CHESTER — There was an odd symmetry to the Philadelphia Union’s opening goal Sunday night, one that seemed like it might prove decisive.
The opening goal in the first-round first game against the Chicago Fire was a thing of beauty from a soccer perspective. But even more poignant was who was at each end.
In February, once Bruno Damiani had signed for a record feed, Mikael Uhre was the odd man out of the striking rotation.
Union midfielder Indiana Vassilev, center, gets a hug Sunday night from forward Tai Baribo after Vassilev’s goal against the Chicago Fire. (Courtesy Philadelphia Union)
In April, once the Union traded away Daniel Gazdag to Columbus, Indiana Vassilev was the odd man in to the midfield rotation.
Each has had his eyebrow-raising moments. But in one of the biggest junctures of the season, they delivered, in a way that indicates how dangerous the Union can be this postseason.
Vassilev’s goal set up by Uhre brought life to a dead affair between the Union and the Fire. The Union would go up 2-0, then the Fire pushed it to penalties with two late goals before the Union prevailed in PKs, 4-2.
The contributions of Uhre and Vassilev to that result offer even more evidence that the Supporters’ Shield winner won’t be an easy postseason out.
The story on both has been written before, though this may be the most salient chapter yet.
Uhre was marginalized once Damiani arrived, his contract up at season’s end and his age ticking up to 31, a point at which the Union rarely negotiate new deals. The Union were convinced that a player who averaged just shy of 11 goals each of his first three years was never going to make the jump into the 20s.
So they pivoted to a preferred strike pairing of Damiani and Tai Baribo. Uhre’s minutes fell from 2,158 in 2023 to just over 1,300 this year.
Yet Uhre has been massively impactful.
His six goals and six assists are serviceable if not explosive. But he saved the Union on July 19 when they looked dead against Colorado, scoring twice off the bench.
His introduction changed the game in D.C. United, with a goal, two assists and an own goal forced in a 6-0 rout. And his marker brought the Union a 1-0 win over New York City FC to clinch the Shield.
Sunday, the Union did little for 64 minutes against Chicago.
Part of that was the Fire wasting time to while away the opener of their best-of-3 series. Part of it was the Fire constructing a stable defense with three center backs, both getting numbers behind the ball and surprisingly the Union somewhat after using four at the back in their Wild Card win over Orlando.
Needing someone to attack the 3-back, coach Bradley Carnell turned to Uhre in the 64th, plastered a target on the space to the outside shoulders of the wide center backs and told Uhre to do what he’s done since 2022.
“When the opposition legs get a little bit tired, then Mikael comes in and creates a difference, whether he’s just running off the ball, his physical presence,” Carnell said. “Bruno has done a great job for us, but we just felt we needed a little bit more impetus athletically, meaning getting in behind, getting on the move, a little bit more so. And I think we created exactly that dynamism that we needed.”
“I was just trying to find some space and get out running with them, as I obviously like to,” Uhre said. “It worked out pretty well on the goal from Indy. I wanted the balls in behind, and Milan (Iloski) is really good at finding them.”
Against a Chicago team that has given up 18 goals in the last 30 minutes of games this season and 11 in the final 15, Uhre was the choice to push. In the 70th minute, Iloski stretched a ball down the right touchline into space. Uhre took on his old teammate Jack Elliott, cut inside and clipped a beauty of a cross to Vassilev to chest down and volley home.
“I played with Jack a lot of times, so he probably knows that normally I would go on my right,” Uhre said. “So I was thinking, let me cut it in and see how it opens up. And I could see Indy making the run on the back post.”
Vassilev putting the goal away quenches a season-long concern.
Once Gazdag was dealt, it was fair to wonder if the Union’s midfield had enough creativity. Gone were Gazdag and Jack McGlynn from last year, and with them 28 goal contributions. Vassilev was a serviceable piece, but 16 goal contributions — 10 goals, six assists — in four seasons with Miami and St. Louis didn’t leap off the page.
For all the rhetoric about the team being the superstar, someone does have to physically put the ball in the net.
Vassilev has justified Carnell’s faith. He had five goals and four assists in 1,973 minutes. He was a certain starter even before Quinn Sullivan went down with an ACL tear against D.C. United, and it’s even more so now.
Even before Sullivan went out, Vassilev was arguably often the more influential of the pair. Since Sullivan returned from the Gold Cup, he had one goal (in the Open Cup) and three assists (two secondary) in 13 matches.
The Union have ridden the hot hand at striker this year.
Damiani was the latest to catch fire, with three game-winning goals in four games, culminating with the opener in D.C. Baribo, who scored 16 times this year, has gone five games without a goal. International duty and a yellow-card suspension has made it a ragged end to the year for him.
Sunday’s star turns reinforce the Union’s composition for the postseason, as a team that can survive even if one or two individuals are neutralized.
