Philadelphia Union: Tranquillo Barnetta is Back!

In the Philadelphia Union’s 2-1 win over Orlando City SC, they looked good but one encouraging sign for the team was the return of their swiss army knife – Tranquillo Barnetta.

It’s one to come back for your team and contribute, it’s another to come back and score the game-winning goal against the top team in your league. But score a game winner is just what Tranquillo did because he’s awesome at free kicks and the dutch tactics are working (more on that later). This game was the first action for Barnetta this season.

Prior to Barnetta’s introduction in the 63rd minute, the Philadelphia Union were putting in a disjointed effort. He came on with Fabian Herbers and it could be seen that Barnetta’s play calmed the team. On his coming into the game Tranquillo Barnetta said, “The coach told me that game is moving box-to-box but there was a couple of balls and a lot of turnovers so, I tried to tell the other people that we tried to keep the ball, keep possession a little bit and it was a little bit better, then we had a couple of corners.”

Barnetta looked a little rusty in the early goings of his substitution appearance but that was to be expected. When he was asked about his fitness post game Barnetta said, “Right now I feel really good. I still need a couple more minutes to be really back. I’ve been doing extra running after practice to get back what I missed in the preseason. I still need a few games, every game helps me to come back”.

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The rust didn’t stop Tranquillo Barnetta from making a huge impact on the game from set pieces. Barnetta shot his first free kick over the goal but his second may have been the goal of the year (so far) for the Philadelphia Union. Barnetta set up and the Union set up a second wall slightly offsides behind Orlando’s wall to confound them. The wall is a new tactic for the Philadelphia Union this year and Jim Curtain was asked about it in the post-game presser.

Curtain said,

"“Our entire staff works very hard on restarts; B.J. Callaghan specifically has been the point man, we would say. We have a good catalog of things, we spend a lot more time and have been working on them a lot more. The second wall, if you will, the timing of that gives a little bit of distraction. It’s something we picked up from another team that was successful with it, and it provides a little bit of a different look.” he continued saying, “We checked with the linesman on the first time they did it when Tranquillo hit it way over just to make sure the wall was not offside and there wouldn’t have been an issue, and it was good. The second time they executed it well. Fortunate to get two fouls from the same look so good for Tranquillo, happy for him. But, at the same time, it was a team effort tonight.”"

For the record, the team that was successful with the wall that Jim Curtain is mentioning is possibly from ADO Den Haag in the Dutch Eredivisie. In the video below a slight wall can be seen in a slightly offsides position but it’s not an exact match. Your theory is as good as mine here.

Relive the magical goal below:

The goal also gave Barnetta the Honor of being Section 215’s Man of the Match for the Orlando City game. During Barnetta’s brief cameo he has a 73% pass accuracy, drew one foul and had a key pass and an interception to go along with his free kick goal. On another day Andre Blake may have won Man of the Match with his insane saves but scoring the match winner is pretty important to the team as well. Three points are three points.

Having Tranquillo Barnetta healthy is of the utmost importance for the Philadelphia Union this season. While they have midfield depth and players like Warren Crevalle and Brian Carroll have stepped in admirably its not a question that this team is better with Barnetta in it than without him. The leadership he brings to the team along with being a constant danger from set pieces is unlike any other player in the starting XI.

Next: Keegan Rosenberry's Impact on the Union

Don’t look now but the Philadelphia Union are in second place in the Eastern Conference behind the Montreal Impact (only on goal difference). This is looking like a team that could be a dark horse to make the playoffs for the second time in their history. For that to be possible the Philadelphia Union will need a few more benders like that from Barnetta.

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