Draw in Orlando caps stellar week

It took Jim Curtin all of 30 words to get to the operative term for Saturday night’s 2-2 draw with Orlando City: Perspective.

In isolation, the result was tinged with disappointment. Outshooting Orlando, 20-11, and taking a lead in the 88th minute probably should’ve been enough to get a result in a game where the one point gained was overshadowed by the two dropped.

But this game doesn’t exist in a vacuum. And the macro currents are much more favorable for the Union (12-11-4, 40 points), more than can be minimized by Scott Sutter’s stoppagetime goal.

From the long view, Saturday was the Union’s third game in eight days. It extended an unbeaten streak to five games (4-0-1) and means the Union have results in half of their 14 road games (5-7-2).

With Borek Dockal leaving injured in the 40th minute and sub Ilsinho lasting only 10 minutes before being withdrawn to handicap Curtin’s substitution blueprint, Curtin likely would’ve signed for one point at the beginning of the game. (No updates on either were provided afterward.)

“Overall, obviously we wanted to push for all nine points in the week,” Curtin said. “Came up a little bit short down to the last minute. But overall, keep this in perspective: Obviously, 40 points on Sept. 1 is a good position to make the playoffs.”

The Union’s 40 points are 10 clear of seventh-place New England, though the Revs have a game in hand. Considering that the Union have tallied 42 points or fewer in four of the last seven seasons, to be at 40 with seven matches remaining is demonstrable progress.

Though the Union dropped two points from a leading position Saturday, it brings their season total in the category to just five dropped points (the other three by coughing up a halftime lead against L.A. Galaxy in July). The Union have easily reached doublefigures in that category in years past.

The projections by Five Thirty Eight. com peg them with a 96 percent chance of making the playoffs.

So squandering a late lead isn’t the end of the world, especially since the team still played well.

“I thought we dominated the game, especially in the second half,” Curtin said. “Created a lot of chances. (It) just wasn’t our night in terms of finishing. Obviously to lose two of your key attacking players to injury, which made us have to sub, was difficult, but overall again, taking the positive, a point on the road is always good in this league.”

The Union saw their shutout streak end at 305 minutes when Dom Dwyer went marked on a free kick in the ninth minute, slipping away from Alejandro Bedoya and heading past a helpless Andre Blake. But the Union pegged it back by half, Cory Burke hurling his body at a Dockal cross in the 32nd as bodies collided in the box for his eighth MLS goal of the season in nine starts (and 11th in all competitions).

“I think we could get all three points,” Burke said. “But that’s soccer. You make one mistake, it can cost us the game. That’s what I think. But it’s a good week for us. We got seven points over three games so now we get some time to recover.”

The Union pushed for a go-ahead goal in the second half. It finally came when Fafa Picault danced through defenders in the 88th and lashed a shot that deflected off a defender and beat Joe Bendik for the winger’s seventh goal of the season, matching last year’s tally in six fewer games. But Sutter found the equalizer, capitalizing on a rare misstep by Ray Gaddis and played in by a Josue Colman backheel to rifle home from a sharp angle in stoppage time and earn a share of the points for last-place Orlando.

That’s a disappointing note to enter a two-week break on, with the international window calling players away and giving the Union until Sept. 15 to rest for a date with sixth-place Montreal at Talen Energy Stadium. It’s the first of five games in 15 days that includes the Sept. 26 U.S. Open Cup final in Houston.

By the time the Union next play, their playoff position could grow surer. Suddenly struggling D.C. United would have played three times – late Sunday against Atlanta, at New York City FC and vs. Minnesota – while New England travels to NYCFC in a near mustwin. But the Union’s success has been sufficient that Curtin doesn’t have to worry about other teams.