Rate The U: A Tough Night in Chicago

Jim Curtin and the Philadelphia Union traveled to Chicago on Saturday evening to take on CJ Sapong and the Chicago Fire. The Union would end up loosing the game 2-0.

The starting XI for the Union was different then what we have been seeing from The Union in the past few weeks. Jim Curtin decided to start Marco Fabian in a striker possession instead of his usual creative midfield position. With Jamiro Monteiro now starting for the Union it appears Curtin didn’t want to move Warren Creavalle to the bench and found a way to pack the starting team full of midfielders, which is great for possession, but bad for scoring.

Before the end of the first half, the Philadelphia Union would go down 2-0. The defense for Philadelphia would be mostly to blame for these goals with Aurelien Collin getting his third straight start at Center Back over Auston Trusty. Last weeks Man of The Match Jack Elliott would also start at Center back for the game.

After years of CJ Sapong playing for the Philadelphia Union, Philadelphia fans were able to enjoy the strength of CJ Sapong in his hold up play at the striker position. CJ has always been able to hold up the ball and get a defender to draw fouls against him. CJ was traded to the Fire at the beginning of the season and it has come back to bite Philadelphia as we saw CJ take a foul from Aurelien Collin holding him back on a corner kick. CJ would end up falling in the box and the referee would call it against Collin, giving the Fire and Nemanja Nikolic a PK against Union keeper Andre Blake.

In the second half of the game, Ilsinho Brenden Aarsonson, and Andrew Wooten would be subbed in to help the Philadelphia Union get a goal. The Union had significant chances in the second half but they were all missed. Philadelphia had 15 shots against the Fire and were able to keep 69.7% of the possession but it is abundantly clear that the need for a convincing striker is dire.

The Union are now in second place in the Eastern Conference and have fallen out of a first week by playoff spot. Atlanta and Philadelphia are tied in overall points but Atlanta wins the goal differential tie breaker and have a game in hand over the Union.

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