Union keeps rolling, beats Charlotte FC for fourth straight win
The Union is unbeaten through five and has now held opponents scoreless for 328 straight minutes
CHESTER, Pa. — An early goal sprung by a long ball and a second half gift led to a 2-0 win for the Philadelphia Union in their first ever meeting with Charlotte FC at Subaru Park on Saturday night.
The two-week international break did little to slow the Union’s momentum to start the season as they stayed unbeaten and extended their shutout streak to 328 minutes.
The blue and gold jumped on the expansion club early when Kai Wagner sent a long ball down field that Sergio Santos tracked down and crossed to Julian Carranza for the finish. The goal was the first in a Union uniform for the forward on loan from Inter Miami.
Charlotte wasn’t able to create much going forward in the first half until a dangerous chance fell to rookie midfielder Ben Bender in the box, but his shot went wide of the goal.
Just after halftime, Charlotte FC goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina passed the ball right to Daniel Gazdag from inside his own box and the Hungary international took advantage of the gift to score his fourth goal in his last four games.
Gazdag has now equaled his goal tally from last season (four goals in 23 appearances) in just five games and tied a club record for goals in four consecutive games. He also has four of the Union’s nine goals on the year. Gazdag had a couple chances to stretch the lead but one chance off a header just missed wide and he had another chance saved by a strong intervention from Kahlina. Gazdag also played in Uhre on a breakaway but the striker from Denmark ran out of room trying to get around Kahlina for the finish.
The appearance was just the second appearance of the season for Uhre, coming off the bench for Sergio Santos, who came up limping before subbing off in the 66th minute. Santos recorded his second assist of the season on the first goal.
Union captain Alejandro Bedoya missed the match as a precaution after experiencing some soreness in training, according to the broadcast. Quinn Sullivan, fresh off scoring four goals in two friendlies for the United States U20s in Argentina, got the start in Bedoya’s place.
Charlotte finished the night with just one shot on goal and a 0.6 xG. The Union recorded six shots on goal (including one from Jose Martinez) and had an xG of 1.