The night a terrific Union season became a special one

A terrific soccer season had just transformed into a special one. The upper deck at Subaru Park had finally stopped swaying. That shirtless man and his shirtless son had stopped running around the concourse. The guy in the Jason Kelce as a Mummer outfit had stopped dancing with that woman in Eagles feathers and the boy wearing a Phillies cap.

They were Dancing on Their Own down in Chester too, late night. Soccer fans know the words now, too. Union players joined in on a big stage hauled onto the field. This Philadelphia flirtation with outrageous sporting success carried down I-95 on Sunday night.

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Maybe an hour after the Union had shrugged off a temporary second-half deficit and dispatched NYCFC, 3-1, in the MLS Eastern Conference final … nope, can’t print that chant the crowd got going about New York … Union manager Jim Curtin talked about what a true team he had, how this was the biggest win in the club’s history, sending the Union west this week to face LAFC on Saturday, MLS Cup on the line.

Curtin was talking about his last goal scorer, second-half sub Cory Burke, coming into the game possessed, “wanting to take it over. … He played in a way I wouldn’t be surprised if the doping people were here to test him, because he was that intense and crazy on the field today; it was great.”

Curtin stopped, chuckled … “I see trouble behind you guys.”

“Sorry guys, sorry,” Union defensive midfield star José Martínez announced to the crowded room. “No more questions. Finished. Coach, come on …”

Martínez, clutching a champagne bottle, had official celebration goggles on. Curtin told him he was talking about Burke.

“No, no, no, no, no,” Martínez said. “Finish.”

“I’m coming, 30 seconds,” Curtin said.

Martínez started counting, moving to the hallway.

“I love José,” Curtin said. “He’s the first player I can put my hands up and say I can’t control him.”

Curtin went back to talking about Burke being possessed. His 30 seconds were up.

“He’s already forgotten,” Curtin said of Martínez, one of the beating hearts of this Union squad.

Curtin also had talked about how “your biggest players make the biggest plays,” and he’d started that discussion with goalkeeper Andre Blake’s latest, how three minutes after NYCFC had scored the game’s first goal in the 57th minute, Blake had left his feet to deny a second one.

Biggest play of the game, Curtin said, and he wasn’t wrong, since one goal had not quieted the sold-out craziness of the night, the fans quickly chanting a deep, loud demand for a goal of their own.

A spectacular minute of Union offense rearranged the math. Two goals, a pair of head-spinners. Four seconds after a NYCFC substitution — maybe three seconds — the Union had its equalizer. Jakob Glesnes, waiting during that substitution, had sized up the field and made his pass at the whistle, finding Julián Carranza moving to an open space, the long free kick there before the defending MLS champs knew what was hitting them, Carranza burying the opportunity.

Within the minute, Carranza was doing the nifty passing, Dániel Gazdag the finishing. The stadium was shaking, press box rocking. Burke’s goal put the party into full swing. In the 86th minute, a man in the front row tried to start a “Beat L.A. chant.” Too soon. Too much still to enjoy from this one.

“Clear the area, the stage is coming through,” said a security guard, thankfully shoving one man aside — OK, it was me — to keep him (me!) from being broadsided by the rolling stage.

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For their next act, the Union will try for their first league title. You can only win such a thing if you’ve got winners. This season, striker Mikael Uhre had shown up right after leading his Danish club to its first top-division title in 16 years. Gazdag had won a Hungarian top-division title. Captain Alejandro Bedoya, who gutted out the first half before limping off, has U.S. national team caps, but he also had a Florida state high school title. Before he was a press conference trespasser, Martínez had raised a Copa Venezuela trophy back home.

Winners all, now 2022 MLS Eastern Conference champs. The Subaru Park faithful eventually stopped singing and started chanting ... Beat L.A.