Jack McGlynn and Chris Donovan spark the Union to a playoff sweep of New England

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Down three starters between injuries and a suspension, the Union battled their way to a 1-0 win over the New England Revolution on Wednesday at Gillette Stadium, and finished off a 2-0 sweep of their first-round playoff series.

Chris Donovan scored the winning goal in the 79th minute after coming off the bench as a substitute, redirecting a Jack McGlynn free kick from the right flank.

The Union move on to what will be another rivalry grudge match, against Supporters’ Shield winner and No. 1 overall seed FC Cincinnati. That game will be Nov. 25 or 26 in Cincinnati. Because it’s so long until the next game, we might not know for a few days exactly when it will be.

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At Monday’s practice, Julián Carranza worked off to the side with head trainer Paul Rushing, who seemed focused on one of Carranza’s hamstrings. It was termed a maintenance day.

At Tuesday’s practice, the Argentine wasn’t around. That was no maintenance day. In fact, it was an injury. Union manager Jim Curtin acknowledged it in his news conference before the team flew north, and said Carranza would be “a game-time decision.”

The decision was that Carranza was out, not even on the bench. Quinn Sullivan started in his place, making the 19-year-old Bridesburg native’s 78th Union first-team game perhaps his biggest.

Backup striker Tai Baribo was also unavailable because of a call-up to Israel’s national team for an expanded schedule this month. Israel’s October games were postponed because of the war in the region, and the games were rescheduled to a four-match slate in November that starts Sunday at Kosovo. Baribo headed abroad after Monday’s practice.

As for the depleted defense, Nathan Harriel stood in for the suspended Kai Wagner at left back, a sensible move with Noel Buck and star playmaker Carles Gil on New England’s right side. Damion Lowe started again for Jakob Glesnes at centerback.

The Union stayed with their traditional 4-4-2 formation instead of the more defensive 3-5-2 they sometimes use. That was probably for the better, given the lack of defensive depth and the issues the Union have had with players’ spacing in the three-back setup.

New England also made a notable change from the two recent meetings with the Union. Veteran goalkeeper Earl Edwards Jr. replaced rookie prospect Jacob Jackson, who has potential but made too many costly mistakes in those games.

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“It’s turning into one of these Philly-New England games,” veteran Revolution radio play-play voice Brad Feldman told his listeners after referee Drew Fischer whistled a foul for the seventh time in the first 24 minutes.

The score at that point was seven combined fouls to five combined shots, with only one (by José Andrés Martínez in the fifth minute) on target. That wasn’t too surprising, given the Union’s lack of firepower.

The game opened up after that, starting with a great chance for Harriel in the 28th. He found himself open as a loose ball bounced to him off a corner kick and hit it cleanly, but straight off the right post and out.

For most of the rest of the half, the Union were the better team. They went into the locker room with an 11-2 advantage in shots even though Martínez had the only one officially on target.

They also went into the locker room with a man advantage, because New England’s Mark-Anthony Kaye was sent off in dramatic fashion right before stoppage time started.

Kaye and Dániel Gazdag got tangled up contesting a loose ball on the flank, right in front of the New England bench. Gazdag went down, and when Kaye turned he had no choice but to step over Gazdag. His left foot landed on Gazdag’s chest, and Fischer called a foul — perhaps not having seen exactly where Kaye landed, from a few yards away.

Initially, there was no card. But within seconds, the video review officials said he should go to the monitor. When Fischer did, he changed his mind, and may have also noticed Kaye looking down at Gazdag as he stepped over him.

The law says intent doesn’t matter: A stomp on a player is a stomp on a player. Fischer spent around 45 seconds at the monitor, then walked away and took out his red card.

Kaye gave the fourth official some choice words on his way off the field, and the crowd gave Fischer an earful when he blew the halftime whistle after five minutes of stoppage time. It was a harsh decision, but it was the letter of the law.

After the game, Fischer told the Boston Globe’s pool reporter that he saw “clear evidence that Mark-Anthony Kaye stomped on an opponent lying on the ground in a manner that was violent conduct.”

» READ MORE: How the Union won Game 1 of the series vs. New England

Curtin made the night’s first substitutions with a double move in the 67th minute. Donovan replaced Mikael Uhre, which was nothing new, but the other one was a surprise: Joaquín Torres replaced Martínez.

It wasn’t just Torres’ first appearance since Aug. 31, and his longest run since a June 22 start at Orlando. It shifted the Union into a 4-3-3 formation, which they almost never use because they don’t play with traditional wingers.

Sullivan’s best position is as a left winger, though, and Torres can easily play as a right winger. So that’s what they did, with Donovan between them on the front line.

The Revolution focused on sitting deep from there on, though they sprung a few dangerous counterattacks when they could. But the Union finally got their breakthrough after New England’s Tomás Chancalay fouled Gazdag on the right flank in the 78th. McGlynn hit a seeing-eye free kick into the middle on the artificial turf, and Donovan got a slight touch to redirect it in the net.

After the goal, Curtin made two more substitutions, Leon Flach for McGlynn and Jesús Bueno for Sullivan. That reverted the Union back to their usual 4-4-2, with Bueno at the base of the diamond and Flach on the left, and they were able to hold on from there.

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