Union Takeaways: A 1-1 tie vs. LAFC isn’t as bad as the late goal makes it feel

Here are our day-after takeaways on the Union’s 1-1 tie with Los Angeles FC at Subaru Park in the first game of their Concacaf Champions League semifinal series.

José Andrés Martínez. His flying tackles and brash personality get the most attention, and to be sure, he played a lot of defense in this game: 18 defensive recoveries, four tackles, two interceptions, one clearance, and eight duels won out of 12 contested.

But it’s other parts of his game that make him such a special player, and they don’t always show up in the box score. Few players in MLS, not just on the Union, have Martínez’s ability to take a pass from a teammate on the back line, turn against an opponent, and launch an attacking move down the field.

He did a slew of times in this game, on a night when he recorded just 58 touches and completed 31 of 42 passes. A little shimmy here, a feint there, an arrow toward Julián Carranza, Mikael Uhre, Dániel Gazdag, or Jack McGlynn. It’s been said here before, but it’s worth saying again: next time you watch Martínez play, watch that stuff as much as the rest.

» READ MORE: Union largely out-play LAFC in Champions League opener, but give up late goal in 1-1 tie

50: The percentage of possession the Union held during the game. They often hold less than a majority, and like it that way. To achieve a 50-50 split against a team of LAFC’s quality in a game of this magnitude is impressive, and perhaps a message to critics who think the Union can’t play that way.

4: The number of interceptions Olivier Mbaizo made, and the number of tackles he made. Mbaizo also had eight defensive recoveries, won seven of the 12 duels he contested, and completed 26 of 33 passes. It was a great performance.

“It doesn’t change your approach entirely, because [with a 1-0 win] we would have went there with the mindset of we want to get a goal. … We have to approach it aggressive — that’s when our team’s the best anyway. And that’s what our players respond to the best, to be proactive rather than reactive. It’s going to be hard, no question about it, but I still think we’re in a position where we can get it done.”

— Union manager Jim Curtin on the state of the series at its midway point.

“We’ve played good games against them. We can score against them. We showed it, even today, that we can outplay them if we are playing good. So we are not afraid at all. I think we can still do it.”

— Union midfielder Dániel Gazdag on his optimism going to Los Angeles.

“I’d probably be the same way if I was sitting at a Sixers game doing that to somebody.”

— LAFC goalkeeper John McCarthy, the Northeast Philly-born villain of last year’s MLS Cup final, on being booed by his hometown’s fans every time he touched the ball.

» READ MORE: Even after breaking the Union’s heart in last year's title game, LAFC goalie John McCarthy is the ‘same dude’ from Mayfair

The series shifts to Los Angeles for Tuesday’s finale at BMO Stadium (10 p.m., FS1, TUDN). It can’t be overstated that in a two-game aggregate series, a 1-1 tie really isn’t bad.

Yes, giving up a late goal hurts, and it means that LAFC advances with a scoreless tie. But it’s hard to believe that game will end scoreless, because these teams’ three previous meetings ended 3-3, 2-2 and 3-3 — all in Los Angeles.

If there’s a winner of Tuesday’s game, that team advances. If regulation ends 1-1, the game goes to penalty kicks. Any higher-scoring tie than that and the Union advance. History says that’s definitely possible.

U.S. Soccer held the draw for the U.S. Open Cup’s round of 32 on Thursday, the round in which the Union will enter the tournament. The envelopes and cards produced a game at Minnesota United on Tuesday, May 9 at 8:30 p.m. That falls between the Union’s regular-season road games at the New York Red Bulls on Saturday, May 6 and the Colorado Rapids on Saturday, May 13.

Minnesota plays at Vancouver on May 6. Colorado has back-to-back games in California before welcoming the Union: at the Los Angeles Galaxy in the regular season on May 6, and at the second-division USL Championship’s Sacramento Republic on May 9.

The U.S. Open Cup is the nation’s oldest soccer tournament, now in its 108th edition. Teams from every level of the sport enter at various stages, from amateurs to pros. The Union have reached the final three times (2014, 2015 and 2019), and lost them all. The last local team to win the Open Cup was the Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals in 1966, the team’s fourth title.

» READ MORE: The Union's U.S. Open Cup links to the 1966 Ukrainian Nationals

The Union also learned the kickoff times for their group stage games in the Leagues Cup tournament this summer are set.

The opener against Tijuana on July 22 will start at 8 p.m., unfortunately overlapping with the English Premier League’s Chelsea-Brighton exhibition game at Lincoln Financial Field. But the good news is Union-Tijuana will be on national TV, FS1 in English and UniMás (available over the air) in Spanish.

The game against Querétaro on July 26 will kick off at 7:30 p.m. Tijuana and Querétaro will then face each other on July 30 at 7:30 p.m. Every game in the tournament will be streamed in the Apple MLS Season Pass package.

» READ MORE: How to watch Union games in the Apple MLS Season Pass streaming package