Philadelphia Union Control Middle of Final Third In Win Over Nashville SC

The Union had a clear game plan to attack the middle of the field on Saturday and it worked to perfection.

CHESTER — The Philadelphia Union had a clear objective with their attacking strategy against Nashville SC on Saturday night.

The directive was for Mikael Uhre, Tai Baribo and Daniel Gazdag to operate in the middle of the field and isolate Nashville’s Brian Anunga.

“Sometimes there’s simplicity to it where now we’re telling Mikael that he’s best running in behind so you pin the two center backs back,” Union manager Jim Curtin said. “When Tai comes off the back line into the green zone, the area between the center backs and the 6, Anunga was isolated and he has to deal with Gazdag and Baribo coming on. We found a lot of space giving him two things to do.”

The result was Daniel Gazdag’s fourth hat-trick as a Union player, movement up the Eastern Conference table and a sense of relief that things are turning around.

“Soccer is fun again for the guys, which is good to see,” Curtin said. “No group has gone through a tough season more than our group and it’s hurt.”