Dániel Gazdag and Julián Carranza lead the Union to a 3-0 rout of New England

Led by Dániel Gazdag’s eighth and ninth goals of the year, including his long-awaited first from open play, the Union ran past the New England Revolution, 3-0, Saturday night at Subaru Park.

All three goals came in the second half. Gazdag had his open-play breakthrough in the 56th, then scored via a penalty kick in the 74th. Julián Carranza capped off the scoring in the 88th, taking a Chris Donovan feed on a breakaway and slotting home from the doorstep.

Last weekend, when Union manager Jim Curtin discussed his rolling out of a 3-5-2 formation at Colorado, he referenced potentially using it in the future against New England. Right on cue, he deployed it against the Revolution on Saturday. Damion Lowe, Jack Elliott and Jakob Glesnes (from left to right) were the centerbacks, with Kai Wagner on the left flank and Olivier Mbaizo on the right.

The Union (6-4-3, 21 points) officially called it a 5-2-1-2. There isn’t much difference between a three-back line and a five-back line, since what really matters is the three centerbacks in the middle. But the “2-1″ portion of the midfield matters a bit too. It denotes putting a playmaker in front of two defensive shuttlers, instead of having the trio start on the same line.

Curtin referred to that possibility too after the 3-5-2 debuted against Colorado, and that’s how it played out here. But there was a major plot twist: Alejandro Bedoya suffered a quadriceps injury late in Friday’s practice, so missed this game. That reduced the midfield depth further with Jack McGlynn at the U.S. under-20 World Cup game.

As a result, Leon Flach started next to José Andrés Martínez behind Gazdag. Carranza and Mikael Uhre started up front.

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Curtin called the injury “grade one,” the lowest end of the scale, but said he didn’t know how long Bedoya will be out for.

Coincidentally, the Union’s first use of the three centerback setup this year came on a night when a guy who used to play in the system here came back to town. Stuart Findlay, a popular backup in 2021 and last year, took part in the pregame ritual of banging the drum on-field.

After Wednesday’s dull scoreless tie with D.C. United, the Union lit a spark from the start. They took three good shots in the first 15 minutes, with two forcing saves from New England’s highly-touted young goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic.

The Revolution (7-3-3, 24 points) came close in the 19th, with former U.S. national team forward Bobby Wood putting a shot wide after Emanuel Boateng set him up — charging into Glesnes along the way.

The Union’s best chance of the half came in the 27th minute. Flach (yes, really) started it with a superb cross-field pass to Martínez, who raced off down the right flank and hit a pinpoint cross to Carranza. The Argentine aimed his header down where he thought Petrovic couldn’t get to it, but Petrovic did indeed get to it.

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Things turned better for the Union when New England’s star midfield playmaker Carles Gil had to leave the game with an injury in the 35th minute.

At halftime, the Union had out-shot New England 8-2, including 4-0 in shots on target – a refreshing upgrade from the recent lack of attempts.

It took until his 19th game of the season for Gazdag to score a goal from open play, which is too long to be called worth waiting for. But it sure had to feel good when the Hungarian blasted a shot in from the top left corner of the 18-yard box in the 57th minute.

The sequence that set it up included two great hustle plays by Uhre. First, he chased down a cross-field pass from Gazdag, pulling Revolution centerback Andrew Farrell way out to the left sideline. Farrell hit the deck under light contact amid the chase, and the ball went out off him for a Union throw-in. Uhre took the throw so fast that Gazdag was wide open to turn and shoot.

And because the ball went out of bounds between Farrell’s fall and Gazdag’s goal, those two plays counted as separate sequences. If there was a foul (which was an if), it could not have been considered part of the build-up.

Uhre got the better of Farrell again in the 72nd, this time with a run into the right side of the 18-yard box. Farrell offered enough contact from behind to invite Uhre to earn a penalty kick, and he promptly did.

New England’s bench protested enough that referee Lukasz Szpala walked across the field to give Gil a yellow card, as veteran Revs manager Bruce Arena looked on with classic Bruce Arena disdain.

Once Szpala returned to the spot, Gazdag stepped up and thumped in his eighth penalty kick goal of the year.

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The U.S. under-20 men’s team opened its World Cup campaign with a 1-0 upset of Ecuador in San Juan, Argentina. Jonathan Gómez, an outside back pushed up to midfield for the day, scored the goal in the 92nd minute.

The Union’s Jack McGlynn, Brandan Craig and Quinn Sullivan all started, with McGlynn and Craig playing the entire game. Sullivan went 65 minutes.

The Americans’ next game is Tuesday against Fiji (2 p.m., FS2, Universo).