Przybylko’s two goals key ‘door-opening’ win over Orlando City
CHESTER » For weeks, the Philadelphia Union had asserted that they were just inches away. All the attacking frustration was just a matter of a millimeter here, a split-second there.
Sunday afternoon, confronted with a rare dip blow the playoff line, the Union got those breaks and were clinical enough to cash in.
An offense mired in a weeks-long slumber awakened with three goals, aided by a coin flip in the heat of the moment, in a 3-1 win over short-handed Orlando City.
Kai Wagner opened the scoring in the first half, then Kacper Przybylko ended his personal dry spell with two goals, the last a penalty after a red card, as the Union (9-7-8, 35 points) bounded back above the playoff line into seventh place (sixth in points per game).
It ended a spell of four goals in their last seven matches in all competitions and added two goals to what had been an MLSlow 14 from open play in 23 matches.
“It feels great,” Wagner said. “It’s a long time ago when we all think back to when we won a game. Today was a huge game. It was a big win, and we move up in the table, we’re back in the playoff spots. And I think a big stone will fall off for us now.”
“I thought (the) players’ response was good tonight,” Jim Curtin said. “Not our best soccer, not the perfect game we were looking for, but at the same time, a big three points.”
The goals weren’t free from controversy. The first was a perplexing one that took several minutes to untangle. The Union won a free kick, which was cleared by Orlando. In the process of the free kick, defender Rodrigo Schlegel was heaved to the ground by Przybylko away from the ball, an infraction that the assistant referee flagged and communicated via earpiece to referee Alan Kelly.
But with Orlando City counterattacking, Kelly waved “play on,” which Orlando did briefly until Wagner flew in to win a clean challenge 40 yards from the goal. He played Cory Burke, who squared back to Wagner for a drive that deflected off an Orlando City player and into the net.
Despite vehement protests from the Orlando City bench that Wagner’s tackle should’ve nullified the play on, at which point Kelly should’ve whistled play dead for Przybylko’s foul, the goal stood.
“I just saw that the guy took a bad touch, and I tried to slide tackle in and won the ball,” Wagner said. “I played it out to Cory, he had a great look. It didn’t have like the last game’s luck where the ball didn’t go in or it was a deflection not for us. Today it was a great deflection for us.”
Though Orlando City (107-8, 38 points) entered without Nani and Andres Perea due to red cards in their last outing among other injuries, they were still fourth place in the East. They showed that fight in the 57th, when Mauricio Pereyra was given far too much space in midfield to pick out a far-post cross to right wingback Ruan, who planted an arching header back across Andre Blake’s goal, off the inside post and in.
The Union’s response was immediate. Alejandro Bedoya kept a throw-in from running over the end line by mere inches, absorbing a hit to get the ball to Jamiro Monteiro. He picked his head up and shuffled a pass to Przybylko, who popped out to the six-yard box and one-timed a shot past Pedro Gallese.
“The 2-1 (goal) was a huge fight on the end line with Bedoya and Jamiro, and they did such a great job,” Przybylko said. “It was such a great assist. I just had to finish it off. Kind of an easy goal — there’s no easy goals — but I’m just glad I scored that and I could contribute something to the performance today.”
The goal ends a ninegame drought for Przybylko,
dating to July 25.
From there, Kelly was thrown into the spotlight often, in a game that yielded eight cards. Benji Michel hit the deck in the 75th under the lightest urging from Olivier Mbaizo in the box and was booked for simulation. The Union protested for a red when Sergio Santos, who provided a huge spark off the bench, roared down the right wing in the 80th and was slide-tackled by an onrushing Gallese.
Santos left no doubt eight minutes later. He scorched Antonio Carlos down the left touchline, then cut inside. The defender was left no choice but to clatter into him from behind, drawing a straight red card as the last man back — the exact card the Union decried not getting Wednesday against Club America.
Przybylko stepped to the spot, over the protests of Santos, and powered home straight down the middle.
It was a fitting capper on an effort the Union desperately needed. It was far from pretty, but as a slumpbuster for Przybylko and the team, it didn’t need to be.
“I think it was like a door-opener,” Wagner said. “I was speaking in the last weeks a lot to him (Przybylko), just keep believing, just keep shooting and the ball will go in. I hope this will be the door-opener for him.”