Sebastien Le Toux remembers like it happened just a few hours ago.
April 10, 2010. Philadelphia Union vs. D.C. United in the Union’s first home opener – ever.
Three years ago, the Union found its first goal and first win fueled by a three goal outburst from Le Toux in front of over 30,000 supporters at Lincoln Financial Field.
But it’s not so much the day of the game he recalls, but the day before during a training session.
“We were doing a finishing exercise and I just couldn’t score,” Le Toux said Wednesday, the three year anniversary of the day. “My shots were going high and wide and I was getting annoyed with myself. People were getting on me because of my purple cleats and were saying that it was my cleats.”
In fact, it was suggested that Le Toux find a different pair of footwear for the match and not wear his purple boots at Lincoln Financial Field. Shrugging off the notion, the Frenchman came out of the tunnel on gameday ready to play same shoes and all.
The rest as the cliche suggests is history; but one that will live forever not just in the mind of Le Toux, but in Union lore.
“It was something huge for the first [home game],” said Le Toux. “[Remember, the Union] was a new team for me and a new beginning so I was very pumped up and very excited and so I was just very lucky and very excited. I can remember the stadium went so crazy and it was so loud. I think we all fed off that energy and everything was very intense.
It was a great team effort on the whole as the Union shrugged off a rough start to its inaugural campaign and on this night, proved to the fans that better times were to come.
“We deserved to win that game,” said Le Toux. “We had a bit of a mistake happen where we could have lost it but I feel like we were supposed to win that game. It was a great team effort all around.
Great effort capped by Le Toux and his three goals that still resonate among the most faithful of Union supporters three years later.
Another fan added:
“Lots of people still talk to me about it to this day,” added Le Toux. “Like I said, it marked a great start for me here and people remember this. I always think about this game and I hope to do this again sometime very soon.”
Contact Union writer Kerith Gabriel at kgabriel@philadelphiaunion.com
