Leon Flach becomes the Union’s latest unlikely playoff hero with his winning goal

It’s the most famous month of the year for playoff heroes, in a city with a history of finding them in unexpected places.

So it was fitting that on the eve of Matt Stairs’ return to Philadelphia to celebrate ripping one into the night, the Union found their own salvation from a clutch scoring blast.

But the better equivalent of Leon Flach’s game-winning goal for the Union on Thursday might not be the beefy slugger who toppled the Dodgers in 2008. (And not just because their body frames are just a bit different.)

Remember Eric Bruntlett? In 120 regular-season games that year for the Phillies, the versatile infielder’s batting average was a mere .217, with 46 hits and just two home runs. But he homered in Game 2 of the 2008 World Series, and in Game 3 scored the winning run on Carlos Ruiz’s hit that didn’t get past the pitcher’s mound.

It’s not a perfect comparison, because Flach is a starter and Bruntlett was a pinch-hitter. Still, the Union player who by his own admission is usually the least likely to score in a game, now has his name up in lights. His 59th-minute goal, just his second goal in 79 games for the Union, was the only tally in the 1-0 win over FC Cincinnati.

» READ MORE: Union edge FC Cincinnati 1-0 in playoff opener with Andre Blake and Leon Flach’s heroics

Union manager Jim Curtin was as surprised as anyone.

“When we do shooting exercises, I’ll just say Leon doesn’t love to do the shooting part of things,” he said. “It’s not just me that gives him a tough time with the shooting — the players do, too.”

Flach does many other things really well. He has always been a staunch defensive presence in midfield, but has really improved his passing game this year and become a two-way player. Against Cincinnati, he had 44 touches, eight defensive recoveries, two blocks (including the game’s last play), and one interception, and he completed 23 of 30 passes.

“Leon does so much that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet for this club, for this team, for a young player,” Curtin said. “I don’t know whether it’s because he’s so mature and intelligent, people think he’s, like, a 28-year-old player. He’s as young as some of the homegrown kids … and he’s playing every minute of every game.”

There is one way that a Flach-Stairs comparison makes sense. When the ball came to them, they let instinct carry the moment.

“I was not thinking much; I think that helped a lot,” Flach said. “I just tried to hit the ball first, and then I just suddenly saw it flying in the right direction, right height. And an incredible moment.”

The standing-room-only crowd of 19,289 at Subaru Park had waited all night to erupt at someone other than overmatched referee Timothy Ford, and the blast of noise was as fierce as Flach’s shot.

» READ MORE: Jim Curtin knew the Union could be good this year. He didn’t think they’d be this good.

Flach, a Texas-born, Germany-raised 21-year-old, joked that he told his father, “I probably saved my goals for the playoffs. Right moment, right time, and I think that’s also what it comes down [to] when we play the playoffs — it’s one goal which decides one game.”

Of course, Andre Blake was the Union’s biggest hero of all with his four big saves in the second half. But the Union’s playoff history is now full of heroic moments from surprising sources: Marco Fabián coming off the bench to win 2019′s first round, Jakob Glesnes’s long-range blast in last year’s first round, and Jack McGlynn’s ice-in-his-veins penalty shootout kick in last year’s conference semifinals.

It doesn’t matter where the magic comes from, as long as it shows up.

“Maybe the one God I believe in is a soccer God,” Curtin said, a quip that might leave some of his fellow Villanova alums aghast.

But the heavens didn’t judge on this night.

“This is the way the games look at this time of the year,” Curtin said. “It doesn’t have to be pretty, and the name of the game is surviving and advancing.”

» READ MORE: Why Andre Blake is the most important player in Union history

While we know that both conference finals will be played on Oct. 30, we don’t know the kickoff times yet. ABC and ESPN Deportes will have one national broadcast kicking off in the 3 p.m. hour, and FS1 and Fox Deportes will have the other kicking off in the 8 p.m. hour.

The schedule is pending the other conference semifinals, both of which are set for Sunday: CF Montréal vs. New York City FC (1 p.m., ESPN and ESPN Deportes) and Austin FC vs. FC Dallas (8 p.m., FS1 and Fox Deportes).

If Montréal wins, the Union will probably play the late game on the 30th because ESPN has the day’s first pick of games for the ABC slot. If New York wins, ESPN might take it, but with star-studded Los Angeles FC hosting the Western Conference final, that might be too good to pass up no matter the opponent.