The Supporter’s Shield winning Philadelphia Union kicked off their best of 3 first round playoff series against the Chicago Fire in front of a lively Subaru Park crowd on Sunday evening. The best of 3 format is uniquely American and found nowhere else in soccer but it has provided its share of quirks, most famously Inter Miami’s defeat to Atlanta United last season. The Union are trying to avoid the same fate as last year’s Supporter’s Shield winners. They got off to a good start overcoming two late Chicago goals to win a 2-2 (4-2 PKs) match to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
The first half was a defensive clinic with both sides clogging up the middle and allowing very few scoring chances. In the 8th minute a Philadelphia corner kick made its way into the scrum and bounced out to Jovan Lukic outside the box for a long range shot which just missed wide left. Chicago countered in the 16th minute with an Andrew Gutman header from the center of the box which missed wide left. Later on in the 39th minute Chicago had another chance with a Jonathan Bamba shot from the left side of the box saved by Andre Blake in the center of the net to preserve a scoreless match going into halftime.
The start of the second half was more of the same for the first 20 minutes or so but things began to shift for the Union when Mikael Uhre and Frankie Westfield checked into the game in the 64th minute. Tempers started to flare when Joel Waterman was issued a yellow card for Chicago for knocking down Uhre in the 67th minute. The Union broke through in the 70th minute when Milan Iloski sent a pass up to Uhre at the top of the box who then found Indy Vassilev on the left side of the six yard box to put one past Chicago goalie Chris Brady for a 1-0 lead. Five minutes later in the 75th Tai Baribo sent a pass forward to Iloski on a fast break who took a shot from the right side of the box that found the back of the net to give the Union a 2-0 lead. Chicago struck back in the 84th minute when former Union player Jack Elliott sent a header toward Jonathan Bamba directly in front of the net to put a shot past Andre Blake in the middle of chaos to move the score to 2-1. A Frankie Westfield shot in the 90th minute from outside the box was wide left and then stoppage time brought about chaos. In the 3rd minute of stoppage time a set piece found Elliott outside the box to fire a shot that found its way into the bottom right of the goal to tie up the match. Shortly after the restart in the 4th minute of stoppage time Sergio Orogel got tied up with Kai Wagner and shoved Wagner to the ground by his neck, earning a red card for violent conduct. A yellow card was issued to Wagner and Brian Gutierrez of Chicago as well for the dustup. Orogel will be suspended for game 2. A final chance by Westfield sent a shot too high and brought the final whistle and penalty kicks.
Philadelphia and Chicago both missed their first round of PKs by Uhre and Elliott respectively. The Union found the back of the net in the next three rounds by Westfield, Iloski, and Baribo. Chicago matched with Gutierrez and Hugo Cuypers until Joel Waterman missed in the 4th round for Chicago, giving the Union a 3-2 advantage heading into the 5th round and Jesus Bueno stepping up to take the 5th kick that could seal the win for the Union. Bueno is not a starter and not normally a goal scorer, but he had success in Leagues Cup PKs in previous years, especially from the 5th spot thriving on the pressure. Bueno stepped up and nailed the kick to give the Union a 4-2 win on penalty kicks and a 1-0 advantage in the best of 3 series.
Quote book and notes
After the game Mikael Uhre spoke with reporters about the tension of this match “We have a world class goalkeeper and in these playoff games you know you’re going to get punched, you’re going to give a punch and get punched, but we had the guys to rally.” Also on playing against former teammate Jack Elliott: “Obviously he knows what I’m good at and I know what he’s good at so sometimes it’s just about trying to cause some commotion and I think it worked out pretty well.” On the mix of veterans and young players taking PKs: “Some of the young guys coming up have taken PKs in a pressure situation that guys from Europe haven’t because of the format played over here (in MLS Next Pro)…a lot of the young guys have a lot of experience in penalties and that’s something you need to take advantage of.” Jesus Bueno spoke about his high pressure situation in the 5th penalty spot: “I was a little nervous before the penalty kick, but when Blake gave me the ball I looked at him in the eye and we laughed and I knew that everything was going to be ok…The confidence my coaches put in me gives me motivation. Everything has been great so far so I hope we keep going.” Andre Blake credited goalkeeper coach Phil Wheddon for his preparation: “Phil is a great person, a great coach, we’ve been working together for a while now. We really do our homework on these PKs, he prepares me for these moments and I just have to go out there and try to do my best.” Blake continued by heaping praise on Bueno: “That’s his blessing I guess. He’s really calm and you need to be calm in these moments and he’s very confident, he wants to be the 5th taker, and he’s pretty good at what he does so credit to him for stepping up in big moments like this.”
Game 2 of the best of 3 first round playoff series in the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs will be Saturday evening at Soldier Field in Chicago kicking off at 5:30. All playoff matches are streamed on Apple TV+.
