Even interim manager Jim Curtin had to admit it was a fitting end to the Philadelphia Union’s 2014 season.
With their regular-season finale against the Columbus Crew deadlocked at 1-1 in the final minutes, the Union allowed a very late goal to drop points – the same thing that happened in back-to-back collapses earlier this month that knocked Philadelphia out of the playoff race.
“Our mentality hasn’t been good closing out games,” Curtin said following Sunday’s 2-1 road loss to the Crew. “And I give the Crew credit on closing it out.”
While closing out games has certainly been a huge problem for the Union throughout the season, starting with the very first game of their 2014 campaign, Curtin didn’t blame his players as much for this one as the others.
That’s because he strongly felt that Bernardo Anor’s 90th-minute game-winner should not have counted.
“The second goal was blatantly offside,” Curtin said. “Referees make mistakes, but that one kills you in the [90th] minute, when he was clearly offside and there was no call. It was clear as day.”
Unfortunately for Curtin, the rules disagree. The pertinent FIFA offside law states that "a player in an offside position receiving the ball from an opponent, who deliberately plays the ball (except from a deliberate save), is not considered to have gained an advantage." According to the Professional Referees Organization (PRO), the interpretation of this rule -- a new interpretation in MLS this year -- says that the moment Maurice Edu made an intentional attempt to play the ball on Tony Tchani's shot, the play was reset. Therefore, Anor — who, video replays indicate, was offside on the initial shot from Tchani — was no longer considered offside because the ball was determined to have come from Edu, not Tchani.
Regardless, the late Columbus goal was especially frustrating because the Union had overcome a rough first half to tie the game on the first goal of Zach Pfeffer’s career. And their hope had been to offer some bit of revenge to the Crew, who officially knocked the Union out of the postseason race on Oct. 11 by erasing a 2-0 Philadelphia lead with three goals in a six-minute stretch late in the second half.
But, in the end, Sunday’s game looked similar to the Union's other loss to the Crew just two weeks ago.
- Get more Union news at PhiladelphiaUnion.com
“We were able to claw back in and get the goal to tie it up, but we were not able to finish it off,” said Brian Carroll. “So that is something that we have to work on as a group – finishing things off and understanding the situation and trying to get a result however we need to.”
Carroll said there were some positives to draw from the match, but when asked the same question, Curtin was far more blunt.
“There are not a lot [of positives] in this game, to be honest,” he said. “In terms of the second half of the season since I’ve been in charge, I think the guys worked hard and the record speaks for itself. We have improved a great deal. But we’ve come up short down the stretch in big games. I think our mentality needs to improve in order for us to take the next step.”
Dave Zeitlin covers the Union for MLSsoccer.com. Email him at djzeitlin@gmail.com.
