Philadelphia Union players make a wall as Seattle Sounders' Clint Dempsey, left, takes a penalty kick in the first half Saturday in Seattle. The kick went wide to the right. (AP Photo)
So, the Union actually looked like they knew what they were doing for one half Saturday night in Seattle. Against the best team in the league on the worst field surface (in the pouring rain), the Union took a first-half lead when Cristian Maidana's well-hit free kick glanced off the head of Seattle's Brad Evans and into the net for an own-goal.
The second half? Not so much. Chad Marshall and Obafemi Martins found the net and, yet again, the Union came home empty after a 2-1 loss.
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The positive Union highlight, again, was goalkeeper Zac MacMath, who saved yet another penalty kick (ho hum), his third straight. And this time, his defenders actually helped clear it out and didn't allow a rebound goal.
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The strength of the Union last year was their defense. This year, once-reliable defenders like Sheanon Williams and even Amobi Okugo have had huge mental lapses. And the Aaron Wheeler experiment ... well ... let's just end that. Please.
On offense, the Union haven't scored a goal in open play in four games.
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Union manager John Hackworth has maddeningly pulled an Andy Reid and glazed over his team's flaws after every game, saying that "we're moving in the right direction..." Ironically, Saturday's game actually was semi-positive after some snoozer performances in the last month. But he sounds like the boy who cried wolf at this point:
“We have a lot of guys playing good. We just continue to make mistakes at critical moments.”
Or this:
“It’s a difficult one to take because I thought we came and we played well in the first half and we got up a goal. Even in the second half, we had some chances to get the second [goal] and we didn’t put those away.”
This was always going to be a no-lose game for Hackworth, considering the opponent and location. But if the Union fail to impress next weekend at home against beatable D.C. United, the calls for Hack's head might go farther than the Twitter diehards.
Complete highlights of Saturday's game with Seattle:
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