Philadelphia Union (4-1-2-3)

MacMath

Gaddis-Okugo-Wheeler-Williams

Carroll

Edu-Nogueira

Maidana-Casey-Wenger

Bench: Blake, Le Toux, Lahoud, Hoppenot, Berry, Fabinho, Fernandes.

Houston Dynamo (4-4-2)

Hall

Sarkodie-Taylor-Horst-Ashe 

Driver-Clark-Garcia-Cascio 

Bruin-Barnes

Bench: Deril, Cochran, Lopez, Carrasco, Creavale, Sherrod, Cummings. 

- The thought midweek was that there was a plan in place with John Hackworth’s starting XI against New York to rotate the squad. He followed through on that with a handful of changes, including the reintroduction of Conor Casey, Brian Carroll and Sheanon Williams after rests.

- The chemistry in the center of defense will be a key today for the Union. The position next to Amobi Okugo has been rotated often this young season, and the relationship between he and Austin Berry, and he and Aaron Wheeler has been underwhelming. With Wheeler back in the fold today (an interesting commentary on Berry’s place), they will have to be much better against an experienced strike tandem like Will Bruin and Giles Barnes, which can break you down a number of ways.

- Sebastien Le Toux gets a day off, which could be beneficial for him long-term, as he hasn’t exactly wowed of late. Le Toux’s absence on corners, where his delivery is occasionally sub-par, will be helpful, especially with Vincent Nogueira or Cristian Maidana taking over.

- At some point after his acquisition, you had to think you’d see Andrew Wenger as a wide forward in a 4-3-3.

- Both goals against New York came from untenably large pockets of space in front of the back four. The Union can ill-afford to replicate those mistakes today, especially with Oscar Boniek Garcia slotted into the center of midfield with Brad Davis out. That eases the burden on the fullbacks – though Tony Cascio can be a handful – but raises the onus on players in the center of the pitch.

- The battle today could very well be won in the middle of the pitch. The Union possess a manpower advantage there, with Carroll, Maurice Edu and Vincent Nogueira patrolling the area against Ricardo Clark and Garcia. However it happens, the Union’s personnel needs to have a better push forward and be more responsible tracking back if they want to end their winless ways.

Philadelphia Union (4-4-2)

MacMath

Gaddis-Parke-Okugo-Williams

Fabinho-Carroll-Daniel-Cruz

Le Toux-Casey

Bench: Nikolov, Lahoud, Torres, Farfan, Wheeler, Hoppenot.

Houston Dynamo (4-4-2)

Hall

Crevalle-Boswell-Taylor-Sarkodie

Johnson-Clark-Barnes-Davis

Bruin-Weaver

Bench: Marscheider, Ching, Cummings, Chabala, Lopez, Ownby, Carrasco. 

 - John Hackworth promised changes, and he’s delivered. Sort of. A beleaguered midfield gets a boost on the wings with Fabinho, who had deputized for the suspended Amobi Okugo in defense, coming in to presumably play on the left with Danny Cruz going to the right. Sebastien Le Toux moves up top to pair Conor Casey at his more natural striker position, while Jack McInerney heads to the bench.

- What isn’t changed, however, is the Union’s predictability in attack. With Keon Daniel in the center, there’s still an attacking stagnancy there, and the onus will be on Fabinho and Cruz to provide crosses to the two, 6-foot target met. Creative.

- But the Union may have a change of pace available on the bench in Roger Torres, who’s been limited to just 37 minutes in three MLS appearances this season. That breakthrough comes at the expense of Kleberson, who is not included in the 18-man roster today.

- Houston will have the services of newly-acquired Servando Carrasco, picked up from Seattle in exchange for Adam Moffat Friday, on the bench. Will Bruin and Cam Weaver start up top with Giles Barnes and Brad Davis doing the majority of the creating in midfield thanks to Oscar Boniek Garcia’s suspension.

- Let’s not mince words here: Both teams are winless in their last four. A win by either side puts the other team into full tailspin mode. The Union could put five points between them and the Dynamo tonight with a win. This is a game playoff teams must win.

I strongly debated writing this post, if only because to opine on the events of the Philadelphia Union’s 1-0 loss to Houston Saturday would further preserve the game for posterity. It wasn’t a pretty game by any stretch of the imagination, two severely depleted teams with low morale desperately trying to carve out a result. What went wrong for the Union? Oh let me count the ways.

It was a tough day at the office for Conor Casey
and a makeshift Union lineup against Houston.
(Associated Press)

- Let’s get the crux of the problems out of the way. Houston was missing Will Bruin, Brad Davis, Corey Ashe and Kofi Sarkodie. The Union were without Jack McInerney, Keon Daniel, Kleberson, Danny Cruz and Michael Farfan. Sounds a lot like the first names you’d call if these two teams were drafting a schoolyard pick-up game. It was difficult to expect much beautiful or even coherent soccer from those two deficient sides Saturday. On that count, they delivered.

- I know it’s making the best of a bad situation. But you have to strenuously question John Hackworth’s formation. A central forward pairing of Conor Casey and Aaron Wheeler supported by “wingers” Sebastien Le Toux and Antoine Hoppenot. He gets away with fielding a defensively suspect side because of Houston’s atrocious attack (more on that momentarily). But the idea that somehow a bunch of forwards thrown haphazardly together and moving more or less in concert towards goal will translate into goals is seriously flawed. Casey was facing a second 90-minute run out in 90-degree heat in four days. Wheeler admitted last week that his fitness wasn’t all there yet, not to mention the sizable redundancy in the skill sets of the two front-runners. Hoppenot with 90 minutes to run aimlessly at guys was ineffective, squandering chances to shoot or cross on the rare occasions he found space. And we haven’t even gotten to the lack of possession (a paltry 38.6 percent with 71 percent passing efficiency) in a midfield that was just Brian Carroll and Leo Fernandes.
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