Philadelphia Union drew 2-2 in Orlando Saturday night, and there were plenty of talking points.
Bo(rek) knows assists
New York Red Bulls new playmaker Kaku started the season hot and had the rest of the league chasing him up the assist leaderboard.
On Saturday night, Borek Dockal caught up. The Czech creator was looking to play back post from the right in the early stages of the match, but it took until the 32nd minute to find a connection. With 14 assists on the year, Dockal is now one away from the Union’s all-time single season record.
The big question is how badly Cristian Higuita injured Dockal with his tackle late in the first half. Referee Chris Penso — much to Dockal’s chagrin — waved play-on at the time, but the crunching hit from behind tweaked the playmaker’s ankle and he had to leave the match in the 40th minute.
- READ: Match Recap
Picault paces the shooters
Fafa Picault finished off his incredible dribbling run in the middle of the second half with a deflected shot that beat Joe Bendik. It was one of seven shots the winger took on the night, four of which came from outside the box and central, and three more that were released from the top left corner of the box.
By the end of the evening, Orlando City and the Union’s left wing had the same number of shots on goal, and Picault also had a crossbar to his credit.
But Picault’s shooting was part of a trend for the Union. Faced with a low defensive block from Orlando, Philly was forced to settle for long shots from outside the box on 10 or their 20 total attempts. Even though the Purple Lions did a fairly poor job of stepping up to pressure many of the shots, that’s still more long range efforts than might be preferred against a team with a porous defense.
Ilsinho down again
Jim Curtin turned to Ilsinho for an offensive boost in the second half, but only briefly. The Brazilian tweaked his hamstring soon after coming on and had to be replaced by David Accam. Ilsinho was likely expected to be a key piece off the bench during the stretch run of the season, and with a congested September schedule, the Union will need to put their “next man up” mentality to the test. Accam was next up on Saturday night, and the winger will need to be productive over the next two months if the Union are to continue their assault on a top four spot in the Eastern Conference
The Union’s next opponent is Montreal Impact. Now four points back of Philly, the Canadians come to town on September 15th for a gigantic conference showdown in Talen Energy Stadium.
