Union still searching for win at home following a third consecutive draw, this time against Montréal

Maybe those who believe in the Curse of Union Yards are onto something. What else explains the Union not being able to win at home? Blame it on the new, 7,000-square-foot brew hall and 32,500-square-foot tailgate zone outside of Subaru Park. The Union haven’t won at home since the attractions opened on April 27, and assigning fault there may beat the alternative for Union fans: that maybe the team just isn’t very good.

If you’re not a subscriber, the way Saturday night played out might might have had you reformed. The Union, after falling behind 40 seconds into their game vs. CF Montréal, took complete control, but a controversial Jack Elliott red card, and an inability to convert despite taking 25 shots to Montréal’s six, sent the Union into a scheduled FIFA international break with a third consecutive draw.

The Union are now 1-4-3 at home and 3-0-5 on the road.

It took 49 seconds for the Union to trail. They had the ball for most of the opening minute, but Montréal capitalized on a turnover. José Martinez lost his man, Sunusi Ibrahim, who buried one by Union keeper Oliver Semmle.

From there, Montréal was content, like many recent Union opponents, to sit back and dare the Union to beat them.

Ariel Lassiter’s elbow changed that.

Lassiter was whistled for a foul in the 43rd minute. An elbow that caught Martinez in the face caused referee Ted Unkel to hit the video review screen, and Lassiter was eventually sent off.

After halftime, the Union scored twice in 11 minutes.

First, Dániel Gazdag was awarded a penalty after being tripped up by Montréal goalkeeper Sebastian Breza. Gazdag evened the score with a shot to the right side of the net. Breza guessed the wrong way.

Two minutes later, Mikael Uhre got free in close and beat Breza to give the Union a 2-1 lead.

The Union had a 2-1 lead and were playing a man up. They had 30 minutes to coast to a much-needed win.

But Jack Elliott was whistled for a controversial straight-red in the 63rd minute. Unkel initially showed Elliott a yellow card, but after seeing the extent of the injury to Montréal’s Raheem Edwards, who had a deep cut on his knee, upgraded the card to red.

Unkel told a pool reporter that the decision was made solely on his own and he did not get help from VAR.

Montréal scored off of the ensuing set piece, when Samuel Piette knocked it in after the ball was headed off the post.

“I don’t know what he’s supposed to do with his legs once he leaves his feet,” Union coach Jim Curtin said. “I don’t know why it changed from a yellow to a red without anyone looking at anything. That was a little strange. I understand there was a big laceration, there’s a cut, and there’s blood, maybe a reaction to that.

“But that obviously takes us from being in complete control, up 2-1, up a man, to scrambling and conceding on a restart, which we shouldn’t do as well.”

The teams played 10-on-10 for the final 30-plus minutes, and the Union had plenty of chances to walk away with three points, but could not get a third goal by Breza.

“This is the worst four-game unbeaten streak I think I’ve ever had in the history of soccer,” Curtin said. “It doesn’t feel good right now.”

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The Union you watched Saturday night, a little banged up, but mostly intact? That’s likely the last you’ll see of the full roster until mid-August.

The Union don’t play again until June 15, a home contest vs. Miami, which won’t have Lionel Messi, who will be gearing up for Copa América. Similarly, the Union have a handful of players with international duty on their horizon in various tournaments, including four of Saturday night’s starting 11: Damion Lowe (Jamaica), Martinez (Venezuela), Gazdag (Hungary), and Jack McGlynn (U.S.).

The Union have struggled recently. Curtin said his team was “not dangerous enough on the night, not scary enough” Wednesday night. It took a Montreal red card to make the Union dangerous Saturday night, but a team that has lacked the firepower to keep up with the top of the Eastern Conference so far in 2024 now has to try to reverse its fortunes — while missing some bodies.

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“It’s going to be hard,” Curtin said.

“Our home record is unacceptable. We recognize that and nobody is happy about that. We have to continue to find ways to get points and steal points on the road and then sort things out at home. You have to usually get to 10 wins at home and that’s going to be really difficult for us at this stage. Our fight now is to find a way to get into the playoffs and go from there.”

Three points Saturday night would have gone a long way. It was a game that Gazdag — the forward who will be away with Hungary at Euro over the next few weeks — said could have turned the Union’s luck around.

“When we scored the second goal, I thought this game was going to be 5 or 6-1 for us,” he said. “I felt the energy. I felt that we were good today. That goal killed us.

“The whole result was really annoying.”