Marco Fabián, Anthony Fontana goals give Union 2-0 win over Chicago Fire
After dropping points against four previous teams who played defensive bunkers at Talen Energy Stadium, this time the Union broke through..
Not long after kickoff Saturday night, the Chicago Fire joined the list of teams across MLS that decided the best way to play against the Union at Talen Energy Stadium is to set up a defensive bunker.
After all, the Union had dropped points against four previous teams that did it.
But this time, the Union broke the opponent down, and got a badly needed win.
Marco Fabián scored in the 11th minute and Anthony Fontana provided the insurance in the 65th to give the Union a 2-0 victory, which snapped a two-game winless rut and kept the team atop the Eastern Conference.
It was also the Union’s first shutout since the May 19 scoreless tie against Seattle, the first team that bunkered against them; and the first shutout win since FC Cincinnati’s visit on May 2.
Fabián’s goal was a tremendous 25-yard smash. Haris Medunjanin started the play with a free kick from the left wing, fooling the Fire defense by playing a short backward pass on the ground to Kai Wagner instead of serving up a cross. Wagner then laid the ball toward the right flank, and an unmarked Fabián stepped up and let rip.
The rest of the first half was languid, no surprise since temperatures were in the 90s from kickoff through the halftime whistle. It was still 90 when the second half started, even though the sun was down.
Chicago (5-10-8, 23 points) had some chances, including a 64th-minute header by former Union forward C.J. Sapong that went straight to Andre Blake. But the next time the Union (11-6-6, 39 points) went down the field, they got the second goal they needed.
Wagner started the play with a hard run down the left flank. He got tangled up with Chicago’s Przemyslaw Frankowski, hit the ground, got back up, then got just enough on a cross for it to be deflected into the middle of the open 18-yard box. Anthony Fontana saw the opportunity, pounced and slotted the ball home.
It was just the third ever Union goal for the 19-year-old Newark, Del., native, who is finally earning regular playing time in MLS after an injury-plagued career to date.
The only major blemish on the night came in the 19th minute, when Wagner picked up a yellow card that puts him out of next Saturday’s game at Montreal due to yellow-card accumulation.