Rosenberry, Union blow two-goal lead, settle for draw
CHESTER » Alejandro Bedoya stepped to the podium, took a gulp of water and paused for six seconds before rendering his verdict.
“It feels like crap,” the Union midfielder said. “It’s so frustrating.”
The beat wasn’t for Bedoya to find the right term, even if he might have had to eliminate some of the more caustic vocabulary choices that cropped up in his mind. There wasn’t much else to conclude after Tyrone Mears’ diving header in the first minute of stoppage time looped through a tangle of bodies in the box and plopped gently into the net for a 2-2 draw between the Union and Atlanta United FC.
After nearly 40 minutes of toil down a man following Josh Yaro’s 52nd-minute red card … after the Union had staked itself to a 2-0 lead after 23 minutes courtesy of goals by Roland Alberg and Bedoya … after the Union saw the same nightmare scenario play out just last Saturday in stoppage-time devastation in San Jose, there really was no other way to summarize it.
And in truth, no other way than to encapsulate a season that has gone and will go nowhere. Once again Saturday, against an Atlanta team that played indifferently despite a roster with one player in Miguel Almiron whose transfer fee exceeds the entire Union salary budget, the hosts just weren’t good enough to get the result.
“Devastated for the guys in that locker room,” manager Jim Curtin said. “It’s not about the playoff race, results that went our way tonight or different things like that, it’s about a group of guys, in this case 10 guys, that finished the game to close it out and win. … I’m gutted for them because you don’t prepare for Tyrone Mears to score a fluky head ball from almost outside the box.”
The game pivoted on yet another colossal error by Josh Yaro, whose growing pains in the lineup are much more of the latter than the former. He lassoed down Josef Martinez with two hands on the shoulders on the edge of the box in the 52nd minute when the Venezuelan gained a step on him chasing a through ball, requiring referee Drew Fischer unflinchingly to his pocket for a red card for denial of a goalscoring opportunity.
“Josh was doing a good job, I thought, prior to the red card decision that was made,” Curtin said. “We win as a team and we lose as a team, we draw as a team. It’s an opportunity for him to learn from it.”
Yaro’s red ties Sheanon Williams for the dubious distinction of the franchise record with three red cards. Williams, though, played in parts of five seasons and logged over 12,000 minutes. The secondyear defender Yaro has earned his three dismissals in less than 1,700 minutes, but earned a vote of confidence from Curtin to play through the struggles given the value of the No. 2 overall pick. He also committed the foul in the box at San Jose last week.
Despite the adversity, the Union held on, even creating chances in the face of Atlanta’s desperate push forward with the visitors (10-8-6, 36 points) entering play in seventh place in the East. After a rollicking first half, the Union (8-12-7, 31 points) excelled in taking the steam out of the game. But one moment dashed that.
“They didn’t do anything in the second half,” Bedoya said. “They didn’t create anything. They had nothing. We stayed in our block and they didn’t really do anything.”
It was a fluky sequence in an extended spell of possession — Atlanta controlled 68.4 percent of that on the night — that started with Mears, a late sub at right back, overcooking a cross that found the opposite fullback, Greg Garza, near the corner flag. Garza’s speculative ball was punched by Blake but only as far as Mears, who bravely dove headlong ahead of Bedoya to send an arching header through everyone and past the outstretched leg of Jack Elliott on the goal line.
The Union broke through early and often against Atlanta. Alberg opened the scoring in the 18th with a delightful goal, fellow Dutchman Giliano Wijnaldum dinking a onetimed volley over the defense onto the chest of Alberg to power home a shot for his sixth goal of the season. The play started on the right wing with an overlapping run of Keegan Rosenberry, making his first MLS start since April 14.
Bedoya doubled the lead five minutes later off an Alberg corner kick that Jack Elliott flicked on at the near post. Bedoya caught it at the far stick with a three-quarters overhead kick over his dipped left shoulder, the DP’s second goal of the season. It helped make up for a yellow card in the 11th minute for a high boot on Philly native Jeff Larentowicz, which will cost Bedoya a one-game suspension.
Atlanta powered back in the 26th minute with a Yamil Asad laser beam. Garza’s cross pinged wide via a wayward Martinez header toward Asad charging into the box from the left wing. The Argentine deftly lashed home his third goal of the campaign, leaving no chance for Blake.
On balance, the Union seemed to do enough to gain a result. But yet another last-season stumble in a season of shortcomings brought those hopes careening down.
“Sometimes you just need a little bit of luck to go your way,” Bedoya said. “That’s what this game is about sometimes. Right now, we’re not getting any breaks. That’s twice that the last minute they tie the game on us. Could’ve been six crucial points right there and instead it’s only two. “It’s disheartening. … What can I say, it sucks.”