It's amazing how fast these guys went from painful to watch to fun to watch. Also, who is this young, agile, confident guy wearing #11?
GOAL. The deflection kept the ball in. Nice pass by Farfan, and nice run by Jack Mac. & Freddy is on FIRE. Two goals for the U in a couple of minutes.
Best Adu has looked since Red Bull. I blame Toronto........(it was a joke). Pity Pajoy couldn't finish that last one........beauty. My fear is how much legs they have left. The defending got a bit muddled after minute 40. Hopefully Hack can keep them composed with some timely subs.
The save by MacMath and Williams at the end had us on our feet. Surprised the subs were so late. For all the criticism he has received, De Guzman really helped TFC.
Should have been 5 easy....no complaints from me (Pajoys open headball from Adu ) Did anyone notice about 4 Union players giving Hoppenot the business for his lack of passing to open players? I enjoyed that for some reason!
Just got back from the game. I can only imagine where this team would be right now if Hackworth had been at the helm from the beginning. I wrote an article for 133 some time ago where I basically said, "This team frustrates me so much because I know they're capable of better." Someone called me out on it basically saying, "How do you see this team any better than what it is?" These past few games have done that. None of the losses under Hackworth have been losses that I would particularly call "bad" ones. The wins have been emphatic, even games by no means we should have won (The LA game comes to mind) we did because the team came together and played hard when it mattered. This is the Philadelphia Union I've wanted to see, though a playoff spot might be a bit of a reach I get the feeling that under Hackworth, this group is going to fight for it. Hackworth is making a very, very strong case to have the Interim label taken off his title. If the Union are able to win the Open Cup then he needs to be confirmed as the Union's head coach as soon as possible. Hell, even if they don't win the Open Cup and just keep playing as they have been Hackworth deserves the gig full time.
Noticed on the score board screen before the game it had his title as ' interim manager' thought that was odd......
Best 90 minutes he's played in a Union Shirt, by far. Hopefully he can get more consistent and games like this become the norm and not the exception.
Definitely one of my favorite all time PPL moments. Standing ovation from the entire stadium. God, I hope that's the crowd that shows up Wednesday night!
Another impressive win - killed Toronto with possession. Opposing teams should certainly know about the Hoppenot sub around the 60th minute by now but the kid just has the wheels to get those through balls and the tired opposing CB's can not stop him - he does need to pick his head up every once in a while on the break to pass to open teammates. Both KC and Philly used their top 11 for the league games this weekend so neither coach opted for the rest-the-regulars strategy. It was good to see Soumare running plenty of laps before the gameday roster began its warm-ups. The other non-injured field players (i.e. Martinez, Lopez, Jordan, Pfeffer, Hernandez, McLaughlin) not on the gameday roster did their obligatory few laps prior to the gameday roster warm-ups but I do not recall any sign of Perlaza. He did not make the gameday roster for the LA game either - not sure what to read into it since he has not been on the injury report (either he is way down the Hackworth food chain or perhaps he is tending to Portland-to-Philly move-related items).
Perlaza was out there prior to when fans were let into PPL. I saw him running while waiting for the gates to open. If only Nick S had made the switch 8 days earlier........ If we keep playing in this manner, we're going to be a royal pain in the ass for teams to play against. And we'll at least give ourselves a chance to get back into playoff contention. Soumare will be a good addition. It was good to see Gomez and Carroll play well together today as well. Although that could also be due to TFC's piss poor showing. Was it me, or did it seem like they quit during the match? The body language of a lot of their players was of players who'd given up. They were clearly frustrated by the Union all day.
Fun game. Won't get too excited beating the 'worst team in the world' but I loved the dtermination to keep the clean sheet and the offensive subs to keep the pressure up. Adu showed what he can do. Well-taken goal and could have had a couple of assists with better finishing. Great game from Marfan too, he seems to be the best at picking out Hoppenot for those killer runs behind the defense. I really wish the crowd would not sing for Torres when there are 11 other union players actually on the pitch.
the hell is that supposed to mean? Mwanga has one (i'll give it to him, it was nice) goal since the move, but has otherwise been his usual useless self for Portland. Perlaza was still a good deal, even if we're just going to dump him anyway, just to get Mwanga off our books for at least next season
A very enjoyable game. However, I thought Hackworth did a poor job managing the substitutions with a two goal lead and an Open Cup semi-final on Wednesday. Hopefully we don't have tired legs on Wednesday.