Despite scoring the first goal of the game to take a 1-0 lead, the Philadelphia Union fell behind in the second half, eventually losing 3-1 to Sporting KC in their 2013 season opener on Saturday, March 2nd at PPL Park.
The 2013 Philadelphia Union starting line-up was comprised of MacMath, Williams, Okugo, Parke, Gaddis, Carroll, Lahoud (Torres, 80’), G. Farfan, (McInerney, 20’), M. Farfan, Daniel (Casey, 84’), and Le Toux.
Sebastien Le Toux, The Union’s career scoring leader with 26 goals was was reacquired by Philadelphia before the 2013 season began. Fittingly, he scored Philadelphia’s first goal of the season in the 17th minute.
With time ticking away in the first half, Graham Zusi scored for KC off a rebound from Union GK Zac MacMath in the 41st minute, sending the game into a 1-1 tie at the intermission. This was a big blow to the Union who had failed to capitalize on several scoring chances following Le Toux’s goal.
In the 66th minute, Sporting KC, the defending Eastern Conference Champions scored again on a goal by Uri Rosell to take a 2-1 lead. They would eventually score once more in the 83rd minute (Claudio Bieler) to beat the Union by 3-1 margin.
Sporting GK Jimmy Nielsen made four saves in the game, which easily could have gone the other way had even one of those shots found the back on the net in the opening half.
The Union will look to rebound from the opening game loss on Saturday, March 9th when they travel to Colorado before returning home the following Saturday to host New England (5pm start).
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[Photos by Christian Hafer]
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