CHESTER, Pa. — Making his first start of the season, Philadelphia Union winger Ilsinho weaved through defenders, fired a ball off D.C. United defender Frederic Brillant’s legs, and quickly picked up the ball in the back of the net to run it back to midfield.
There was no time to celebrate the Union’s first goal in 243 minutes, or worry about the sloppy way in which it was scored.
After weeks of offensive frustration, all the Union were focused on at at that point was seeing if the 37th-minute goal could lead to the attacking floodgates finally opening — which they did, to an extent, in a much-needed 3-2 victory at Talen Energy Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
“We created like the other games,” Ilsinho told MLSsoccer.com. “But today we scored the goals and it made the difference.”
Coming into Saturday’s game, the Union had only scored once in their last five contests. But the club’s players and coaches have been trying to insist that the attack is better than it might seem — and there were some metrics, like expected goals, that backed up such a claim.
Against D.C., the Union once again dominated the shat sheet, outshooting D.C. 23-4 while controlling 61.1 percent of the possession and completing 86 percent of their passes — numbers which Union head coach Jim Curtin believes fueled the scoring outbreak.
“I’m most proud of the group for the way we possess the ball now, which I think is at a level that we’ve never had,” Curtin said. “Are people frustrated we’re not scoring? Absolutely. I get that part. But to have control of the ball like we did today was impressive.”
For a while, it looked like the possession or shooting stats might not lead to three points as the Union saw D.C. United take a 1-0 lead and later tie the game at 2-2 on a second-half Darren Mattocks goal.
But in the 72nd minute, Borek Dockal opened his MLS account in style with a top-shelf rocket from a tough angle. That game-winning tally came just 12 minutes after CJ Sapong, who had also been mired in a scoring slump, scored his second goal of the season following a beautiful buildup from Haris Medunjanin and Alejandro Bedoya.
“It was a relief for us because we’re fighting every game to score a goal,” Medunjanin said. “Today again I think we had like 20-30 shots, almost every attack was almost a chance, but we don’t score and then you see D.C. United who just defend and don’t want to play soccer. …. I think you saw in us we were hungry to take the three points. We fight for each other and play as a team and that’s the most important thing.”
In the end, David Accam was the only member of the Union front four not to score. But according to Curtin, he still did important work running at defenders on the oft-isolated left wing, especially while the Union tried to protect their late lead.
Accam also enjoyed playing on the opposite side of Ilsinho, who got the start in place of Fafa Picault. Before that, it was Fabian Herbers who started the first three games on the right wing.
“He added so much to the attack,” Accam said of Ilsinho. “Technically, he’s one of the best players I’ve seen in the league. He can go through tight space with ease and, for me, he was our key player today. He changed the game.”
