Coming into this match, the Union had been having a bit of a tough time. Their defense had been pretty decent but the offense anemic at best. They had slipped from top of the Eastern Conference to third behind the New York Red Bulls and Houston Dynamo. The Fire have been poor most of the season, but fought back to a 2-2 draw in their last match.
Though neither side really had an offensive advantage early, you could tell from the run of play the the Union were really focusing on offense. Carlos Ruiz in particular seemed to be chasing the scoring touch. Throughout the first half he took his chances, but never seemed quite able to find the target, He was very active though. He did finally get a shot on target in the 37th.
The Union had most of the chances in the first half, and certainly had the best chance. That came in off a corner kick in the 25th minute. Valdes rose up out of the crowd, got his head onto the corner and beat the keeper, only to see it smack off the bar. Philly should have been up 1-0. However, we went to the half tied at 0-0.
Philly came into the second half in the same mood which they had played the first. Sitting there watching the match, you really got the impression that the goal was coming for the Union, it was just a matter of time.
The goal finally did come in the 64th minute when Michael Farfan stoked the ball home off of a free kick pass from Nakazawa to make it 1-0. The Union celebrated the return of their offense.
However, they might have paid some more attention to defense after that. In the 67th minute, Chicago roared back with a goal from Oduro, who had been the one member of the Fire that had given the Union trouble. His strike from a difficult angle equalized at 1-1, and took the life out of the Philly crowd.
Philly was lucky though, because they still had Carlos Ruiz. He finally capitalized for the Union in the 75th when he took a left footed half volley from outside the area and lobbed it in over Conway to make it 2-1. Definitely a goal of the week candidate.
Still the Fire didn't go down without a fight as the last 15 minutes produced chances from Gibbs, Barouch, Oduro, and Pappa, but they couldn't find the back of the net and the match ended at 2-1.
For the Union, hopefully they can take these 3 points and build on it, especially with the offense looking much better. I don't know what to say for the Fire though. They played hard and they fought with a lot of determination. The results just aren't there.
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