Philadelphia Union Can Take More Positives Away from Draw With Columbus Crew

A Posidelphia take on the Union's 2-2 draw with Columbus.

It’s mid-May and the Philadelphia Union just competed with one of the best team in MLS for 90 minutes.

That’s a huge step in the right direction for a team that carried a lot of unknowns into the 2025 campaign.

If this was October and the postseason was on the horizon, I’d move the goalposts and break out the negative comments.

HOWEVER, the Union are still building toward something and I think it’s fair to have a Posidelphia spin on Saturday’s home draw.

The Union are third in the East through 12 games and I don’t think they’ve been run off the pitch in any game.

There were stretches of the road game against Inter Miami where the lack of overall quality compared to Miami were on display, but it wasn’t a thorough ass-kicking by the Herons, like we’ve seen in previous matchups of the Lionel Messi era.

There’s a chance to make more judgements in comparison to Miami in two weeks.

As for the Crew matchup, Bradley Carnell actually put in a solid game plan.

There were multiple opportunities in the first half where the pressing cues were used properly and almost resulted in clear-cut chances.

The defensive strategy against Darlington Nagbe has always been to make him play sideways or backward, but under Carnell, the Union opted to smother the long-time midfielder.

Carnell employed multiple players to press Nagbe and force the ball backward. The pressing of Nagbe and of the Columbus back line put the Crew under some real pressure.

Sending Danley Jean Jacques forward to press was a nice wrinkle as well. You can do that with Danley at 100 percent because he has the recovery speed to get back into position if Columbus moves quick.

For 85-88 minutes, the Union had the Crew bundled up, and before the 93rd-minute equalizer, you could make a strong case the Union deserved the three points.

They used a quick move off a free-kick to score the opener. You need one of those moments to shift the momentum of the game. Quinn Sullivan did that with his ball into Tai Baribo.

In matchups like Saturday’s, you also need moments of brilliance, which holy hell did the Union get that from Frankie Westfield.

Carnell noted in his post-match press conference that Westfield’s volleyed strike was worthy of being a game-winner, and it was until the final minute of the game.

Now, look, it wasn’t all perfect.

There was wide open, and I mean WIDE OPEN, space on the left wing for Max Arfsten to score Columbus’ first goal.

You simply can’t concede off a set piece in the 93rd minute. It’s a bad mistake, but again, it was more of a blip on the radar in a strong performance than a goal that was coming after a second-half onslaught.

The Union weren’t holding on to dear life in the final 10-15 minutes of the contest and getting bailed out by their goalkeeper, like you see in plenty of instances across the world.

Sure, they could’ve finished the chance late in the game, but the more frustrating sequence late in the second half is the concession itself.

The reason the Posidelphia spin is coming out after this specific game is because of the signs we’ve seen from the Union over the last few weeks.

It’s a different coach and there’s new members of the cast, but they have the winning swagger back, like the one they had a few years ago.

The Union beat three teams they were supposed to beat. Atlanta was in bad form and D.C. and Montreal are just bad.

Against Montreal and Indy Eleven, the Union found ways to win in games that last year would’ve been draws, losses, or in the case of the Indy Eleven game, elimination in the U.S. Open Cup.

Carnell’s stabilized the team and brought it new life through 12 games and the results show that.

The Union are averaging 1.92 points per game and should beat another bad team in the LA Galaxy on Wednesday night.

That’s not to say the draw with Columbus doesn’t sting, but when you look at the performance as a whole and the team’s overall direction, the Union are in good shape to be a contender.

Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union.