Philadelphia Union winning streak snapped by Joao Plata and RSL

All good things must come to an end as Real Salt Lake snapped the Philadelphia Union winning streak at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Traveling to Salt Lake City has never been good for the Philadelphia Union and that didn’t change on Saturday as they fell 1-0. A Goal by Joao Plata made the difference as a four-game winning streak and a six game unbeaten streak were snapped on the night.

There were a few milestones in the match as Fabinho made his 100th appearance for the team, Ray Gaddis made his 125th appearance for the team, and Marcus Epps made his MLS debut.

This match got off to a chippy start as Chris Wingert knocked Alejandro Bedoya to the ground signaling that Real Salt Lake planned to be physical in this one. With Kyle Beckerman out due to suspension, Real Salt Lake would need the physicality to see off the Philadelphia Union.

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In the 17th minute, the Philadelphia Union had their first real chance of the night. Fafa Picault had a shot from outside the box saved by Nick Rimando. Fafa then followed up his own shot with a header that was cleared off the line by Aaron Maund. Little did the Philadelphia Union know that this missed chance would come back to bite them.

Joao Plata, the Union killer, put Real Salt Lake ahead in the 36th minute following some bad defense from both Fabinho and Ray Gaddis. After Tony Beltran kept the ball in, Gaddis and Fabinho held Jefferson Savarino onside before he was able to pick out a simple pass to Plata for the 1-0 advantage.

That advantage would last into halftime but the Union were lucky that it wasn’t 2-0 thanks to some Andre Blake heroics on a Luis Silva rocket from outside the box.

When the second half began, the Philadelphia Union had a mountain to climb and frankly, they didn’t look up to it. If it wasn’t for the heroics of Andre Blake this game likely would have ended 5-0. Haris Medunjanin almost got a point from this one as his free kick in stoppage time stung the hands of Rimando.

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It just wasn’t to be on the night but after the impressive run from the team, they have to look forward to traveling to New York next Saturday to start a new winning streak. No need to linger on this loss and the less said about it, the better.

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