Jose Martinez Breaks Down His First Philadelphia Union Goal

The Union's Venezuelan midfielder broke down what went into his goal on Wednesday night against Orlando City.

CHESTER — Jose Martinez wasn’t sure if his 90th-minute shot was headed toward the Orlando City net when he hit on Wednesday night.

“When I hit it, I knew it was a good hit, but I wasn’t sure if it went in,” Martinez said. on Friday. “That’s why, if you notice in the celebration, there was a little bit of a pause, but then I saw it went in and I was happy that it was my first goal.”

The Venezuelan’s first career goal in Major League Soccer came on his 96th shot attempt, and the 95th from outside the box.

Despite the failed efforts, Martinez received support to keep on shooting.

“I always have the confidence in my shot,” Martinez said. “That’s why I shoot and shoot and shoot. After a while it finally went in.”

“That’s what I said in the film. I stopped Ryan (Richter), who does most of the talking during film, and said this doesn’t mean you should shoot every time now,” Union manager Jim Curtin joked during Friday’s press conference. “I’ll just say that was an amazing goal and the kind you dream of as a player with how perfect that was hit. It had to be Goal of the Week.”

Of course, Martinez received some slack from his teammates throughout the process to get to the goal, and that showed in the celebration.

“In previous games, my teammates would joke and tease me because of my shots,” Martinez said. “In a previous conversation with Ale Bedoya, I told him that if I score in the next game, don’t celebrate with me. If you notice, when we celebrated, I took a pause and pushed Alejandro away from me because of that moment.”

“It was nice to celebrate with my teammates and it was good to have my teammates all around me,” Martinez said.

It would be fitting if Martinez receives the “SHOOOOOT” chant from the Union fans inside Subaru Park on Saturday, the one customarily used for Jakob Glesnes.

“The fans are definitely going to shout,” Martinez said. “Some of my teammates have already been joking around that the fans are going to start yelling “SHOOT”. I have to play my game, be focused and calm and play for the team and not myself.”

And while it may be tempting to replicate brilliance in front of the home crowd, Curtin knows the approach has to be more measured from that distance, no matter how much the crowd wants Martinez to shoot.

“They are human beings so every time you receive a ball in that area of the field naturally it’s less defended because you are so far out,” Curtin said. “Jakob gets the crowd that says it every time because he’s scored a few good ones from distance.”

“You do have to find the balance of what is the best soccer play in that moment, percentage wise. You can throw in the time of game. There is desperation when Jose takes his chance, so maybe you throw it out there and take more of a risk at that stage of things.

“It has to make sense. You play the percentages. We still know where a majority of the goals are scored. Getting the ball in the red zone is a higher percentage of creating a goal scoring opportunity. Doing whatever is necessary to do that. I think the guys understand that, but yeah, occasionally let it fly and do that depending on score, time of game and what makes the most sense soccer wise with the personnel.”

Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union.