The Philadelphia Union kicked off the season with a 3-1 defeat. It was a bitter cold day and the scoreline left fans feeling a little extra cold. The game was truly a tale of two halves as the Union dominated the first half and the second half SKC showed their class. The Union got off to a hot start with a 17th minute goal from Sebastian Le Toux. SKC answered back to tie the game right before halftime when Graham Zusi smashed home a deflection. SKC added two more goals in the second with contributions from Oriol Rosell and new DP Claudio Beiler.
The first half was all Union, and they showed something the fans are used to. Philly was dominant and showed an ability to create chances. The defense was stellar and closed down on almost all of SKC’s chances. Le Toux was the target and he created several chances by making quick passes, taking chances and scoring the first goal. Although he missed an absolute sitter of a chance when Shannon Williams slotted the ball and Seba missed what appeared to be a tap in goal that would of put the Union up 2 nil. Unfortunately SKC bagged a goal against the run of play.
The second half was tight battle till the 66th minute when Sporting KC were awarded a free kick. Zusi lofted the ball up and unmarked Oriol Rosell deflected the ball in. Philly were unable to regain themselves from that point. KC started flexing their muscles and created some chances. The Union were unable to capitalize on the few chances they had. The Union defense were stretched by a long ball and Claudio Bieler scored a goal.
A point where it all went wrong was second chance defending and Zac MacMath making a few crucial mistakes. The first goal I put solely on him. All the top goalies in the world and league would have held control of the shot or dove on the ball before Zusi could get the rebound. The second goal was off a set piece and Ray Gaddis was beat and lost his man but MacMath should of came out and punched it away. On the other hand SKC’s goalie, Jimmy Neilsen came up huge with several big saves off of set pieces and was a big part of why the Union loss.
The Union had an odd starting lineup that seemingly worked in the beginning but it did draw some criticism from my end. First off Michael LaHoud had a decent game and was solid defensively but Okugo can do everything that LaHoud can do. So If Hack started Soumare then he can move Okugo in the mid, giving the team more size in the back and stronger defensively. Also more size in the back could make it easier defending set plays. Roger Torres came on and showed a good poise on the ball. I would rather see Roger play CAM and move Keon Daniel out wide and sending Gabe Farfan to the bench. Also Connor Casey came on towards the end of the game and won two headers and showed he has potential to be a target forward. I would like to see him start up top with Le Toux.
Follow along on Twitter @TotalSportsLive
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
