Philadelphia Union wins in front of their home fans behind two-assist night for Ilsinho

CHESTER, Pa. — The Philadelphia Union stayed unbeaten at home in 2020 playing in front of fans for the first time with a nervy 2-1 win over the Montreal Impact on a rainy night at Subaru Park.

Ilsinho started for the first time July 9 and rewarded head coach Jim Curtin for the decision, setting up a goal with a splitting pass to Jamiro Monteiro in the 39th minute and unselfishly setting up Sergio Santos in the 48th minute.

Brenden Aaronson was again the deadly piece in the counter as he was in the 3-0 win over FC Cincinnati on Wednesday, unlocking the Impact defense from the left flank after getting the ball on the run and playing Ilsinho in with a through ball. The goal was Monteiro’s first in a regular season match since last June (his goal in the MLS is Back Tournament knockouts didn’t count for regular season stats).

After the Santos goal, which followed an Andre Blake save and counter attack off the ensuing corner kick, it looked like the Union would be cruising to another easy win but Amar Sejdic had other ideas, scoring his first MLS goal in the 68th minute.

Sejdic nearly burned the Union defense for an equalizer in the 86th minute when he played Romell Quioto in with a threaded pass, but Quioto — whose red card with Montreal leading changed the game in the Union’s favor when the two teams last month — was unable to beat Blake with a chip that went wide of the target.

The win was the sixth straight for the Union at Subaru Park, which welcomed about 2,800 fans after Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf lifted restrictions for outdoor sporting events. The Union improved to 10-3-4 on the season and remain in second place in the Eastern Conference, three points behind Toronto FC, which leads the Supporters’ Shield race and is the only team to already clinch a playoff berth.

GOALS/ASSISTS
PHI – Jamiro Monteiro (Ilsinho) 39’
PHI – Sergio Santos (Ilsinho) 48’
MTL – Amar Sejdic (Romell Quioto) 65’

DISCIPLINARY SUMMARY
MTL – Samuel Piette (caution) 55’
PHI – Olivier Mbaizo (caution) 58’
MTL – Victor Wanyama (caution) 59’
MTL – Jorge Corrales (caution) 71’
PHI – Alejandro Bedoya (caution) 76’
PHI – Matt Real (caution) 90+3’

LINEUPS

Philadelphia Union: Andre Blake; Olivier Mbaizo (Matt Real 61’), Jack Elliott, Mark McKenzie, Kai Wagner; Alejandro Bedoya, Warren Creavalle (Sergio Santos 45’), Jamiro Monteiro; Ilsinho (Anthony Fontana 72’), Brenden Aaronson (Andrew Wooten 90’); Kacper Przybylko

Substitutes not used: Joe Bendik, Matt Freese; Aurelien Collin, Matej Oravec, Michee Ngalina

Montreal Impact: Clément Diop; Luis Binks, Rudy Camacho, Rod Fanni, Jorge Corrales, Zachary Brault-Guillard (Clément Bayiha 84’), Victor Wanyama; Amar Sejdic, Samuel Piette; Bojan Krkic (Ballou Tabla 57’), Mason Toye (Romell Quioto 51’)

Substitutes not used: Shamit Shome, Joel Waterman, James Pantemis, Karifa Yao, Tomas Giraldo, Jonathan Sirois