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McInerney burns Fire again as Union posts shutout

Jack McInerney, Jose Kleberson

By IVES GALARCEP

The stadium was a different one, but beyond that the number of similarities between the Philadelphia Union’s latest meeting with the Chicago Fire, and their meeting just a week earlier, was eery.

The final score was the same and the scorer of the game’s only goal was the same. Major League Soccer’s version of the movie Groundhog’s Day featured Jack McInerney scoring the winner in the Union’s 1-0 victory over the Fire on Saturday.

McInerney’s latest goal, his league-leading eighth, came just a week after he did the same thing at Toyota Park.

The Union defense rebounded well from Wednesday’s dismantling at the hands of the Los Angeles Galaxy, posting their second shutout in eight days against the Fire.

Zac MacMath made six saves for his second shutout of the week.

Here are the match highlights:

What did you think of the match? Impressed with the Union’s defense recovery? Think the F

Comments

  1. The Fire are a joke of a franchise now…We’ve been shut out now I think 5 of the first 9 or 10 games. Are you serious! The DP we brought in Macdonald is sitting on the bench and has 0 goals so far this season. We should go out and make a splash on Diego Forlan who said he wants to come to the MLS. It’d at least show they are trying to salvage a complete shit season

    Reply
    • Seriously. We are complete garbage right now and have been the last few seasons. As far as I can tell pretty much anyone who has a say doesn’t care. Clean (most of the) house before the fans clear the house.

      Reply
  2. Philadelphia looked really good in spurts, but how do they not dominate this game from start-to-finish is beyond me. Even after the Thompson red card, Chicago had the better of play for about 10 minutes or so. Other thoughts:

    – Soumare looked great and I really wish Philly would keep him.
    – Parke and Soumare in the back would be fantastic and would allow Okugo to move into midfield.
    – Kleberson is a definite upgrade in midfield, but not an allstar. Hopefully with more play, he’ll get sharper.
    – McInerney played better than usual, but not great. Then again, it doesn’t really matter b/c he’s scoring.
    – Le Toux needs to play more. He should be a straight swap for Danny Cruz.
    – Why doesn’t Conor Casey start?
    – Why put in Keon Daniel for Cruz when a man up and 15 minutes to go? Torres, Hoppenot or Casey would have been better choices. Hackworth is so conservative.
    – Chicago got the memo about pressuring MacMath on corners (they sat a man right on him), but it’s a shame that they couldn’t consistently take good corners.

    Reply
    • Not to make to many excuses, but they were tired and you could tell(maybe if they were actually as deep as the FO thinks they could have rotated players). Letoux doesn’t play well in midfield for some reason, don’t ask me why but every time he goes there he has a lackluster performance. Casey was sitting because they don’t want to wear him out, 3 games in 6 days is a lot for him. Keon came in because Torres doesn’t play well on the wing and Hoppenot doesn’t play well on the left; if only Garfan would have been available yesterday, what we what? And you’re right about pressuring Macmath, but I think he actually did a good job with it yesterday.

      Reply
      • I don’t think that Le Toux has been given a fair shot on the outside and it’d allow Hackworth to play his favored 4-3-3. Same would be said of Hoppenot instead of Cruz. Also Conor Casey only played for about 30 minutes on Wednesday so why only give him 20 on Saturday? He makes a huge difference when on the field. Finally, Keon Daniel is so mediocre it’s sad – he really does nothing very well at all, yet Hackworth consistently plays him in the middle (Michael Farfan and LeToux went outside when he came on). It’s as if Hackworth is afraid that a little entertainment and offense will result in a loss. Union should’ve won by 2 or 3.

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