Philadelphia Union vs. Orlando City analysis on Jakob Glesnes, Chris Donovan, Jim Curtin
Here are our takeaways from Union’s 2-1 loss to Orlando City on Saturday night at Subaru Park, the team’s first home regular-season loss since Sept. 3, 2021 — a 25-game stretch.
man of the game
Jacob Glesnes. On his 28th birthday, the reigning MLS Defender of the Year was one of the Union’s few bright spots. He recorded 65 touches, 39 of 53 passes, eight defensive recoveries, one block, one clearance, one tackle and 10 duels won from 12 attempts. And he indulged in three shots, one of which forced a fist save from Orlando’s Mason Stajduhar in the 64th minute. There was a juicy rebound, but Chris Donovan couldn’t catch it. (That was one of Donovan’s many low points that night.)
Union fans love to yell at Glesnes to fire off one of his signature long-range bangs. In the 21st minute, he gave them what they wanted with a 35-yard free-kick – but the ball flew 20 rows up the stands.
At least he did his part on the defensive end on a night that saw Jack Elliott and Olivier Mbaizo get caught far too often.
» READ MORE: Shorthanded Union falls 2-1 to Orlando City for first home loss since 2021
Important offensive stats
1. The Union as a team made 26 shots against Orlando, including 13 on target. Donovan managed just one shot, a header from a corner kick in the 71st minute despite playing the entire game – 72 minutes partnering with Mikael Uhre and the rest solo in a 4-2-3-1.
Key defensive stats
13. The total number of shares of the union. Orlando had 36. Union doesn’t often have that many fewer clearances — or any defensive stats — than their opponents.
Notable Quotes
“It’s not the first game we’ve had a bad start. It’s almost all season long. We have to find out because we can’t go on [trailing by] every time a goal after 10 minutes – today there were two goals. Then it’s hard to win the games. So yeah, it’s not good enough.”
– Glesnes on conceding another early goal.
“It’s one of those things, the more I talk about it, the worse it gets. We keep talking about it. I could just shut up this week.”
– Union manager Jim Curtin gave up an early goal in his team the second game in a row.
Biggest result anywhere else
St Louis City SC 4, Real Salt Lake 0. The extension team is only the second MLS team to win the first five games of the year and the first debutant to do so. The only previous team to start with five wins in a season — aside from the old shootout era where ties were decided — was Sporting Kansas City in 2012.
» READ MORE: The Union were down nine players against Orlando, and they didn’t have to be
Next
The Union welcomes Sporting Kansas City to Subaru Park on Saturday (7:30 p.m., Apple TV, Paywall). Jim Curtin will take on Sporting Kansas City’s Peter Vermes, a Delran native who is the longest-serving manager in MLS. Curtin is second.
Sporting and the Union have not met since 2020 due to imbalanced planning outside of MLS’ conference. This game was part of the MLS tournament being played in Orlando over the summer to resume action amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Vermes has not returned home for a game since 2018 when the Union beat Kansas City 2-0 in Chester.
This game was famous for being the high water mark for broke forward Jay Simpson. He’s only scored four goals here in two years, two of them this afternoon.