Union suffer first loss of the season, 2-1 at Toronto FC

Seven games into the season, the Union finally suffered their first loss of the year, 2-1 at Toronto FC.

After Julián Carranza opened the scoring for the visitors in the 34th minute, Jesús Jiménez tied the game five minutes later. Former Major League Soccer MVP Alejandro Pozuelo struck the winner in the 51st.

Here are some observations on the game.

There was probably an extra pass or two along the way, especially when Mikael Uhre had a chance to shoot and didn’t take it. But when the ball went in the net, the strong chemistry between Dániel Gazdag, Mikael Uhre and Carranza was evident.

That chemistry will surely continue to build. It’s certainly notable that Uhre hasn’t scored yet, but his talent is clear.

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Andre Blake made two brilliant diving saves before Jiménez beat him with a superb curling shot in the 39th minute. The Union (5-1-1, 16 points) were going to concede a goal sooner or later, and that one ended a shutout streak of 468 minutes — the longest in regular-season play in team history. Coincidentally, the streak started in the Union’s last game in Canada, at Montreal on March 5.

It had been a while since we saw the Union’s defense falter in the way it did on Toronto’s goal to take a 2-1 lead in the 51st minute. Pozuelo is a great player, but it was surprising to see Jack Elliott not step up to close him down, which led to Pozuelo beating Elliott with a shot off the dribble.

Union manager Jim Curtin waited until the 69th minute, long after Toronto (3-2-2, 11 points) had taken the lead, to make a double-substitution: Sergio Santos for Carranza and Jack McGlynn for Leon Flach. Cory Burke replaced Uhre in the 77th, and Paxten Aaronson replaced Alejandro Bedoya in the 87th.

None of them produced the needed second goal. Santos came close on a few occasions, but could not produce what would have been a 7th goal in 7 all-time games against Toronto.

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Plenty of Toronto FC fans and neutral viewers saw what Curtin saw when Jayden Nelson charged into Kai Wagner in the 19th minute: The studs of Nelson’s right cleat landed squarely on Wagner’s right shin. Referee Alex Chilowicz immediately produced a yellow card, and the replay booth took its time reviewing the play — helped by Wagner taking his time to get up.

It sure looked like a red card-worthy foul from here, but the replay booth didn’t agree. The MLS Disciplinary Committee will have a look this week, and we’ll see if it deals Nelson a suspension.

The game got really chippy for a while after that, and Chilowicz shouldn’t have been surprised. By not sending Nelson off, he opened the door for both teams’ enforcers to land some hard tackles. Whatever either side thought of Nelson’s tackle, they’d likely agree that a red card for it would have kept both sides’ tempers cooler.

The referees’ decision to take Wagner’s goal off the board for offside in the 44th minute was correct. It’s one thing if a player is offside in a situation like that, but not affecting the play. This time, there were three Union players in offside positions, including Carranza right in the middle of the action.