Chicago Fire 4-3 Philadelphia Union – The Philadelphia Football Page

Photo: Ron Soliman

The Philadelphia Union suffered their fifth straight loss in horrific fashion Wednesday night to the Chicago Fire at Soldier Field. The Union gave up three goals late in the second half to lose the game despite having complete control of the game until the end.

This is the first time in franchise history that the team has lost 5 consecutive games.

Daniel Gazdag returned to the starting XI for Union after his spell with the Hungarian national team at the European Championship. Markus Anderson also returned, but spent the entire game on the bench.

The Union was without Jose Martinez for his international missions and many players were injured.

Tai Baribo had back spasms in the last game and was unable to dress after practicing limited this week. Mikael Uhre missed his second straight game with a torn adductor muscle. Alejandro Bedoya (hamstring) and Andre Blake (knee) have both returned to practice but are not ready to play.

The Union dominated possession early in the game but struggled to find a way through Chicago's defense. Philly, however, remained patient and took charge of possession. Their pressure was active, harassing Chicago higher up the pitch than in most recent games.

It took Chicago half an hour for the first strike in the 30th minute. A mistake by Leon Flach allowed Fabian Herbers to lead the break the other way. Herbers, a former Union draft pick, sent a through ball that was sent into the back of the net and eventually deflected by Haile-Selasse.

Seconds later, Haile-Selassie was about to score his second goal when he was thrown in behind, but Semmle stayed strong and held on, putting his body in front of the shot.

Philly managed to respond 7 minutes later, thanks to Leon Flach who found space and fired a low shot that was redirected towards the goal by Chris Donovan. Philly equalized.

In added time of the first half, Chicago goalkeeper Chris Brady came off his line to retrieve the ball near the edge of his penalty area. Brady missed the ball and Harriel threw himself between the goalkeeper and the ball, but he was pulled down inside the box.

Play resumed before a VAR check was carried out and the referee awarded a penalty to Union after a thorough review of the screen. Daniel Gazdag stepped up and converted the penalty, becoming Union's all-time leading scorer with 51 goals, eclipsing Sebastien Le Toux.

The Union extended their lead early in the second half in fabulous fashion. Jack McGlynn picked up the ball heading toward the heart of the Chicago defense, then opened his hips and curled it around the Chicago goalkeeper, hitting both posts for his third goal of the season.

Chicago came close to levelling things up shortly after. Chris Mueller, who had replaced Jonathan Dean at halftime, also curled a shot just wide of Oliver Semmle's outstretched fingers. VAR came to the Unions' rescue once again when Maren Haile-Selassie was adjudged to be offside in the build-up, and the goal was disallowed.

Philly was tightening up as their press began to sit further and further back as each of their attacks failed.

Chicago managed to open the scoring with 10 minutes left in regulation time. Hugo Cuypers took advantage of a lax defense from Jack Elliott and scored with a header from a set piece to give his team some life.

In the 89th minute, Chicago equalized on another set piece. A bad clearance by Oliver Semmle forced his team to defend a corner that was taken on goal by Gaston Gimenez.

And shortly after, Chicago took the lead, when Hugo Cuypers scored his second goal of the game on an obvious miscommunication between the center backs and the goalkeeper.

A really tough way to end what looked like a promising opportunity for the Union to get back to winning ways, but it's now becoming a trend. The Union can lick their wounds on the plane back to Philadelphia, as they head home to face the New York Red Bulls this Saturday.

Three points

• The bleeding doesn't stop. The team continues to show positive signs, followed by horrible mistakes that backfire. More late goals conceded and another confusing performance from the centre-backs and goalkeeper.
• The Return of Gazdag – Danny's return was a positive for the team. He added the quality the team was lacking in the final third and his presence seemed to open up space for the other members of the attacking trio. Oh yeah, he also scored another penalty, making it his 51st career Union goal, eclipsing Sebastien Le Toux.
• On the ropes – With the summer heat approaching, the Union are desperate for their regulars to return from injury or international duty. The team is rightfully on a tightrope and struggling to stay afloat, and there's no sign of that changing.

Compositions

Philadelphia Union

Oliver Semmle, Kai Wagner, Jakob Glesnes, Jack Elliott, Nathan Harriel, Jack McGlynn, Leon Flach, Daniel Gazdag, Chris Donovan (Jeremy Rafanello — 75′)Quinn Sullivan

Unused substitutes: Andrew Rick, Olivier Mbaizo, Olwethu Makhanya, Markus Anderson, David Vazquez, CJ Olney

Chicago Fire

Chris Brady, Rafael Czichos, Wyatt Omsberg, Arnaud Souquet, Allan Arigoni (Gaston Gimenez — 65′)Brian Gutierrez (Mauricio Pineda — 90′)Kellyn Acosta (Tom Barlow — 77′)Fabian Herbers, Jonathan Dean (Christopher Mueller — 45′)Hugo Cuypers (Georgios Koutsias — 90′)Maren Haile Selassie

Unused substitutes: Spencer Richey, Javier Casas, Diego Juan Konincks, Dawid Poreba,

Summary of scores

CHI: Maren Haile-Selassie — 30′

PHI: Chris Donovan — 38′

PHI: Daniel Gazdag — 45'+7

PHI: Jack McGlynn — 50′

CHI: Hugo Cuypers — 82′

CHI: Gaston Gimenez — 89′

CHI: Hugo Cuypers — 90'+1

Summary of the discipline

CHI: Omsberg — Yellow card (foul) 4′

PHI: Jakob Glesnes — Yellow card (foul) 32′

CHI: Chris Brady — Yellow card (foul) 45'+7

PHI: Daniel Gazdag — Yellow card (tactical foul) 53′

CHI: Frank Klopas (CHI coach) — Red card (dissent) 90′