Friday evening brought along a trip on the road to the north and across the border for Union II and their new, interim Head Coach Chris Harmon as they took on Toronto FC II for the third time this season, looking to clinch the season series 2-1.
Union II headed into the game on the back of a 2-1 win over Atlanta United 2, their first win for quite some time, and they were looking to start building some form and momentum to push towards the top of the Eastern Conference Standings. Chris Harmon will be in charge for the time being, as Ryan Richter is the acting Head Coach for the senior team after Bradley Carnell was fired earlier in the week.
Harmon was dealing with some squad selection issues heading into this game, with many of the academy players away for the MLS Next Cup, and the news that Andrew Rick would be serving as a training goalkeeper for the USMNT's World Cup campaign. Pierce Holbrook took over in goal from George Marks for this game, while Finn Sundstrom, Malik Jakupovic, and Kellan LeBlanc all came back into the starting XI.
Union II fell to Revolution II in midweek MLS Next Pro action.
Image Provided / Philadelphia Union II
The first half of the game was fairly evenly contested with neither side really pushing the other or troubling either goalkeeper, and it looked like the teams would be heading into the halftime break tied up goalless, but just five minutes from time, the hosts, Toronto, took the lead through a brilliant strike from outside the box from Fletcher Bank that left Holbrook no chance of saving it.
Toronto kept the pressure up at the start of the 2nd half, and their momentum carried through from their late first-half goal as just five minutes after the halftime break, Tristan Blyth doubled the hosts' lead after some wonderful build-up play and passing from the Toronto midfield and attack, just taking apart the Union II defensive line with ease.
After conceding their 2nd goal of the game, Union II tried to fight back in the game and got rewarded for doing so just after 60 minutes had been played when academy player Matheus De Paula scored a goal that will likely win goal of the season, his 2nd goal in as many games and his entire professional career. De Paula picked it up from around 30 or more yards out and just fired an outrageous strike into the top corner.
Union II tried to use the momentum they'd created from the De Paula goal to rally for an equaliser but the best chance of the last 30 minutes of the game was for Toronto but their shot from just outside the box just went wide of the left hand post of Pierce Holbrook's goal and Union II slipped to a 2-1 road defeat, giving Toronto the season series 2-1 and the hosts joined Union II on the same amount of points in the standings.
Union II and Chris Harmon will look to bounce back next Friday evening as they hit the road again to face Crown Legacy FC, the Eastern Conference leaders, with kickoff scheduled for 7pm ET.
After going a man down early, Philadelphia Union II couldn't find a goal against New England Revolution II.
Image Provided / Philadelphia Union II
