Philadelphia’s play disappoints in sloppy win over Houston
Fresh off their 5-1 win over D.C. United, the Philadelphia Union hosted the Houston Dynamo in Talen Energy Stadium today. The game took a few minutes for both teams to create meaningful chances but it was the Union that struck first in the 18th minute.
After some back and forth touches on the left side of the box between Haris Medunjanin and Kacper Przybylko, it was Przybylko who found enough space to strike the ball at the goal. The German forward scored his 11th goal of the season after Houston’s goalkeeper was unable to prevent the ball from sneaking in between his legs and into the goal.
Not a lot of chances at goal were created by either team in the first half. The Union controlled possession and made sure to play through Marco Fabian. The Mexican international controlled the tempo of the game by maneuvering around the Houston defenders and finding open teammates. An example of this took place in the 38th minute where Fabian, after a failed corner kick, got the ball back on the right side of the box and placed a pass in the 6-yard box to Aurélien Collin, who headed the ball wide left.
Collin’s miss would come back to haunt the Union in the 42nd minute when Houston’s Christian Ramirez scored his 1st goal of the season. Demarcus Beasley directed a ball in between 5 Union defenders to catch Ramirez in the top of the box where he controlled the ball perfectly for a self-assisted volley that beat Philadelphia’s Andre Blake to tie the game 1-1. Overall, it was a sloppy first half for the Union, a stark contrast from last week’s effort.
After his goal saving chance earlier in the game, Jack Elliot put Philadelphia up by scoring the Union’s second goal of the night in the 78th minute. A set-piece play that resulted in a cross into the box, Union’s defender Collin was able to head the ball into the middle of the Dynamo’s box where the Houston defenders were unable to clear the ball away from the area, giving Elliot the opportunity to head into the goal after the ball bounced into the top of the crossbar.
The beginning moments of the 2nd half almost found the Dynamo going up a score when a dangerous bouncing ball in the box was not cleared properly by Collin. Ramirez again found himself in a goal-scoring position and was able to poke the ball past a rushing Blake. The ball failed to get in the goal when Philadelphia’s Jack Elliott cleared the dangerous chance away. This marked the beginning of a Dynamo onslaught on Philly’s Andre Blake, who earned his keep by deflecting multiple Houston attempts on goal.
Overall, this was a sloppy defensive game by the Union that saw the Houston Dynamo always keep them on their toes. The score remained 2-1 in favor of the home team with the Dynamo ending the game with 10 men on the field. The result places the Union on top of the Eastern Conference leaderboard with a 3 point cushion between them and the second-place Atlanta United. Philadelphia will now travel west to Chicago where they will face a team they handily beat last month. After their 4th straight loss, Houston will next face the Colorado Rapids in a matchup of the Western Conference foes.
