Conquest result of determination
Jim Curtin didn’t go into Gilette Stadium Saturday night expecting soccer that would please the masses. In a six-point duel between the Philadelphia Union and New England, style points would go out the window in favor of bare determination.
So two goals off set pieces, a penalty kick and a brace from a defender? not the beautiful game at its most radiant. Where it wasn’t pretty, however, it was pretty effective.
The Union’s 3-2 win was the product of doing the little things necessary to grind out a victory.
“I thought they stuck together in the hard moments,” Curtin said. “In these Eastern Conference games down the stretch, a lot of times it isn’t so much about the beautiful soccer that’s played, it’s more about grit and heart.”
No matter the aesthetics, the Union (9-11-3, 30 points) sit in fifth place in the East, above the red line for the first time in weeks.
They hopped over the Revolution (7-8-8, 29 points) and Montreal and are fifth in points per game.
The Union compiled a 2-0 halftime lead thanks to Jack Elliott goals 10 minutes apart, one a backheeled beauty off a short corner, the other a tap-in of a shot that pinballed off the post and the back of goalkeeper Matt Turner to the fortuitously positioned center back.
The goals represent the first time a Union defender has scored twice in a game in franchise history. Elliott is just the ninth Union defender to score two league goals in a season. And the way the 22-year-old, who had played sparingly the last two months and was in the lineup because of a knee injury to Mark McKenzie, found a way to get the ball over the line is indicative of the fire that propelled the Union.
“The main thing is to get on the end of (set pieces), but when they go into the second phase and they don’t get served in straight away, it’s just staying alive and trying to find the ball when it comes back out,” said Elliott, who had one goal last year. “I did that twice, and the second one was far up on the ball, which I was taught to do from a young age. Just making sure I didn’t put it over the bar from a yard out.”
Perseverance like Elliott’s served the Union time and again. The Union’s 2-0 edge survived less than a minute in the second half, with Andrew Farrell’s drive from distance deflecting off Auston Trusty and in. The tally is Farrell’s second of the season … and his second in 182 career MLS games.
When Wilfried Zahibo nodded home Diego Fagundez’s free kick in the 64th minute to level matters, it could’ve all come crashing down on the Union. But it didn’t.
“To concede a minute into the second half was frustrating for the guys,” Curtin said. “All the things we did great in the first half, which was closing the ball down, not getting beat one-v-one, being brave, making blocks, went out the window in the goal that they scored a minute into the second half. So now, it’s a tough environment to play in. … We’re young and we’re growing and we’re maybe sometimes naïve, but I think a win like this and to show the resolve to get the goal can be a turning point for a young group.”
On the day, the toughness metrics roundly favored the Union. They blocked 10 New England shots. The teams were equal on shots on frame at seven each despite the Revs attempting nearly twice as many (26-14). The Union also held a 68-42 edge in duels won, another blue-collar section of the stat sheet.
As the summer has progressed, the Union have broadened their repertoire of contributors. Elliott shows that, having watched from the bench as McKenzie flourished. Derrick Jones helped close out the game with 10 strong minutes, including an astute and vital time-wasting run to the corner flag in stoppage time. Jones played in all three games this week, a step toward his reemergence as a regular.
Fabian Herbers has supplanted Marcus Epps in the wing rotation by contributing to goals in three of his last four outings. He drew the penalty that closed out the July 25 win in Houston, assisted on CJ Sapong’s goal to cap the Open Cup victory over Chicago Wednesday and was the target of Haris Medunjanin’s deep cross that New England defender Antonio Delamea handled, allowing Fafa Picault to bury the game-winning PK in the 76th minute.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be the prettiest game, but it was just important get three points however we can,” Picault said. “It came in a PK at the end to break the tie. We’re just happy that we can get a great group effort to get the three points.”
The result perfectly sets the tone for the stretch ahead. The New England trip starts a stretch of six contests against Eastern opposition. The schedule, which gets markedly more difficult in September and October, sets up to allow the Union control of their destiny, with games in hand over playoff rivals and a favorable home-road split.
It’s just a matter of getting the job done. In the first installment Saturday, the Union did just that.
“Sometimes it isn’t about pretty soccer — and there was pretty soccer on short bursts tonight from both teams,” Curtin said. “But at the end of the day it became rolling your sleeves up and digging deep and getting a result.”