Philadelphia Union Week 2 MVP

While last week's vote for Brotherly Game Philadelphia Union MVP was a no-brainer, this week's was considerably more difficult. Standout performances by reigning MVP Andre Blake and Chris Pontius really forced the staff here to make tough choices. I'll let them give their reasons below:

Drew Gobrecht: Blake. Pontius did extremely well to finish off his two chances. Hardly just poachers goals, either. He was making smart runs on both, and the second was from the edge of the box. Blake however had a few amazing saves that kept Columbus from equalizing. In a one goal game that got us three points as surely as Pontius's goals did.

Evan Villella: Party boy Chris Pontius. Sapong did well to buy him some space on the first goal, but we haven't seen someone tuck away chances clinically like that in far too long. Much needed sign of quality in front of the goal.

Matt Albaugh: Blake is the biggest reason the Union won that game and almost kept a clean sheet against one of the best teams in the East. He not only made the easy saves, but he also made the difficult ones that won us the game.

Matt Ralph: Blake had another great game, but I'd have to go with Pontius because his goals were a much-needed lift to a team that seemed to be heading toward a repeat of March 2015.

Also weighing in for Pontius was Barry Evans and Heather Reppert. Casting their vote for Andre Blake was Matt Reppert, Andrew Stoltzfus, and Colin Campbell. After a last call for votes, Andrew Stoltzfus cast his for Andre Blake and Frank Cobbina, John Rossi, and Jared Young all cast theirs for Pontius, so by a margin of 7-5, Chris Pontius is the Brotherly Game Philadelphia Union Week 2 MVP.

Pontius has the Union's only two goals thus far in 2016, but as detailed in yesterday's Game Changers segment, it's more in how the goals were scored. Pontius did the little things that enabled him to be in the right place at the right time - something that the Union sorely lacked in 2015. It's good to see the Union's faith in Pontius paying off.

Congratulations Chris on winning our weekly Union MVP Award!