Union dealt critical loss

The Union entered the 2017 season with a touched-up roster fresh off a playoff berth, toting one big question mark: Would they get enough production from the No. 10 spot?

It’s only fitting that, to cap a week in which the Union decided against reinforcing that particular weakness, they were shown firsthand just how influential an expensive creative midfielder could be.

Blerim Dzemaili, the designated player from Switzerland who joined the Impact at the beginning of the summer, put the Union through the ringer, scoring twice and drawing a penalty that Ignacio Piatti converted in the 90th to lead Montreal to a 3-0 win over the Union that delivers a devastating blow to the hosts’ playoff hopes.

The Union were caught out in the 69th when Daniel Lovitz, a Wyndmoor native and Germantown Academy grad, found space behind right back Ray Gaddis. His cross was redirected by Josh Yaro and caromed right to Dzemaili near the penalty spot for the former Napoli and Galatasaray star to rocket home a rightfooter for his fifth goal in 12 games.

Dzemaili then headmanned a counter-attack as stoppage time beckoned and toyed with goalie John McCarthy before the backup committed a foul right near the penalty spot. Referee Rubiel Vazquez decisively pointed to the spot with two hands, and Piatti roofed home his 10th goal of the season to give the visitors a deserving share of three points.

Dzemaili calmly slotted home another tally deep into stoppage time, just for good measure.

Amazing with a little money in the transfer market can get you, all the more obvious given the general listlessness offered by the Union. The loss is devastating for the Union (8-11-5, 29 points), who likely needed to win out in their remaining five home games and gain results on the road, where they’ve been poor all season. Instead, the Union fall six points behind sixth-place Columbus and dip below Montreal (8-86, 30 points). The Impact have two games in hand.

In short, a run to the playoffs would now seem to be completely beyond any level of competence the team has displayed in the season’s first five months. The Union are winless in three games with the Impact this year (0-2-1), a big part of their low standing.

The Union created precious little after the goal, never testing goalie Evan Bush after Dzemaili’s tally.

Little materialized in the first half where the Union enjoyed 54 percent of possession and each team found just one shot on goal. The Union’s arrived in the fifth minute after a bizarrely misplaced back pass from Daniel Lovitz that played in CJ Sapong, but Evan Bush rushed off his line at a sharp angle to deny Sapong after defender Laurent Ciman had stumbled chasing him.

Montreal tested McCarthy in the ninth minute via Ignacio Piatti, who turned Josh Yaro inside and out to lash a low drive. But McCarthy beat the shot away, with Jack Elliott clearing the rebound. Yaro was the Union’s only lineup change on the night from last week’s 3-1 win over FC Dallas, entering for Oguchi Onyewu, out with a groin strain.

The Union turned up the pressure after the break. Picault broke loose in the 55th past the slow-footed Victor Cabrera, but Bush, in his 100th MLS game with the Impact, was equal to the near-post test. Giliano Wijnaldum rang a shot off the post in the 66th, after a Haris Medunjanin cross pin-balled to him.

MICHAEL PEREZ — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Montreal Impact’s Daniel Lovitz leaps to avoid the tackle of the Union’s Alejandro Bedoya during the first half Saturday.