Brenden Aaronson, Olivier Mbaizo stand out but don’t quite do enough in Union’s loss

The Union lost to the Columbus Crew, 1-0, on Lucas Zelarayán’s goal on Wednesday night with a left back who wasn’t really a left back and a striker who was too selfish. The only goal of the game came from equal parts skill by a $7-million playmaker and fluke from a deflection off Mark McKenzie.

Oh, and the Union outshot the Columbus Crew, 14-12, despite having just 44.5% of the possession and losing 1-0.

What does that tell you? Well, this being Philadelphia, it might tell you the world is ending. Or it might tell you that the Union actually played decently despite their inability to score.

Let’s take a look at some of the notable performances in the game.

» READ MORE: Union lose to Columbus Crew, 1-0, on Lucas Zelarayán goal

At this point, we’re getting used to him not being on the ball enough. But when Aaronson did get opportunities, he once again showed flashes of brilliance mixed with if-he-had-only-just execution. In addition to a dazzling dash through two Columbus defenders in the 26th minute, there was a play in the 51st minute when he received the ball from Alejandro Bedoya in the right side of the 18-yard box and was wide open but didn’t shoot. He should have, and he probably knows it.

That said, Aaronson’s three shots on the night were second-most on the team. He also created one chance and recorded one tackle, one interception, and one block, and completed 10-of-13 passes.

In criticizing one play over 61 minutes, rest assured that it’s no worse than the high standard Union coaches are holding Aaronson to every day. And if the right check comes in for the Medford native soon, rest assured that the Union will take it. European teams like to pay for potential, even in a transfer market that’s been upended by the coronavirus pandemic. They’re likely to do so before Aaronson realizes his full potential in a Union jersey.

It was no surprise that Columbus’ outstanding midfield dominated possession to the point that Monteiro had zero tackles, blocks, interceptions, or clearances. But he still had a box score-filling night: 61 touches (second-most on the team), 40-of-45 passes completed, two chances created, and one shot on target.

He obviously isn’t a left back. He’s probably even less of one than Ray Gaddis, which made it a bit surprising that Gaddis didn’t switch flanks with Kai Wagner out injured. But Mbaizo got the start over Matt Real — which isn’t a good sign for Real — and put in a 74-minute shift.

Mbaizo contributed little offensively beyond completing 20 of 25 passes. He was plenty busy defensively, with two tackles, two interceptions, and two clearances. Does that qualify as a “good” performance? Since the Union want their outside backs to get up into attacks, probably not. But the two Columbus players who manned that side of the field — winger Pedro Santos and defender Harrison Afful — weren’t able to do much on the flank.

Afful took a shot from just inside 25 yards. Santos had one pass back across the 18-yard-box, and two unsuccessful dribbles. Everything else they did came from central areas of the field.

From here, Mbaizo is due credit for his defensive efforts.

He’d have been man of the match if his first-half shot had gone in instead of being blocked on the goal line by Darlington Nagbe. The rest of his game was outstanding: 58 touches, five clearances, three tackles, three aerial duels won, one interception, one block, and 37-of-45 passing.

One of the longest-standing readers of this column has a habit of emailing his thoughts after every Union loss. (Though, oddly, not all that often after wins.) The email arrived promptly Wednesday night just as Curtin’s postgame news conference was beginning.

The complaint this time was about Curtin not trying something different late in the game to get a tying goal. There were chances — two of the Union’s four shots on target came in the last 15 minutes — but there wasn’t enough quality.

Nor was there a way to get Jakob Glesnes on the field to help with set pieces without taking off someone else useful. Alejandro Bedoya could have made a short-term move to the right side of a 3-5-2 with Real on the left, but he was subbed off in the 61st minute.

The bigger issue was a lack of attacking punch on the bench. Ilsinho is always going to be limited. Andrew Wooten and Anthony Fontana didn’t offer much.

But with a short turnaround to Sunday’s game at the New York Red Bulls (7 p.m., PHL17), Curtin might have to give those three more playing time to keep his starters from burning out.