With the Philadelphia Union down and out in Gotham, a masked man came to the rescue.
C.J. Sapong, wearing a mask to protect his face, scored his first goal as a member of the Union to help secure an important point for Philly in a 1-1 draw with New York City FC on Thursday night at Yankee Stadium – and, perhaps just as importantly, signal that he’s almost back to being himself after suffering a brutal injury in the season opener.
“It’s great,” Union head coach Jim Curtin said. “I give the kid a lot of credit. He had his face literally smashed in Week One in the first 45 minutes of the game. He’s a tough kid. He wanted to be back on the field right away. For him to stick with it and stay in shape as well as he did during his down time and score a big goal for us tonight, he gets rewarded for all of his hard work.”
Curtin was expecting a lot from Sapong after bringing him over in an offseason trade but had to change those plans when the striker went down with a concussion and facial fracture during his first game with the Union.
Sapong missed three straight games and played sparingly as a second-half sub in the last three, before finally breaking out with an 86th-minute goal Thursday, flying into the box to blast home a bouncing ball after Maurice Edu got his head on a Cristian Maidana long ball.
When asked what he saw when the ball popped up into the air in front of him, he used the word “opportunity.”
“There have definitely been a lot of trials and tribulations to start the season,” Sapong said. “But this is my fifth season, so I know how it goes. You can’t get down on yourself too early. There are a lot of games. I’m just thankful to finally get my account open and, most importantly, save a point for the team.”
Sapong’s tally certainly came at a good time for the Union, who have now used late goals in two straight games to take four points from their home-and-home series with New York City – a stretch that Curtin called “massive.”
And for Sapong, these last two games against NYCFC are “confirmation” that the team is better than its 0-3-2 start might indicate.
“These are things we know we can do,” he said. “We haven’t been playing to our standard from the beginning of the season. We’re slowly but surely finding our motto, finding our swagger if you will. We’re going to keep building on that. There are a lot of games left. We want to make sure that when the games really count, we’re at our fullest potential.”
And if that means Sapong saving the day with late goals, he’s all for that. Just don’t expect him to wear a mask while doing it.
“It really sucks,” he said of the mask. “It’s definitely good to be protected but it restricts the breathing a little bit. I think I only need to wear it a couple of more games. I’ll be tossing it out soon.”
Dave Zeitlin covers the Union for MLSsoccer.com. Email him at djzeitlin@gmail.com.
