The Philadelphia Union were supposed to host FC Dallas on Friday, March 20th at 7PM but due to a snow storm, the game was moved until Saturday. The game kicked off at 4PM under sunny skies with 16,000+ fans attendance at PPL Park in Chester, PA.
Philadelphia entered the game with no wins or losses on the early season, sporting a 0-0-2 record after two draws. Unfortunately for the Union, things just didn’t go their way on Saturday. Zach Pfeffer had a great scoring chance in the 7th minute but was snubbed by Dallas goalkeeper Chris Seitz. Fifteen minutes later, Sheanon Williams was injured and forced out of the game.
The Union couldn’t convert on several other scoring chances in the first half and in the 44th minute, Pfeffer elbowed Mauro Diaz in the face when the two players slammed into each other in pursuit of a loose ball at mid-field. Pfeffer was issued a red card leaving Philadelphia on a one man disadvantage (11 to 10) for the remainder of the match. At the break, the score remained 0-0.
In the 49th minute Tesho Akindele beat Union goalkeeper Rais Mbolhi to give Dallas a 1-0 lead. 10 minutes later, Ryan Hollingshead found the back of the net for FC Dallas, giving them a commanding 2-0 lead. This would prove to be the final score of the match. After dominating the first half, it was clear that the one man disadvantage really hurt the Union in the second half. The team will look to regroup when they head to Chicago to face the Fire on Sunday night (ESPN2).
[Photo credit: Riley Loula]
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