The Philadelphia Union ended their 5 game winless streak with a massive road win against Sporting Kansas City. The Union went into the match against Kansas City not only on a streak where the team were not winning games but also not scoring goals. Conor Casey goal not only won the game but ended the drought. It had been 7 games since a Union striker scored a goal. With this win the Union propel themselves back into the Playoff picture. The Union are currently sitting in 5th place and hold the last playoff position.
Manager John Hackworth put out a starting lineup that was rather risky. He benched Jack Macinerny and Sebestian Le Toux while starting defensive minded players such as Lahoud and Fabinho in the midfield. With Fabinho in the midfield and Ray Gaddis behind him the Union went all out defensively. The team did not play as defensive as advertised they made many fluent runs. Fabinho, and Farfan were able to make overlapping runs and support Casey because he was the lone striker. The Union really facilitated the game beautifully. They absorbed the attack and kept KC’s high powered offense quiet.
This is the benefits of having a veteran goal scorer. Conor Casey has been through this before, he has been tried and tested. Conor and Jack are both in funks and cant find the back of the net. Jack has never had a slump like this. Whereas Casey has had long goal droughts that he had to dig himself out and has had to bounce back from adversity. Having his presence in the locker room hopefully will rub off on Jack. Casey was able to capitalize on his opportunity and put the ball in the back of the net through a number of defenders.
This game is a massive win because if the Union make playoffs they are going to have to get a result on the road. The Union will have to be able to go into places like KC, Houston, NY, and Montreal and they will have to be able to get results and score goals. But before the Union can think playoffs they have to finish the season. Their are 4 games left in the season so every point counts. The Union have Toronto at home next. After Tornto at home they have to travel to DC and then Montreal before finishing the season out against KC. Montreal and KC are the only playoff teams that the Union face.
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