Fernando Aristeguieta scores twice in Union debut

Fernando Aristeguieta left quite a first impression Saturday night in his Union debut.

Is that so.

Just a day after officially joining the team on a season-long loan from French club Nantes, the Venezuelan striker scored two goals to help the Union rout London United, 6-0, in their second group stage game at the IMG Suncoast Pro Classic in Bradenton, Fla.

Okay. But it was just a preseason game, so it's not that big a deal, right?

Aristeguieta struck in the 70th and 85th minutes after coming in as a substitute just past the hour mark.

Nice shot. Then again, London United - as you've pointed out multiple times on here - isn't actually a team. It's a collection of out-of-contract has-beens looking to get attention from scouts.

Richard Marquez scored the game's opening goal in the 10th minute off a free kick from Zach Pfeffer.

Fine, but London lost its first game of the tournament by a 7-0 margin.

The Union's other goals came from Fred (in the 29th minute), Andrew Wenger (in the 71st) and Cristian Maidana (in the 80th).

Fred? Really?

Yep.

But London United had a guy sent off in the 51st minute, so four of the Union's goals came with a man advantage.

"I thought the guys that opened the game were very good 0 they set the tone early and scored two great goals," Union manager Jim Curtin said afterward in remarks forwarded by the team. "For the second group playing 30 minutes, regardless of the score, we set the goal in the pre-game meal, the exercise was to treat it like we were down a goal going into it and I needed them to score two goals. They took that task, played up-tempo, had a lot of good crosses in the box and we were able to score four goals. I was very happy."

That's nice. And it's great news that Aristeguieta scored twice, I'll admit. But what happens when they play an actual MLS team?

The Union will close out group stage play in Bradenton on Wednesday, as they face the Columbus Crew at 5 p.m.

Columbus is the team that put seven past London United. The Union only scored six.

Okay, this might make you feel better. If the Union beat Columbus, they'll advance to the tournament's championship game next Saturday.

You mean they'd be playing for a trophy?

Well, sort of. It is only the preseason, after all.

Union lineup: John McCarthy; Fabinho (Ray Gaddis 61'), Steven Vítoria (Ethan White HT'), Richard Marquez, Raymond Lee (Sheanon Williams 61'); Michael Lahoud (Maurice Edu 61'), Fred (Cristian Maidana 61'), Danny Cruz (Jimmy McLaughlin 21', Andrew Wenger 61'), Zach Pfeffer (Sébastien Le Toux 61'), Eric Ayuk (Antoine Hoppenot 32', C.J. Sapong 61'), Dzenan Catic (Fernando Aristeguieta 61')

Goals

Philadelphia: Richard Marquez (Zach Pfeffer) 10', Fred (Jimmy McLaughlin) 29', Fernando Aristeguieta (Andrew Wenger) 70', Andrew Wenger (unassisted) 71', Cristian Maidana (Sébastien Le Toux) 80', Fernando Aristeguieta (Andrew Wenger) 75'

Cards

Philadelphia: Danny Cruz (yellow) 21', Dzenan Catic (yellow) 40'
London United: Devonte Totesaut (yellow) 50', Devonte Totseaut (yellow/red) 51'

A litle humor never hurts every now and again. For a more straightforward game recap, The Philly Soccer Page has plenty of details on the action. There's also the live stream replay, though you'll have to jump past the first game of the doubleheader to get to the Union.