Despite Some Rustiness, The Union Get The Job Done

The last game played in the MLS before the Coronavirus Pandemic was on March 8TH when Philadelphia and LAFC played to a 3-3 draw. Now after having three months off, the MLS was indeed back in a tournament style to help celebrate the return of soccer here in the US as it's played behind closed doors at the ESPN Wild World Of Sports Complex in Orlando, FL. The second match of the tournament featured two rivals playing a 9AM game as the Philadelphia Union took on NYCFC who were still looking to score their first goal of the season. Both sides were eager to work out all the kinks after so much time away and Philadelphia showed some solidarity with social issues with the Black Lives Matter shirts and on the back of the jerseys were the names of those shot by police officers. Nonetheless, there was a game to be played and that they did as both sides struggled to create opportunities in the first half. One thing was for certain in this game and that was Philadelphia's back five were definitely no joke. After a water break and almost 50 minutes of first half football, both sides were unable to find the back of the net on this hot and humid day in Florida as it remained scoreless.

The only takeaway from the first half is that NYCFC needed to take advantage of the opportunities they were given with more shots on target. That is exactly what NYCFC did with a substitution at halftime to try and breathe new life into the team, but unfortunate for them Philly was on the hunt for a goal and in the 65TH minute New Jersey native Alejandro Bedoya found the back of the net when he scooped up the rebound and hit the back of the net as he shot it towards the far post. For the rest of the game, the pressure was on NYCFC to try and even the game up, but as I said before Philadelphia had a tremendous defense that was shutting them down and they had a goalie by the name of Andre Blake who just came up huge in this game with some big saves. In the 86TH minute, Anton Tinnerholm sends a nice ball across the field to Brazilian international Héber who tries to shoot near post, but Blake makes the amazing save. In extra time, just as the game was coming to an end, Gary Mackay-Steven has a chance at a breakaway, but Blake put an end to the chance and ended all hopes NYCFC had of trying to walk away with a point. I know Bedoya was chosen as the player of the game for scoring the amazing goal, but we are awarding ours to Andre Blake whose saves kept Philly at the top of the food chain (for now).