After winning their home opener against DC United, the Union went back on the road and, quite simply, didn’t play very good soccer. Red cards all over the place forced the U to play a man down in a few of those matches. They just looked like the young expansion team that they are.
Yesterday, the U finally came back home for their second game against FC Dallas in their “Where’s Waldo?” kits. While Dallas was tied for 5th in the Western Conference, this was a match the Union could definitely walk away from with 3 points.
With leading scorer Sebastien Le Toux back after missing a few games, the Union went on the offensive attack. They went down 1-0 in the 13th minute, but after that, Dallas changed their style and played to protect the lead, not increase it. That enabled the Union to get 21 shots off, but Dallas GK Kevin Hartman kept the U off the board with a few incredible saves.
Fast forward to stoppage time at the end of the 2nd half. First overall pick Danny Mwanga, inserted into the game in the 81st minute, finds himself all alone in the box with the ball after a corner and sends it past Harman for the tying goal. The final whistle sounded shortly afterwards, but I didn’t hear it, as the Sons of Ben were going crazy.
The Union played aggressively the entire match, but just weren’t able to get anything past Hartman. This was a match the Union should have gotten 3 points out of and were lucky to get draw at the end. They outplayed Dallas all over the field, but couldn’t finish their chances. The corner kicks, all 10 of them, just didn’t create an opportunity to finish. Definitely an area that needs improvement.
The U get a week off and then play in Houston on May 29th. With each game, the real home opener in Chester draws closer.
(Photo Credit: Ron Cortes, Philly.com)
