Road Loss to San Jose

• by Conor O'Grady
• September 16th, 2010
• MLS, News
• 4 Comments

Photo: PhiladelphiaUnion.com

A battle of the goalkeepers resulted in another painful away defeat for the Union.  Knighton, starting again in place of Seitz, came up huge to stop a number of blistering attempts by the Quakes, but his counterpart at the other end of the pitch did the same.  The difference between the two was an artful header by Chris Wondoloski, bonked in perfectly from an Arturo Alavez cross in the 69th. 

The eyes of the Union and their fans were mostly on San Jose’s danger man, Geovanni, who threatened repeatedly.  Geovanni provided the first major scare of the night with a creative back pass inside the area, which an out-of-place Knighton would have been helpless to deal with had the ball found another Quake.  Fortunately, a defensive cluster of gold managed to save Knighton’s bacon and keep things level.

Soon it was SJ’s keeper Jon Busch’s turn to be tested.  Miglioranzi managed a smoking long shot in the 22nd, for which Busch had to launch himself sideways to block.  Shortly thereafter, Andrew Jacobson found another golden opportunity, but his shot was eaten just as dramatically.  Even the ever-goal starved Moreno had a clear SOG, but Busch was a lunging wall of denial all night.

Not that Knighton wasn’t.  An absolutely nasty long shot was fired his way in the 42nd by Khari Stephenson, and for a split second seemed sure to beat our GK to the upper 90.  Knighton, however, was fast enough, arcing his frame through the air to get a hand on it.  He also managed to smother an immediate follow up, though it would have been whistled down for offsides.

Knighton would be tested again in the 89th, as Geovanni lined up a free kick.  The shot was blasted over the wall and dipped fiercely down towards goal, but Knighton saw it just in time to push it over for yet another epic save.

In stoppage time, it looked as if the Union was going to add one more to their collection of holy-shit last-second goals, as Shea Salinas found himself on the business end of a Le Toux free kick with a box full of gold between him and goal.  It seemed physically impossible that his low ball in wouldn’t find a toe to poke it in, but somehow, after it pinballed around the goal mouth, it ended up safely in the greedy arms of Busch. 

Takeaways

1. Le Toux is a monster, but he needs a friend up front.  Mwanga be thy name, and until his shoulder feels better, we have 2 options- Moreno needs to step up, or Li’l Mac needs more minutes.  Pick one.

2.  Mr. Knighton is on a roll.  Is this our keeper, or is he just having a good week?  If he turns out to be consistent, I’m afraid that my favorite chant of all time is gonna go by the wayside, because “Knighton, Knighton, Knighton, Knighton, Knighton, Knighton, Knighton, Knighton…EVERYBODAAAAAY!”  just doesn’t work.

3.  The defense is improving.  Thank god.