It’s not too hard to figure out what went wrong for the Philadelphia Union on Sunday.
Not only did Philly get shut out for the third time in their first four games, they also failed to register a single shot on goal in a disappointing 1-0 road loss to the Chicago Fire.
“We’re not creating enough offensively,” Union head coach Jim Curtin said. “We’ve been limited by teams. We have to do a better job of creating chances.”
The Union did muster a few dangerous opportunities in the final third. But whether it was Fernando Aristeguieta, Sebastien Le Toux and Andrew Wenger all being called offside in the first half or Wenger making weak final passes after a couple of nice runs, the Union failed to put any real pressure on Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson.
Between those offensive struggles and what Curtin called “very lax defending” on a 37th-minute set piece on the Fire’s goal, the Union head coach didn’t offer any excuses for the nationally-televised performance, even though he was without the services of five important players.
“Our decision-making in both boxes is critical, and we’ve come up short, to be honest,” Curtin said. “I always preach being the better team in both boxes. And defensively we’ve come up short on free kicks, and attacking-wise we haven’t been good in our box, either.”
Curtin felt his team started to “push thing a little in the second half.” But their comeback attempts stalled when, for the second straight week, they went down a man following a red card.
Last week, it was Zach Pfeffer throwing an elbow. This week it was veteran Fred, in his first appearance of the season, with a “silly” open-handed slap to Harry Shipp.
“It’s tough because you’re pushing the game, the tempo’s starting to go our way a little bit and we were on them,” Curtin said. “And then the red card happens and we’re down a man. Credit to the guys on the field – they kept going and pushing hard. But we just came up short on the day.”
It’s been a familiar theme for the Union, who are winless in their first four and have been shut out three times in the same month for the first time in franchise history.
“I’m a competitive guy,” Curtin said. “I’ve got competitive guys in my locker room. I’m not happy with the performance. We weren’t good enough.”
Dave Zeitlin covers the Union for MLSsoccer.com. Email him at djzeitlin@gmail.com.
