On Saturday at PPL Park, the Philadelphia Union defeated the Portland Timbers behind an Andrew Wenger goal and a Vincent Nogueira brace.

Relatively uneventful first half

The Union nearly opened the scoring in the first half in the 12th minute as the newly returned Sebastien Le Toux hit the crossbar from outside the 18-yard box after a good pass from Vincent Nogueira.

Later in the first half, Philadelphia defender Maurice Edu was whistled for a tough sliding challenge on Portland’s Diego Valeri, leading to a free kick around 25 yards away from goal. For his efforts, Edu saw a yellow card, which will cause him to be suspended for the next Union game due to yellow card accumulation.

“It’s a great tackle. It’s the tackle that I dream of as a center back. I loved it, I thought it was a clean play,” said manager Jim Curtin at his post-game press conference with a slight smile on his face. On the ensuing free kick, Valeri hit the ball past the lunging Philadelphia goalkeeper Brian Sylvestre but only managed to hit the corner of the crossbar.

In the 45th minute, the Union would once again hit the crossbar as CJ Sapong had his initial shot block from around 13 yards out but found his own rebound and, unluckily, hit the crossbar to the end the half at 0-0.

Philadelphia catches fire

However, in the second half, the Union would find their goals from the much-scrutinized Wenger in the 69th minute. Cristian Maidana found Wenger on the wing from at just past half field. From there, Wenger found a ton of space behind the retreating midfield and cut into the middle of the field, where he launched a curling shot from the top of the 18-yard-box past Portland goalkeeper Andrew Weber for the 1-0 lead.

From that point, the Union would pour it on, and the late avalanche of goals continued just a few minutes later in the 72nd minute. Maidana would find a running Vincent Nogueira with a low driven pass for the easy goal to double the Union lead. Then, only ten minutes later, the Union would put the match out of reach as Maidana found Nogueira again with a beautifully weighted chipped pass, allowing Nogueira to slot the ball home on the ground to the far post.

Maidana and Fabinho impress

In the end, Maidana would finish on the night with an assist on all three goals, showcasing his creative ability to find the open man with ease. “He does things that you don’t train for because he sees the game differently, he’s got a great left foot,” remarked Curtin about the play of the Argentine.

Another Union player, Fabinho, also continued his great run of form as well. Not only did Fabinho play well from an offensive stand point, but he also played great defense on the dangerous Diego Valeri, taking him out of the game.

Curtin commended the play of his team, saying: “I’d like to point out individuals on the night but I thought every guy — I don’t want to neglect anyone so I think that was a complete team performance from every guy on the field.” 

To sum things up, the Union played one of their most complete games of the season in all aspects of play against a very good, but slightly depleted, Portland team. However, Curtin is not getting ahead of himself with this team, saying: “People will go home happy for one week but we know it’s one game. We have to do this over and over and over. We have fourteen left and every one, you need to grab points.”