Union’s defense endures long night, but holds on for 1-1 tie at Columbus

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Union gritted their teeth and narrowly survived a night-long onslaught from the Columbus Crew to escape with a 1-1 tie at Lower.com Field Saturday.

The Union were out-shot 20-11, including 10-2 in shots on target, and held just 32% of the possession. Yet they rode Andre Blake’s eight saves and Nathan Harriel’s 50th-minute header off a corner kick, and endured the final stages after Juan “Cucho” Hernández’s 72nd-minute penalty kick.

The result allowed the Union (14-8-9, 51 points) to stay above the Crew (14-9-8, 50 points) in the standings. But New England jumped above both of them with a 2-1 home win against Charlotte. Orlando also held onto second place with a 3-0 defeat over Montreal.

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It was surprising that Union manager Jim Curtin went back to a 3-5-2 formation to start the game, but there were some valid reasons for it.

Curtin had to do something at some point in the ongoing stretch of seven games in 21 days to stop his key players from being run into the ground or suffering more injuries. So Dániel Gazdag began the night on the bench for the first time since May 10 — in a year when he started all but six of the 41 games before this one. He came off the bench in two, and got the night off in four.

Then Curtin had to figure out what to do with his back line, since Jakob Glesnes was once again out for the night. In order to lessen the burden on Jack Elliott, Damion Lowe, Kai Wagner, and Olivier Mbaizo, Curtin put Nathan Harriel at right centerback in the back three. This could also give Mbaizo opportunities to get forward more with fewer defensive responsibilities.

But that would require the Union to have the ball in the first place, which was another reason to gamble on the 3-5-2. With José Andrés Martínez also still out, the central midfield trio of Alejandro Bedoya and Jack McGlynn in front of Jesús Bueno was tasked with jamming Columbus’ playmaker-filled 3-4-3 lineup.

The starting forward pair of Chris Donovan and Quinn Sullivan was another reminder of the Union’s jammed schedule. Not starting Mikael Uhre was likely more about upcoming home games against Atlanta and Nashville than Uhre’s scoring drought.

Gazdag, Uhre, Julián Carranza, Tai Baribo, and Joaquín Torres were all on the bench. So Curtin had many options to boost the attack in the second half if his starters could get there without too much trouble.

But that was a big if. And it was made even bigger by the Union’s eight-game winless streak in Columbus since 2016.

To say the Union bent but didn’t break in the first half is an understatement. They looked more like the Scioto River does downtown, where a full S-curve leads into the split with the Olentangy’s sharp turn north.

But as they say at the Olentangy’s most famous landmark, Ohio State’s football stadium, the Union fought the team across the field to a scoreless draw at intermission. Though the Crew outshot the Union 12-6, including 5-1 in shots on target, Blake had five saves, many of which were spectacular.

Harriel was also crucial with a series of clearances, even if they were just booting the ball as far as he could. The box score said he officially had two, but an unofficial count from the press box totaled more.

Notably, Blake stopped taking goal kicks midway through the half, and it wasn’t immediately clear why. Usually that’s a signal of a groin injury. But the rest of him seemed fine, as evidenced by a diving stop on Yaw Yeboah in the 37th minute.

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Curtin’s bet might not have won by much, but it did win. He cashed it in promptly, sending Carranza, Uhre and Gazdag in at the start of the second half. Donovan, Sullivan, and Bedoya left, meaning the Union stayed in the 3-5-2.

Five minutes into the half, the Union hit the jackpot. Wagner sent in the team’s sixth corner kick of the night, and Harriel was surprisingly unmarked in the middle of the crowd for a close-range header to score. The Union’s bench erupted in cheers, as did the team’s coaching box next to the press box, and a cluster of fans in one of the stadium’s top corners.

Columbus won a free kick just outside the Union’s 18-yard box in the 69th minute, and it looked at first like the Union had successfully blocked it. But Elliott’s left elbow was outstretched just enough that when Hernández’s shot hit it, referee Jon Freemon called it a handball. Elliott was booked for the offense, and amid many Union protests, Bueno and Wagner were booked for dissent.

Wagner undoubtedly earned it. Not only did he scream at Freemon in that moment, but he’d been doing so for most of the night. The card earned Wagner a suspension for accumulation that he’ll serve Wednesday when the Union host Atlanta United (7:30 p.m., Apple TV, paywalled).

It will be Wagner’s first night off since July 9. He was due one, but perhaps not like this.

Eventually, Hernández stepped up and nailed his penalty kick to tie the score. In the 77th minute, Curtin withdrew Wagner to stop matters from getting worse.

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