Philadelphia Union came out on top in a high scoring thriller led by two goals from Tai Baribo to knock out FC Cincinnati by a 4-2 margin on Tuesday night.
A scoreless first half turned into a track meet in the second half with Baribo turning in his fourth multi-goal performance of the season two goals in 20 minutes to send the Union into the Leagues Cup Quarterfinals that will be held at Subaru Park on Saturday, August 17th.
Mikeal Uhre opened the scoring six minutes into the second half with a counter attacking finish set up by Daniel Gazdag. Ten minutes later, Baribo bagged his first goal of the evening to extend the lead to two but FC Cincinnati battled back to tie up the contest in the 80th minute. The Boys in Blue embraced the never say die mentality on the road to re-establish the lead a minute later as Baribo deposited a cross from Quinn Sullivan to put the Union ahead for good. Sullivan added an all important insurance goal in the 84th minute as he ran down his own saved shot to convert on the second attempt to reach the final scoreline.
With tonight's victory in Ohio, Philadelphia Union are headed back to Subaru Park where it will host a Leagues Cup Quarterfinals on Saturday, August 17th. Tickets for the match are on sale now for the contest and Philadelphia Union discover who they will welcome to Subaru Park later this evening with the winner of the Round of 16 clash between Cruz Azul and Mazatlán FC.
Philadelphia Union’s visit to Cincinnati on Tuesday night marked the third time the two sides had faced off in single-elimination matchup in three years. This time, they competed for a spot in the Leagues Cup tournament’s Quarterfinals with Head Coach Jim Curtin taking on his former assistant with a full-strength squad including Andre Blake in net for the first time against Cincinnati this season. Kai Wagner, Jack Elliott, Jakob Glesnes, and Olivier Mbaizo made up the defense while Jose Martinez, Alejandro Bedoya, and Jack McGlynn made up the midfield alongside Daniel Gazdag who left their last match with an injury but proved healthy enough to make the start. Mikael Uhre and Baribo started up top – and it was the 29-year-old Danish forward who ramped intensity early.
Philly thought it had opened the scoring in the fourth minute when captain Bedoya booted a one-touch pass from the sideline, finding Uhre in 1v1 with Roman Celentano in net. He ran onto the ball, shooting it in stride but after a lengthy VAR review, the officials ruled his early effort offside by a matter of inches.
Bedoya continued to play the facilitator through the first half, often finding himself against Cincinnati’s Corey Baird on the right side of the attack. The matchup was one the Union sought to exploit early and often as the 28-year-old forward was placed in a defensive position for the first time in his career. Bedoya took advantage of the opportunity, continuously finding his teammates via passes from Baird’s side but each were unable to finish.
There was no shortage of attacking attempts for either team in the first half, but the Union’s strong defensive effort and an assist from the post kept the hosts from capitalizing on any of their chances in the opening 45.
Just before the half hour mark, El Brujo put in another spectacular defensive play as he turned on the jets to track Luca Orellano’s speedy burst down the sideline, stopping the young Argentinein his tracks to regain possession for the Union team. Cincy’s closest chance to take the lead came in the 35th minute, when Yuya Kubo took a promising shot from the center of the box but slightly misplaced it. It was blocked by only the woodwork, saving Philadelphia from a first half deficit in the win-or-go-home affair.
The Union were forced into their first chance of the contest in the 38th minute, swapping Harriel for Mbaizo when the Cameroonian couldn’t continue due to injury. The Homegrown took the team’s seventh shot of the match shortly after entering the pitch, following up a blocked Baribo to Bedoya to Baribo sequence with a shot of his own in the 40th minute. Bedoya was the feeder for his blast as well, but Harriel’s powerful push forward missed to the left.
Green-haired forward Sergio Santos put pressure on his former team on the other end of the field, attempting to weave through the Union defense for shots on Blake with no luck.
The first half finished scoreless after four minutes of added time, and the team’s finished near dead-even on the stat sheet as possession was nearly dead split, and Cincinnati led the attacking effort with 10 goals to Philadelphia’s 7, both with two on target each.
Philadelphia Union opened scoring at the top of the second half, putting one past Celentano in the 51st minute. Far outside the box, Gazdag settled then chipped the ball up and forward toward Uhre, and though three Cincinnati defenders crashed toward him, he unleashed his shot just in time, finding a sliver of space between the keeper and the left post to grab a 1-0 lead.
10 minutes later, Tai Baribo extended the lead to 2-0, scoring on the same pitch he earned his first Major League Soccer start less than two months prior. During that June 16th match, he took advantage of the opportunity he was given, scoring his first and second-ever goals in a Union kit. Since then, he’s boosted his total to 10, including the goal that gave his team a healthy advantage in Tuesday’s must-win matchup.
Philadelphia Union’s pair of goals didn’t shake Cincinnati’s persistence – 62nd minute, Cincinnati manager Pat Noonan made his first substitutions of the night, swapping Sergio Santos and Ian Murphy for Kevin Kelsy and Kipp Keller. With fresh legs on the pitch, the home team was injected with energy, and it unfolded in a Pavel Bucha goal to make the score 2-1.
From there, Cincinnati clawed for an equalizer, but Blake stood tall, once again reminding those watching why he earned MLS Goalkeeper of the Year honors three times so far in his career. In the 73rd minute, he made a pair of game changing saves, jumping to block an Orellano shot, then resetting quickly to dive the opposite direction to get a hand on a rebound attempt from the foot of Kubo.
Play-by-play announcer Danny Higginbotham described Blake just as the 11th-season keeper described himself on Philadelphia Union’s podcast The DOOP stating “he’s like fine wine’ upon the stops.
With 15 minutes remaining, Curtin made a pair of changes that swiftly proved essential. He traded Uhre for Sam Adeniran and Bedoya for Quinn Sullivan, and though Cincinnati’s Deandre Yedlin got one on the board to equalize in the 80th minute, the locked scoreline didn’t last long. Just like he did last time the team visited Cincinnati, Baribo bagged a brace for a 3-2 lead, this time by way of a Sullivan assist.
It was just the start of the 20-year-old Homegrown massive impact off the bench – two minutes after setting up Baribo’s lead-claiming goal, Sullivan scored the team’s fourth, following through on his own rebound to make it 4-2 in the 84th.
With tonight's victory in Ohio, Philadelphia Union are headed back to Subaru Park where it will host a Leagues Cup Quarterfinals on Saturday, August 17th. Tickets for the match are on sale now for the contest and Philadelphia Union discover who they will welcome to Subaru Park later this evening with the winner of the Round of 16 clash between Cruz Azul and Mazatlán FC.
