. They ceded the possession battle as expected, tallying just 30.5 percent, yet still had the better of play in the first half and held their own in the second in the face of SKC’s escalating pressure. They completed just 53 percent of their 212 passes, cringe-worthy numbers that, according to Opta Stats, stand for the secondfewest completed passes in an MLS game since2010. Yet they still generated just one fewer shot on target (five) than the hosts (six, through completing a robust 78 percent of 470 attempted passes yet looking quite toothless from the run of play).
And still, throughout out all that, the Union should’ve escaped Sporting Park with a victory, especially if Aristeguieta (tackled), Sebastien Le Toux (shot off post) and Michael Lahoud (shot skied high and wide) didn’t conspire to spoil a 3-on-1 chance to seal a 3-1 lead and all three points in the 87th minute.
All those stats and figures are mere symptoms of the underlying malady, one that is quickly authoring a terminal diagnosis for the 2015 season. The Union are one of three winless teams left in MLS, fastened tightly to the bottom of the Eastern Conference table. They’ve lost three straight and won just one of the last 12 MLS matches. But as the broadcast foretold, the Union’s predicament looks vastly different if MLS played 80-minute games.
If the Union’s games ended after the 80th this season, the Union would be 2-2-1, their seven points tying them for second place in the East. They’d have escaped with Sunday’s win as well as avoided the fateful penalty call against Real Salt Lake that dashed their hopes of yet another impressive road win.
“Guys are disappointed,” Curtin said postgame. “I thought they put in a great effort but it comes up short andwe leave herewith nothing.”
That disease, as much as any of its root causes, is showing no signs of healing.