Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Przybylko’s late tally salvages disappointing point vs. Orlando
CHESTER >> The Philadelphia Union waited 28 days between home games, then Mother Nature made them hold out another day just for good measure.
In a contest postponed from Saturday night due to lightning, the Union got a goal four minutes in thanks to Marco Fabian Sunday. And then, well, the 2017 Union crept in … until the 2019 team resurfaced.
Second-half goals by Dom Dwyer and Santiago Patino had put the visitors ahead, but Matt Real set up Kacper Przybylko to score in his fourth straight game and share the spoils in a 2-2 draw.
Fabian had opened the scoring in the fourth minute, but the Union (10-5-6, 36 points) were mostly ineffectual in trying to extend their lead, squandering a chance to move further away from the field in the Eastern Conference. Even while missing two key attacking pieces in Jamiro Monteiro and Ilsinho, a repeat of the difficulties to break down bunkered-in teams proved dispiriting, particularly against an Orlando City team focused more on Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal and starting five at the back to defend in hopes of nicking a draw.
“We didn’t give up a lot today, but at the same time these types of games happen in the course of a season,” manager Jim Curtin said. “It’s one that we are very disappointed about. I know the players are upset about it. We found a way to drop two points. We did show some character getting the goal late to at least make it a point, but overall not good enough on the day.”
It was a good thing that a sizeable chunk of Saturday’s 18,574 tickets sold (the Union’s third sellout of the season) found something better to do for the makeup matinee.
Real was the unlikely difference-maker just seconds after he entered for his first minutes of the season. He and fellow Homegrown Anthony Fontana played a 1-2 on the left-hand corner of the box, then the Drexel Hill native dished to Przybylko to bash home his ninth goal of the campaign.
“Jim just kind of told me to go in and make an impact,” Real said. “So my focus was to go in there, kind do what I did, drive the ball into the box.”
The assist is the first of Real’s career in just his fourth career MLS appearance. He nearly made it two assists when he curled a cross onto the head of defender Jack Elliott in stoppage time, but Orlando City goalie Brian Rowe leapt to superbly save the driven header.
Fabian got the Union on the board early, a pinpoint, headed redirection of a Fafa Picault cross that nestled into the side netting for his third goal of the season. It’s his first since March 30 and the fastest goal the Union has scored in a game this season, displacing Picault’s seventh-minute tally against New York City FC June 29.
“I always say the most important thing is my team. I don’t care who scores the goals,” Fabian said. “For sure I feel good. I’m happy that I came back and scored a goal. That’s a good thing for me but the most important thing is team. I wanted to take three points.”
The Union nearly made it two in the 10th minute when Przybylko recovered an Orlando turnover and marched in on goal, only for Rowe to smother his low shot.
The rest of the half — and really until after the Union had conceded twice — left little to report. The hosts owned 64 percent of possession and completed passes at just shy of a 90-percent clip in the first half (they were at 61.8 percent and 89 for the game) but produced few moments to seriously trouble Rowe. The Orlando goalie did face 21 total shots and made five stops, but few chances included the danger needed to unlock an Orlando team content to drop nine players behind the ball at all times.
“I think we had a good sense of patience and still put balls in dangerous areas,” Curtin said. “I would have liked to have been a little more clinical with the final pass, but we didn’t connect. That happens sometimes. Still, getting the one goal early should have been enough.”
The Union were made to pay when Dwyer rose to get the back of his head to a Nani free kick in the 67th minute, just moments after the Portuguese designated player entered.
Nani’s corner kick created chaos in the 81st, with Andre Blake fighting off Chris Mueller’s header. But instead of catching the shot, Blake only popped it back into the mixer, and Patino’s first touch was to poke it home for the goal. That makes eight straight games since the Union’s last clean sheet, and conceding twice on set pieces is a concern.
Given the absences and the Union’s 3-1 win over nine-man Orlando City Wednesday, the Union would’ve signed for four points from this pair of games. That didn’t make it feel any better for those in the locker room.
“I don’t really want to talk about my goal today,” Przybylko said. “We had two set pieces, two crosses. We had everything under control in the first half. It feels like a loss and not like a tie. It feels very bad.”