Philadelphia, PA (The Phanatic Magazine) - Professional soccer made its return to the City of Brotherly Love Saturday when the Philadelphia Union topped D.C. United 3-2 in front of 34,870 fans at Lincoln Financial Field.
Forward Sebastien Le Toux recorded a hat-trick for the Union (1-1). Fellow forward Alejandro Moreno recorded two assists while midfielder Rogert Torres was also credited with an assist.
"I was very lucky tonight," Le Toux said. "I scored three goals. I missed some, too, but all my teammates did a great job, and I just finished my chances."
Goalkeeper Chris Seitz struggled mightily in the second half, especially with his ball-handling but Philadelphia was able to overcome it.
“We won our first game, let’s take positives out of it rather than try to take negatives out of it," Seitz said. "For me I’m excited that we won and I’m happy about the guys around me because they came through in a clutch moment for us. We gave up two goals to bring it back to two-two and we pushed for a third and we got it so I’m taking that out of it today and I’ll look at the film tomorrow and we’ll make adjustments.”
With the game deadlocked at two, the Union got a big break in the 79th minute when United (0-3) defenseman Dejan Jakovic was issued a red card and tossed for dragging down Moreno from behind. Le Toux split the defenders on the ensuing free kick from 25 yards out for the hat-trick.
A man down, United never really threatened the rest of the way as the Union held on for the franchise's first win.
More than two years have passed since Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber awarded Philadelphia, along with the Delaware and Lehigh Valleys, an expansion team. Christened the Union, the club made its debut late last month dropping a 2-0 decision to the Seattle Sounders FC.at Qwest Field.
Saturday's contest against D.C. United marked the area's first major professional outdoor soccer game in 30 years, since the Philadelphia Fury of the North American Soccer League toiled at Veteran's Stadium back in 1980.
The Linc served as the backdrop since the team's new soccer specific stadium in Chester, PPL Park, is not quite ready.
"We have wanted a team in Philadelphia since we launched the league," Garber said. "The atmosphere is great. The crowd is great and the team played well. You can't ask for much more."
As an expansion team the Union are a work in progress. John Hackworth, an assistant coach, took over the head coaching duties on Saturday for Team Manager Peter Nowak. A polish native, Nowak knew a number of people on the tragic plane crash that took the lives of Polish president Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria in western Russia on Saturday. Nowak was in attendance but not
on the field.
Hackworth made a handful of changes in the team's starting lineup, inserting defenders Michael Orozco, who started at midfield against Seattle, and the newly-signed Cristian Arrieta in place of the suspended Toni Stahl and David Myrie, who was released last week. Meanwhile, Midfielders Stefani Miglioranzi and Fred, a former D.C. United player, took over for Orozco and Danny Mwanga.
"Michael is very smooth on the ball and can see things developing in front of him," Nowak said earlier in the week when talking about Orozco.
The changes paid off early as Philadelphia took a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute of the game with the first goal in franchise history. Le Toux headed home a beautiful left-footed crossing pass from Torres past United goalkeeper Troy Perkins.
The Union controlled possession by and large until the 20 minute mark when things evened out a bit.
Things got a little chippy in the 33rd minute when Torres went down hard. Two minutes later, United defender Rodney Wallace received the first yellow card of the game.
The Union really took control in the 40th minute on Moreno's brilliant crossing pass. The Venezuelan hit Le Toux in stride from across the field and Le Toux rocketed a right-footed kick past Perkins for a 2-0 edge heading into the half.
“I play well with my back to the goal and I was able to spot Sebastian going down on the other side," Moreno said. "I wanted to make sure I got it past the defender. I knew that once I got it past the defender, Sebastian would have a clear road going to goal. He did very well with finishing that opportunity.”
Philadelphia had a chance to put things away early in the second half. First, Orozco just missed a header on a nice corner kick form Torres in the 53rd minute and seconds later Le Toux was stoned by Perkins on a breakaway.
The failures would come back to haunt Philadelphia as United got back in the game. D.C. MF Santino Quaranta beat Seitz to the short-side off a turnover to cut the lead in half.
Seitz then gave up one of the worst goals you will ever see. The Union goalkeeper simply dropped the ball while attempting to punt. Jaime Moreno deposited the gift in the 70th minute and the game was deadlocked at 2-2.
“Overall, I think you see a team that has a lot of ability and we look like we had probably a little more cohesiveness than people thought, or realized we had, and in the end we had a great result," Hackworth said.. "We ended up giving up two goals but we walked away with three points.”
State of the Union:
* Vice President and noted gaffe machine Joe Biden, a Pennsylvania native and former Senator from Delaware, participated in the first kick ceremonies.
*Le Toux's goals were the second, third and fourth of his MSL career. Torres got his first assist in just his second MLS game while it was the sixth and seventh assists for Moreno, a veteran of 51 MSL games.
*The Union's second home game against FC Dallas on May 15 will also be housed at the Linc. All other matches will be played at PPL Park where season tickets have topped the 10,000 mark. PPL Park, which will hold 18,500 fans, officially opens on June 27.
* Stahl sat out tonight's game after receiving two yellow cards and a subsequent red card against Seattle. Meanwhile, Myrie, a 21-year-old defender, was released so the team could sign the former USL MVP, Arrieta.
"With us going forward, we need a little more experience," Nowak said."That's why we brought Cristian Arrieta in the picture. That's the business we're in. Some players don't fit the whole environment. [Myrie] was disappointed but when you look at the whole picture, he knew something would be coming."
*Tailgating was strong outside the Linc and United bused up a lot fans from D.C.
*Union midfielder Fred played with United last season and missed Philly's opener while serving a suspension picked up with DC last season.
*Musicians Peter Frampton and Paul Simon were part owners of the Fury, who played in the NASL from 1978-80 before moving to Montreal. That team averaged 8,280 fans at the Vet in its inaugural season before bottoming out at just under 4,500 in '80.
Scoring Summary:
PHI - Sebastien Le Toux 1 (Roger Torres 1, Alejandro Moreno 1) 4'
PHI - Sebastien Le Toux 2 (Alejandro Moreno 2) 40'
DC - Santino Quaranta 1 (Unassisted) 63'
DC - Jaime Moreno 1 (Unassisted) 68'
PHI - Sebastien Le Toux 3 (Unassisted) 80'
Philadelphia Union (1-1-0) -- Chris Seitz; Jordan Harvey, Danny Califf, Michael Orozco, Cristian Arrieta; Fred, Stefani Miglioranzi, Andrew Jacobson, Roger Torres; Alejandro Moreno, Sebastien Le Toux
Substitutes Not Used: Shavar Thomas, Brad Knighton, Shavar Thomas, Danny Mwanga, Amobi Okugo
TOTAL SHOTS: 9 (Sebastien Le Toux 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 6 (Sebastien Le Toux 4, Roger Torres 2); FOULS: 13 (Fred 2, Andrew Jacobson 2, Stefani Miglioranzi 2, Roger Torres 2); OFFSIDES: 2 (Fred 1, Sebastien Le Toux 1); CORNER KICKS: 2 (Roger Torres 1, Sebastien Le Toux 1); SAVES: 4 (Chris Seitz 4)
D.C. United (0-3-0) -- Troy Perkins; Rodney Wallace, Dejan Jakovic, Juan Manuel Pena, Carey Talley; Cristian Castillo, Kurt Morsink, Santino Quaranta, Brandon Barklage; Chris Pontius, Danny Allsopp
Substitutes Not Used: Bill Hamid, Thabiso Khumalo, Devon McTavish, Tiyi Shiplene
TOTAL SHOTS: 8 (Chris Pontius 2, Danny Allsopp 2); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (Danny Allsopp 2); FOULS: 10 (Santino Quaranta 3); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 3 (Santino Quaranta 2); SAVES: 3 (Troy Perkins 3)
Misconduct Summary:
DC - Rodney Wallace (caution; Reckless foul) 1
DC - Brandon Barklage (caution; Reckless tackle) 1
PHI - Cristian Arrieta (caution; Tactical foul) 1
DC - Danny Allsopp (caution; Reckless tackle) 1
DC - Santino Quaranta (caution; Tactical Foul) 1
DC - Dejan Jakovic (ejection; Denied goal scoring opportunity (foul))
DC - Adam Cristman (caution; Unsporting behavior)
Referee: Terry Vaughn
Referee's Assistants: Chris Strickland, Jason Cullum
4th Official: Hilario Grajeda
Attendance: 34,870
Time of Game: 1:51
Weather: Sunny and 63 degrees
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