Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Union<\/p>\n
Cavan Sullivan provided the offensive spark as the Philadelphia Union extended their MLS unbeaten run to six matches with a 1-1 draw against Austin FC on Saturday night in Texas.<\/p>\n
Philadelphia struck first in the 18th minute, with Sullivan heading home his second career MLS goal to give the Union an early advantage. Austin responded just three minutes later through defender Brendan Hines-Ike, leveling the match.<\/p>\n
First Half<\/p>\n
Philadelphia created the first openings of the night as Iloski fired wide in the second minute before Pierre headed a Wagner corner over the crossbar two minutes later.<\/p>\n
Austin, however, quickly demonstrated how dangerous it could be at home, nearly opening the scoring in the 14th minute after creating three chances in rapid succession. Andre Blake made a major save on Myrto Uzuni, Jon Gallagher\u2019s effort struck the post, and Neil Pierre blocked another Uzuni attempt to keep the match scoreless.<\/p>\n
In the 18th minute, Iloski played a short corner to Wagner, who returned the ball for a cross into the box. Wagner\u2019s delivery was kept alive near the right post, where Harriel headed the ball toward Cavan Sullivan. The teenager made no mistake from close range, heading the ball home to put the Union ahead 1-0.<\/p>\n
The advantage lasted only three minutes.<\/p>\n
Austin won a corner in the 21st minute, and Joseph Rosales\u2019 delivery found Hines-Ike in the center of the box. The Austin defender powered a header past Blake to level the match at 1-1.<\/p>\n
The hosts continued to threaten after the equalizer, but Philadelphia\u2019s defense repeatedly intervened. Neither side could find another breakthrough before halftime, sending the teams into the break level.<\/p>\n
Second Half<\/p>\n
Philadelphia came out of the break looking to regain the lead and nearly did so in the 53rd minute. Sullivan slipped a forward pass into the box for Danley, who found himself with a chance from the right side of the area. His effort beat Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver but struck the post, denying the Union a second goal.<\/p>\n
Danley had another opportunity in the 65th minute, but his shot from the center of the box went wide.<\/p>\n
Both sides traded chances down the stretch. Blake made a save on Torres in the 70th minute and later produced one of his biggest stops of the night, denying V\u00e1zquez in the 86th minute.<\/p>\n
The Union nearly stole all three points in stoppage time, but the Austin defense blocked an Agustin Anello effort from the center of the box in the 96th minute, moments after Blake again denied Uzuni at the other end.<\/p>\n
Philadelphia leaves Texas with a point and, more importantly, extends its MLS unbeaten run to six matches.<\/p>\n
Three Points<\/p>\n
Sullivan\u2019s Impact: For a Union team looking for consistent offensive production, Sullivan\u2019s continued development gives the attack another creative dimension.
\nFoundational Defense: The Union were tested repeatedly, but they found ways to prevent those chances from becoming goals. Blake\u2019s saves were crucial, but Pierre produced multiple blocks and helped Philadelphia survive several dangerous moments.
\nThe Grind Continues: The Union may have surrendered an early lead and spent portions of the match under significant pressure, but they remained composed enough to stay in the game.<\/p>\n
Lineups<\/p>\n
Philadelphia Union (4-4-2):<\/p>\n
Andre Blake; Kai Wagner, Nathan Harriel, Neil Pierre, Frankie Westfield; Indiana Vassilev (Quinn Sullivan \u2013 57\u2032), Jesus Bueno (Jovan Lukic \u2013 57\u2032), Danley Jean Jacques, Cavan Sullivan (Agustin Anello \u2013 74\u2032); Bruno Damiani (Ezekiel Alladoh \u2013 74\u2032), Milan Iloski\u00a0(Alejandro Bedoya \u2013 90\u2019+3\u2032)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Unused Substitutes: Ben Bender, Alejandro Bedoya, Andrew Rick, Malik Jakupovic, Japhet Sery Larsen,\u00a0<\/p>\n
Austin FC (3-4-3):\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brad Stuver; Brendan Hines-Ike (Mikkel Desler \u2013 72\u2032), Oleksandr Svatok, Guilherme Biro; Ervin Torres, Besard Sabovic, Myrto Uzuni, Jorge Alastuey (Facundo Torres \u2013 63\u2032) ; Joseph Rosales (Przemyslaw Placheta \u2013 72\u2032), Jon Gallagher (Zan Kolmanic \u2013 84\u2032) , Christian Ramirez (Brandon Vazquez \u2013 63\u2032)<\/p>\n
Unused Substitutes: Damian Las, Jon Bell, Ilie Sanchez, Jayden Nelson<\/p>\n
Scoring Summary:<\/p>\n
PHI: Cavan Sullivan (Nathan Harriel; Milan Iloski) \u2013 18\u2032<\/p>\n
ATX: Brendan Hines-Ike (Joseph Rosales) \u2013 21\u2032<\/p>\n
Disciplinary Summary:<\/p>\n
PHI: Jesus Bueno (Yellow \u2013 Foul ) \u2013 38\u2032<\/p>\n
PHI: Neil Pierre (Yellow \u2013 Foul ) \u2013 42\u2032<\/p>\n
ATX: Ervin Torres (Yellow \u2013 Foul ) \u2013 90\u2019+6\u2032<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Union Cavan Sullivan provided the offensive spark as the Philadelphia Union extended their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70],"class_list":["post-270579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}