Philadelphia Union: Drops Game to Columbus 2-1

Record: 4-9-3
8 pts out of playoff race (as of August 6th)

The Philadelphia Union suffered a painful 2-1 loss at the hands of the Columbus Crew Thursday evening. As per usual, the Union generated the majority of scoring opportunities in the game but connected a fewer percentage of them. This, for me, was the most disappointing loss of the season, despite being against one of the best teams in the league, because I didn’t see the intensity and focus with the forwards that I’ve seen in games past. It was also a total divefest from both teams making the game more frustrating to watch.

Columbus got on the board first with a free kick that found the head of injury replacement Steven Lenhart and snuck it by Union goalkeeper Chris Seitz. Watching this, Lenhart was completely unmolested during his run which is an obvious no-no to a guy in the middle of your goal a mere six yards out. There must have been confusion as to who was responsible for him, but I think he was left fullback Jordan Harvey’s man all the way. Harvey chose to guard air instead of Lenhart leading to an easy goal and Jordan earned what looked like a mouthful from team captain Danny Califf. Compounding his mistake was the fact that the free kick was initially set up by an errant pass from Jordan that forced his teammate to commit the foul.

Towards the end of the half, Philadelphia was pressing into Columbus’ box but appeared to squander another opportunity. The ball came loose and Le Toux was the first to get there, though facing away from the goal he still had to work to get a shooting opportunity. A Columbus defender followed him out and lunged for the ball. He missed the ball and fouled Le Toux, however slightly, inside the box giving Le Toux a penalty kick. Sebastien easily put away his 9th goal of the season to tie up the match going into halftime. Now, to clear things up, Le Toux definitely made a dive, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a foul. You could tell by the way that Le Toux was dribbling that he was just praying for someone to foul him and the defender made enough contact to make a player stumble. Sebastien chose instead to fall down. Good choice. If I were a Columbus fan, I would be angry with Le Toux but I would be furious at the fouler. Speaking as a defender, you know 100% in that situation that the player is looking for a PK. The technique to play there is to use your body and try to force the player out of the box and away from your goal. If you think you can knock the ball away you take quick stabs and bring your foot back to your body just as quickly. Taking a lunge at the ball is like gift-wrapping a goal for the other team as it makes for an obvious tripping penalty if you don’t make contact with the ball first.

Nonetheless, early in the second half the Crew got a second goal from Lenhart by a beautifully played ball and a beautiful diving header. In the post-game, Califf, who was marking Lenhart one-on-one, took responsibility for the goal for not playing him correctly. I respect him for saying that, but I disagree. I haven’t yet seen the replay, but I was following the Califf and Lenhart off-the-ball-battle all the way (part of my defensive instincts) and I thought he played him very well. While the mistake probably lies with someone out of the box not creating enough pressure, if I have to blame someone within, I would go with goalkeeper Seitz not playing close enough to the near post to make use of Califf’s pressure blocking half the net himself from an easy goal. The Union had their chances to tie it up all remaining game but failed to connect as is becoming the norm.

Several factors contributed to the pain of this game for me. One, was that our forwards looked… Best Case: Tired; Worst Case: Arrogant. There was definitely something off about our attackers yesterday. The forwards Le Toux and Alejandro Moreno lost nearly every 50-50 ball and were often outraced for through-balls down the pitch. None of our attackers showed me a sense of urgency when in the opponent’s box. Whenever they should’ve taken a shot in a hurry, they would take an extra touch, get swarmed, and then either retreat or try to make a pass that would get turned over. It was almost like they were expecting to be able to score at their leisure. Composure can be great when you’re doing everything right, but when you’re failing to score with alarming frequency you need to put the ball on net as often as possible. Make the goalie beat you instead of beating yourself.

Left fullback Jordan Harvey had his worst game of the season last night. He is the only player on the roster to play in (and start) all 16 games this season. Last night I felt he was more interested in making offensive plays than in his role as a defender. The outside fullbacks pushing up and being part of offensives is very consistent with the team’s season-long strategy, but he can’t be neglecting his defensive duties. Harvey scored a goal early in the season but hasn’t been on the score-sheet since then. I wonder if he is tired of not getting statistical recognition. He should be careful. David Myrie, who started the opening game at right fullback, was cut shortly afterwards for a performance very similar to Harvey’s last night. I’m not saying Harvey is in danger of being cut after one poor showing in a long productive season, but he might see a drop in playing time particularly with yesterday’s signing of Columbian defender Juan Diego González Alzate.

While I remain a huge fan of Team Manager Peter Nowak and Coach John Hackworth, I thought the subbing strategy used in last night’s game could at best be described as uninspired. When center midfielder Stefani Miglioranzi tweaked his groin and needed to come out, my thought was that the obvious replacement would be Andrew Jacobson. Jacobson has played plenty this year as a center midfielder, usually alongside Miglioranzi and the two have similar tendencies. Instead, with the game still tied, the staff put in rookie 3rd-round pick Kyle Nakazawa who has been used sparingly, especially in recent games. Nakazawa took some excellent free kicks (including one that Fred whiffed 3-ft from the goal) but was otherwise uninvolved in the game for the roughly 55 minutes he played. The second sub put Jacobson in the game, but this defensive-leaning player was put in for attacking midfielder Fred while the Union was down a goal. Part of Nowak’s understandable thinking was that since Fred already had a yellow card, he didn’t want to risk him getting another (to which he would’ve been ejected) and then having to play with 10 men. A better solution, however, would’ve been to insert striker Jack McInerney (since Danny Mwanga is injured and was unavailable) for Fred and move Le Toux back to center midfielder. The last sub made, without too much time remaining, was to put McInerney into the game in place of Justin Mapp. Obviously I had been hoping for McInerney to come in but I thought he should have come in for the less-speedy Moreno instead of Mapp who had been playing an outstanding game and had been creating offensive opportunities.

Shoulda woulda coulda right? The silver lining to this game was the outstanding play of newly acquired midfielders Justin Mapp and Eduardo Coudet. Particularly stunning was the 35-yr-old Coudet who played the whole game up and down the field dominating the center midfield. With perhaps a dozen clean slide-tackles to win balls and an uncountable number of successful passes, he was the Union’s MVP of the game. Mapp played excellent, as well, in only his first start since being traded to Philadelphia which is why I complained when he was subbed out.

The Union will have to put this game behind them and come out determined with less rest time than usual. Philadelphia goes on the road to Dallas to play a re-match this coming Sunday. The last result was a 1-1 tie at Lincoln Financial Field but both teams have come a long way since then. Despite their frustrating setbacks, the Union have gotten much better at every aspect of the game. Meanwhile, Dallas sits at third place in the powerful Western conference (T-4th overall) with a record of 6-2-9. The schedule doesn’t get much easier after this, so the Union need to come out strong and at least avoid a loss. A win, however, would make all the difference in the world.