The Philadelphia Union jumped to the top of the Eastern Conference as they stubbornly persisted in the face of a flood of missed opportunities to rally back and beat the visiting Colorado Rapids 3-1 at Subaru Park on Saturday night.
Substitute Mikael Uhre entered the game and earned a late brace in the second half. His 89th minute flyer struck from the edge of the box darted past Colorado goalkeeper Zack Steffen and notched the late win for the Union (15-5-5, 50 points). Uhre added a second for the home side in extra time, firing the ball past Steffen on a breakaway.
Brazilian forward Rafael Navarro continued his strong run for the visitors after earning his side two penalty shots in their previous outing, tallying the only goal on the night for Colorado (8-11-6, 30 points).
Navarro defied the run of the play in the 37th minute. His perfectly placed through ball slipped into the path of Cole Bassett who blasted the ball off the woodwork, leaving Navarro to leap into the ball and push it past the goal line on a diving header.
Hot off a brace and MVP-winning performance at the MLS All-Star game on Wednesday, Philadelphia’s leading scorer Tai Baribo poked the ball past goalkeeper Zack Steffen off a corner kick from fellow all-star Kai Wagner, leveling the match in the 64th minute.
Philadelphia came painstakingly close to taking the lead in the space of two minutes in the first half. Bruno Damiani met the free kick of Kai Wagner in the 23rd minute with a strained header yards outside the goal area that Steffen smothered against the post. Next, Quinn Sullivan’s whipped cross skipped off the shin of midfielder Danley Jean Jacques and over the visitors’ goal in the 25th.
With the result, the Union have recorded points in four straight outings. The Rapids sported their alternate “Original Green” kits for the first time in this match, modeled off the jerseys they wore until 2002. They will be concerned over the state of midfielder Josh Atencio, who subbed off in the 52nd minute with an apparent injury.
–Field Level Media
