Borek Dockal was brought in to play the final ball Philadelphia Union was missing so often in 2017, and he has done it with aplomb this year. With nine helpers through 19 starts, the Czech playmaker is beginning to threaten Cristian Maidana’s club record of 15 assists in a season, and he’s done doing it while Philly endures an extended struggle to finish.
In truth, Dockal may be the perfect player for a team that is still searching for consistency in front of net. He’s operating as a volume player for the Union, which means he’s responsible for ignoring past incompletions and endlessly feeding balls into good areas even when the final result isn’t what he hoped for. That mental aggression — the ability to stick to the plan even when the goals aren’t flowing — is what the Union prized in Dockal, and he has delivered.
On Wednesday night, Dockal only had two completed passes into the Houston Dynamo box, but both resulted in goals. The other balls into the box? Incompletes, well-defended, miscommunication. But it didn’t matter, Dockal kept probing. And while there was a whiff of luck in his first assist — a toe-poke that caught everyone but Ale Bedoya off-guard — the second was pure class. Dockal dropped into a pocket in front of the back line, turned to the center as if to shoot, and played a pass into the box through a lane so coy that even Cory Burke, the intended recipient, seemed surprised to see the ball emerge in front of him. Burke recovered quickly though, and when his shot split the legs of Joe Willis, the Union had the lead they had been chasing since Houston went down a man ten minutes earlier.
Philly held on for the win — thanks in part to Dockal’s defensive hustle to throw off Alberth Elis on a Houston breakout — and moved within one point of the Eastern Conference playoff line. Borek Dockal was named man of the match for his performance on Wednesday night, and it was deserved.
