The Philadelphia Union earned a point at home against Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) on Saturday evening in front of a sell-out crowd of 19,145, the seventh sell-out of the season. This was the third largest crowd at Talen Energy Stadium in Union history and the largest since October 15, 2011.

‘The next game is waiting for us’

Kacper Przybylko scored his team-leading 14th goal of the season within the first few minutes of the match. He is now tied with Sebastien Le Toux for second on the Union’s all-time single season goals scored list. Additionally, he is tied for 5th most goals in the league. Fafa Picault recorded his fourth helper of the season, one short of tying his Major League Soccer (MLS) career high. The Union now have 55 goals on the season, the most the team has ever scored in a single season.

After the game, Przybylko said of the team, “It’s great to see that we are on par with LAFC.” He hopes his team will continue “like this” and prepare for the next game, stay as high as they can, and get a great position for the playoffs. He went on to say, “I want to applaud the team, because they are doing so great. We are pressing together, there is no one who is not doing that, because if someone is sleeping it’s not going to work.” He thanked the team for their great effort and is looking forward to the next game.

Speed of thought and execution

During a postgame interview with Fafa Picault, the midfielder shared his unhappiness with the team’s final point count. He said they had hoped to come out of the match with three points, but they did show that they can defend against the league leader LAFC. “I think we showed what we’ve done all year, [and] that’s match up against any team that’s played against us.”

Just before the second half of the game, LAFC’s Carlos Vela scored the team’s only goal. Union goalkeeper Andre Blake made three stellar saves during the match, one by just the tips of his fingers! Sergio Santos ran in with a kick for a game-winning goal in the 85th minutes of the game, but the shot went wide, keeping the final score of the game, 1 to 1.

Curtin made a tough love call when choosing to keep Marco Fabian out of this high-stakes match. He said Fabian missed an important team meeting the day before the game – rules are rules, friends, and this was quite the consequence.

In the end, Coach Curtin shared, “I couldn’t be more proud of our players for the effort they put forward.” 

The Union return to action next weekend, Sunday, September 22 at New York Red Bulls (6:30 p.m. ET / PHL17).

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