2019 Match Day #21 Union v. Orlando City SC, July 6, 2019 p/d/p

What stupid shit to say publicly.

 

I’m going, haven’t missed one yet!

 

They're are 5 cars and 8 people in the SOB lot 98 minutes before the game. Sparse.

 

Didn’t make it unfortunately.

We have sad news to share about the fan who was administered CPR last night in the stands. Here’s a statement from the Philadelphia Union:

“The Philadelphia Union are saddened to learn of the passing of a fan last night at Talen Energy Stadium due to a medical emergency.” 1/2

— Philadelphia Soccer Now (@phlsoccernow) July 7, 2019

 

Didn't switch on in time to see Fabian's early goal. Orlando packing the defense, Union struggling to create chances. More long shots than I've seen in a long time.

 

The crowd appears to be more “Orphans of Ben” than “Sons”.

Tough to get much of a crowd with the change in date.

 

Sucker goal. Nani fk to Dwyer, too easy. If they don't win this it's a disaster.

 

Nani to Dwyer. 1-1.

Watch us lose at home but win away. I'm watching classic Union here: crosses to nobody all day.

 

There's the Union of old. Let's see an offensive sub now to get back on track ... wait ... never mind.

 

Lol. Orlando putting on a clinic.

 

Nice close passing between Fontana and Real leads to equalizer from Kacper.

 

2 points dropped. When you want to be top of the East, this is not good enough. Distinct lack of imagination to make the dominance of the first half pay.

 

Unexceptable tie. Should have won comfortably.

 

Is Aurelien still rolling around on the grass?

 

Union is not the #1 team in the east. More play like this will bear out that reality in the standings.

 

So somehow this weekend is turning out to be a net win for the Union.

DC lost to Dallas...Montreal lost to Minnesota...NYRB tied Atlanta, taking points out of the upper half of the conference...and then NYCFC just now lost to Portland.

The Union are also now #1 in PPG (you have to go to the thousandths decimal place).

On the other hand, if they took care of business today, the Union could be 7 points clear right now, too.

 

Went back to the game on Sunday.

Crowd was definitely lower than on Saturday, BUT, the west stands were a lot more crowded. They weren't really checking seat tickets so I suspect people sat on the shady side if they could. This looks bad on TV.

We are just an awfully slow team. We can't counterattack to save our soul not for any tactical reason, but because we don't have a single player who can outrun the opposition. I've posted before about being unimpressed by Fafa's "speed". He isn't fast and should shut his pie hole about getting on the Nats.

Real definitely added to our attack. You can tell he and Fontana are used to each other because they had some clever combinations.

 

2 points dropped. Gave up two easily preventable goals. Butterfingers Blake nearly gifts Orlando a win. Horrible marking on both set piece goals. It's amazing how much Monteiro and Ilsinho mean to this team. Ilsinho would have had a field day out there in the second half today.

If you want to be conference champs, these are the games you can ill afford not to get all 3 points in.

 

I wasn't able to watch this, but for those who did, two questions:

1. How badly did we miss Jamiro in the midfield?
2. How did Fabian look, besides his goal?

 

The Union are basically the team that will go and get a win against LAFC in their home stadium and then get blown out the next week by FC Cincinnati at home. They can be maddeningly inconsistent and should've handily won this game against an Orlando team that was already looking ahead to their Open Cup game.

 

Chill out guys. According to some grumpy old gatekeeper in the river end this was a wonderful result and anyone with any opinions to the contrary should just get the hell of his lawn... I mean get the hell out of the stadium. Or something like that. I had a lot to drink and it was really hot out there.

 

IMO these 2 answers are connected. I was looking for Fabian to be the game changer without Monteiro there. The fact that we struggled, build up was slow, and penetration was almost nonexistent tells me that Marco should have done more. I've been willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, and sure he got a goal, but I'm looking for more in the way of guile and trickery to unlock a defense from your most expensive players. Ilsinho and Jamiro are the only ones that give us that.

 

Dave Leno was saying during the broadcast that Curtin gave Fabian instructions to try and play to the strikers and focus on the final pass. This was after the third shot that was launched into the River End.