The Philadelphia Union headed into Sporting Park looking for a spark and hoping to leave with a positive taste in what has been a less than stellar season thus far. The Union got just that with a 2-1 result against a lackluster performance from Sporting KC who still share the top of the Eastern Conference table with the New England Revolution. This is the first win for the Union since March 15th against New England at PPL Park which is where those two sides will meet this Saturday at 7:00 P.M.
The first half seemed to show that Sporting was not firing on all cylinders from the start, and with a hard press from the Union and a more solid back line, Sporting had difficulty finding the space to create chances early on. The first SKC scoring chance did not arrive until the 33rd minute with a Sal Zizzo header that headed straight towards keeper Zach MacMath who made the first of several great saves during the match. The Union continued to apply pressure and seemed to be playing much better and the moment came towards the end of the first half with a goal from Danny Cruz to put the Union up 1-0 at the half.
The second half started the yellow card parade, starting with a booking for Fabinho for the Union (Fabinho will not play this Saturday due to a Yellow Card accumulation). The Union defence continued to hold up against SKC right up until the 80th minute when Dominic Dwyer placed a beautiful strike past MacMath to level things up. Philadelphia would however not settle for a draw and just a minute later Christian Maidana scored his first MLS goal with an assist by Andrew Wenger for the game winner. Sporting KC would have an advantage to go level with a Corben Bone red card in the 90th minute who was subbed in just one minute prior, but Philadelphia held on in the last minutes for a much needed result.
Philadelphia will head home to face New England on Saturday and SKC will travel to Chicago on Sunday to face the Fire.