Poetry Corner Kicks: Union 0 - Fire 1

There are two ways you could look at this game between the Philadelphia Union and the Chicago Fire.  The first is the "same-old-Union" mentality and it looks like this: The Union played a pretty decent game, had some good performances by a few individuals, but squandered too many scoring opportunities and gave up a lone goal after a stupid foul that left us short-handed.  These are all things we got used to seeing from the Union the last few years.  But, the second perspective is the "we only lost by one on the road and if not for a couple of bad moments, looked like a decent team" perspective.  This view looks at the fact that our forward, CJ Sapong, had numerous good chances, Philly now has a player that can make defenders look silly in Ilsinho, and the Union generally looked like the better team.  These are all things that we had gotten used to NOT seeing over the last few years.  Overall, I am disappointed with a loss in a winnable game.  But I am trying to keep perspective here; the Union are still rebuilding.  They look better than I thought they would look at this point in the year, and we still have a long way to go.  I am cautiously optimistic in iambic pentameter…

The Union had a game in bitter cold
The snow was swirling, wind was whipping sore
But Philly filled with confidence was bold
Alas they could not find the net to score

Creavalle would find his first of yellow cards
By diving for the feet of Polster, Matt
His tackle from behind was rather hard
He’d have to be more careful after that

Sapong would hit a header off the bar
A bit of luck that didn’t go his way
Chicago then could thank their lucky stars:
A second post was hit through Philly’s play

The second half began with more the same
Another post-strike from Ilsinho now
A yellow for Creavalle who’d gone insane
Left Philly down a man to play somehow

Then just few minutes after ‘Valle was gone
A goal from Igbo put the hosts in front
Conclusion of the game was not foregone
But down a man the U looked rather blunt

So in the end the score was one to none
Chicago won their first game of the year
The Union by a red card was undone
How can young Philly learn and grow from here?

Creavalle has got to learn from his mistakes
And Philly has to grow in unity
As more is played upward will rise the stakes
We hope the U will progress by degrees