Wooten makes MLS debut, has goal with first touch waived off by VAR

Andrew Wooten put the ball in the back of the net with his first touch in his Philadelphia Union debut Saturday night but like so much in the game for the visitors, it wasn’t meant to be.

Wooten’s goal was waived off after video review confirmed that the ball had crossed the end line for a goal kick when Haris Medunjanin caught up to it and crossed it to Wooten in the box for a half volley that beat Nick Rimando.

The goal would have cut Real Salt Lake’s lead in half, but instead three minutes later a goal off a terrible giveaway from Ray Gaddis made it 3-0. VAR went against the Union again when an offside call on the would-be fourth goal of the night for RSL was overturned in the 89th minute.

Wooten finished his first appearance for the Union with a 14-minute shift and drew two fouls but ended up not registering a shot. As a team, the Union had five shots but didn’t get one on target on a night in a 4-0 loss.

“Happy for my MLS debut, but I wish it could have been better,” Wooten said after the match. “We gotta watch tape and see what went wrong and hopefully we can fix that next week.”