Early mistakes force the Union to settle for a point once more, this time against the Columbus Crew
The third match in a week for the club finds them picking up a crucial point. Still, the club has only collected two points out of a possible 12 from matches in their May slate.
Ten minutes.
That’s all it took for the Union to find itself on the back foot against the Columbus Crew at Subaru Park on Saturday night.
The goal, a whipping in-swinging shot from Crew forward Hugo Picard, found the upper 90 past an outstretched Andre Blake.
It was also completely avoidable.
That’s a point for down the line. The larger point is that the Union were able to salvage a point after a 69th-minute goal from forward Milan Iloski. Iloski buried a tap-in following a nice run and cross into the box from second-half substitute Augustín Anello.
It was a goal that helped to shroud an otherwise ineffective night for Iloski, whose efforts, by either poor decision making or attempted shots that were blocked in the final third, amounted to very little.
Besides Iloski’s goal, repeated dazzling runs from midfielder Cavan Sullivan — and a halftime light show — were the only points of note on what was an otherwise familiar run of form from a Union team that hasn’t celebrated a win in MLS play since April 11 against Montréal.
Speaking of Sulliva, the 16-year-old phenom was inches from becoming the hero with the last kick of the game. After lloski was fouled just outside of the box in stoppage time, Sullivan was given the free kick opportunity. He hit a rifle through Columbus’ wall but the shot was seen all the way from Crew goalkeeper — and U.S. national team World Cup hopeful — Patrick Schulte.
Union 1, Crew 1.
But back to the point from earlier about salvaging a point...
On a free kick for Columbus, Picard stood alone at the far post unmarked. Closest to him was defender Nathan Harriel, but Harriel already had a mark at the edge of the 18. Just before the kick, midfielder Indiana Vassilev ran into the same space as Harriel and the Crew player he was marking.
Ball comes in, finds a deflection off an attempted clearance, falls to an unmarked Picard, who doesn’t hesitate and, to his credit, hits a gem into Blake’s far post.
The play seemed like a microcosm of the Union’s woes this season, where one unfortunate error, one mistimed run — or, in this case, a missed assignment — finds them chasing the game. It was a game that marked the final home match before a seven-week league wide respite for the FIFA World Cup, which begins on June 11, with June 14 being Philly’s first foray into the tournament.
It was also the third match in the span of a week for the Union after a pair of one-goal losses to New England (3-2) last Saturday, and a late 4-3 loss to Orlando City on Wednesday. The club has only collected two points out of a possible 12 from matches in their May slate.
One game remains and it’s perhaps the biggest in this first half of play for the Union, a road test against Lionel Messi and a surging Inter Miami team next Saturday (7:30 p.m., Apple TV). Miami, winners of their last two, have scored a combined 12 goals in their last three matches.
