Philadelphia Union vs. Alianza Concacaf Champions League Live Blog
The Philadelphia Union host Alianza in the CCL round of 16 second leg on Tuesday night. This post will have running updates live from Chester.
FINAL: Philadelphia Union 4, Alianza 0
The Philadelphia Union used goals from Damion Lowe, Daniel Gazdag and two from Andres Perea to advance to the Concacaf Champions League quarterfinals.
The Union will play either Olimpia or Atlas in the final eight. Olimpia holds a 4-1 lead on aggregate after one leg. The two sides play later tonight.
85’ GOAL!!! Andres Perea scores his second goal in five minutes. He was once again wide open on the right side of the box. Uhre played a ball through the box and it found the boot of the Union midfielder.
84’ SUB! Chris Donovan is on for Daniel Gazdag in the Union’s final change of the night.
81’ GOAL!! Andres Perea scores his first Union goal from wide open space on the right side of the box. Sullivan with the assist.
79’ This time Gazdag tries to get on his bike in front of goal. He connects with the shot, but it flies well away from the goal. The Union have had a ton of chances tonight and deserve to be up by three or four goals.
77’ Lowe gets a chance off a corner kick, but his shot hits Gazdag in an uncomfortable place and the ball goes out of bounds. Lowe has been the best player in a Union shirt tonight. Spot-on in defense and active on set pieces as well.
76’ SUB! Quinn Sullivan enters the match for Julian Carranza.
76’ SAVE! McGlynn’s attempt from the top of the box is denied by Gonzalez. Good buildup play again through the right, this time by Perea.
73’ McGlynn picks up a yellow card to the dismay of everyone in the crowd. The Alianza player rolled a bit too much on the ground after he was tackled.
71’ SAVE! Joe Bendik makes his first real save of the night, as he dives to his right and controls a slow shot from the right side of the box.
69’ SAVE! Carranza lets an effort go from the right side of the box, but he is saved at the near post. The Union are building up more pressure in and around the Alianza penalty area.
66’ TRIPLE CHANGE! Mikael Uhre, Andres Perea and Jesus Bueno are in for Joaquin Torres, Alejandro Bedoya and Jose Martinez. Perea and Bueno are in as defensive reinforcements to make sure nothing funky happens in the final 24 minutes.
62’ GOAL GAZDAG! Gazdag converts on the PK to make it 2-0 Union.
59’ VAR! After a check at the monitor, the Union are awarded a penalty for a handball on Alianza.
58’ Another disagreement with the ref from the Union players. They believe a cross struck the hand of a defender in the box.
55’ Carranza wallops an Alianza defender in the head with a bicycle kick attempt. The Union forward used a first touch off a Harriel cross to set himself for the attempt. Yellow card to Carranza for dangerous play.
52’ Another corner for the Union. The ball falls to Carranza’s feet and he lofts the shot over the Alianza net. The Union would love to get a second goal in the next 10 minutes to kill off the game and bring in some more defensive-minded players.
50’ Gazdag was nudged to the ground by a defender in the box. The referee was right behind the play and ruled there to be no penalty. It looked like a shoulder-to-shoulder challenge from up in the press box.
47’ NO GOAL!!!! The Union scored on a weird play off a corner. Wagner’s cross was headed toward the goal by Lowe. Gazdag nodded home the ball from short range. Gazdag was ruled offside after a discussion between the referee and VAR.
46’ The second half is underway. Alianza made one change to start the half with Jacobo coming on for Rodriguez.
HT: Union 1, Alianza 0
MASSIVE, MASSIVE goal right before halftime for the Union courtesy of Damion Lowe off a set piece. That was a huge boost for the team going into the half after the red card to Montes. Huge momentum shift in the game.
45’ GOAL!!! Damion Lowe scores his first Union goal on a header off a Kai Wagner corner kick. 1-0 Union.
44’ As the SHOOOOOT chants cascade from the stands, Glesnes attempts a shot from distance that rolls right into the goalkeeper’s arms.
43’ McGlynn’s free kick goes right into the wall. The ball falls to Martinez outside the box, and his shot is blocked at the top of the area by an Alianza defender.
40’ RED CARD! Martinez plays a terrific ball on to the feet of Harriel in stride. The Union right back is taken down by Montes on the edge of the penalty area. Montes is handed his second yellow and is sent off.
34’ The Union go into damage control mode off the corner. Martinez’s pass went off Glesnes and deflected into the path of an Alianza player. Harriel and Wagner rushed back to force him wide and end the attack before it reached the center of the box.
33’ Harriel is found in wide open space on the right. He deflects a cross off a defender for another Union corner. The Union have been trying to exploit the right side all night through Harriel, Bedoya and Torres.
29’ Not a bad idea by the Union on their latest free kick. Glesnes tried to time his run through the box to connect with the free kick, but he was ruled offside once his head touched the ball.
27’ Mercado sends a wishful effort from outside the box well over Bendik’s head in the Union goal.
25’ The game is way more open than I thought it would through 25 minutes. Alianza has decided to go for it as much as it can instead of bunkering. An active game with most of the action coming in the Union’s attacking half.
22’ NO GOAL! Wagner fires a corner in from the right, and the ball goes into the net, but Gazdag was ruled offside near the goalmouth. Still scoreless, but the chances are mounting.
19’ Wagner rolls in the free kick on the ground and eventually falls to Torres’ feet. Torres rounds himself over the ball and fires a shot well over the net.
18’ Bedoya wins a free kick on the right wing. Yellow card to Alianza’s Montes.
17’ Torres breaks free down the right, but his pass slides right into the goalkeeper’s arms. Carranza was waiting to connect on to the pass. Bright start for Torres alongside Carranza.
15’ OFFSIDE! Carranza makes a run down the right flank with Torres right behind him. The offside flag goes up on the Union forward.
10’ The Union just had two corners in a row. No significant chances came of those set pieces. They are started to be more aggressive in the final third with Alianza on the back foot.
9’ CHANCE! Gazdag’s shot is tipped over the bar. He connected with a cross from Bedoya. Torres left it for Gazdag on a dummy. Corner to the Union.
7’ The replay showed it was a clear penalty, as the goalkeeper made contact with Gazdag’s feet. The official ruling is a goal kick after lengthy complaints to the referee.
6’ NO CALL?!?!? Daniel Gazdag was taken down in the box by the goalkeeper, but the referee initially ruled a corner kick and no penalty.
6’ Alianza has started with an effort to attack. Mercado tried to drive into the penalty area on the ball, but Martinez was there to clean up the move.
3’ Jose Martinez picks up the ball about 35 yards from goal and sends a shot wide of the right post. The Union’s approach should be to get some early shots from distance off to test the Alianza goalkeeper. Martinez’s effort wasn’t close, but it was a good idea.
1’ We are underway in Chester. The Union are attacking the River End in the first half.
The teams are out on the field in Chester ready for kickoff. It feels even colder than Saturday’s MLS match against Chicago. I don’t blame anyone who stayed home. It’s a shame the game is on Fox Soccer Plus, but that’s what I’m here for for the next two hours. Plenty of updates to follow.
What Needs to Be Done: The Union need to win to advance to the CCL quarterfinals. Away goals matter in CCL, unlike the UEFA Champions League. The only way the match can go to extra time and penalty kicks is if the game ends 0-0 in regulation.
Alianza advances with a scoring draw, or a win. The Union advance with a win in regulation.
Lineup Thoughts: Joaquin Torres is starting up top for Mikael Uhre. It’s a smart move by Curtin to avoid falling into the trap of a potential bunker from Alianza.
Curtin noted in his post-match press conference on Saturday that Torres entered for Uhre because the Danish forward’s runs behind the center backs would not work against Chicago’s two banks of four.
McGlynn is in for Flach is used in the same vein as the Torres start. McGlynn’s on-ball activity will be used to try and break up Alianza’s defensive lines.
Damion Lowe and Nathan Harriel starting for Jakob Glesnes and Olivier Mbaizo are pure rotation moves in the back line to avoid tired legs in front of Joe Bendik.
Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union.