Photo: Marjorie Elzey

In a heated affair that included plenty of flops, fouls and a particularly nasty sending off, Philadelphia Union defeated Mazatlán FC 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in regulation time. Union will now host their second consecutive Leagues Cup semi-final. They will face Columbus Crew, who also won on penalties after a 1-1 draw with NYCFC in regulation time.

Despite a promising start, Union did not take the lead until they were down to ten men at the end of the first half. Striker Tai Baribo committed two fouls in as many minutes and was sent off with a second yellow card after a lengthy review. Almost immediately after that, Jack McGlynn’s beautiful through ball found Mikael Uhre, who scored.

In the second half, Mazatlán really started to put pressure on. They equalized from an attacking set piece and hit the crossbar late in the second half, but could not take the lead. At the end of second half stoppage time, the game went straight to penalties.

The Union was able to eliminate Mazatlán in the penalty shootout, with Andre Blake saving two shots and Jesus Bueno converting the decisive penalty.

First half

The first real chance of the game came for Philadelphia. In the 5th minute, Quinn Sullivan played Uhre into the final third. Uhre’s back pass was poorly blocked by a defender and went straight to the onrushing Sullivan, who fired a powerful shot from a tight angle that shook the side netting on the outside of the goal.

Mazlatan struggled to keep possession in the first ten minutes and Union looked better in the early stages of the game.

McGlynn and Gazdag combined to play a beautiful passing sequence deep in the defensive third to escape the pressure, much to the delight of the fan blocks closest to them.

From the 10th minute, the Canoneros came into the game better and started to launch attacks that Union could not cope with. Mazlatan had found space on the wide pitch and began to attack down the wings, but every cross they sent was blocked by a Union defender.

Jack Elliot had to swerve in the 15th minute to block a Mazatlán winger who attempted to play a dangerous pass over the six.

In the 21st minute, Andre Blake had to save a fantastic one-handed dive. Arciga had space at the top of the box and shot at goal, but Blake got his fingertips on it. On the ensuing corner, a dangerous ball was headed over his net, but again Blake was tall and caught it.

Not long after, Arciga was involved in the game again, but this time for the wrong reasons. After going to Wagner, the Mazatlán player left one foot in the game, fouled the German defender and drew the wrath of the crowd. There was no card, but it was the beginning of the petulance that can so often accompany these intercontinental duels.

After a period of Union losing possession, with Mazatlán dominating possession, Union launched its first coherent attack in a long time in the 38th minute. A ball from McGlynn found Sullivans, who passed it on to Uhre, who was able to take a corner. On Union’s second corner in a row, a scuffle in the penalty area between Baribo and a Mazatlán defender resulted in the Israeli striker receiving a card.

On the next move, the ball was blocked and another corner was awarded. Again, Baribo and a defender clashed, but this time the referee reached into his back pocket and showed Baribo the red card directly. After a minute or two, the referee went to the VAR monitor to review the incident.

After a lengthy review, head referee Selvin Chavarria waved off the red card and showed a yellow card instead. Baribo was still sent off as it was his second yellow card.

For Union, however, it was an almost instant catharsis. Uhre isolated his defender just behind the halfway line. McGlynn, noticing the run, played a beautiful ball that brought Uhre into play. The Dane still had a lot to do, but from an extremely tight angle he chipped Ricardo Guiterrez and the ball bounced off the far post, giving Union a 1-0 lead 3 minutes into first-half stoppage time.

Second half

The second period began with a thrilling game. Wagner just managed to block a dangerous cross pass from Mazatlán in Union’s penalty area. His clearance found Sullivan, who played an unheard of pass from the outside that broke through Mazatlán’s central defenders and sent Uhre on goal. The Dane tried to get around Gutierrez, but couldn’t get the right angle and wasted his chance.

After a phase of back and forth possession without any notable action, Uhre again got behind Mazatlán’s defense. This time it was a direct long pass from Jack Elliot. Although Uhre won a corner, everything suddenly changed for Union.

Mazatlán won possession and countered with the 10-man Union out of position. A retreating Glesnes was able to slow down the ball carrier, but he was called for a foul and was shown a yellow card in the 58th minute. On the ensuing free kick, about 25 yards from Andre Blake’s goal, the ball was played out wide to an unmarked Arciga. Despite Harriel’s pressure, the cross was delivered into the box and Alonso Escoboza headed past Blake to equalize in the 59th minute.

Head coach Jim Curtin dropped to the bench in the 66th minute and made three substitutions, bringing on Damion Lowe, Alejandro Bedoya and Jesus Bueno. These changes also appeared to mean a formation change to a 5-3-1, with Gazdag now operating as the lone centre-forward.

Mazatlán had the most substitutions in the closing stages, which is understandable given Tai Baribo’s red card and Curtin’s decision to hole up.

In the 86th minute, a misunderstanding in the defense almost cost Union their lives. A cross from Mazatlán came in and as Blake went to collect the ball, Lowe jumped up and cleared it for a corner. The resulting corner led to a series of chances for Mazatlán, which Union could only just thwart. First, a header from Mazatlán hit the crossbar and was saved by Elliot. Mazatlán kept the ball and fired a few more dangerous shots, all of which were well blocked by the Union defense.

With the last substitution of the game, Curtin brought on Jose Martinez, who is expected to leave the club in this transfer window.

Penalty shootout

Blake stayed tall and jumped in the right direction on Mazatlán’s first penalty, blocking Josue Colman.

Martinez stepped up to take Union’s first penalty, his shaky run-up froze the goalkeeper and he hammered his shot into the net as the crowd roared their approval.

Mazatlán scored his next shot, but so did Elliot.

Blake made another spectacular save, this time stopping a shot from Alan Torres, giving the Union a huge advantage in the shootout.

Damion Lowe also used a stuttering run-up to deceive the goalkeeper as he passed the ball straight into the middle.

Although Mazatlán scored the next attempt, Union would have progressed to the semi-finals had Sam Adeniran scored, but unfortunately he missed the ball and his shot bounced off the post.

On the next round, Blake guessed the correct direction but could not stop the shot.

At this point in the penalty shootout, the score was 3-3. But if Jesus Bueno had scored a goal, Union would have won. After a long build-up, Bueno went to the penalty spot, calmly approached the ball and shot it past the diving Gutierrez into the goal.

Three points

Another poor refereeing performance –The double red card to Barbio feels like a decision by Mark Geiger that would have been discussed on MLS instant replay 10 years ago. It was a ridiculous sequence and another chapter in some of the terrible refereeing decisions in the Leagues Cup. Refereeing at any level is a tough job, but with all the tools at these officials’ disposal in this competition, this type of decision is bizarre – no matter which team suffers the negative consequences.

Bite through – what about Philly’s resolve? Despite being down a man and losing the player who was their talisman during the team’s recent winning streak, the Union took the lead almost immediately. Then, despite conceding an equalizer, they fought hard and won in the shootout. The Boys in Blue are back.

José’s swan song – With an impending transfer to Corinthians seemingly close to being finalized, it was a surprise that the Venezuelan was available for this match, let alone able to play. Despite only coming on as a substitute in second-half stoppage time, Martinez made his presence felt by scoring the Union’s first penalty in the shootout. He will be missed by the Union Phaithful.

Lineups

Philadelphia Union (4-4-2)

Andre Blake, Kai Wagner, Jack Elliott, Jakob Glesnes, Nathan Harriel, Leon Flach (Jose Martinez 90 + 1′), Jack McGlynn (Damion Lowe 66′), Quinn Sullivan (Alejandro Bedoya 66′), Daniel Gazdag (Sam Adeniran 82 ‘), Mikael Uhre (Jesus Bueno 66’), Tai Baribo

Mazatlan (3-4-2-1)

Ricardo Gutierrez, Luis Sanchez, Lucas Merolla (Josue Colman 46′), Facundo Almada, Jesus Escobar, Jordan Sierra, Roberto Meraz (Alan Torres 82′), Bryan Colula (Omar Moreno 60′), Edgar Barcenas (Willian Vargas 68′) , Arciga Ramrio, Brian Rubio (Raul Camacho 82′)

Result

15′ Yellow card – Brian Colula

40′ Yellow card – Tai Baribo

45 + 1′ 2. Yellow card – Tai Baribo

45 + 3′ Goal – Mikael Uhre (Jack McGlynn)

45 + 9′ Yellow card – Edgar Barcenas

58′ Yellow card – Jakob Glesnes

63′ Yellow card – Brian Rubio

79′ Yellow card – Facundo Almada

Referee team

Chief Referee: Selvin Antonio Brown Chavarria

Assistant referee: Gerson Orellana

Assistant Referee: Iroots Appleton

4th Official: Walter Lopez Castellanos