The Union welcomed CF Montreal to town Friday night in the Leagues Cup Round of 32 which would mark their third meeting of the season. In the prior two meetings in MLS this season the Union led in both matches, but a Jack Elliott red card & some bad mental mistakes costed the club points as they earned a draw at home on 6/1 and lost on the road on 6/29.
Going into the first knockout round of Leagues Cup the Union knew they couldn’t afford to have any mistakes like they had in the past if they want to make a run in the tournament again.
The only real mistake in the match came early on in the 9′ as Jakob Glesnes took a poor touch around midfield which sent Montreal on a quick counter attack that Bryce Duke tried to finish but Andre Blake was there to make a game altering save.
We’ve seen the club concede far too many early goals this season, but since having Blake back that hasn’t been the case. We always hear Head Coach Jim Curtin praise Blake for his ability to keep the club in games and by just having him back there he gives the guys in front of him confidence to be themselves which has truly been a massive boost to this teams morale during this current unbeaten run.
Now onto the man of the match Tai Baribo who has been a goal machine since the sale of Julian Carranza. The Israeli international got the Union on the board in first half stoppage time after crashing the net on an Adeniran cross that was saved by Sirois right into his path and then put the game away in second half stoppage time on a textbook Union counter attack to defeat CF Montreal 2-0.
Now this leads us to tonight’s match where the Boys in Blue travel for the first time in their leagues cup history to take on FC Cincinnati.
The storyline for the last few seasons between these two clubs has been the teacher vs. the student as Jim Curtin faces off against his former assistant coach Pat Noonan once again in a meaningful game.
This marks the third year in a row the clubs will be playing an elimination game against each other with the Union winning in the 2022 MLS Cup playoffs and FC Cincinnati winning in 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs.
As for all time records Noonan has the slight edge on Curtin with a 3-1-2 record and in the clubs last seven matches against eachother six of them have been draws or one-goal-margin victories.
This matchup has truly become a rivalry amongst teams who don’t like eachother which makes for must see TV tonight as the match is set to kick off at 7:30pm over on Apple TV MLS Season Pass with a Leagues Cup Quarterfinal birth on the line.
The post The Union take care of CF Montreal to extend their unbeaten run and now face a familiar foe in FC Cincinnati in the Leagues Cup Round of 16 appeared first on Philadelphia Sports Nation.