Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Behind Santos, Union vault into first place
CHESTER » Jim Curtin made sure his team knew what was at stake Saturday night when Toronto FC visited Subaru Park: First place in the Eastern Conference and MLS, an inside line at the Supporters Shield, a chance at the club’s first trophy.
His Philadelphia Union rose to the challenge, perhaps better than ever before in franchise history.
Behind a Sergio Santos hat trick, the Union throttled first-place Toronto, 5-0, leapfrogging them in the standings with three games to play.
The Union (12-3-5, 41 points) rise to first, with an identical record as Toronto. But they are way up on goal differential at plus22 to TFC’s plus-8.
Mark McKenzie scored in the first half, and Jamiro Monteiro added the putaway goal to make it 3-0 in the second. It was just the third five-goal win in franchise history in and the first of the 5-0 variety.
It couldn’t have come at a bigger moment, in the 1-v-2 battle.
“This is a fun team,” Jim Curtin said. “I couldn’t be more proud of players, the work that they put in during the week of training. I thought that was our most complete 90 minutes. I think it’s a good time to be peaking.”
Santos was huge, providing just the fourth hat trick in franchise history. He joins Sebastien Le Toux (2010), RolandAlberg (2016) and CJ Sapong (2017). The
Union fired the secondmost shots in franchise history at 27, and it would’ve beenmuchmore lopsided if not for sevensaves byQuentin Westberg.
“Coming into the game, we knew what we had to do,” McKenzie said. “We all remember what happened the last game we played against them (a 2-1 loss Oct. 3). It was just about coming out on our home field and putting together a performance like we know we can. I think we accomplished that.”
The Union’s start was so rampant that it forced Toronto into changes before the half. The Union owned 60 percent of the possessions and fired 16 shots in the opening 45, such that the visitors were almost grateful for a 2-0 deficit. The Union tied a franchise record with nine corners in a half, finally cashing in the 33rdminute. Monteiro’s delivery was headed back toward
goal by Kacper Przybylko for McKenzie to nod home his second career goal, both in the last three games.
The Union opened the scoring in the 27th on a rare counter, such was their control of the ball. Erickson Gallardo was shut down on the right wing by Ray Gaddis. The ball cycled through JoseMartinez to Kai Wagner on the left, and his cross found Santos to finish behind a befuddled and beaten Omar Gonzalez.
“We have a really good connection, not only on the field but off the field,” Santos said of Wagner, via a translator. “We usually chat a lot and visit each other. When we play, he always tells me to go forward, and if you go forward, I’ll feed you the balls. And that’s what happened tonight.”
TFC was down several regulars, including forwards Jozy Altidore and Ayo Akinola, defenders ChrisMavinga andEriq Zavaleta and midfielders Jonathan Osorio and Pablo Piatti.
Still, coach Greg Vanney’s decision to go with a false nine didn’t pan out, Gallardo withdrawn after McKenzie’s goal.
“We had an idea of what we thought was going to be the lineup. We were close,” Curtin said. “Overall, our players will adjust to whoever they’re playing against. And it was a really good performance formour guys, again our most complete game.”
The visitors were fortunate to be within two at that point. Monteiro and Przybylko both missed open headers just wide of the post. An Alejandro Bedoya header in the 41st was saved by Westberg at a full stretch. He also paddled away a Martinez drive from the top of the box, and Michael Bradley missed an own goal by inches, tracking back to take the ball off the foot of Santos.
No Toronto surge ever materialized, the Union
keeping the foot on the gas. Monteiro scored a worldclass goal in the 56th, Przybylko feeding a pass that Brenden Aaronson dummied to allow Monteiro to strike from outside the box, off the bar and in. Santos got his second in a carbon copy of the first, Wagner again providing in the 63rd. Then a 2-on-0 counter after Aaronson burnt his man left Santos all alone for a tap-in for the hat trick.
It makes Santos even with Przybylko on seven goals for the season.
“He runs in real strong streaks, and when he gets scoring, he’s tough to stop,” Curtin said of Santos. “He jokedaroundwhen I subbed him out that he should’ve had four goals. I said, actually six. He worked his tail off defensively, and that leads to a lot of our attacking moments.”
Przybylko picked up three assists; he, Monteiro and Aaronson all have six
this season.
The Union hardly put a foot wrong all night. Andre Blake made just one save. Martinez and Bedoya stabilized themidfield. Sub Cory Burke even had a couple of dangerous chances to score. But the Union turned ugly recent wins into a beautiful one Saturday, before aminimally occupied but rocking Subaru Park.
They’re 270 minutes of strong results away from turning that into a trophy.
“Our goal this season is to bring back silverware,” McKenzie said. “Now it’s about finishing this season strong and lifting a trophy, and that’s the Supporters’ Shield, and the ultimately fighting for theMLS Cup. We have three games left now, and it’s most important for us to continue to build on tonight’s performance but keep levelheaded.”