Looking lost and overmatched at home while in the thick of a playoff hunt, the Philadelphia Union dug deep and came up with perhaps a season-altering rally.
Sebastien Le Toux scored twice, and Freddy Adu scored his first goal since joining the Union and his first MLS goal since 2007 to help the Union battle back from a 4-1 halftime deficit and tie the New England Revolution, 4-4, on a wild night at PPL Park.
Le Toux volleyed home a ball that bounced off Veljko Paunovic's shoulder in the second minute of second-half stoppage time for the equalizer to cap off the comeback and salvage a point for the Union. Philadelphia is still in position to nab a postseason berth (35 points, tied for third in the Eastern Conference) but would have surely been deflated had it suffered a home loss to the Revs, a team that has struggled to score and win on the road all season.
New England, which entered the game tied for the fewest goals scored in the league, tallied four times in the first half and had the Union on their heels throughout the opening 45 mintues. Rookie centerback A.J. Soares started the onslaught in the 9th minute with a free header off a free kick, which was followed by a Rajko Lekic penalty 12 minutes later.
Moncef Zerka, who was making his MLS debut, headed home a Chris Tierney cross to the far post in the 25th minute, and Benny Feilhaber cancelled out Roger Torres' splendid goal with a wonderful shot of his own, beating rookie goalkeeper Zac MacMath with a low shot from outside the area that tucked inside the left post in the 33rd minute.
Adu, who played all 90 minutes, started the second-half surge for Philadelphia in the 54th minute off a well-worked combination with second-half substitute Danny Mwanga. The first overall pick in the 2010 draft played a ball out left to Adu, who had space to work with in the box before slotting a left-footed shot past Matt Reis to cut the deficit to 4-2.
Le Toux got the Union a step closer in the 79th minute, scoring from the penalty spot after he was taken down in the area by Pat Phelan on a set-piece opportunity. Phelan suffered a blow to the head and had to exit the game after the Revolution had already used its three substitutes, giving the Union a man advantage for the final push that resulted in the equalizer.
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What did you think of the game?
Share your thoughts below.
Yes, but Seattle is still doing pretty darn good right now
Agreed…He has the creativity the team lacks. Perfect late game sub to give defenses fits
*tee hee*
where is pescado when you need him???
I didn’t see the game, but comments in the game thread suggested that Adu was having a nice game serving up crosses that his team weren’t up to. I’d be interested to hear the take of those who saw more than the highlights, but I saw something very interesting in the highlights. Aside from the goal he scored, I noticed on the other goals that Adu was basically standing around while his teammates were moving, looking for space or the ball. I think I”m getting a glimpse of what his coaches have seen when they gave up on him.
Yes we do! The spread of 42 goals between 14 players is pretty darn impressive. (Though we do need a regular-scoring forward (Montero, wake the heck up!)).
We liked him a lot, and we were questioning out decision a lot after the Nkufo debacle. But we’ve got a good team so we’re alright.
Seattle never should have let LeToux go.
Nevermind, just looked it up on Wikipedia. He says he wants to play for the United States…Klinsi call him in!!!
Good to see Feilhaber and Adu score. Question: Has LeToux been cap tied with France?
I was at the game last night. We clapped when he started to leave the field. However, when fans saw that he was walking off on his own accord after multiple stretchers were on the field, everyone assumed he was faking an injury at the end of the game. Like Dan said, I think if it was any other sport, the booing wouldn’t have happened. However, I doubt many people know of his history with head injuries, so from our perspective, it was perfectly reasonable to boo.
I don’t think anyone minds playoffs but 10 out of 18 teams making it cheapens the regular season. I have no problem with a 6 or 8 team playoff.
Also, how bad to NE have to feel right now. they go up 4 goals and get a tie! crazy. got to love an even league. …..well as much as i respect Nicol he totally screwed up w/ taking out Lekic WAY to soon. He went into a defensive shell to early and you could see it in the NE players eyes that they weren’t ready to pack it in just yet.I’ve never understood to play NOT to lose as opposed to keep doing what got you there(4goals) to begin with!?…..KUDOS to the UNION non the less..
I Booed him. Didn’t know he wore head gear. 87th minute up a goal
mlssoccer.com always has them
Considering Phelan wears protective headgear due to previous head injury problems and had just very clearly gotten hit in the head, they should have had enough sense to not boo him, even if they didn’t know the extent of the injury. Especially considering that, due to his history of head injuries, the medics were probably the ones taking so much time to make sure everything was ok, versus Phelan deciding himself to stay on the ground once the medics got there.
You fail to realize Mwanga would have never gotten those shots off, he would have just messed around with the ball deciding what to do with it. His confidence is low right now, at least Paunovic is giving it a go, even though I’m not his biggest fan. Watch Mwanga closer please, he’s just not there.
Carroll…
Carroll…
Sweet game. Happy for Freddy.
seriously. I’m done with rogers on the USMNT
Are you kidding? Philadelphia fans have a loooong history of booing opposing teams and players in every sport. Eagles fans booed Santa Claus and cheered when a rival team’s star (Michael Irvin) lied paralyzed on the field.
i HATE when MLS puts midweek games on Galavision. damn direcTV package doesn’t carry it and MLS free kick gets blacked out for probably the best game of the week.
I’d start a wooden Indian from a cigar store before I started Miglioranzi
@running trains – holy crap does Paunovic fail. That guy could have had a relatively simple hat trick last night (shot wide in 1st half early, header in first half midway through, missed an almost unmissable goal late and blew another slightly trickier chance at the very end). someone need to shoot that guy.
@Reyes – not so sure about that. he could’ve scored at least a goal in the first half or had a better strike on goal or two. he’s looking better, but still nothing like last year.
@Aquaman – I completely agree.
Paunovic sucks btw, he had SEVERAL chances to slot one home last night and simply didnt get it done. Please play Mwanga more, Novak!
Mwanga
mapp – adu – torres – le toux
carroll
Ives, any highlights?
Taylor Twellman and I say the same thing.
Can we please PLEASE stop talking about Jose Torres being a number 10? He’s not a number ten, never has been, never will be.
I don’t know why Okugo doesn’t start in place of Miglioranzi.
he he! >:-)
Agreed. No one in the stadium knew he had a concussion. All they knew is that he went down in the 87th minute with NE up one goal. The fans booed after they saw him get up and walk away. It had all the markings of a fake injury to kill time, and like you said, this is soccer, where such theatrics are too common.
Freddy Adu and Benny Feilhaber are just trashing their critics. The Galavision announcers said straight up tonight that Jpse Francisco Torres wasn’t good enough to be the US’s number 10.
I’m sure that in any other sport, the guy wouldn’t have been booed. But this is soccer/football we’re talking about, where guys will fake injuries to help kill time off the clock at the slightest thought
It is the guys behind him that hold Philly back. Migliorazi is garbage. If they get a true ballwinner in the middle, they could be favorites down the strtch.
It appears that Le Toux is finally regaining form. If he continues, Union will be tough to beat.
Even without Mondragon, Philly’s defense is strong. Revs finally have the pieces to do some damage, but is it too late?
This felt like a playoff game…Game of the year so far.
At least the Sox won.
that Frenchman Lafayette did indeed save Philadelphia tonight…quite a game.
I expect him in October along with the full A squad instead of the fringe fallouts (rogers, castillo, orozco, etc.)
Freddy Adu started his goal scoring run from behind the midline, and was so composed in front of net.
He is a finisher, plain and simple.
Fun game to watch. Thought the Union were going to pull the win off right at the end.
When the Revs scored their 4th goal I joked that there was no lead too big to blow, but I guess I shoulda kept my mouth shut. Yet another awful night to be a Revs supporter in an awful season. What a disaster.
Man, The MLS is so boring. Another draw, sheesh…
Feels real bad to be NE right now. And just gotta say it again: those Philly fans that booed Phelan when he was down with a concussion were real classy.
+1 playoff are more exciting than well looks like it will be either Real or Barca. Well what about sevilla? no it will only be Real or Barca
Also, how bad to NE have to feel right now. they go up 4 goals and get a tie! crazy. got to love an even league.
Say what u want about mls playoff structure, this time of year is exciting up and down the table. Great night at ppl park.