Mikael Uhre’s first Union goal helps earn 1-1 tie at Nashville SC

It took nine games to arrive, but Mikael Uhre finally scored his first Union goal, and it was a big one. His 66th-minute strike helped the Union earn a 1-1 tie at Nashville SC on Sunday, as the visitors spoiled the victory hopes at Nashville’s opening of its 30,000-seat GEODIS Park soccer stadium.

Nashville equalized in the 84th minute on a penalty kick by Randall Leal. That gave the crowd something to celebrate, but the Union still walked out with a hard-fought tie.

Here are some observations on the game.

Uhre’s long-awaited breakthrough was worth remembering for its quality, not just that it happened.

Dániel Gazdag picked up a loose ball after a Nashville throw-in (by Wyndmoor native Dan Lovitz, coincidentally), and from just behind the halfway line played a terrific ball over the top of Nashville’s defense. Uhre raced between Jack Maher and Walker Zimmerman, corralled the ball, and kept his composure as he cut back behind Zimmerman and shot low past Lovitz.

Uhre’s relief was clear to see as he ran away from the net to celebrate. Around him, the boisterous sellout crowd was silenced — except for a section of traveling Union fans who celebrated in one of the stadium’s top corners.

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The Union (5-1-3, 18 points) knew they were fortunate that the game was scoreless up to then. Nashville’s Dax McCarty hit the left post with a 25-yard belter in the fifth minute, and Alex Muyl hit the crossbar from the 18-yard line two minutes later.

The Union got lucky again in the 89th minute, when replays showed that Cory Burke’s right arm deflected a ball coming down from the air in Nashville’s box. Referee Chris Penso didn’t call a handball, and the video replay booth asked Penso to go to the monitor on the sideline to have another look. The replays were pretty clear, but Penso judged that Burke was pulling his arm back toward his body, so he let it go.

Andre Blake’s stop on the doorstep of an unmarked Muyl in the 23rd minute was an outstanding piece of goalkeeping from a player who makes a lot of outstanding plays look routine.

That said, it was quite bad for Muyl to be so unmarked, with Jack Elliott not paying attention to Muyl perched behind him. Muyl is also lucky that he was a half-step onside, if that. Union players protested that the flag should have gone up, and they were close to being right — but Muyl was just on.

Blake finished the game with five saves, and he nearly stopped Leal’s penalty kick, too.

There was no doubt about José Andrés Martínez’s handball that gave Nashville (3-3-3, 12 points) its penalty kick, but it was a stroke of bad luck. Martínez’s worst moment was something he had full control over: a 62nd-minute tackle that earned him his fourth yellow card of the season.

It was Martínez’s 26th booking in 59 Union games across all competitions. His next yellow card this year will land him a one-game suspension, unless he avoids one for his next five straight games.

The Union had a sequence of play in first-half stoppage time that deserves highlighting. Starting with a throw-in from Jakob Glesnes to Blake, the team completed 23 straight passes in 68 seconds, culminating with a shot by Julián Carranza that flew low and just wide of the far post. Most of the passes toward the end of the sequence were short and in tight spaces between Nashville defenders.

The Union pride themselves on being able to win games without keeping most of the possession, and they had a minority of it again in Saturday’s first half — 40% to Nashville’s 60%. But just because they don’t keep a lot of possession doesn’t mean they can’t. And when they do, they can play some high-quality soccer.

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After the Union played Montreal to a 1-1 tie at Subaru Park last weekend, Union manager Jim Curtin bluntly admitted that the second half was boring. This game ended with the same score, but was far from boring. The teams combined for 25 shots — 15 for Nashville, 10 for the Union — and there were 18 corner kicks, of which the home team had 13.

“It’s a hard-earned point on the road against a really good team,” Curtin said. “I think [it’s] a good showcase for the league, in terms of two really good teams that don’t give an inch to each other when they get together and play. Overall, you get a little greedy and want to take three points out of it, but if you step back, I’m really proud of the players for the effort and the work that they put in.”