After coming from behind three times, the Union blow it late in a 4-3 loss at Cincinnati

Tai Baribo scored his first two goals for the team and Jesús Bueno scored his first too, but Oliver Semmle's bad night in goal and a last-minute giveaway doomed the Union's shot at a tie.

Tai Baribo on the ball during the first half of a game where he finally scored his first two goals for the team.Read morePhiladelphia Union

by Jonathan Tannenwald

Published June 19, 2024, 10:55 p.m. ET

If there were any questions about what the Union had left in the tank after Saturday’s bad loss to Miami, they were answered Wednesday in Cincinnati.

But despite coming from behind three times with goals from Tai Baribo — his first two for the team — and Jesús Bueno, an awful turnover by Markus Anderson in the last of 10 minutes of second-half stoppage time led to reigning MLS MVP Luciano Acosta dealing the Union (4-6-8, 20 points) a 4-3 loss.

Semmle’s nightmare

With his roster so depleted that academy-bred reserve team midfielder CJ Olney was on the end of the bench, Union manager Jim Curtin rolled out a defensive-oriented 3-5-2 formation to try to shut Cincinnati (12-3-3, 39 points) down. It’s often failed to work in the past, and it failed again — but this time, goalkeeper Oliver Semmle was more at fault than the centerbacks.

On the first goal, Acosta sent in a simple cross from the right flank and Nathan Harriel was ball-watching. Kevin Kelsy ran past Harriel and jumped for a header that Semmle completely misjudged.

Cincinnati’s third goal of the night, scored by Luca Orellano, will go down as one of the viral highlights of the year: a chip from midfield that wasn’t so much a chip as a rocket launch. Semmle was off his line and got caught by the ball flying over his head and just under the crossbar.

Worryingly, it was the second time this year that Semmle has been beaten from midfield. Seattle’s Raúl Ruidíaz was the first to do it on April 30.

This will now end up on every opponent’s scouting report, but there isn’t much the Union can do about it. Semmle pushes high up because that’s how the Union’s entire defense plays, and the next backup option while Andre Blake is out is 18-year-old academy product Andrew Rick.

Baribo’s breakthrough

Before Wednesday, Baribo had played a grand total of 26 minutes over four games this year, and 175 minutes over 10 games since joining the Union last summer.

His lack of playing time with the Union, combined with Curtin’s past criticism of his practice habits, led many fans to believe he isn’t any good. And he certainly hasn’t shed the “bust” label yet after the Union paid a $1.5 million transfer fee to buy him from Austria’s Wolfsberger last year.

But this game will change perceptions fast, and surely earn Baribo more playing time.

His first goal was a spinning volley in the 43rd minute, set up by Mikael Uhre’s header of Olivier Mbaizo’s cross. The second was a truly clutch 91st-minute slam from the doorstep after Kai Wagner headed substitute Jeremy Rafanello’s cross into Baribo’s path.

Baribo departed in the 94th minute after running out of gas, and got a pat on the back from Curtin and a hug from Uhre.

Controversy and response

Cincinnati’s second goal was a penalty kick scored by Acosta after a rather light foul by Jack Elliott on Yuya Kubo. The 6-foot-6 centerback twice put his left knee into the 5-foot-10 forward’s backside, the video review team upheld the call, allowing Acosta to bury his attempt with ease.

Credit the Union for not lowering their heads. Six minutes later, Bueno got his first Union goal when Wagner served a corner kick, Cincinnati’s defense fell asleep this time, and the Venezuelan midfielder pounced to cash in from close range.

Alas, the Union’s momentum lasted just five minutes before Orellano gave Cincinnati the lead back.

Curtin made two attacking substitutions in the 72nd minute, sending in Rafanello for Bueno and Quinn Sullivan for Uhre. In the 83rd, he sent Chris Donovan in for Mbaizo, switching the tactics to a 4-3-3 for the rest of the game.

Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan’s substitutions along the way included withdrawing centerback Nick Hagglund in the 74th minute. That removed Cincinnati’s only true centerback on the field, because Miles Robinson is with the U.S. national team and Matt Miazga is injured.

Baribo’s equalizer seemed to have saved a point for the Union, but the player who subbed in for him blew it. Anderson took the ball up the field to kill some clock, and Sullivan was waving frantically at him from the other side of the field. But instead of passing it or continuing on toward the end line, Anderson slowed down, gave the ball away, and Cincinnati went right down the field for the winner.

TV broadcast aims at Union ownership

Apple sent its top broadcast team of Jake Zivin and Taylor Twellman to the game, and they had plenty to say about the Union’s fall from the elite this year.

Twellman knows the Union especially well. It’s been a long time since he was the analyst on the Union’s local TV broadcasts in 2011, but he remains well-connected to the team.

At one point, Zivin asked Twellman if he thinks the Union will keep succeeding at their longtime strategy of finding ways to win despite being one of MLS’s lowest-spending teams.

“No, but I think if you ask their ownership, I think they understand that,” he said. “They know this league’s changing and evolving overnight. They understand there has to be investment, and I think there will be.”

There was also much conversation about Julián Carranza’s upcoming departure from the Union, and the hole it will leave in the roster: not just because he’s the team’s top scorer this year, but because it will open a prized Designated Player spot.

Curtin has said multiple times lately that he does not expect any additions of consequence to his squad this summer. But Twellman said “I would be stunned if Philadelphia, this summer, doesn’t go out and try to find an extra attacking player or two.”

We’ll see if he ends up right.