Shorthanded Union battle Mexico’s Pachuca to scoreless tie in Concacaf Champions Cup

Despite missing three starters, the Union put up a spirited fight in a scoreless tie with Mexico’s Pachuca in the first game of their Concacaf Champions Cup round of 16 series on Tuesday at Subaru Park.

Though Pachuca outshot the Union 18-5, the shots on goal were just 3-3, and the Union produced a decent number of good looks.

The series finale is set for next Tuesday at Pachuca’s Estadio Hidalgo (8:15 p.m., FS1). The winner of that game will advance, and if it ends tied 1-1 or any greater score, the Union will advance on the away goals tiebreaker.

With Jack Elliott and Damion Lowe suspended and Julián Carranza an injury doubt, it wasn’t too hard to figure out in advance what the Union’s lineup would be. Nathan Harriel stood in at centerback next to Jakob Glesnes, with Olivier Mbaizo and Kai Wagner on the flanks.

Carranza proved unavailable because of his thigh issue, not even on the bench. So Union manager Jim Curtin made a little tweak to his tactics, rolling out a 4-3-2-1 with Dániel Gazdag and Quinn Sullivan behind Mikael Uhre up top. Jack McGlynn, José Andrés Martínez, and Alejandro Bedoya were the midfield trio.

Martínez saw a familiar face across the field in Pachuca’s No. 10 Salomon Rondón, a fellow Venezuelan national team stalwart. He and Mexican midfielder Erick Sánchez are two of Los Tuzos’ top attacking threats, and they looked the part throughout the night.

» READ MORE: More details on Julián Carranza's injury

The video evidence was clear: a shot by Pachuca’s Oussama Idrissi in the 44th minute hit Harriel’s outstretched arm in the Union’s box, just outside the six-yard line. It didn’t take long for Salvadoran referee Ismael Cornejo to point to the spot for a penalty kick, and soon afterward, he gave Harriel a yellow card.

So why did Cornejo eventually go to the review monitor? Did his colleagues think Harriel’s handball was serious enough to merit a red card instead?

In fact, it was something quite different. Earlier in the play, Pachuca’s Pedro Pedraza had blocked a ball in the air with his hands. When Cornejo saw it, he reversed the penalty call and erased Harriel’s yellow card.

As undermanned as the Union were, they gave as good as they got in the first half. While Pachuca outshot them 9-3, the shots on target were 2-2. The formation tweak worked well: the Union had 61% of the possession, and Sullivan and Uhre often found space to run behind against Pachuca’s high-pressing defense.

» READ MORE: Mikael Uhre and Quinn Sullivan’s growing chemistry could be a big help for the Union

The Union wouldn’t have been favored in the series at full strength, so they obviously weren’t when this shorthanded. The absences had a cascading impact on the bench, where the attacking options had quantity but limited quality: Markus Anderson, Tai Baribo, Chris Donovan, and academy products Jeremy Rafanello and Nick Pariano.

Jesús Bueno, Matt Real, and rarely seen Olwethu Makhanya were the defensive options. Bueno ended up the first substitute, replacing Bedoya in the 74th minute. Anderson was the second, replacing Sullivan in the 87th.

The Union had their best chance of the night in the 76th. Sullivan got down the right and whipped in a low cross that Carlos Moreno spilled into the middle of his 18-yard box. Moreno recovered fast and raced off his line as Gazdag rushed to the ball, cutting off most of the angles Gazdag could have shot at. The best option was chipping over Moreno, and that’s what Gazdag did. Alas, his attempt floated over the crossbar instead of under it.