A hard fought late victory for a side doing poorly in the league and celebrations at hosting a cup final.
It's not hard to see how Wednesday night's victory echos the Philadelphia Union's path to the US Open Cup Final last season, but Union fans will be ultimately hoping for a different end result.
The hero on the night was Sebastian Le Toux, who despite a less than stellar season has had his part to play in both league and cup victories this season.
The Frenchman seems to have embraced the competition and has arguably been the very definition of clutch. With his winning goal on Wednesday, Le Toux pulled further away as the all time leading scorer in the competition (in the modern age) with 15 goals, having broken the record by scoring his 14th (and third in the year's competition) in a 2-0 Quarter Final victory versus the New England Revolution.
Some will say the Union just edged it, and looking at the score you'd think they're correct. Looking at the statistics one would tend to agree as well; both play a 4-2-3-1, physically the two seemed rather even, and passing percentages all over the field were nearly matched. However it's in the individual moments and the forced change in style from Chicago due to Gilberto's injury that the Union edged the Fire.
But what else did the Union do (aside from the obvious of scoring a goal) to assure victory against Chicago, and what did they do wrong?
While both teams play a very direct style of soccer, "Route 1" some might call it, Jim Curtin's side had just that much more tactical variation and nuance that made them that much better than Chicago on the night. While Chicago largely relied on the pace and dribbling ability of players, particularly David Accam, Philadelphia's smart offensive play made them harder to predict and, as a result, play.
Positional interchange: Yes it's been said before, and it's a common thing that the Union do when they play. Le Toux will drift in as a second striker with Christian Maidana pushing out wide and blasting in 10-20 crosses to Le Toux and CJ Sapong. However, on Wednesday night they added another dimension to this interchange. The recent acquisition of Tranquillo Barnetta, who's capable of playing both out wide and centrally, meant that the outside backs of Chicago regularly found themselves up against three different wide midfielders, not knowing whether they'd send in a cross or dribble at the defender.
Furthermore, Sebastian Le Toux's tactical discipline was probably the tightest that's been seen in recent years from the Frenchman. More often than not, staying outside instead of drifting in, his crossing quality gave center backs Eric Gehrig and Jeff Larentowicz problems, and more importantly gave Sapong opportunities. (One of which was an absolute sitter which Sapong absolutely missed and for his sake wasn't left rueing his chances thanks to Le Toux's winner.)
Late runs: On more than one occasion, either Brian Carroll or Barnetta could be seen running into the box to aid in the Union's attack, adding unpredictability and an unmarked player into the fold.
Breaking up fast breaks in midfield: The inclusion of Michael Lahoud also allowed Carroll to aide in pressing off the ball while Lahoud sat in front of the defense- Carroll's typical role, Lahoud did very well to break up play with several tackles and also by putting his body in front of the ball on an occasion or two. This largely took away one of Chicago's biggest offensive threats- fast breaks, and in general putting teams on the backfoot with quick dribbling, whether from David Accam, Harry Shipp or Shaun Maloney.
Double teaming David Accam: Anyone who's seen David Accam knows he's by far the most dangerous Chicago player, if only for his ability to create chances out of thin air with his unholy speed and dribbling ability. While he got the better of the Philadelphia defense on one or two occasions, a combination of hustle from Ray Gaddis, double teaming from Gaddis and Le Toux, and excellent closing of angles from John McCarthy when Accam was within shooting distance of goal (something McCarthy has improved on in recent matches) made the Ghana international a significantly smaller threat than he could have been, leading to his eventual substitution for Jason Johnson in the 60th minute.
Change in shape when off the ball: On paper, the Union have been playing a 4-2-3-1 for ages now, but one of the big things to notice about their movement when off the ball, particularly on Wednesday night, is that they like to press the opponent in more of a 4-4-2 formation. Maidana comes up next to Sapong and they pressure the opposing team's center backs in the hope of winning the ball or forcing them into a poor pass and retrieving possession high up the field. While it doesn't always work, this strategy was used to positive effect against a Chicago side whose center backs (despite one being a converted midfielder) aren't necessarily the best passers of the ball.
Winning the ball when it counts: Despite being slightly edged 50 to 48 in total aerial duels on the night, the Union won the ball in the air in key areas: in the box and in midfield for guys to run off of it, which gave them the advantage both offensively and defensively. Two Union players in particular played a big role in this. Richie Marquez, who ran his socks off, stepped into midfield on occasion or ran laterally to cover holes in the back four, and of course won headers. With his tireless play and excellent passing, Marquez is slowly but surely locking down that left center back spot. The other was of course, CJ Sapong whose excellent hold up play allowed the attacking midfield trio of Le Toux, Barnetta, and Maidana to makes runs off of him, dribble at defenders, and generally cause problems for the Chicago defense. Furthermore, the Union's slight edge in possession 50.9% to Chicago's 49.1% further reflects the idea that they were efficient with their play, despite two big missed chances.
Finally, not conceding silly free kicks: The Union have made a bit of doing the opposite throughout this season and it's been their undoing on a number of occasions, including their last league meeting with Chicago; however, by limiting these they shrunk key figures Shaun Maloney and Harry Shipp's influence on the game.
So the Union march on to the final playing smarter soccer and for Union fans hopefully having learned from their mistakes as the season goes on and with this newfound knowledge they'll approach Sporting Kansas City in the US Open Cup Final on September 30th at PPL Park.